James Smith

General Real Estate Investing
41

Hey- went to the sam conference everyone is talking about with again- James Smith being the last speaker- and again another pitch for a 2995.00 purchase program-

yes- he cried, yes he showed the “pig” and the “skank”,
yes he used a “stool” tool- but he was wearing jeans and a white buttong down- claiming his baggage was “lost” (like he couldn’t afford to buy a suit if that’s what he wanted to wear…!)

So- same 8) “show-on-the-road” but doesn’t mean it’s not legit- it’s what works for his marketing- i mean if you’ve seen one show of a famous stand-up comedian and followed him/her around the country you’d see the same show- or if you follow a musical group- sam thing- same songs- when they say "hello! entire any city name- of where they are on tour right…? it’s sales- and atleast we know he’s good at that- jusy what IS he selling…?

42

I attended the Millionaire Conference earlier this year in San Antonio and saw James Smith. He was an outstanding speaker, hands down the best of the day, but i would like more information on him and the program he offers…im a young college student looking for an early start to wealth so any information would be greatly appreciated so that I don’t get scammed or something. Thanks.

43

My husband and I just completed the 3-day course in Las Vegas with James Smith and Denise De Voe. We were “retraining” at no cost. We took the course originally about 3 years ago. It has been very helpful to us for making decisions about our real estate investments. There were many new topics in this repeat course.

James Smith is a very entertaining and knowledgeable speaker. He is also quite ethical, although some of the other speakers at the training were, I felt, not. He did warn us that we might object to some of the things others would be telling us.

All in all, we came away with lots of new knowledge and ideas, but still need to know more. We did not opt to buy the 5-day “M5” conference, the personal trainer, or the “Platinum Student” program. Several people in these programs were at the conference. Some have done successful deals.

We did decide to buy the $2995 training for our adult son and daughter. They will be attending sometime in the next year when their schedules permit. So, obviously, we think the conference is worth the money.

This time we intend to follow through on the goals we set at the conference. Instead of the personal trainer, we have ordered several books that should answer the specific questions we have about what we intend to do.

We especially like the ways James has suggested to help folks get into affordable housing and home ownership. We hope to be able to do some of that ourselves.

44

Hi, I purchased James Smith 3 Day pgm in the summer of 2004 in Fort Lauderdale, Fl the instructor was Adam Sachs, he was awsome, he explains different strategies to purchase properties. They work!!!

My brother in law and I purchased 3 homes in Arizona, new pre-construction june 2004. We closed on the properties in Jan 2005 now all rented and appreciating in value!!

From that seminar we purchased the "PLATINUM PACKAGE " for 22K, our wives thought we were crazy!!! We started the 3 day private mentor pgm (where the trainer spends 3 days with you at your town) he shows you what to look for in a BUY, FIX, SELL strategy.

We purchased our first house in Nov 2004, We worked rehabbing the property, half way through some one called and made us an offer on the property, stop working now, as is. Today we are under contract to sell by approx May 5, 2005. We will net aprox 75K after expenses and we didn’t finish it!!!
This first house paid for the whole pgm, with $ left over!!

Yes , James Smith pgms works!!!

We just came back from the M5 pgm , 5 full days of training 8am- 8-10pm every day jam packed with ideas on how to succeed in realestate. The people who teach you, do it live it, there is no BS. We liked what we heard so we signed up for more intensive training “BOOT CAMPS” . We are going back in JAN 2006 ORLANDO, FL .

YOU must take action to make money!!!

These people are the real deal!! They sincerely want to help you, their success is your success. You become part of a growing family, sharing thoughts and ideas. You can call anyone at any time to help you put together a deal. They give you phone #, E mail , home address, what ever you think you would need.

They believe that you don’t have to screw anybody out of their homes, you help to solve their problems, make a win win situation for evey one.
The money will come!!

