"No Money Down" real estate - Posted by Ben Branson

Posted by RR Smithf on May 16, 2000 at 18:53:46:

Dear mr area 51: please stay the heck off my board. I use mega memory (IT WORKS!~)WHY WOULD we waste our time on you when there are perfectly good students we can teacher REI to? Maybe you should ask those RE agents how to make money since they know soooo much about REI. Why is Bruce Lee dead if he was such a good martial arts instr.? But basically you are absolutely right, I have a secert method of making money, and you will (now) never know about it.

“No Money Down” real estate - Posted by Ben Branson

Posted by Ben Branson on May 16, 2000 at 15:02:25:

I understand from several real estate agents that while the Sheets method may have worked several years ago, the times and the real estate laws have changed. Also, what may work in onne area of the country may not work in another area.The questions I have are if the program works so well, why isn’t Carlton Sheets still doing the program himself? Also, why if he was making so much money would he tell anyone about it? If I was making that kind of money, I think I’d keep it to myself! Some of the infomercial guys have filed for bankruptcy and/or have gone to jail. Kevin Trudeau (host of Mega Memory, Mega Math, Mega Speed Reading, and others) served two years in a Federal institution for making false and misleading statements about the products he was involved with. There is a lot of info on the Net about this. I have read the actual court papers from the Trudeau case. I hope this helps and check out the Net for more info.

Re: - Posted by Jackie

Posted by Jackie on May 24, 2000 at 04:28:53:

First, let me say I agree with HR about welcoming your sarcasm - even though I didn’t find it sarcastic. Your bravery in expressing your concerns and feelings opened the door to some great and encouraging information that made tons of sense. I was very skeptical about this and felt somewhat like you and the responses reminded me of the truth. Entrepeneurs do not stop at one source for making money. Any intelligent and motivated person will go the extra step and sell his knowledge because it opens the doors to more and more income and tax right offs. His ability to build all of these sources of income is what makes him different from many of us. And whenever someone sells something, they are ALWAYS a target for skepticism, criticism and legal stabs. Look at the presidents and even famous religious people who sell…religion.

I do have to tell you, though, that it is not true about people keeping wealth secrets to them self. For one, most people are very proud of their accomplishments and love to tell about it. I have friends in real estate who have tried to sell it to me and they have done QUITE WELL at it. I have procrastinated for 5 years while these people tried to teach me FOR FREE what Sheets is selling. And that is FOR FREE. If they really wanted to, they too could make money off their knowledge and experience.

It is true that the opportunity is still there. I see it work and HOPE it will for me. I know Sheets is out to make money off of his course, but I believe a person can make it work for them. It truly depends on the person. Not every one is cut out for all opportunities. I know it takes an investment of your time and patience. These houses are not sitting there with red flags on them and the experienced investors are out there grabbing them. But, they are still there because I know too many people who have done it and are still doing it - they are ADDICTED to it.

Your skepticism is still healthy…it is what will make you educate yourself better and be more cautious and LEARN. And it helped me. I gained a lot from your posting…THANKS and GOOD LUCK

Let’s Take it Piece… - Posted by David Alexander

Posted by David Alexander on May 18, 2000 at 20:12:00:

by Piece.

I understand from several real estate agents that while the Sheets method may have worked several years ago, the times and the real estate laws have changed.

The Laws did change… in favor of Investors and business people who use entities to make the tax laws work in their favor.

Also, what may work in one area of the country may not work in another area.

It only works where you do… That Simple. Do you think their aren’t people with problems everywhere that will lead them to become a motivated seller.

The questions I have are if the program works so well, why isn’t Carlton Sheets still doing the program himself?

Because Real Estate is only one part of wealth. You build businesses to produce the cashflow to buy more RE. Selling information is a very viable business also, nothing wrong with leveraging your knowledge to make money. Write something once and make money on it forever, just good Business.

Also, why if he was making so much money would he tell anyone about it?

Why Not? I tell people all the time how to do this stuff. Few listen… but that’s there hang up. Wouldn’t it make you feel good to help the masses of people if you could? When the Student is ready the teacher will appear.

If I was making that kind of money, I think I’d keep it to myself!

That’s your right. But I promise you when you truly start making any real amount of money you will want to give back in some way.

Some of the infomercial guys have filed for bankruptcy and/or have gone to jail.

Filing Bankruptcy and going to jail have nothing to do with the information being put out… You can learn great things from even homeless people. Because they are homeless doesn’t mean they don’t have wonderful experiences. It means they couldn’t apply them in their lives. It is also the lack of either good business or ethical business is some fashion. Don’t kill the information because someone isn’t a good or ethical business person. The only thing that does is make you the close minded for not being able to intelligently separate good information from bad information and understanding the difference between buying and selling something and running the a good business.

