Has anybody taken a course or been coached by either Dolf de Roos and/or John Burley with regards to real estate investing? If so, can you speak about the advantages, etc. of their course/coaching vs going it alone, and success before and after the course(s)?
I’ve just read ‘Real Estate Riches’ by de Roos (excellent) and liked what I heard (read). Thanks.
actually ‘real estate riches’ wasn’t that good of a book. there are MUCH better books on the market.
I personally dont think people should waste their money on mentorship.
Have you been successful with your investing?
Can you recommend some good books that I should take a look at?
it depends on how you define success. if making 2 or 3 times your salary in investments for the past 3 years is successful then i guess so.
Niravmd is being overly critical of Dolf de Roos. I’ve heard Dolf’s commercials on the radio and he says ‘You could be rich - VERY RICH’. I’m sure that none of these gurus would promise something they couldn’t deliver. Plunk down a little money with Dolf and I’m sure that you will soon be RICH, VERY RICH!!! One tip - order your yacht now, there is a waiting list!
Mike
well if you wanted to be RICH, VERY RICH you should learn from billionaire trump himself. every day atfter 9pm he takes over channel 9 and keeps going on and on about he’s the best, how he’s made money in real estate and not selling courses, how he’s the best developer in NY, and so on for a few hrs.
that guy can talk about himself for hrs - thats a real skill!
Hi,
I haven’t gone further than listening to the CDs for Rolf and watching the Burley DVD’s. I think there is a lot of good information to learn about how the process works, however taking the next steps to put it into action is a tough task. I can see how it leads you to mentor programs, and I am sure it is worth the money if you have the $5 K to dish out. I am not ready to do that at this point. I know that using my own money and looking at the MLS listings is not the way to go. I have learned that much!
I went at it alone for a few years, and did OK. But when I decided to get serious and take my real estate investing to the next level, I decided to look into a mentor. For me, that meant someone who is successful doing what I want to do, and someone who could teach me his/her methods. I did my homework, and ultimately settled on a guy who delivered everything he said he would. Two months after starting with him I made enough on a deal that paid for his fee and then some.
Of course, I give myself a pat on the back, too, because all the info in the world won’t do you any good if you don’t put it to use. In other words, this ain’t no get rich quick scheme. If someone is telling you that, hold on to your wallet.
The bottom line: most folks would do well to hire a mentor, but only after doing your due diligence. They will speed up the learning process and help you to avoid mistakes. Just keep in mind you are the biggest factor in how well you succeed. Once you have a head full of know how, you’ll need to put it to use!
AJ290 - I think you summed it up very nicely. Hopefully this will give Boofy75 some guidance as well!
Thank you, LJ. I’ve had a few emails regarding my mentor. I’ll be happy to pass along his contact info for anyone who wants it. I don’t want to post his name here since I think it’s against board policy. Suffice it to say I recommend him highly.
usually paying a famous TV/radio personality to mentor you basically means you’re paying one of his lackeys to read you a script and answer questions.
if you can find a real investor locally, pay him for his time and ask for his help. I haven’t found a successful person who didn’t want to share what he’d learnt yet.
you’ll get more milage from this approach than from a $5k mentorship program with trump, roos, bob allen or ron le grand.
I’d advise you to buy their courses cheaply off ebay and listen to them 3-4 times. it’ll be a hell of a lot cheaper & it’ll provide you a good stepping stone.
Thanks one and all. Good insights and info.
I’m interested - but not surprised - that the mentor topic came up. I think all of the advice offered is valuable in its own way. For myself, I see great value in aligning oneself with a mentor, if the relationship works and you can see tangible results. Why re-invent the wheel when you can walk in the footsteps of someone who has been there??
Cheers
Booty,
Having a mentor is a great way to learn from someone who has already been there and done that. However, as Niravmd said, paying a guru will normally result in the student talking to a paid lackey who simply reads a script. Moreover, a national guru won’t be familiar with your local market and will continually be trying to upsell you to the next level of their “inner circle”. I think that a better way to find a mentor is to join your local REIA. There will be several successful investors at your local REIA and they will be familiar with your local market. If you spend the time to get to know these folks, they will mentor you for free. That doesn’t mean that they will hold your hand and lead you step by step through every deal, but it does mean that they will help you with the finer points of doing a deal and answer questions that come up.
