Posted by Mark (SDCA) on March 07, 2001 at 08:23:48:
I didn’t really have a point. You asked. I answered.
But since you ask… My point is that not one of the answers in my post came from a multi-thousand dollar seminar or boot camp. It came from free sites such as this one and from books (including yours) all of which cost less than $30.00.
Mark
RUSS WHITNEY - Posted by michael e. v. knight
Posted by michael e. v. knight on March 06, 2001 at 01:49:46:
i am a real estate investor/builder in rhode island.in the last 20 years i have invested over $30,000. on real estate seminars (including travel and hotel expenses),books, tapes and videos. i own a lot of courses from a lot of people. in my personal library i also own russ whitneys books and tapes including the $99 infomercial course, sales course,etc. i tell everyone that asks me to help them in real estate that before i can help them (for free) they must buy the following items: russ whitneys books and tapes, carleton sheets course and videos, and robert kiyosaki’s books ‘rich dad poor dad’ and ‘rich kid smart kid’.
i have never met russ in person but can tell you from my own experience russ is the most honest and best real estate teacher i have ever bought a course from. anyone actually doing deals knows that russ is telling you the truth and also knows russ is a doer and not just a talker.
i will share 1 of my transactions with everyone. i bought a house lot for no $ down (borrowed money on a personal note to a friend)i then borrowed $ to build house and cover carrying costs from private lenders. i sent my buyers to a mortgage broker (i learned about mortgage brokers from russ’ materials). when all was said and done i made just over $10,000 profit, not a killing but not bad for no money down and less than 100 hours work (if you can call watching the people build the house for me work).
yes after all these years i have aaa credit (which russ showed me how to build through his courses). if someone only had enough $ to buy 1 persons program i would tell them to contact russ whitneys co. (if they can afford 2, i would tell them to buy carletons also)
i still invest at least $100 a month on books, tapes and videos and i learn something from every item i buy. russ will tell you this is no get rich program, it takes a lot of time to find and negotiate deals, but if you invest the time learning and doing you can become successful. as russ also says just 1 house can make the difference between retiring to a life of poverty or a comfortable retirement.
i would like to thank everyone for reading this post and if anyone ever has a question just post it to this board, i check in every day or 2, many of you have received answers to your personal questions through a direct e mail from me. i hope my answers have helped you on your journey.
russ, thank you for investing your limited available time with us on this board. i see you stay up very late as i do.
i hope everyone takes advantage of having russ here with us.
michael e. v. knight (my real name)
michaelevknight@aol.com (my real email address)
My .02 - Posted by Mark (SDCA)
Posted by Mark (SDCA) on March 06, 2001 at 11:27:19:
I saw above that the fee for Russ’s boot camp is $1900. That would more than pay the closing costs on one of my typical deals. So which would you rather have? A boot camp or a house?? For me, I will take the house…
Regards,
Mark
Re: RUSS WHITNEY - Posted by rw
Posted by rw on March 06, 2001 at 08:19:52:
Mike,
Great post. Do not allow this person to badger you with that sarcastic junk. Answer sincere posts from people who are trying to help themselves.
Posts like these will only waste your time. It is obvious that this Toni (doubt if it’'s a real name), is intereested in learning anything,At least not based on the post.
Toni - if that is your real name and you posted your ‘real’ email address (if not the post will be deleted shortly),Why not try this approach??<<<
Hey Mike, Your story sounds great. In fact I appreciate the detail you’ve taken the time to type. I think I could benefit from some detail of a transaction or two that you have done.
Specifically, here is what I am having trouble with… Can you take some of your valuable time to assist me?
Thanks ever so much.
Toni.
ps: Toni, if you want testimonials, watch my infomercial, theres a hundred of them. Come to our convention, theres a thousand of them, read my best selling book that is in every book store in America and you will see dozens of testimonial documented…
Come to Denver in April where I will be a featured speaker in a 10,000 seat arena with President, George Bush, Mikhail Gorachev, Margaret Thatcher, Chuck Norris, Zig Ziglar, Barbara Bush ex first Lady of of the US, etc., and yours truly,Russ : - )
What more do you want? Oh I know,JUST GIVE YOU AN ADDRESS, HUH? Brother,what a world…
Hope life gets better for you. Would certtainly like to try to help you, if at all possible. God has poured blessings on me and my family and thousands of our studnets across the US, Canada and the World!!!, and I’d love to share some…
Care to partake in a positive approach?