Kevin Trudeau (host of Mega Memory, Mega Math, Mega Speed Reading, and others) served two years in a
Federal institution for making false and misleading statements about the products he was involved with. There is a lot of info on the Net about this. I have read the actual court papers from the Trudeau case. I hope this helps and check out the Net for more info.

As far as This guy have no Idea and it doesn’t have anything to do with the topic of RE. But, making false statements about product is a bad business practice
doesn’t necessarily make the product bad.

Hope you understand,

David Alexander

Re: “No Money Down” real estate - Posted by HR

Posted by HR on May 17, 2000 at 19:36:07:

Ben,

Here are some thoughts to consider.

First, this site is for the (free) personal education of all regarding rei. Take advantage of it. Read the posts, the free articles, etc. and keep an open mind.

Yours is a very, very basic question. Allow me a stab at some reasonable responses.

Assertion #1) Sheets ain’t current anymore. Ben, this is nonsense. The techniques that CS advocates are timeless; the laws have not changed to hinder them, especially since many of his techniques involve creative ways to come up with a down payment (in tandem with owner financing). Using credit card advances, borrowed funds, asset swaps, etc. will not be outlawed, especially by re laws.

Assertion #2): A rose is not a rose is not a rose. True. The rei market varies from region to region. One region may also have a lot of older houses and thus be a better ploy for one technique (like rehabbing) than another region that may have a lot of homes not selling very quickly (lease option). So what. Thats EXACTLY why one should know multiple rei techniques, ie. so one can capitalize on the unique opportunities of your market. The solution is greater education, not less.

Assertion #3): CS ain’t investin’ no more; what gives? The truth, Ben, is that selling info to large numbers of people (with large profit margins) is easier than hustling to create a re deal. The sad, horrible, unforgivable, distasteful, democratic, depressing truth is that rei takes work. A LOT of work. Selling info is easier than creating deals.

Now, that does not necessarily invalidate the quality of his information. Just cause he no longer practices what he preaches doesn’t make his sermon any less valuable or accurate. It just means he ain’t current with the market. And that’s the context one must remember with CS: he certainly ain’t current with the market.

Assertion #4) If it’s so lucrative, why spread the bread? This is my personal favorite. Ben, let’s think about this for a moment. Suppose you had a rei technique that was so profitable, you could make 10k on at least every deal you did. How much money could you make in a year?

More specifically, how much money could you make in MY market in a year? If you become proficient and make money in your market, why do you think you can automatically invade and make money in my market? CS says that there’s enuf re deals within a 5 mile radius of your home to make you rich. He’s right. Why then, would you want to travel thousands of mile to my market, to compete with me, long distance, when you can do well right around your own block? You see, Ben, he can share it because (as you pointed out in assertion #2) re is location specific, and one person’s success in one market doesn’t often impact my success or failure in my local re market. Hence, he can share it without much fear of competition.

Assertion #6) Greed. The truly wealthy, truly successful get to the point where they have made it, and their new personal wealth becomes sharing their knowledge and skills with other addicts who love the same pursuits so they can watch these proteges become wealthy too.

Assertion #7) these bums have made some big boo-boos. Yes, some of them have. Take the great rei, Bob Allen, for example. Here, you have to separate the wheat from the sherman tank. Bankruptcy can mean big time scum bag scam artist. BK can also mean big time mistake, which has made the person even more qualified (ironically) to speak to and mentor others. Each of us has to decide which is which.

In order to decide, though, you have to actually assess the information. While you may not want to buy the CS info, there is lots of info here about rei. Read it. See if it makes sense. This is not one big conspiracy to sell tapes and books. We are all real, independent people making posts and living lives.

I’ve stated my opinion in a post below about CS; I don’t think it’s the best place to start. It sure beats not starting, though.

Best regards,

HR

PS. I disagree with some of my compatriots who disliked the sarcastic response to you. I enjoy a 'bout of intelligent scarcasm every once in awhile. For every ying, though, there is a yang. If one of them had given you a thoughtful response, I probably would have been a rude dude. C’est la vie. If that offends you, you probably don’t have the mettle to be your own business owner, especially in re.

Re: - Posted by Sean

Posted by Sean on May 17, 2000 at 05:44:56:

Its a sad day when we have to resort to negativity and cynacism to answer what we perceive are the same. Give the man good answers and point out where you think he is wrong and where you think he may be right. There are good Gurus and there are bad Gurus, there are proven systems and not so likely ones. The object is to recoginize the difference for both. This site is mainly for education, not smart replys. Looking at the Gurus and systems through rose colored glasses is no better than following them blindly like groopies or dismissing them out of hand.

No one will tell you now… - Posted by Secretkeeper

Posted by Secretkeeper on May 16, 2000 at 22:29:07:

You are absolutley right. It is one big scam. Thanks for saving us.

And the people who truly know how to do it will not tell you either since that is what you would do.

Bye.