Are House Flipping Seminars a Scam?
I have been inundated with advertisements for house flipping shows lately. Every time I turn on the radio or happen to be on Facebook, there is another add for a free house flipping workshop. I am a house flipper myself, and I also offer education for real estate investors. I have some strong feelings about the house flipping seminars, because of what they offer, how the sell, and their marketing.
Am I biased because I am a real estate investor offering education as well?
Yes! Although I think everyone is biased about just about everything. I offer education as:
-Books
-Online courses
-Free articles
-Free Podcast
-YouTube
None of my course are super expensive, and I honestly spend much more time investing than I do selling stuff. I also make much more money investing than I do selling education. However, there are people who want some extra coaching and I have tried to create some programs that offer that. Some of my programs come with email coaching and conference calls with me. https://investfourmore.clickfunnels.com/confirm-your-order
I happen to think my stuff is much more valuable than the "free" seminars, but the point of this is not to sell my stuff. I also think there is just as much value in reading books about investing as there is in attending many of those seminars. In fact, those seminars can be detrimental to your financial wellbeing. I will explain that soon.
Why do people teach real estate if they are making so much money investing?
I see this question all the time and on the surface, it sounds legit. Why would people who are making a ton of money flipping houses, take the time to create training programs for others? There are many reasons:
-Because they want to make more money. Let’s be honest, most people work to make money. Creating educational courses can earn you more money than simply investing alone. Some guys stop investing and simply focus on the educational part.
-Because there is less risk selling online than flipping a house. There is a lot of risk that comes with investing. Much of that risk can be mitigated with education, experience, and caution, but there is always risk. There is much less risk selling education online.
-It is easier to scale with online education. It takes a lot of work to flip houses. It also takes a lot of money. It is tough to scale a house flipping business, but you can scale education.
-Real estate investors love additional sources of income. I have money coming in from my real estate team, flipping, rentals, my blog, my books, and even Steemit. The real estate business can be very cyclical. The more sources of income you have, the better.
-People like to help others. Yes, people like to see something they teach help others succeed. It was an awesome feeling when I first saw my blog was helping others invest better.
So why don't I just give away everything I teach for free?
I have tried to help many people for free. In almost every case the people want everything given to them and are not willing to work for anything. My best students are the ones who pay me. They are committed, I am committed, and I know they are serious.
I also want to make money for the time I spend helping others. My time is valuable, and I am taking away time from other business teaching others. Making some money from it, gives me motivation to keep creating. I do not think it is bad to charge for education you provide, but I think some people take it too far.
How do the house flipping seminars work?
I have talked to many people who have attended the seminars, and people who have even taught them. Here are the basics:
-You get invited to a free seminar to learn about flipping houses with no money.
-You attend the seminar which includes almost no useful information but does motivate you.
-You are offered the chance to attend a 3-day event for a few hundred dollars to learn the real secrets.
-At the 3-day event it is almost all motivation again with little substance.
-You are then offered the chance to learn all the secrets with a mentorship that ranges from $25,000 to $50,000.
Many people buy into these programs. How do the seminars get people to spend so much?
-The sales tactics are based on time shares sales. High pressure, they make the rooms cold, they offer crappy food, they make you uncomfortable, because studies show people who are uncomfortable are more willing to buy.
-They try to convince you to raise the limits on your credit cards, borrow money from family, or find money any way you can. They are not targeting wealthy people with money to spare, but everyday people who do not have money to spare.
Once you sign up you are given a coach who has most likely never flipped a house. You are given information that most people could find online for free. You are most likely very disappointed and will never buy a flip because you are so far in debt.
Out of all the people I have talked to that attended these seminars, I believe one went on to actually flip houses. They ended up buying in a different town, many years after attending. Most people would be much better off taking that money and buying a house! You would learn more, feel good about doing something, and might even make some money.
My advice is do not attend those seminars. They are a waste of time, money, and you might get sucked up into something that will ruin you financially.
You are actually better off going to a local REIA networking with rehab flippers or asking questions on sites like BiggerPockets. You can also buy a property that needs a little bit of cosmetic enhancements and learn that way. Spending that kind of money with all the available resources online and offline doesn't seem to be a good use of your money.
I agree. The REIA meetups and Bigges Pockets can get confusing though as there are a lot of people with a lot of opinions, who may not have every invested themselves.
I agree with you on most points. I believe that paid RE education is generally valuable and more valuable than most free stuff, but I would argue that there is so much free content that a person could spend months and months full time listening to all the free podcasts, going to all the free meet up groups locally, reading normal priced books (under $25), reading free ebooks, reading forms, googling questions you have, etc. before someone should buy anything. Thoughts? Especially for noobs.
Yes, there is a ton of free stuf out there. There is also a ton of free bad info out there too. I think there is value to paying for someone who you trust and believe in to help you. There is also a time factor where if paying someone to help you will cut the learning curve in half it is probably worth it.
You should educate yourself a lot before jumping in.
The only reason anybody should attend the seminars is to snag the few people in the room who have some money to spend, and get them to spend it with YOU, rather than the BS seminar. lol
Good plan! I have thought about going just to warn people lol
You should do a dtube seminar. Are interest rates going up yet?
Yes, rates have gone up slighty, but they are still incredibly low.
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