Posted by Julia Anne on March 08, 1999 at 17:00:45:
Hey, Karp! Don’t give an amount like $5k for your registration–then we would all have to pay that!
(I know, it’s still a bargain at any price, right?)
Thanks ya’ll, JP and Terry, for a great weekend of great inspiration and all lot of new friends for life! Did Karp ever spend all his winnings? Did Jerry close up the bar? Did Dan ever sell me a mobile home park? There is a no in there somewhere! Thanks again!!!
Hello From Dallas… - Posted by J.P. Vaughan
Posted by J.P. Vaughan on March 08, 1999 at 09:21:46:
We just wrapped up the convention last night, and all I can
say is WOW!
I have never met so many warm, sincere, friendly, helpful,
generous and loving people in my life. Just being in the
presence of so much positive energy and excitement was an
honor for me.
To say our convention was a success may be the understatement
of the year. Sure…we provided you with some of the best real
estate educators and speakers in the country. But YOU, the
attendees, created the success of this convention. Your
willingness to share of yourself was the heart and soul of this
great event.
Beginners felt free to ask all their questions and the more
experienced willingly shared answers and insights well into
the wee hours of the morning. Where else can you pick the
brains of people like Jim Piper, David Segars, Ed Garcia,
Jackie Lange, Lonnie Scruggs, Robert Kiyosaki, Phil Fernandez,
and on and on and on…for the price of a friendly handshake?
And this continued for three days and three nights. The energy
present was so powerful you could feel it in your bones.
Terry and I want to express our sincere thanks to everyone
who joined us here in Texas. This was YOUR convention,
this was YOUR success.
Thank you for your friendship and support. And thank you
for helping us present what was truly the BEST creative
real estate event of the year.
Sincerely,
JP Vaughan
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by J. Swindell
Posted by J. Swindell on March 13, 1999 at 17:30:36:
J.P. & Terry , Thanks for a terrific experience! Also, please pass my gratitude on to Jeanne & Dirk for their time, energy, assistance, & friendliness. It’s incredible the amount of information that was given at the convention & what a tremendously helpful & friendly group of people. Until I found your site a month a ago & attended your convention I had a number of unanswered questions about REI. Now, thanks to all of you, your great site & your wonderful convention, I have met a number of terrific people who gave me many of the answers I was searching for. Some are newbies like me in REI & there were many others with REI expertise that have all given graciously of their time, knowledge, & friendship. I am truly grateful to you & all my new acquaintances & new found friends throughout the U.S. I am really looking forward to next yr.'s convention! You have my sincere appreciation.
J.[Journey] Swindell [Arlington, TX]
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by J. Swindell
Posted by J. Swindell on March 13, 1999 at 17:29:32:
J.P. & Terry , Thanks for a terrific experience! Also, please pass my gratitude on to Jeanne & Dirk for their time, energy, assistance, & friendliness. It’s incredible the amount of information that was given at the convention & what a tremendously helpful & friendly group of people. Until I found your site a month a ago & attended your convention I had a number of unanswered questions about REI. Now, thanks to all of you, your great site & your wonderful convention, I have met a number of terrific people who gave me many of the answers I was searching for. Some are newbies like me in REI & there were many others with REI expertise that have all given graciously of their time, knowledge, & friendship. I am truly grateful to you & all my new acquaintances & new found friends throughout the U.S. I am really looking forward to next yr.'s convention! You have my sincere appreciation.
J.[Journey] Swindell [Arlington, TX]
Awesome Three Days!!! - Posted by Baltimore BirdDog
Posted by Baltimore BirdDog on March 10, 1999 at 15:24:42:
Dear J.P.,
Where to start? There were so many great things about the convention. I was so excited after I got home at 1:00AM on Monday morning, it took me another hour and a half to fall asleep! So many new friends and so many new ideas, I can’t stop thinking about real estate and the day when I can hand in my resignation and start investing full time. Thanks so much to you and Terry, all of the speakers, and everyone who attended for making these three days so incredibly enjoyable. Everyone was so friendly, outgoing, and more than willing to share their knowledge and experience. Thank you a million times over for putting together such a great event. I feel like I’ve made tons of lifelong friends whom I can turn to for advice and encouragement throughout my investing career. What a great three days! I can’t wait until next year!!!
