I’m a new Sheet’s student. I need honest opinions about Sheet’s personal coaching program. The program costs about 3k and I’m a little uncertain about spending that kind of cash on it. People who are knowledgeable about the program or know people who went through the program please reply A.S.A.P.! I must make a decision by the end of the week (Friday, Oct. 7). I’m relatively young, 23, but I don’t want to make a huge financial mistake. Please be honest.
–grace
See private message.
i must admit i’ve spent money on bootcamps.
my belief is that rather than spend this money on the camp, its better use it to actually go out and buy the property.
i spent first 10k buy 2 properties that netted me 200k over 3 years.
read investing books and blogs. network with other people. that will build your confidence. not some trained monkey at a bootcamp hypnotizing you to part with even more money. i’ve met many many people who’ve gone to bootcamps. very few of them actually made money as a direct consequence of it.
on a previous post i listed 4-5 good blogs to read. you’re better off spending a week reading!
After I bought Sheets’ program, I recieved incessant calls from their “coaches” telling me the only way I could achieve “true” financial freedom, was to pay the big bucks for their coaching program. They even told me that I was selected from a “large” group of other students to enroll in the coaching program. Even after I declined, I still recieve phone calls, letters, and the like.
I can think of a lot better ways to spend $3k. That is just my opinion though.
Grace,
I am also a Carleton Sheets Student. I think that the basic No Money Down course is excellent, but I wouldn’t pay for coaching. In my opinion, if you need to pay someone to spoon feed you the information, you just won’t make it in this business. I’m not trying to discourage you, but I’ve found that the vast majority of successful entrepreneurs are self-starters.
All of the information that Carleton Sheets has is in the No Money Down course. There are no “secrets” to be provided by Carleton Sheets Coaches or any other gurus. The secret is to read as many books and reasonably priced courses as you can regarding real estate investing and then get started. If you can’t do that, then REI is probably not for you and you’d be probably be ahead to try to advance yourself at work.
The personality traits that are shared by successful entrepreneurs and business owners can’t be taught. You either have them or you don’t. At the top of the list is being a self-starter. In my experience, the VAST majority (probably 90% or more) of the American people are not self-starters. Most are good, honest, relatively hard-working people but they NEED someone else telling them what to do. Absent this direction, they are lost. So, I think that every potential investor should assess their personality. Are they self-motivated? Are they a self-starter? Can they read about something and then do it - or do they need someone to supervise them? I think that the gurus should put this type of self-assessment in their books/courses, but they don’t because they want their customers to buy the next course and the coaching for the big bucks!
Good Luck,
Mike
If they are pressuring you that you absolutely, positively must buy by Friday…what does that tell you?
I’m not into high-pressure sales tactics. I don’t employ them and I don’t stand for them from those that I deal with.
I think that $3K is a lot of money for coaching. Have you looked to see what others are saying (“Google” Carlton Sheets coaching):
"Coaching Program, Jul 23, 2005
reviewer: Vanessa from Naugatuck, CT USA
****DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ($5000.00) ON THE COACHING PROGRAM. THE COURSE WAS GOOD, I’D RECCOMEND IT TO ANY BEGGINER LOOKING TO INVEST IN RE. THE COACHING HOWEVER, A TOTAL AND COMPLETE RIP OFF. WE WENT OVER WEEKLY HOMEWORKS FOR 12 WEEKS, ONE 1/2 HR CALL A WEEK, IF THAT. AND I HAD THE ABILITY TO CALL WITH QUESTIONS WHERE I WAS GIVEN BAD ADVICE. LIVE AND LEARN, IT WAS A VERY EXPENSIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE. "
"Carleton Sheets Coaching Program, May 30, 2005
reviewer: Tony from North Carolina
I purchased the coaching course and was extremely disappointed.The coach I had stunk.All he did was tell me to read the course every time I ask a question.If all I needed was to read the material I would not have purchased the coaching.They would not return my calls and they were totally useless.Whatever you do dont waste your money on this one.Thousands lost.“DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY”. "
"Carlton Sheets Coaching, Apr 11, 2005
reviewer: Megan from Minnesota
Do Not buy the coaching program!!! It’s the biggest rip off of my life. I knew more about investing than the coaches. They don’t return calls. They cut your weekly calls short. I felt more discouraged about investing after speaking with the coaches. $5000 in the trash."
