I read an article that said something about wholesaling and lease optioning and controlling property without a real estate license is illegal. Does anyone know what those states are? How do you avoid practicing real estate “illegally” without a license? I was wanting to eventually start doing cooperative assignment deals.
My other question is about mentors. How many of you successful people have used mentors? How many have become successful without a mentor? What’s the most you’ve paid for a mentor?
I’m considering The Naked Investor’s mentoring. Anyone ever use it? Or know someone who has? It’s $1685. But he says after you complete your first deal, he will refund your mentoring fee. I’m pretty poor. Even that much money out of my savings would make me feel a little tight for a few months. But if the mentoring could help me not be in this situation, it’d be worth it, eh?
Illegal? Maybe in North Korea, (nice missle, by the way), but not here in the good ol’ USA.
As for lease options, Michael over at The Naked Investor is the guy that gave me my start years back. I would highly recommend him. . .with one big caveat. If you don’t make the effort, nothing will happen.
He’s friendly, he offers full support, and compared to some of the other ridiculous progams I see out there, he is very affordable.
North Korea…funny…
MC at Naked Investor is the way to go as AJ said.
Start off with the $97 manual he has and spend time on his forum.
Illegal…nope…
What is illegal, (violates Occupational Code) is getting paid a commission for the sale, purchase, or leasing of a house if you are not licensed.
I’m suspicious that the ones who want mentors are the same ones with zero money and no job who want something for nothing. Not always, of course, but enough of the time to make me question the effort.
I had “silent mentors.” They were always available, and never gave me grief. They allowed me to work at my own pace; never asked me questions about my credit, my income, or my previous experience, or even my aptitude. I could contact them at any hour of the day and they never told me they were too busy, or sleeping. None complained after not contacting them for a long time.
They weren’t always cheap and none guaranteed my success. One cost me several hundred dollars up front with no guarantees of anything. I was expected me to work my butt off and be willing to start small, make small mistakes, and then scale up as I learned better.
Meantime, each time I went to any of them, I discovered something new, or got a better understanding of what I was doing. It was so successful that I added even more mentors over the years. Some only cost me about $20. Others cost me $300. A couple cost me $3,000. However, each provided a different perspective and insight and opened my eyes to different ways of thinking. I never asked for my money back.
You want to know who these mentors were. They were real estate books and courses.
Today I still add more to my mentorship program. Some I don’t contact much anymore, because I’ve pretty well mastered what they had to teach. Either way, none is offended if I ignore their advice, or prefer one over the other. It’s a beautiful thing.
:beer
Of course! It’s not like no one has ever shelled out thousands in mentoring fees and gotten what amounted to a snake oil sales pitch in return. Not all fear is bad. Fear is meant to alert you to danger and cause you be cautious about how you proceed. There is nothing wrong with being afraid, as long as you do not let fear paralyze you. Mostly the ignorant and the invincible feel no fear.
That said, I would gladly pay mentoring fees to the right mentor. Actually, I wouldn’t, I am too cheap, and I probably fall into the group that is ignorant about not being invincible.
You need to understand a real mentor will get you by the hand and lead you step by step. A snake oil sales mentor will give you books to read and you are put out in the cold. There are no free rides.
Remember this:
You can lead a horse to water but you can not make him drink.
I don’t understand; do you think finding information in books or by searching the internet for free is looking for a free ride, that newbies like me should pay someone for their education? Please clarify.
As for not being able to make a horse drink, I motivate myself to act. I don’t need a mentor for that. Goal set, plan, execute, that is all you need to accomplish anything. Set your goal, plan how you will reach it, and execute your plan and keep executing your plan until you reach your goal.
Oh, and if you want to make the horse drink, put salt in his mouth.
On the question of illegally practicing real estate, the laws vary in each state. It would be helpful for you to check with your local real estate department to learn for yourself what real estate practices are or are not legal. California has a legal department within it’s Department of Real Estate. Other states, I do not know about. Best to go to the source.
I have never seen anyone nailed except for one case and that was because instead of remaining or being just a principle in the deal he crossed over to creating an agency situation which requires a license. But even then most people you deal with don’t have a clue and you may get away with it forever unless something flaky happens that sends out an alarm.
As long as your acting as the principal and not representing you’ll be fine everywhere. A Realtor acts as a representitive. Don’t do that. If you have equitable interest i.e. (you have it under contract) you’ll be fine.
Mentorship!!! I’ve paid $10,0000sss and would do it again. I still have coaches. Mentors are very important.
When it comes to “mentorship” make sure the “mentor” DOES what you are trying to LEARN!!!
I wish I had relied much more on a mentor that had my same business plan in place.
If someone comes to me to learn, I screen them out to make sure they are willing to put forth the effort.
You are working for yourself…working for yourself is not for everyone…