Good Luck make a million!!!
:smiley:

45

Tuesday Arpril 26th, I attended the “Get Motivated Seminar” in Nashville TN-- WOW!! I really do feel it changed my life. James Smith was FABULOUS, but who is he? Why can’t I find any information on him? I know many people of less hype that are easier to authenticate via the web…so what’s up? I hope a representitive of James Smith or maybe J.S. himself will respond. It’s fine if you aren’t such a “techi” and don’t have a huge web arena, but in your own words " it’s just WRONG" if you don’t satisfy all these questioning minds that are not familiar with you as to your credibility. I know someone in contact with J.S. is sure to read this (if not he doesn’t have a very good p.r. staff) so PLEASE give it up! James Smith really does seem like the man and I have a feeling MANY-MANY people would like to know more on his philosophy of success in real estate regardless of the cost.

46

I took the 3 day course and believe it was worth every penny. It will be challenging starting out as you learn the world of real estate, but I learned information even friends of mine who already casually invest in real estate did not know. We had people in the course who already owned properties and they were extremely happy with what they learned and said they realized some of the things they could have done better with their current investment strategies. Like someone else said in this string, the high price tag is likely to weed out people who want to get rich quick. Real estate takes time to learn but if it didn’t work, why would people be making so much money?

For those of you hoping to have James Smith teach your course, he isn’t the instructor of the 3 day course. Our instructor Jeff, however was absolutely awesome and knew everything from end to end about it.

Also - a guy who was in our course the last year it was here came by on the second and third day of the course and he didn’t do anything for about 6 months, but now he was just closing on his third deal. And he wasn’t just “planted” because he works for the same company I just left in January.

So the course WAS legitimate and for those who keep working at it, it will be worth it.

47

:smiley: I have met James Smith and of all that I meet at the conference I believe him more than anyone.

He is a God fearing, square dealing person who happens to make a great deal of money helping other people.

I am going to take his course and by helping others I will help myself – that is the tried and true secret, you get what you want if you help enough other people get what they want.

Work the plan for others, not just self then you will be successful!!! happy deals…

48

buy this book
How to Create Multiple Streams of Income: Buying Homes in Nice Areas With Nothing Down
by Peter Conti, David Finkel
it costs $15. there, i saved you $3,000.
you owe me lunch, buddy!

i must confess, as a newbie investor, i was suckered into a couple of overpriced seminars.there is NOTHING they teach that you cannot learn for a 10th of the price! NOTHING.
they will tell you that you’ll pay more to learn from experience. they show you how they live and say you too can live like that. they’ll have someone from a previous seminar show up and say that he used the techniques and made millions.
spend all the money you need to. but if you spend 10k, its better spent on an investment than some stupid seminar.
if the “guru” makes so much money off real estate, why do they bother to hold seminars and dilute the pool???

  1. because they know 95% of the attendees never do anything with the info.
  2. they make more money from the bootcamps than they do through investing.

i put 5k down on two lots each in st george last week. i spent a few months researching the market. i saw those lots were under-priced and in 1 week the builder has jacked up the price 25k on each one. no guru is going to tell you which properties/lots are under-priced. they’ll just share what they’ve done and then its up to you. but then so will many other investors on this board. and they’ll do it for free.

49

I too was trying to find info on James Smith and I came upon this site. I was at their seminar in St. Louis on Thursday and agree with all that James is a wonderfully smooth speaker. He certainly earns all his $ $. I wanted to do the class and did purchase the 3-day training. A DVD that was included with the materials that I was given, show James with the almost same word for word presentation that he gave on thursday. By the way, he said he lived in Florida and his wife was there and when I spoke to her, she said they lived in the Orlando area.
I actually stayed up until 3 AM this morning researching this and went to the BBB (Better Business Bureau) site in Utah, where the parent co is located. It says National Real Estate Investors is NOT a member, and they show a start date for company in June, 2002, and has an unsatisfactory experience with BBB with a related company, Money In Training (MIT).
Does anyone remember from the seminars the discussion about Family Limited Partnership vs LLC. At my meeting, one of the speakers spoke that LLC’s haven’t been around that long and there may not be enough case law to protect you and that FLP would be better. You should see all the LLC’s that are listed as associated companies!!! Do you think they just want to see products?

If you want to see the info, go to www.saltlakecity.bbb.org/ and type in either of the names above and read for yourself and decide.
For my money, I will be calling in this AM asking for a refund, I had 5 days to decide. Thanks for all your imput.

