Than Merrill's FortuneBuilders - But WHO is Building the Fortune?

 

We all know that real estate makes millionaires out of ordinary people. And anyone interested in real estate investing has probably heard of FortuneBuilders, operated by the former star of A&E’s “Flip This House” Than Merrill. It appears no city in America misses his real estate seminars.

But as Forbes magazine so aptly pointed out, seminars are not for teaching - they are for selling! And Than's "FortuneBuilders" is very good at selling. And selling. And SELLING!

"Kim" wrote me a letter recently detailing her experience with FortuneBuilders:

Here is Kim's letter - we receive many such letters every month:

Kim<******@ymail.com>
To:intellibiz@yahoo.com
Subject: Than Merrill
Mar 25 at 11:20 AM

"Where I already knew Than Merrill Fortune Builders would try to sell us on a more expensive program. We went to get some insight to the weekend workshop.

"Having previously been involved in some RE dealings but still learning it did give me some helpful info worth my $200

"We knew they would try to upsell a larger program & after looking them up expected $15,000-$30,000 as their price. People fell over at the $49,000 price tag then $34,000 or $25,000. In addition $97 monthly for software. $20,000 for an intense 2 day program after the Mastery program. It went on & on.

"They should be ashamed to ask that much. Sell books at $100-200, sell software for $250, sell forms for $300. Anything in bits & pieces people can choose, I would think they would get more sales as opposed to having all but 2 people walking out

"It's not an accredited college so don't compare it to one with those prices.
Yes invest in knowledge but don't rip people off.

"We are so glad we found "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate". A simple, complete program at a VERY affordable cost. Thank you"

The primary purpose of this article is to try and help keep some people from falling into the “medicine show” trap of the seminar circuits of infomercial gurus like Than Merrill, Armando Montelongo and the rest. That is not to say that their programs cannot work - what I am saying is that success stories are relatively rare, and NO real estate investing program is worth upwards of the $35,000-$60,000 some of these people charge.

FortuneBuilders first lures people who are desperate for financial security to their “free” seminar. This seminar is just a teaser, where a high-pressure sales pitch is used to get attendees to shell out $1500 for the REAL seminar. And at that “real” seminar the attendees are pressured to protect their $1500 investment by plunking down another $35,000 for the "full Monte”.

There are legitimate real estate investing courses available, but you won’t find them on late-night “infomercial” TV. And they will not cost an arm and a leg. Courses like “The Simple Man’s Guide to Real Estate” which includes everything needed to invest successfully, including free mentoring for life - and the cost is under $100 COMPLETE. How is that possible? It's easy - they operate as a not-for-profit, run strictly by volunteer investors. It's unbelievable what you can do when the profit motive is removed!