"Coaching is a WASTE of money, Mar 21, 2005
reviewer: Anonymous from Dallas, Texas
My husband and I purchased the coaching program, in hope that it would kick start our RE success. Our coach did not even complete the last three sessions with us and at almost $4000 for this program, it is unacceptable! We were given our last three sessions with another coach, but since we had to spend one of the three trying to bring him up to speed where we were, it turned out to be a waste of time! The materials are good at giving you a good basic education, but the coaching is a complete waste of money!! Also learned from a friend that what we spent over $300 dollars for buying the basic course, she bought on E-Bay for pennies on the dollar. Check E-bay before calling Carlton - save yourself some money and frustration! "
From: http://realestatecoursereviews.com/review/index2.php?pg=2&item_id=26&sort=date_added&order=DESC
Review after review says the same thing about the coaching program. Most a relatively happy with the basic program when used as a “beginner-type” program teaching the basics.
My 2 cents…SORRY FOR THE LONG POST!
Keith
OK OK, I was hanging back not saying a word but now I gotta say something.
Here is a POSITIVE testimonial from a coaching student who HAS gone through the coaching program and who has a first and last name. (Make sure you read it all, now)
I also got phone calls from the Sheets people for coaching after I purchased No Money Down. I asked them to stop calling and they did.
I read the NMD materials and after weeks of trying to apply the techniques and spinning my wheels, I got a letter in the mail about coaching. I called. I bought.
Here is my experience/opinion.
They ‘guaranteed’ me that during the coaching program (2 mos coaching, 12 mos resources) that I would do a deal that netted me 10 k at closing.
If you are looking for someone to take you by the hand a do a deal with you step by step, this is not going to happen! That is why many students are disappointed with the coaching course. (As Keith points out above) I have found through my networking that the problem lies with the person and not the program (As Mike so eloquently stated.)
I had no experience with investing or real estate so here is what the Sheets Coaching did for me: Coaching helped me line my ducks up in a row so I could follow a path to investing. I learned how to start at GO and get to Park Place & Boardwalk. See, I thought I could go straight to Boardwalk. (Sound like anyone you know???)
Coaching helped me:
Identify what type of investing I wanted to do and set realistic goals for income.
Get my financial house in order. Credit, DTI ratio, Financial Resources, etc.
Qualify for the types of loans I needed for my investment strategy.
Network with and interview professionals: Realtors, Lawyers, Appraisers, etc.
Hone in on a geographic areas suitable to my goals:
Research neighborhoods and properties.
Learn to search land records for liens, and mortgages that helped me negotiate deals.
Find seller financed properties.
Find private money lenders.
Accurately cash flow properties. (I use a killer spreadsheet now.)
Calculate repairs and improvement costs on a potential property.
Learn how to qualify tenants. I have had ZERO deadbeats so far.
Use a financial calculator. (Very powerful.)
I was doing very well with the coaching but I didn’t think that 10k deal was going to happen. Wouldn’t you know? After 7 months and 6 properties, my 7th deal netted 9600.00 spend able cash in pocket at closing! I was AMAZED!
Ok, so it was 400.00 shy of the Sheets 10k guarantee but that was just the beginning of deals with thousands and thousands of dollars of cash at closing.
In summary: I personally needed the coaching program to help me on the road to successful investing. My investing has paid for the course over and over. No regrets.
Can you get all the coaching information elsewhere? YES! Can you get it elsewhere cheaper or free? DEFINATLEY. Remember, you won’t get a hand held real estate deal served up to you on a platter.
Try the REI, the forums, books and e-books first if you are hesitant. Coaching will always be there if you can’t organize the information you find from other sources into successful investing.
JeffInCT
I would not spend $3K for any coaching. If you have the materials, they should be enough for you to get started. Any questions you might have that could be answered by a coach can be answered in these forums, or at your local REI Club.
Not knowing what questions to ask… That could be a problem.
If this is an issue for someone, then they need to get more education. That is not a reason to spend $3K.
