Hey all
I just been in a 2 day semniar on training to be rich (Rich Dad Education). You know they put out some real good information but as they were putting out the info they were gearing you up to make a purchase on some more advance training starting at some real high numbers. I wanted to know how much have any of you invested into your selfs for learning the business?
How many thousands of dollars do you have to spend to get into the Platinum Inner Circle Group where they reveal the “SECRET” to getting rich?
Mike
how much education do you need to be successful? can you gain that knowledge on your own? can you take action on your own? what exactly are you looking to gain from the education?
It is really totally up to you… I was giving training this morning to Real Estate office and pretty much it came down to everyone hears what needs to be done, but no one takes action and gets it done.
What would it take to get you going?
"Give a man a fish you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, he will whine, complain, and demand his money back."
EXCELLENT AND VERY TRUE!!!
Mike
How much have I Invested learning the business?.. Not enough… I was one of those who didnt go to seminars or BCs… Learned the ole fashioned way and I can tell you that is the expensive approach…
With that said you can go to too many different type of investing BCs or seminars… Just pick a type of investing and learn as much as you can about that type…
And if you can team up with a mentor who will teach you the systems needed for a split that may be the best education money can buy…
I’ve got an awful lot of money in my education, but not one penny of it in real estate seminars.
I’ve paid for college, and taken useful classes like math, economics, business administration, advertising, foreign language, writing…
I’ve paid for travel-- where I go to mueums and places of historical interest and not just traveling so I can shop in a new mall.
I’ve put hours into research: books, library, on-line, live in person.
My opinion is that real estate is a lot more about getting in there and doing it than it is about studying other people’s methods that worked for them years ago in a different state.
Thanks alot for all your comments. I share alot of your same feelings towards paying all these monies for some system that wont even work unless you have made a commitment to sticking with it and if you make that decision why not look else where to find what you need rather than paying $9,000-$44,000 for a bc. I’ve have been on this site for about a year and some change, I have learn so much from all of you and it has not cost me nowhere near even a $1,000. Now I know information can cost but you cant pay some one to keep you commiteed and if you havnt put in the time to take care of your personal basic needs (credit score,budgeting,and etc) I really dont feel that paying a large sum for any semniar,bc,and mentor is not going to make a whole lot of difference in your success. I think you have to put your self in the position to become successful first in the way you think, the way you handle your own personal things, and etc before you can do an wholesale or rental. I just had to get that out of my head, I thought i was crazy for thinking that I can go out here and network, read books, find mentors an come up with solution to gaining my success.
Thanks alot guys!
I thought of this while I was sleeping last night and wanted to share it first :cool
Dreams + Actions = Reality :beer
You know I have people come up to me all the time and say “Gee Wallace you are doing great with Real Estate” tell me what I have to do to get where you are. etc. etc. etc.
When I tell them the secret formula, I get well, ummmm thats OK. I really have to see who is going to get “Voted Off American Idol” then maybe I will look into the real estate thing some more.
Guess you see my point here…
I am amazed that people will fully accept in their minds it is ok to go to college for 4 years for $125,000 - Then 4 years of Medical School for say $125,000 more - then 2 years of internship earning peanuts, not to mention all other living expenses to become a doctor to earn maybe after expenses by the 5 th $150K to $250K a year…
Where a lot of Real Estate Investors, well we earn that and a lot more all the time.
But…
They don’t feel any need to invest in any education to teach them how to invest in Real Estate. They feel they can learn it for free or get it through reading one book or taking a 2 day seminar class and hope for the best like the Newbies under Mikes last post :banghead
I will go out on a limb here and venture to say 95% of all the successful people in Real Estate Investing (lets say successful is maybe over $1,000,000 in net worth from Real Estate Investing) has and do invest a lot of time and money into their education whether it be in a formal class, reading every post on Rei Club and asking the seasoned investors questions, Working with a Mentor, attending club meetings, Reading books all the time and most times a combination of all of the above, and yes the secret I alluded to above… Hard work.
If you are not willing to do what ever it takes to succeed, then you end up like the folks in Mikes aka Property Managers last post, A “Gullible Newbie”. While his post might seem a little harsh to some, it was a valid point.
Anyway thats my 2 cents worth, and I am off to the gym.
Books are cheap. Even the “rich dad” books are $15 - $20. I’ve read them all for less than $120. I’ve read about 15 books. This site is free. I just bought the Carlton Sheets course on ebay for $40. There’s more waiting to be bought. It’s a good course for beginners. I think I may have spent about $300 total. Another good book is " The Millionare Real Estate Investor" by Gary Keller $25. Hope this helps.
No matter how many classes you take or books you read, the best teacher is experience. I say that because I read a ton of books and listened to all the gurus. The real investing experience comes from doing deals, evaluating deals, and working with owners. You can sit back and take as many classes as you want to get the basics, but nothing beats actual deals.
It’s amazing the stunts and tricks people will try to pull on you and you have to be ready to not be surprised.
Experience IS the best teacher, yet learning how the business works (the basics) from the books/courses is much better than simply “jumping in.”
And hard work IS the secret. It may be simple, but it ain’t easy!
