Carleton Sheets - Longest Running "Infomercial Guru"

It's hard to believe, but Carleton Sheets has been promoting his real estate investing course for over 3 decades. I rember buying one of the earliest versions just to see what it was like - it was watered down information designed solely to whet your appetite and teach you just enough to make you want more details - and that is where he "gotcha". He would then pressure you on his "upsell" to "coaching".

Since then I have purchased several of the offerings of the later "gurus" like Armando Montelongo, Dave Lindahl and others. And having been a real estate investor myself (since 1969, when Carlton Sheets was still an industrial salesman and Dave Lindahl was a baby), I came to the conclusion that most, if not all, were, to put it frankly, rip-offs.

As far as I have been able to determine, other than "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate",  which I developed for the express purpose of counteracting the shysters and providing REAL help, none of the other "late night infomercial gurus" actually used real, professional investors as their "mentors" and "coaches". Most use third party companies like Mentoring of America (which was indicted by the FTC) or other outfit whose "mentors" are nothing more than scripted telephone operators. And to a man, every one of them use their "free" or low-cost initial offering to pressure people into their expensive up-sells, like mentoring, bus tours or boot camps.

To me, using such misleading tactics is deceptive, and that makes them scams in my book.

And I am not alone - almost every one of them has an "F" rating at the Better Business Bureau (mine - IntelliBiz - has been A+ for over 20 years). And the FTC and various state Attorneys General have shut down several, such as John Beck and John Alexander. The feds have also indicted Russ Dalbey. Eventually, they may get more of them.

Yes, I know it appears that I am on a crusade against the rip-offs in this industry, but that is because real estate investing has been my life for 44 years. It deserves respect, and does not deserve to be sullied by their ilk. So I will continue to battle the hucksters as long as I have breath in my body.