I Spent $12,000 on a Guru’s Training Program — Here’s What Happened
Tags: Real Estate Investments, Entrepreneurship, Real Estate, Life Lessons, Investing

Two years after I graduated from college, I decided I wanted to switch career paths and invest in real estate. At my very first real estate association meeting, a national guru was speaking about investing in non-performing notes. I knew nothing about the topic or style of investing but was intrigued, so I signed up for their free two-day seminar that following weekend. I learned a lot, but of course not enough to start investing — at least not without making a lot of mistakes. Not to mention the entire afternoon on the second day was dedicated to upselling their mentorship program, which at the “diamond level” cost roughly $12,000.

$12,000 is a lot of money when you’re fresh out of college and earn a gross income of $40,000 a year. I had very little in savings at the time meaning I couldn’t purchase the program without going into debt. Of course, the sales agent that took each of us aside one-on-one to discuss the program options suggested I apply for a zero-percent interest rate credit card to pay for the program. Having zero credit cards to my name at the time, I was hesitant, but they were persuasive. So I did it.

I put just over $9,000 on a credit card that had zero interest for a year to purchase the program. It was honestly a pretty reckless move. I do not suggest going into debt, especially significant debt when you don’t have the income to support the repayment of the debt. But in my case, it worked out.

The best $12,000 I ever spent

I got started with the online course literally as fast as I could. I watched every video, attended every call, and put the work in, and within a year I was able to pay back the credit card after wholesaling, or “brokering” a note to another investor. But then I stopped.

I got scared. I got distracted. I paid for other real estate programs to “try them out” and end up seeing very little success. Nearly two years after I initially bought the program, I decided to return to my roots and refocus on investing in notes.

Thankfully my sister and brother-in-law decided to invest in our first real deal (where we bought and worked out the note deal rather than wholesaling it), which ended up earning a total return of 62%! We bought four more notes. And by the same time the following year, we owned 17 notes in 8 different states for a totaling just under $1,000,000.

That year I earned over three times my annual salary as a teacher. 2017 proved to be even better. We added 17 more notes to our portfolio and restructured our partnership structure with investors which allowed us to earn more from each deal. This was the year my husband and I decided to quit our full-time jobs and travel the country in an RV, something we continue to do to this day.

Why most guru programs don’t work

If you ask a real estate investor their thoughts on national gurus, the speakers who tour the country teaching people how to invest in X, Y, or Z, you’ll likely receive a negative response. Neverending sales pitches, high program costs, and sometimes shotty courses can lead to people spending tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars on training or mentorship, only to end up in debt and no further ahead in their real estate career. But that isn’t always the case, as you can see my story didn’t end poorly, but I know a lot that did.

There are a lot of factors that helped my story end successfully. To start, the program, while expensive, was still affordable for the opportunity in the marketplace. Non-performing loans were abundant and ridiculously cheap in 2012–2016. I bought a lot of mortgage notes during this time period and still missed out on a tremendous opportunity.

This course in particular is no longer taught by this guru, but if I bought their comparable course today I’d being paying over double what I paid in 2012. A growing interest in real estate investing has driven educational courses like this sky-high over the past decade, despite having less inventory for sale as the housing market recovered.

Secondly, I took action! I didn’t pay for the program and forget about it. I applied myself. I did what the guru said to do. I made cold-calls (seriously the worst thing ever). I sent email after email, attended conferences, met with investors, friends, family, talking about what I was doing even if they didn’t want to hear about it. I worked long hours into the night after work and on the weekends while my friends were out having fun. I put in the effort, and as a result, I saw results.

Unfortunately, most people who purchase guru real estate programs like this do nothing with it. They spend the money, and literally never log-in, join a call, or take any action. Even for those who do apply themselves, success doesn’t happen overnight. Rejected offer after rejected offer can get defeating. If you don’t have the determination or the grit to overcome the no’s, the setbacks, or the time it takes to get off the ground, it’s easy to give up and say the program was the problem.

It also helps that the program I paid into was a worthwhile mentorship. While there definitely were gaps in what they taught that I, unfortunately, learned the hard way, it gave me the necessary tools and knowledge to get started. Which is honestly, all you need.

Not all programs are considered equal

My $12,000 I spent on the guru’s course has been the best investment I’ve ever made. I definitely don’t recommend the method of paying for the venture in the same way I did, but it can pay off. If I had waited until I had $12,000 saved up I would have missed the opportunity in the marketplace and probably would have never gone back to buy the program.

If you’re going to invest in a real estate guru’s program, do your homework on the guru. Read reviews and speak to other people who are in or have “graduated” from the program. It also doesn’t hurt to do a background or criminal search on the person. While I wish I could say everyone in the real estate industry has a grade A record, there are a lot of crooks in this line of business. Also, do your homework on the opportunity in the current marketplace as it compares to the cost of the program.

If the course is charging tens of thousands of dollars that you don’t have see if there is a more affordable program possibly at your local real estate education association. Many times there will be a local expert that offers weekend courses at a much more affordable rate or inquire to see if they are open to mentoring you in exchange for work. Just make sure you are compensating them for sharing their time and knowledge accordingly.

If you’re going to go into debt to learn how to invest in real estate, make sure you apply yourself and do the necessary work. And be patient. Success in real estate doesn’t happen overnight. If you do that, there’s no reason a $12,000 investment in education could pay off big time.