For those of us that didn’t roll out of the womb into our first deal it may be necessary to invest some money in education. By your terms, college is a waste of money.
Besides like may father said. If I got it for free, I wouldn’t appreciate it as much. Now you’re not going to go dissin’ my dad are ya? 
The Sheets program is great for teaching you the basics. When it is time to be mentored, you HAVE to be mentored by people in your area doing what you do. I recommend a local real estate investor club. These guys tell you where they buy and how, and how much. They have contacts for realtors, mortgages brokers, and contractors that understand what you need. So they not only give you knowledge, they also get yo the contacts in your area. You can’t get rich sitting in a seminar, and these groups give you the knowledge specific to your area and enable you to be in the market in a month.
By the way, after that Sheets mentoring program they will have something else to sell you. You only need enough knowledge to get started, and not all the knowledge that exsists.
Thanks everyone for your insight. I find myself going back and forth about it. I also have googled Carlton Sheet’s basic program and there’s many negative things to say about it too. But you don’t know who is making the comments, good or bad. Did the people who failed really try to succeed or expect things to happen without effort? Are the people praising the program machines for Sheets? Who knows.
–grace2
I just wanted to comment on this. For many people, in terms of education alone, college IS a waste of money. Everything learned in college plus more can be learned by purchasing the same books, studying alone, and reading online.
The difference is our society respects the piece of paper that comes from the college, and in that alone the degree may be worth the money, depending on your career field.
There is nothing that comes from “graduating” a coaching program that makes others think higher of you. If you gained the knowledge from a coaching program, or from a book or online, you are in the same position in the end.
college is what each individual makes of it. if you f— off for four or five years, get some bulls— degree, and don’t know how to use the degree to help market yourself, then it might very well be a waste of time and money. we all know people who went to college and went back home to flip burgers or deliver pizzas because they had no idea how to use their degree to put themselves in a better position.
but if you know how to sell yourself, having a degree is a great tool in your toolbelt. college is valuable to varying degrees for different people, but the overall educational experience can’t be acquired by studying the books on your own and reading online. if you don’t know what it means to earn a degree, you really shouldn’t comment on it. you only make yourself sound ignorant.
cecsix,
I’m not sure if your reply is to me or the original poster who compared college to a coaching program, but you basically made the same point I did in a different way, so I hope it was not me you were replying to and calling ignorant.
Basically, the conclusion is:
College degree + knowledge is better than just the same knowledge learned elsewhere (because the degree has meaning beyond the knowledge learned).
Coaching course “graduation” + knowledge is NOT better than just the same knowledge learned elsewhere (because the course graduation has no meaning in and of itself).
So they are not comparable, as the poster I replied to tried to do.
You both are right. College is a waste of time and it is not. I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in mechanical engineering. I have never designed a uniformed shaft or derived a first law of thermodynamics for a closed system since I got out of school. I did learn how to solve problems which is the basic concept behind the self help business books you can buy of the shelf. What it does do for you is you learn how to matriculate through a system that is full of balances, gates, & blocks and successfully reach your goal. You also learn how to deal with people that are not like the ones you grow up with. Best of all, it gives you contacts with the people that are going to run the world one day, and the kids of the ones that are running the world today. I got my MBA and I don’t use the tools that I learned in class. Most of the functions you learn how to do by hand are done by running reports in SAP, or PeopleSoft. Anybody that understands which of these reports puts money in your pocket and which don’t can do the analysis without an MBA. What a degree dose is it puts you into a self-selected group. You are a person that will invest 4 or 5 years making yourself better. The only people that are better at making it are country people. That is because they know how to make things work right.
That being said, a degree gets you hired, I am on this website trying to get out of the employee’s world and into the millionare’s world. A millionare doesn’t need a degree.
Just to be clear since people obviously aren’t reading all of what I wrote, I do NOT think college is a waste of money. I said that for the EDUCATION ALONE it is not worth the money. I also stated that the degree IS worth the money, depending on your career field.
For the record, I have 2 degrees and am halfway through a 3rd, so I certainly don’t view the overall result as a waste of time or money.
okay tj, my fault, i misunderstood your post.
please forgive me. ;D
No problem, I should have been more clear with my thoughts