A relatively new website, www.scamsgalore.com, has taken on the formidable task
of researching the major real estate "gurus" and providing accurate
reviews of their offerings. Unlike many review sites, these reviews were
put together from information gleaned from reliable sources like the
FTC and BBB, as well as a thorough study of the various offers being
promoted.
Some of the reviews are eye-opening, and produced some unexpected results. For example, the Carlton Sheets real estate course ranked in the top 5, while one of the current "kings ", Armando Montelongo seminars, ranked near the bottom. Another surprise is the rank that the Ron LeGrand Gold Club managed to eke out. But the review most visitors seem to be interested in is the review of Than Merrill and his FortuneBuilders
By
and large, most of the better known gurus did not fare well at all. The
very fact that they are "infomercial gurus" and host seminars and boot
camps helps explain why - as Forbes so aptly put it, such tactics are designed not to teach, but to
sell. And when the focus of anyone who offers to teach anything becomes
the selling of their own products and services rather than teaching - well, you end up with garbage.
There are good courses
that teach real estate investing, such as "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate." This is a program that, offered on a non-profit basis,
has but one focus - teaching people how to invest in real estate. And it
is the only real estate course that provides free coaching - they have
solicited the help of actual, successful investors to volunteer their
services to help others learn the secrets of investing. And students can actually consult on the phone, one-on-one with the author, Bill Vaughn, personally. No other guru does that!
And
there is another difference - "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate"
is low cost, and has maintained an A rating at the Better Business
Bureau for nearly 20 years, even though they are not "accredited" (i.e. dues
paying members). They chose not to be dues paying members in order to
avoid any possibility that the BBB would give them a top rating just to
keep the dues coming in each year. In other words, their A rating is
not bought and paid for.
All in all, it is up to each
individual looking to learn real estate investing to do their due
diligence. Sites like www.scamsgalore.com help folks to do just that.
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