With utmost sincerity,
-Jeremy Amsden
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by Jen NE
Posted by Jen NE on March 10, 1999 at 12:16:07:
I cannot thank you enough for the convention. As a newbie, I didn’t know what to expect, but it exceeded anything that I could have imagined. I couldn’t believe how friendly everyone was and all the great information. So I’m pumped to go!
So I just wanted to say Thanks or HI:
Terry & JP - goes without saying - great job and thanks for taking the time so that others can have such a great experience!
My Roomies - Julia Anne & Diane - What an exciting bunch we were together - getting in trouble with security 10 minutes after we meet!! And I was worried that you’d be boring. 
Thanks for letting me room with ya!
Lisa from Oz and Paul - Tons of laughs, great to meet you. Keep in touch.
Steve Muldoon - Thanks for carting me around Dallas!!
KARP - Thanks for recongnizing GIRRRRL Power!
David, Phil, Dan, Jerry, and others for sponsoring the ideas contest!!!
Dan Fink - for holding me up what I was shaking reading the darn thing
Steve Cook - for paying for our dinner at Hooters with his prize money. I’ll eat anywhere for a free meal Jerry - “What color were her eyes!”
----and Hi to anyone one else I left off…
Keep in touch and talk to you soon!
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by Rodney (AZ)
Posted by Rodney (AZ) on March 09, 1999 at 22:40:58:
After all the comments, there is probably not much to add. However, I feel obligated to say something. I am brand new to REI, and found the CREO website by accident. On a lark, I booked the convention, mainly because Lonnie Scruggs was speaking (Love ya, Lonnie). I really didn’t know what to expect. I had read ALL the books and was locked into the paralysis by analysis mode. Know what to do, but lookin’ for the “right” opportunity. You know what I mean. Little did I know what was in store for me.
You see, I am a quiet person by nature. A convention is not something that I would usually plan for myself. But something about CREO compelled me to investigate further. I mean, Lonnie was going to be there anyways, so it wouldn’t be a total loss no matter what! Man, was I unprepared for what happened.
I saw people, just like me, that were doing what I had been dreaming about. I met folks that I recognized via their online monikers. Highly successful, but just like ME! But, they were nice and friendly and willing to share. I was not prepared.
The speakers were great. I learned something from all of them. I purchased some of their courses, just because they “spoke” to me during their presentation. I had not planned on doing so. (Thank God for plastic!)
BUT…My enduring memory will be of the folks that were JUST LIKE ME, successfully doing the deals that I only dreamed about. That assured me that I can do the same. They went out of their way to educate me. They made me their friend. I didn’t come looking for friends. But they must have come looking for me.
By Sunday, even a “shy” guy like me was in network mode. I was (and am) on fire. I have never been in such an environment where so many like-minded people were in the same place at the same time, eager to share their knowledge and expertise. I was blown away. I can humbly state that I have never in my 45 years EVER experienced anything like it.
I was so moved by it all that I made a personal promise to someone at the closing hours of the convention, to take action in a specific way. I will be posting more on this when I fulfill my “obligation” to that person.
Special thanks to Terry Vaughn, Stacy (AZ), Journey Swindell, Scott Britton, Lonnie, and Dirk Roach for their fellowship and inspiration.
Rodney (AZ)
What a thrill … - Posted by Alex Gurevich, TX
Posted by Alex Gurevich, TX on March 09, 1999 at 12:35:25:
it was to get together with a bunch like that. There were dynamic speakers, charisma, chemistry, and enterpreneurial spirit in abandance. There were success stories, exchange of ideas, just plain chit-chat and making friends.
The fascinating transformation in the folks just starting out, to see how their confidence level grew from day to day as they talked to more and more experienced people at the convention.
The ideas I picked up in conversations with (and I’m sorry, I know I am going to misspell some names, and I’m gonna miss some names too) Ed Wachsman, Jackie Lange, Dan Luibell, Jim Piper, Bud Bransetter (our chat was way too brief, sorry I could not find you later). Even Karp, who was way too drunk, gave me a gerat tip, which I can’t remember now; I guess I was too TIRED too.
I have tried in the past to play with notes, learned the lingo, the calculator, the techniques, the yields, but I could never quite really figure how to put them together with other things that I do. After talking a bit with John Behle after hours, I am starting to get a feel for how I may capitalize on that market. I had a perception of a lot of competition in the marketplace from other note brokers. Now I realize they are just folks with minimal training to flip the notes. While the real money is in creating your market, buying, holding, and trading them. Thanks John.(BTW, I got your course, expect some e-mail from me soon.)
