"Get rich quick real estate seminars have been around in one form or another for decades and for the most part are almost identical to one another" It's OK to dream, just don't bring your credit cards with you. 

A few weeks back a colourful personally addressed invitation stood out from amongst the usual stream of bills. An invitation to attend a Real Estate wealth building seminar hosted by Scott Yancey, the star of one of A&E's dozen or so Real Estate related shows, Being a sceptic I was doubtful of any life altering wisdom being gained from 2 hours in a Holiday Inn conference room regardless of how convincingly the promise of such was crafted.

Tuesday night I arrived 10 minutes ahead of the 6pm event time with a friend and fellow Realtor. Coming strait from a meeting and still dressed in business attire stood us out from the packed room of already seated patrons and perhaps as well to the ushers for whom we must have appeared choice targets for what was about to unfold. While other last minute arrivers were being directed by the attendants to the few remaining seats at the back corners of the room we were wisked to two unoccupied front row seats just spitting distance from the podium. 

A few minutes later the evening's main speaker for the event was introduced as he ran up from the back of the room head down and fists pumping. (why some keynote speakers still insist on doing this is a mystery) Typically this is the point at such events where the audience breaks into applause, even cheers. There was instead a moment of almost total silence that fell over the room, which the host expectingly ignored. This was not the laser white toothed bleach blond event poster boy Scott Yancey from the TV, whose promised presence was the lure deceptively used to get as many unsuspecting butts as possible into the seats that evening.

Instead for the next hour we would listen to some fast talking unknown shill as he unloaded a cesspit of  banal affirmations and platitudes concocted to persuade  all in attendance that he alone held the key to our much desired life of financial freedom and abundance. Not unlike the busloads who get dropped off each evening to door knock your neighbourhoods offering you a chance at salvation, this was just one template of an event that was no doubt simultaneously occurring in towns and cities across Canada and the US.

The last event of this nature I recall attending a number of years ago was held by Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad.  Another one of many "how to save your ass from the perils of poverty" authors and personalities who once a certain level of public recognition is attained, end up fronting programs that prey upon the vulnerability of the masses that stems from the want of something more substantial in life.

My earliest recollection of such programs which have been around in one form or another for decades and for the most part are almost identical to one another in their structure and intent, was by a guy named Tom Vu. Some of you will recall the tacky late night infomercials with him posing amongst bikini clad beauties next to yachts and Rolls Royces, delineating to us that we too could bask in the same glow as this once poor Vietnamese refugee simply by taking his rags to riches seminars.

To sum up, the event last night was bait to encourage you to sign on for a grand 3 day event in Toronto where the key secrets and the tools to begin building your overnight real estate empire in Donald Trump like fashion would be unveiled to you. From the various accounts posted online by participants, once you are there and out $2000 you are compelled and intimidated over the three days into giving over tens of thousands more of your dollars by hook or by crook for the additional must have products and resources one would need if one were indeed serious about achieving results from using their "systems".

With each page change of the polished power point presentation it was increasingly apparent to me that none of the time lines or any of the numbers presented as fact in their success formula's made one bit of sense in the real world. All of it was formulated on the premise of buying homes for half of their market value, then flipping them in less than 30 days for full price. The same Machiavellian pitch that the four-flushing Tom Vu delivered in his seminars 25 years earlier before being sued into obscurity by a number of his students for fraud and false advertising. Déjà Vu!

If you do manage to find a neighbourhood distressed to the point that owners are willing to part with their homes for half of their market value, all I can say is good luck to you trying to resell them anywhere close to full value inside of a year let alone in under 30 days.

Best of all as a Yancey program member, you can borrow 100% of the money you will need to begin buying homes right away, regardless of your financial qualification, and all from lenders available exclusively to members for a mere 1% interest!!!! What they neglected to share with us is any details on the compounding interest after that 30 days which a google search of registered complaints shows to have resulted in the financial crash and burn for numerous people who drank their kool aid.

At the intermission we beat a hasty retreat, forfeiting our promised free camera and complementary dinner, (if you can count the eat on your feet cold sandwiches and coffee being set up in the hallway as dinner.) I have no idea how many took out their Visas or MasterCard to buy a 2k ticket to the 3 day seminar that night. If 5 to 10 of the hundred or so who were there did I am sure the event was counted as a success by the promoters as it at least was for a couple dozen local babysitters.

Real Estate has and will always be one of the most successful tools for creating personal wealth. The knowledge and the resources to make money from Real Estate do not come from travelling carnival barkers trained to pick your pockets. 

Do your own due diligence before committing yourself and your money. There are legit programs on the subject to be found and even those are for the most part reiterations of information you can find yourself at your local Chapters Book store. 

Try one of these for starters:http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=don+r.+campbell 

Learning the market and learning how to select the few properties from the many which are best suited for investment, and leveraging the resources of genuine professionals, those being bona fide professionals who actually work at the front lines of the Real Estate industry day in, day out, these are the pillars to success. 

Master these steps and you will most certainly make money, not over night, but definitly over time. Many among us have and do, and do so by learning and sticking to simple and timeless principles, not by chasing rainbows painted by seasoned Nevada pitchmen.