One of my goals for 2010 is to be able to quit my J-O-B and work my real estate business full time. Like most people, my time is very limited with my family, job, etc.
I always try to do everything myself, such as mailings, answering phone calls, etc. to save money. However, I wonder if paying to “automate” my REI business (specifically wholesaling) would be worth the cost…and would eventually lead to more deals.
I have heard mixed reviews with most automated systems…and the costs are usually in the thousands of dollars. One system I looked at, for example, got the comps and “suggested offers” off of Zillow, and many users complained that info was way off.
The latest “system” I’ve been receiving tons of emails on is Preston Ely’s FreedomSoft. It’s supposed to do everything for you. I guess it’s coming out later this week, so I have no idea what the cost is.
However, I wanted to get everyone’s thoughts on any automated systems that you’ve purchased and whether or not you thought the cost was worth it.
I guess I’d be willing to pay for something if it actually did pay for itself in a short timeframe, but I’m always skeptical about paying for a program if it’s overpriced.
Freedom$oft looks like a great product. I watched the preview. It costs about $1000 to get in at the very lowest level, and about $3000 to get everything. In addition to that there is a $97 a month fee.
I had hoped it would just be a monthly fee, since it is webware, but there’s also the upfront buy-in.
I hope to get it one day. But I think it was built up to a lot of people who were hoping to use it to go from dead broke to successful, so no doubt a lot of folks are going to be disappointed at the price. Not saying it’s not worth it, it just seems that a lot of people were really getting their hopes up about this over the past few weeks of intense marketing, only to have their hopes dashed when they found out the cost.
Takes $$ to make $$, still seems to be the rule. :banghead
I too was on the webinar last night and was very impressed. Since I am new relatively new to the business and don’t know all there is to know, the prospect of having a tool such as Freedomsoft would be greatly beneficial as this point. For 30 minutes last night they were selling the package for $997. The problem is that I can’t justify the one time expense as well as the reoccurring monthly expense. It’s just to much money for me. I choose to not go into debt at this time. As far as the features go - they are plentiful. I have yet to do even one deal in this business, but from what it sounds like webuyhomesinmass, if you are at the point where you have enough business where a system such as this could reduce your expenses and save significant amounts of time as well as possibly bring in more business. I’d say its worth the money - its a small investment at your level. Last night Preston’s offer was a 60 day guarantee - full refund if it doesn’t do all it says it can do, plus he’ll give you $100. I’m sure someone around here will end up acquiring Freedomsoft and might be able to share with everyone the measurements of before and after.
I’m interested in your decision. If you do purchase such as system. I welcome your analysis of the product.
To me all this fancy software’s are like jet fighter airplane. If you have no idea what you are doing, do not fly it. Start small, understand business and then see if you wanna take it to a new level.
If utility is good, then why are they charging upfront fees? Give it away for free and charge reasonable monthly fee, if its truly good, everyone will start using it.
I am extremely skeptical about this deal. $900 is a lot of money in MI, you can buy many houses here for that much. Most of these fancy software’s are designed to make money off new investors using up front fee’s.
I pass…but I always listen to the webinars! Worst case is you learn how to sell junk to stupid people…
Thanks for the replies. I also saw the webinar last night. I thought there was some great stuff. I liked being able house all my contacts/leads in one place and integrate it with mailing campaigns. Finding cash buyers quickly was also cool.
I, too, think the cost is high…I may consider the “cheapest” level, but I’m going to wait. I’d like to see some honest reviews first (not reviews from affiliates pushing the product).
If anyone is just starting out in wholesaling, why in the world would a person spend between $1000 to $3000 on top of $97 dollars a month to “automate a business they don’t even know how to do yet”? Please explain the logic in that. I saw the webinar as well. It looks impressive, but I wasn’t sold on it’s benefits. The average wholesale deal from lead to close takes up about an hour or so. So doing an hour worth of actual work and making several thousand dollars is “tiring”? That is an insult to people who have to work 40 hours + week and don’t even make a fraction in their pay check what a wholesaler makes for 1 hour of actual work. I run half my business off my palm tungsten that I spent $50 for on ebay three years ago. My direct mail campaigns is be run through a software known as real prospect and my huge mailings are mailed through vistaprint. A $1000 for the low end of freedomsoft can be used to mail out 3,571 postcards or 2,272 first class letters to targeted leads. At the high end $3,000 version of freedomsoft that equates to the equivalent of being able to mail out 10,714 postcards or 6,818 first class letters to targeted leads. I want to approach this with an open mind, so someone help me see the value of Preston Ely’s miracleware.
I think you are wise to take a step back and not jump into the hype.
Some of these launches are a very good opportunity to get some high priced bonuses from the people promoting it.
If you think you REALLY want whatever it is that’s being promoted, think about how many e-mails you are getting from various promoters and see if there is another bonus that really interests you. Then you basically are getting a Two-For-One deal. There is nothing wrong with that.
I personally bought a different system several months ago that was a very detailed system that explained how to drive traffic and convert it on your site into leads. Since I didn’t know much at the time about how to do this online, it was worth it to me. However, you also have to take stock in yourself and see if you have the actual need for the system in question.
Are you really doing enough business to justify the expense?
Will it actually pay for itself in time savings and organization?
I’m skeptical by nature There are great products out there but a lot of people make money not by investing but by selling over hyped, overpriced products. Preston Ely and Freedomsoft are no doubt awesome at marketing - they have done a ridiculously great job at building anticipation and hype around their program - maybe that works for real estate investors, I don’t know.
No software will do all the work for you. Any piece of technology is designed to make you more efficient, to perform better. But, it’s also possible to do it old-school style, paper & pencil. I run a software company, so I’m being brutally honest here - not everyone needs software, just like not everyone needs investment courses.
Just make sure you do due diligence before you buy into anything > $1k, is all I’m saying. A lot of companies try to take advantage of eager young investors - and many of these investors spend all their seed funding on courses, books, and software; and never actually get a deal under their belts. It’s money out the window.
In the end - it’s all about net benefits. Software should make you money, not cost you money. If it isn’t, then it isn’t worth it.
FreedomSoft is very expensive for the investor just getting started.
Keep this simple rule in mind…
You can buy houses without software…but you can’t buy houses without knowing “how to buy houses”
If you are confident in your house buying skills, take some of the burden off of you with a VA or software product, once you FULLY understand the process.
Search “real estate investor software” in google and I think you will find a few solutions for a LOT less money than FreedomSoft
There are great products out there but a lot of people make money not by investing but by selling over hyped, overpriced products. Preston Ely and Freedomsoft are no doubt awesome at marketing - they have done a ridiculously great job at building anticipation and hype around their program - maybe that works for real estate investors, I don’t know.