I feel sorry, I had only a couple of days and I did not get a chance to chat with other folks I wanted to: Lonnie, Scott Britton, Ed Garcia and on, and on…
Robert Kiyosaki was unbelievable, especially at the round table, where we forced him to dig deeper into the stuff he was presenting during his key-note speach. Wha t a shift of paradigm in thinking rich (J.P., you oughta get him again next year).
Last thanks (should have been first) go to J.P. and Terry for creating this site and hooking us all together. It’s a great PRIVILAGE. It was a pleasure to have finally met you both.
Thanks to all, I truly enjoyed the show.
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by William, Columbus, OH
Posted by William, Columbus, OH on March 09, 1999 at 24:42:24:
I attended a pre-convention class at the Noteworthy
convention in downtown Dallas on Thursday. I told my counterparts that I was pulling out and attending the
CREONLINE convention in Arlington…but had misgivings
about my decision. I am a note buyer…maybe I belonged at the Noteworthy convention(?). Am I glad I made the choice that I did. Having attended seminars, etc. in the 70’s such as…Lowery-Nickerson, Mark O Haroldson, etc. I got my start in the 0-down real estate business. I have attended many conventions & seminars but have NEVER seen anything like this one!!
People like Paris, LA; S. Cook (Vase-man)and others greeted me like they were neighbors. The speakers were AWESOME in that they gave so much of themselves.
More than I remember from past events. Bronchick was
ENERGY & knowledge, Britton was experience that works
from a REAL human being…I could echo everyone on & on. The Vaughn’s were exceptionally humble & gracious.
You gotta know there’s a Higher Power involved in this
situation that is of such benefit to so many where all involved are helping one another. After hearing the Austrailians & New Zealander’s talk of their situation
I can only say…GOD BLESS AMERICA and J.P. & Terry!!!
Thanks for all you have given us!!
Don’t forget… - Posted by Donna (SoCal)
Posted by Donna (SoCal) on March 08, 1999 at 23:25:54:
…What Jackie contributed! She deserves a vase of some color for her contributions.
Bravo to J.P. and Terry: I have never had a website change my life, and to experience the same generosity of knowledge and spirit that I have found here on CREonline was an experience I’ll never forget.
The speakers were dazzling, the networking open and unintimidating for a newbie like me, and the opportunity to stretch my American Express card to it’s outer envelope was unheralded; all three have given me the motivation to get out there and do it.
However my favorite moment of the entire convention was meeting my chatroom compadre Sandy-FL and her saying,“You’re a brunette! I pictured you as a blonde!”
Donna (SoCal)
See you next year!
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by Bruce Caouette
Posted by Bruce Caouette on March 08, 1999 at 22:58:20:
What can I possibly add to everything else that’s been said?
As a newbie, I was hoping to “pick up a tip or two” from JPiper or JB or some of the others I had met in the chat room. What I got was such a deluge of advice, encouragement and insight that I think the end of the idea chain is still in Arlington and hasn’t quite caught up to me here n Arkansas yet.
JP and Terry…THANKS, THANKS, Thanks, THANKS, and befor I forget, Thanks!
JB, JimP, Concetta, Tarun, DavidS, Dirk, ScottB, John Burley, DanF, Paris, GregB, JimR (1 and 2), Debbie, Mr. Kiyosaki, Mr. Bronchick, Mr. Behle, Mr Garcia, Mr. LeGrand and to those I just can’t remember because I don’t seem to be able to concentrate too well the last couple o’ days, remember…Thanks.
Wow! and a note for newbies who couldn’t make it. - Posted by rayrick
Posted by rayrick on March 08, 1999 at 22:00:21:
I know this is starting to get a little redundant, but I feel compelled to weigh in.
THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN’ AWESOME!
First, the speakers were interesting and informative, but I have to confess that for me, that proved to be secondary. I came to the convention with a mental list of people that I knew and respected from this site and one by one, I sought them out. And you know what? They talked to me. They laughed with me. They became my friends. And they shared with me more information than I could have gotten in many years of floundering around on my own. I have been PROFOUNDLY enriched by the experience, both on a personal and professional level.