Good Luck,
Mike
Thanks Mike. Yep - I agree with your points. There may come a time when you want to take your investing to “the next level”, and that may be the time to work with someone who is playing in a bigger field. But mentoring with someone from your local area who is working in that area will likely give you better, more specific advice in the shorter term.
Is there a resource or web site listing REIAs in different parts of North America? I’m in Canada.
Cheers,
Chris
under Investor Resources on your left hand side of screen, click on “real estate clubs”, you’ll see canada on the list…
Great - thanks Leticia!
Chris
I just went through all of John Burley’s home study material. I think I paid about $1000.00 at a short sale seminar in Naples for John Burley’s stuff.
I have been to a lot of seminars, read at least 75 books on real estate and ordered most of the courses on TV with anything to do with real estate. Aside from what I originally learned from the Ron LeGrand materials, I think I have learned the most from John Burley’s. Burley really focuses a lot on doing things the proper/legal way and setting up systems for your investing.
In fact, I am amazed at how much I have learned from his stuff. He is the real deal, and his focus is on Cash Flow…which is my primary goal since I have mostly done full rehabs and larger development projects…which lead to big paychecks, but not consistency of cash flow.
About Dolf’s Real Estate Riches Book: he says that you can find a once in a lifetime deal about once per week. I thought that it was a bold statement…and must not be reality. I read that when I was still doing real estate part-time and working a full-time job. After I closed a couple of large deals and began investing full-time, I found out that his statement was very true. To this day, I find that there are more deals out there than one person can usually work.
Only 1 out of every 100 people that buy these investment seminars and tapes ever buy even 1 investment property. Basic salesmanship 101 teaches you that a confused mind always says no. This is the main reason people don’t buy an investment property. They are given so much information and cause you so much confusion that you don’t end up with a clear single first step. If you offer most people 15 first steps they will just stand there. Do I look for owner finance, do I do a warp, do I assign, do I look for foreclosure, do I look for an assumption, etc. What a local mentor will do for you is to tell you what they do that works where you are. They will almost always give you a clear first step and path most likely to end successfully.
Since they make their money by selling you a mentorship, it is not in their best interest to teach you a straight forward approach but instead make it appear so difficult you need help…their help.
having someone from california speak to you over the phone, or spending a weekend in Virginia in a boot camp, won’t teach you about your local market. you’ll spend 5 grand to talk generalities about real estate. you’ll go home, review all your material and say to yourself…“now what?”
it’s not like poker boot camps. you can take their information and apply it in AC, Vegas or Reno! poker’s poker.
real estate in California and New York - are different animals - because of the MARKET.
invest time in the classifieds and find a local realtor or two. join your local rei club.
think about it - the books from the library - like Shemin’s book or Fix It, Flip It type books tell you some good things like
how to pick a good realtor - YOU DON’T NEED A BOOT CAMP/PAID MENTOR FOR THIS ONE.
what clauses to include in your contracts - NO BOOTCAMP NEEDED
ATTORNEY YES - BOOT CAMP/MENTOR NO
etc.
books teach you how to do the basic things - the more technical things YOU WILL ONLY LEARN BY DOING.
that means going out, looking at properties, looking at your financial situation, learning about YOURSELF, talking with people in meetings, in houses/buildings, doing doing doing.
PERIOD.
no PAID mentor needed as far as i’m concerned.
i DO think that if you want a jump start - paying like 1500 for PROVEN AND RECOMMENDED courses is a good investment. courses that include a system of paperwork, analysis tools and the like are good, because then you don’t need to create it all and take the time to create what someone else has already…and chances are, they’ve created something good and you don’t have to spend 2 years trying to perfect your own system.
but it falls on YOU. YOU YOU YOU. ain’t no mentor or course gonna get you to get out there and start DOING.
ever!