As to money on education goes, you can go as cheap or as expensive as you want. If you think that you can read these forums, put together the ‘how-to’s’ from the various posts and make it happen, great. You can also read books on the subjects that interest you. And while books are cheap, the library has them for FREE. All it takes is your time. If that doesn’t work for you, check out Ebay. There are always good deals on there from others who paid the big bucks on those expensive courses that probably laid out a complete gameplan, but alas, it required EFFORT for it to WORK.
Usually we’re asked does this course or that course work? Which works better? The answer is NONE OF THEM WORK! All they do is supply you with the information, you have to work.
So the answer to your question is what, or how much, will it take for you to take the plunge into the market? That is exactly how much you need to spend and how much time you should take doing it.
Raj
Experience IS the best teacher, yet learning how the business works (the basics) from the books/courses is much better than simply "jumping in."
…and an equally important step is to join your local REIA and make friends with the SUCCESSFUL investors in your area. These investors will know all the local things that are so critical: contacts, local rules and laws; market information, etc.
Good luck,
Mike
I agree 100%, EXPERIENCE is the BEST teacher. I seen a John Beck (He’s a joke) commercial in June of 2005 and said I can do that. So I bought his $40 course and found this site at the same time (Thank God!). I jumped right in and bought my first property in August of 2005, that’s right ONLY two months later. I made over 30k on that deal and have NOT looked back since. John Locke (awesome guy) helped me with the negotiations on that first property. He even gave me his personal phone number to call him, thanks JOhn ($CASH$). I have like 8 rentals and have done a bunch of rehabs the past couple of years. As a matter of fact I’m working on two rehabs now, just finished one two weeks ago and it’s for sale, for a total of three in the last few months already this year. How have I done this so fast, I didn’t let fear set in, I just took ACTION and continue to take ACTION. So as you’re reading those books/courses take some ACTION and get some deals.
Good luck
If your PATIENT your education can PAY YOU!!!
I’ve said this here before but it bears repeating…
YOUR FIRST DEAL HAS TO BE A HOMERUN!!
Your first property is going to teach you a LOT. If your patient and get out there and DIG, you can find some really great deals. The first property you buy is going to determine your future.
I have a friend whose wife thought he was going to lose his shirt buying real estate. They had some bigtime arguements over this. He would call me all the time asking for advice. I told him that IF he found a really great deal on a property, (something he could get for 50 cents on the dollar or less.) His arguements with his wife would end the DAY that house sells.
He did exactly as I advised…He called me with deals, he looked at everything, he ran numbers on everything, he told anyone he could, he wanted to buy homes. And then it happened…he found a smokin’ deal on a nice 3 bed 1 bath ranch home, bought it for 40 cents on the dollar, didn’t go crazy on the rehab, sold it in 55 days and put $63,000 in his bank account!!
Guess who’s in the passenger seat next to him everytime he goes to look at properties now???
This guy made $63,000 NET in 2007!! He and his wife estimated that it would have taken them about 10 years of very disciplined saving to accomplish what he did in 55 days through a well laid out real estate invesment plan.
I find you pay one way or the other…in the seminar or in the field.
Education is very important but most education seminars are overpriced.
Try to talk with someone in your area that is successful (houses, cars, etc) because of a particular seminar…and then offer to pay them to teach you.
I agree. I got my initial education in the school of hard knocks. The cost of the mistakes I made was several thousand $ higher than the cost of the book or home study course that might have helped me make better investment decisions.
I agree with most of the posts that say the seminars and bootcamps are usually a waste of time and money when most of the information you get out of those seminars is available for free on websites such as this one.
If you have picked your real estate investing niche, your public library probably has a lot of books to lend you that will give you 90% of all you need to know for free. Once you know which specific details you are lacking, then find the guru book or home study course to fill in those blanks if your internet resources can’t do it for you.
I’ve already paid for college (well, technically, still paying for it), and I’m not about to blow another wad just to have some guru tell me his investing “secret” that will bring me instant riches. The classes I took in college and the work I’ve done since have already taught me more than enough in terms of understanding basic finance, cash flow analysis, etc. What I am willing to spend is my time so that I can read as much as possible, do some paper trading (practice my RE analysis skills), and most importantly, network. I will, of course, invest some very modest funds into books and into a local REI club membership.
3 years ago I left my 9-5 job and opened a small car dealer. I’ve only had new cars before and the only thing I knew was to turn the car on. 8 months later I lost my house my financed car all of my credit cards, and bills. Today business is very slow, but stable and I paid all but 3 collections. Some companies like to get paid 2 or 3 times for the same account :shocked
I would pay any price to know what I know now.
When you go to a seminar they have a lot of information and you may remember some nice things.
When you make a mistake. It hurts so bad that you will remember it all the time.
I bought my first investment home to live in last year. 120k no repairs arv of 160k. I am selling the house now for 139k. I dropped the price by 10k 3 times. After gas prices when up activity in this county is very scarce.
Lessons learned, never get emotional about a property. My wife loved the home. Too many new homes were built and right now there is a lot of competition.
3 months ago I had 4 houses under contract. My loan officer told me I was approved blah blah blah. 5 days before the first one closed he backed out. I lost 3 earnest money deposits.
Finally last month I found a property that I am able to pay cash for it and another one that my dad is financing.
Even if I loose every penny I am still going to try again.
If you had a financing contingency in your purchase offers, you should have been able to get your earnest money refunded. If they are lost, I hope it was not very much to begin with.
Education don’t has to be expensive
Saves you thousends on expensive mentor program (trust me, I know)