And let me share one other thought for the newbies out there who didn’t attend. You know the people on this site who you can tell REALLY know their stuff? I learned something about them. They are not seven feet tall. They are not as handsome as Tom Cruise. They are not possessed of dazzling intelligence (well, okay, some of them are!) They’re just folks like you and me. But they did something that maybe you haven’t done yet. They acquired some specialized knowledge. They had the courage and the determination to put that knowledge, with a healthy dose of their own creativity, into action. And they had the persistance to keep going until they succeeded.
One of the greatest gifts I took away from the convention was the absolute certainty that you and I CAN do what they did. The knowledge is available right here. The rest has to come from within you and me. Let’s go out there and make it happen!
-Ray Richardson
I know that… - Posted by David Alexander
Posted by David Alexander on March 08, 1999 at 21:08:43:
Family Reunions are only once a year, and another one has gone by. It’s incredible when you can come to a place and leave with the feeling of knowing you have revisted friends and family and gained new ones. Everyone helping everyone regardless of level, Incredible!
David Alexander
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by Bassman
Posted by Bassman on March 08, 1999 at 16:45:30:
AMEN,to all the comments.I only found your sita last month, and have been very iompressed with it.The convention was AEWSOME!!! This was just the thing I needed to get kick started in the Biz.The networking was terrific. Unbelievable that exoerienced investors would be willing to share so much info with newbies. I feel I have made some long lasting friendships there.Anything i can do to help out next year ,J.P. just ask.
Im addicted to this site .
Your Friend.
Scott,Carol and little Jessica
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by chill
Posted by chill on March 08, 1999 at 15:27:36:
Before this Convention, I didn’t really know about J.P. and Terry and all these experts. My husband and I, as well as our daughter and son-in-law, attended mostly because of Robert Kiyosaki. We had read his books and played his game and when we noticed online that he was the keynote speaker – we were on our way.
Of course, Robert was everything we thought he would be, but now I am just overwhelmed by all of you guys – the Vaughns and all the speakers (Incredible) and all the friendly,helpful and energetic people we met in Dallas.
I’m looking forward to the next convention!!
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by Bill OK
Posted by Bill OK on March 08, 1999 at 15:24:57:
Many thanks to all. Looking foward to the meeting in June. Then to the one next year. Good Speed.
Use of Name Tags - Posted by Renee K - Richmond
Posted by Renee K - Richmond on March 08, 1999 at 14:34:51:
Wonderful, wonderful event!!
I really appreciated how everyone consistently wore name tags throughout the weekend. Many times at meetings/conventions people wear them the first day and then shed them. It helped to keep the atmosphere open and friendly the whole weekend!
THANKS A BUNCH!! - Posted by Johnman
Posted by Johnman on March 08, 1999 at 14:19:20:
I really enjoyed myself! The information that was delivered was excellent. Everybody was friendly and yes, it felt like a BIG FAMILY REUNION!! My brother in law said that “If you don’t get motivated to go out there after hearing all the speakers then I don’t know what else could motivate you”. He was impressed too!
Thanks again! We are greatful for all of your efforts.
Johnman (John Morey)
Trapped in the Pinball machine of Knowledge - Posted by Paris
Posted by Paris on March 08, 1999 at 14:17:22:
This is probablly the closest description I can give for those were unable to attend. In our networking between speekers I would bounce from cushion to cushion. At each cushion I pick up a few points,bounced on to the next and did the same. It was as Karp said UNFREAKINBELIEVABLE. I didn’t meet one single person who was unapproachable,or unhelpful. If the question at hand was beyond that groups knowledge we just moved as a group until the question was satified.
This web site has changed and will continue to change lives of so. This would not be possible if it weren’t for two very generous and open minded indivduals,J.P. & Terry Vaughn.
I give these two a standing typo-vation if there is such a thing 8^) We should all be as creative as possible and continue to push the envelope. Best of luck to all, and J.P. reserve a spot for me next year…
Thanks…Paris N Baton Rouge
Re: Hello From Dallas… - Posted by Tarun_md
Posted by Tarun_md on March 08, 1999 at 14:11:43:
Jp and Terry,
Thanks a lot for an event that I will never forget. Just like you mentioned at the convention, this was more like a family reunion. Everybody was extremely helpful in answering my questions and I made a lot of new friends. This was indeed a fantastic event.
thanks a million.
Tarun