Choosing A Real Estate Investing Course

Late night TV clutters the airwaves with infomercials, and altogether too many of those revolve around some "guru" promoting his real estate course. While some are relatively good, the bulk of them leave you wanting, and provide little, if any substantive help in learning the career of real estate investing. Many are outright scams.

Before investing any any program, perform due diligence. In particular you want to know what they are NOT telling you.

First and foremost you should find out exactly what is included. For example, if you can get their "free CD for the cost of shipping and receiving (say, $6.95 - $9.95) then you are probably paying for a CD or DVD that is nothing more than a sales pitch, to get you to order their course or attend a "boot camp". There is a name for people who will PAY to get someone else's advertising - it starts with "S" and ends in "ucker".

Will you be getting a complete course? Is it a stand alone - in other words, is it LIKELY to allow you to get into investing without having to buy into any expensive up-sells? Almost all gurus sell a basic program devoid of useful materials in order to get you to buy into more expensive add-ons, like boot camps or "mentoring".

When you contact the company, find out if the mentoring is done in-house, and if the mentors are actual, practicing investors. In most cases the mentoring is provided by a third party who utilizes hourly telephone operators who have never purchased any real estate. Most of the gurus use hourly operators, so be certain on this. Again, there is a name for people who expect expert help from others who are worse off than you are.

And please, PLEASE find out about the hidden fees. Be very blunt and ask if there are ANY hidden fees, monthly charges or any additional costs. A great number of the so-called "gurus" unobtrusively charge your account a fee - usually $39.95 - each and every month. You agree to that in the small print. So either read the small print or ask, flat out.

And then there are "seminars" and "bus tours" by gurus like Armando Montelongo, Carlton Sheets or Ron Legrand. In almost every case the seminar is 90% sales pitch and 10% almost useless, general information.

Don't waste time checking the "online gripe sites" like ripoffreport.com. Most of those are even more bogus than the gurus themselves, as the gripes are never vetted - anyone can post anything, true or not. Ripoffreport.com and its founder have been under the microscope of dozens of state attorneys general and are sued regularly, and while they claim to be on the side of consumers, their own profile with the Better Business Bureau shows an "F" rating. You should not believe anything in the gripe sites. If a person posts a complaint there, it is because the credible, legitimate consumer protection sites such as the Better Business Bureau have already deemed the complaint to be invalid.

In other words, if you check online, first check the most credible consumer protection sites like the Better Business Bureau. Then, check a few of the sites that actually review the gurus instead of just posting gripes.

It may be a bit time consuming to find a viable course that will work for you, but it is definitely worth the effort. Even a part-time real estate investor can pull in 6 figures easily. And it's FUN!