50

I attended the seminar on 4/28 in St. Louis as well. I did not purchase any of the products presented that day. James Smith was the last speaker of the day and the only real reason I attended the seminar. I am a RE agent in the St. Louis area and thought I might gain a little insight in helping my clients put deals together. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. JS started out by saying he wasn’t hawking any books, videos, dvds, cds etc… in the end he actually was. Yes we got the poor waitress at Denny’s speech. He showed up in Jeans and white button down shirt and proceeded to tell us how the airline lost his luggage. He was a good show and motivating, but when the $2995 (or whatever the price was) my bubble was burst again. It seems the only free information I received that day was the free book by Dr. Danko.

I tend to be a bit skeptical when people try to separate me from my money, so I passed on everything except the free book. According to Dr. Danko, the millionaire next door lives below his means and is frugal. Maybe not purchasing the program will set back my progress but then again… maybe I am already ahead of the game with my $3K still in my pocket and looking for my next investment. I have to agree with some on this board that doing the research and work yourself is just as profitable as paying for the course. A word of advice… use a buyers agent to help you buy your property, especially when it is listed with another realtor. The contract protects the buyer and the seller and it doesn’t cost a thing to the purchaser of a property to have a buyers real estate agent. All commissions are paid for by the seller of the property. The listing agent aka seller’s agent can help you put the deal together, but their first & main interest is to get the most money for the seller.

Just my 2 cents… free of charge.
Sharon

51

I also attended the 4/28 STL “show”. Last year, Success magazine also brought Mr. Smith to town. Along with the stock system, etc, with Marshall Faulk and Rudi Guliani?(sp)

I attended a three day workshop shortly afterward (I believe it was the same company) that started with the instructer telling everyone to call their credit card companies and raise their limit to $ 50,000! The next day, they unvieled the price for various packages that totaled right around…$50,000… imagine that! I am reasonably sure this is the same program, now that I have read through this thread. I am dissapointed, as I was hoping to find out more about Mr. Smith.

I was VERY disappointed to here that he had used the “lost luggage” thing previously. In my opinion, if you are truly a person of integrity, there is no need to discredit others, even airlines. People work for Delta, and they don’t need any extra bad press. He should have just said - “I am a multimillionaire, and I wear what I want!”

Finally, I think I found the answer I was searching for. To really get significant help an investment of at least $10,000 is to be expected. I agree with an earlier post stating that the help is worth it, especially if it shortens the learning curve. If not, well …

52

I attended the conference in Anaheim and was definitely drawn in by James Smith’s charisma. I am curious if he used an additional “bit” in his routine. At the conference I attended I saw him address a student in the audience that was leaving. He made some nice comments about her.

I also wanted to know if he constantly emphasized the race issue in his speech in any other cities. He seemed like he was very focused on letting everyone know that he worked with minorities as well?

53

Hello Everyone.

I also attended the seminar in Anaheim, CA on 5/4/05 in which James Smith was one of the speakers. Yes, he was smooth and seemed knowledgeable in real estate, and yes I would have gotten his package if I could’ve afforded it. Thank you and good luck in your investments.

FK

54

Go to www.ripoffreport.com and do a search on “James Smith” and another search on “National Real Estate Investors”. It sounds like a scam.

55

“Go to www.ripoffreport.com and do a search on “James Smith” and another search on “National Real Estate Investors”. It sounds like a scam.”

Badger, thank you so much for posting this website! I looked up James Smith and saw lots of posts claiming he’s a fraud. I think you have single-handedly stopped at least some innocent investors from being seperated from their hard-earned cash!

56

Oh my…so much BS so little time, where do I begin? ??? I know, with this comment:

" ‘I create a second with the intent on defaulting in order to take over the first.’…If he gives the sellers money and creates a promissory note (a second) and they default, then part of the agreement is that he takes over the note? That …It sound like a creative idea, so I’d like to know when and how to use that idea."

Very simple. You should use this idea as soon as you are ready for a free jumpsuit, three hots and a cot for the next 30 years. How you do it doesn’t matter because regardless of its origination, entering into or even creating a lending situation with the intention of defaulting is FRAUD. Yes it is creative. Most white collar criminals are very creative. Will you get caught? Probably not because the other party would need to be powerfully desperate to agree to this. But if someone gets mad at you, wants out of the deal, or just has a splash of conscience, up the river you go.

