You’ve probably seen the infomercials for “Your Town Your Real Estate Profits” by Dean Graziosi. Well, Dean actually called me the other day about a pay per click listing (he trademarked his name) that a friend had on his Google adwords account. This got me to add his products to my to-review list. As the son of a real estate investor, I took an interest in this as well. (more…)
This is a real estate foreclosure course that costs seven monthly payments of $487 for a total of $3409. They value it at “$30,000″ but they’ve never sold the bonuses at that price so take it with a grain of salt. This link will show you the actual offer.
They pressure you that only one more person will be accepted and you had better sign up or be left out. It’s all a load a crap and they will sign up anyone at any time.
What you have to ask yourself is would you do a business venture with someone who lies to you right from the start? I just wouldn’t put up with that at all. You’re going to have to decide for yourself whether to get into business founded on this approach.
Strangely, the one page we found a lot of information was here. There was a lot of Q&A about different questions on foreclosures.
Whenever I see a business opportunity that’s founded on photos of a mansion, an attractive woman fanning 100 dollar bills, and an expensive car, I run away from it like it’s on fire. If you have a quality product there’s no need to market it on that level.
There’s good opportunities for foreclosures in todays market, but it doesn’t cost $3,400 to learn. It takes a trip to Waldenbooks for a few books on the topic from different perspectives. Grab Cleo Katz’s current offering and some others.
My father is actually a real estate investor, we used to buy homes to renovate. Probably the most important thing is to find a qualified home inspector who was not referred to you by the Realtor handling the listing. The potential for a conflict of interest can spell disaster if the inspector gets compensated by the broker for helping sell the home (by not reporting all the problems with it). This isn’t often talked about but does and can happen.
I’d only get into foreclosures if you’re able to sit on a house for a while. Also I’d avoid high end homes for the time being. My dad is sitting on a 4,000 square foot mansion he just got done building in Australia and he said the buyers have really dried up. Hopefully as the stock market recovers they’ll return.
You can get a great deal, but until the mortgage market starts lending again (I just spoke with someone who had $200,000 to put down on a $400,000 house with good credit, and he couldn’t get a loan) it could be difficult to sell.
Just the fact they lie about availability (only one spot left!) to pressure you into buying puts me off. No successful business venture starts like that.
Cleo Katz is the author of “Secrets to Foreclosure Fortunes” a 220 page guide on buying foreclosures. As the son of a real estate investor I can tell you the more you know about real estate before you jump into it the better. Cleo has a very down to earth writing style and for $24.95 the information is well worth considering. Buying foreclosures can be profitable, but also risky. There’s problems you’ll run into that you don’t when buying other types of properties like if the home is still occupied you often can’t get in to see it before buying, and eviction can be an ugly process to get the previous owner out. Also some previous owners completely loot a house before being foreced out, you might buy end up with a “gut job” devoid of appliances, furnishings, or anything else of value.
There’s a lot of competition in this field, but good deals can be found. I would recommend anyone considering this to have money to invest plus a line of credit in reserve for unexpected problems or costs when buying a home just by exterior inspection. Finding good contractors and an experienced home inspector ahead of time is also a must, preparation is key for this kind of investment. Many are lured by flipping homes for big profits, but you can also lose money doing this so be prepared for it, not every project is going to make money.
Her book offers a lot of information that you absolutely don’t want to learn the hard way. You’ll need some knowledge of construction costs and home values, also knowing the laws or access to an attorney, and the financial legs to renovate and hold on to a home that’s slow to sell.
With the recent explosion of foreclosures this can be a good time to do it, but only if you’re prepared. If you’re brand new to the idea I would set aside a year to learn the business, buy books like these, secure credit lines, and check out who’s really good when it comes to general contractors and home inspectors in the area. Cleo has been doing this for 29 years and I’ve reviewed several people touting “2 years of investing experience” trying to sell a book or subscription about investing. Sorry but experience and track records counts when you’re out to learn to do this type of business.
In a nutshell, if you’re in a hurry, if you don’t have a substantial amount of money to invest and excellent credit, there’s other businesses that would be more suitable. If you’re well prepared and determined to learn it, her book is an excellent choice to get started.
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