I don’t know James Smith personally, but I’ve heard from other unfortunate seminar attendees that he does the same schtick–lost luggage, daughter (some say he said his neice) getting raped, etc. I know there are some who are really quick to come on here to extol the virtues of this man, yet you don’t say anything about his dishonest countenance. Think–why does someone on the up-and-up have to rely on sob-stories and bad stand-up to get you to buy his snake oil? If you sat through his pitch and still need to ask who he is, that is very telling.

I also wanted to comment on the ones that think they need a course on tax lien purchasing. You know where I learned about it? I have a mentor, but I didn’t learn it from him. I was on my county’s property tax site looking up an owner for a pre-forc, and on the navigation bar there was a button that said “tax sales”. When I clicked it, it told me the dates of the sale and how to get on the mailing list. They walk you through it, NO MULTI-THOUSAND DOLLAR SEMINARS REQUIRED. So instead of spending thousands of dollars, spend a couple of hours contacting (online or however you do it) the tax assessors in your target areas and then you can purchase them. You still think you need help? Download this FREE book: http://www.theinformedinvestor.com/TaxebookDMB.pdf. Speaking of free books, the book niravmd recommended is $15, but it is also available for free on the front page of this very website: http://www.resultsnow.com/freebook.php?jvID=149. I’m not a fan of Conti and Finkl but a resource is a resource.

There are so many free and super inexpensive resources here and all over the web. Resist the rah-rah and avoid being a money-gushing-lemming. You will have to spend some money, don’t get me wrong. But spend more time doing research, and you’ll find that you have more to spend on marketing and investing. Oh, and get a mentor–best money I never spent!

Good luck to all…d

57

Deborah,

I really enjoyed your post. It was very refreshing as you seem to have a good grip/ perspective on reality. I have sort of felt the same way but it is good to hear it from a knowledgeable person. I only wish I could find a good mentor as well :slight_smile:

Mark

58

deborahwells -

"I’m not a fan of Conti and Finkl but a resource is a resource."

First I’m curious as to why you’re not a fan of Conti and Finkl. Second, I don’t know if I agree with your term “a resource is a resource.” If your not a fan of Conti and Finkl, why give them as a resource.

I’ve read most of Conti and Finkl’s stuff so I may be biased. I would just like to hear your perspective (or anyone elses for that matter).

Thanks!

59

Hi Goldthread,

First of all, my opinion and about $4.75 will land you a drink at Starbucks.

I have only read Multilple Streams of Income by Conti and Finkel. I thought the overall material was informative and there was certainly some thought provoking ideas in it that I think I can use with a rental property I have owned for a while. However, I just wonder in todays current market how easy it would be to use their methods to put motivated sellers and motivated purchase option buyers together and still make a profit and positive cash flow for yourself. Is it really realistic?

Maybe it is possible, I am really curious if anyone is successful in this and what market are they in?

Anyway…just some thoughts :slight_smile:

Mark

60

“First I’m curious as to why you’re not a fan of Conti and Finkl. Second, I don’t know if I agree with your term “a resource is a resource.” If your not a fan of Conti and Finkl, why give them as a resource.”

Goldthread, I recommend their books because I appreciate their systematic, dive-in and do-something-every day approach. They encourage you to make something happen and not to take a long time doing it. You can apply their 90 day action plan concept to just about any approach (provided that you have the appropriate support in place). Also, while not always practical or viable for everyone (including me, but of course I am focusing on wholesaling for now), I know that my mentor is very successful at many of the Creative Financing techniques out there, so I think that everyone should at least educate themselves on all of the methods of acquisition even if they don’t presently plan to use them. You can just put it in your armory. If you can get it for free or cheap (like their books), then all the better.

That said, I am not a fan because it bothers me the way they encourage you to play dumb and use idiot facial expressions as negotiation tools, as if a seller will feel more inclined to side with you if you are a moron (I think my first post here was a rant about that).

As you know, by definition a resource is something that can be used to help you. I haven’t read any educational materials or networked with anyone where I didn’t come away with at least something, even if it was what NOT to do. Thus my comment that a resource is a resource. It was based on my experience, not to be interpreted as law–unless of course, someone out there is willing to submit to my law, heh heh heh ;D