Sincerely
Russ Whitney
Re: RUSS WHITNEY - Posted by Toni
Posted by Toni on March 06, 2001 at 06:10:32:
Your post sounds strangely familiar. WE DON’T WANT YOUR REAL EMAIL ADDRESS. IT MEANS NOTHING. GIVE US SOME ADDRESSES OF PROPERTIES YOU HAVE OWNED USING THE WHITNEY METHODS.
I hope that was clear THIS TIME!
Re: My .02 - Posted by rw
Posted by rw on March 06, 2001 at 12:37:50:
Mark,
What day of the month would you have your closing when you buy this property?
What type of property would it be? Would it have positive cash flow? If so, what formula would you use to determine whether or not it is a good cash flow deal or not?
Would you flip the property? Does it need any cosmetic improvements? If so, how much? Give me your price, the improvement cost and your projected profit formula…
Will you sell it yourself or have a realtor do it for you?
Let’s see what you know. I’ll tell you now whether or not you’ll lose your butt,or whether our training would be the best investment you ever make…
A couple of tips form a pro will make or save you thousands and thousands…If you are not a pro,get the training,Daon’t step over a dollar to pick up a penny. Penny wise-------Pound foolish.
Best of luck to you.
Russ Whitney
An old ( not really that old… : - ) Pro
Re: My .02 - Posted by michael e. v. knight
Posted by michael e. v. knight on March 06, 2001 at 11:43:12:
for an experienced investor yes buy the house. but a beginner needs education that will save them years of making mistakes. russ offers one of the most reasonably priced 3 day seminars in the business and includes every book and tape course with the seminar. john burley wants $5000. for his bootcamp and you have to travel to arizona to attend. if i were a beginner i would rather take russ’ 3 day course in my area and use the other $3100 to buy 1, 2 or more houses.
michael e. v. knight
Re: RUSS WHITNEY - Posted by Michael J. Moore
Posted by Michael J. Moore on March 02, 2002 at 12:32:39:
Russ,
I think the bottom line to a lot of these postings is, “Is this the truth and are you (whatever speaker) really DOING what you preach?”
There are so many “Wanna Be’s” and “Has Been Once’s” on the seminar and infomercial circuits that the general sincere public is tired and confused. Also, as you know from being in that business, most are groupies and never USE the advice they are given to take action.
Due to some severe life changes I have only 2 deals under my belt but both were no money down and done using the knowledge I gained from seminars and tapes. My life situations have recovered and I now am fervently reviewing materials that I have and new materials to restart a career in RE Investing. I said career because my job and retirement won’t cut it and I’m better than that anyhow. I’m broke but investing ALL of my non-job hours in making this transition. I’ve set a goal to be making offers within 30 days.
I’ve signed up for your intro seminar in Ogden Utah this coming Wed and hope that you personally will be the presenter. I hope you are for real (I have no reason to believe otherwise) and can point me to some really sound and profitable ACTION steps to get this thing rolling. I don’t mind making mistakes to get started. I just want to get started and get one deal under my belt before I continue reading books and listening to tapes and attending seminars. I concur that ongoing education is vital, but void of action produces nothing. I would like to be a short-term success story and would be excited to be able to say that Russ Whitney steered me there the smart way instead of doing it like the normal unsuccessful investors do.
Does this make any sense? I’m ANXIOUS to run the race and am tired of being told where to buy gym clothes and track shoes or where to pay my entry fees!
Mike Moore
rollingwriter@qwest.net
Re: RUSS WHITNEY - Posted by michael e. v. knight
Posted by michael e. v. knight on March 06, 2001 at 11:33:01:
Russ i am sure you have heard the saying ’ for those who believe no explanation is needed, for those who disbelieve no explanation is possible’.
once again thank you for your input. i will be attending your annual real estate forum in 2002 in orlando,will finally have a chance to meet you in person, do you have any idea of the speakers that will be attending?
also your book the profits and pitfalls of real estate investing is a great book for beginners and goes into great detail of the deals you did in new york and your early deals in florida. (everyone on this board if you want to learn how to buy real estate starting with very little money while working full time and raising a family then invest the $15 or so in this book.if after reading this book you still can not see yourself buying property then there is no need to buy any other book or course and you just saved yourself thousands of dollars along with thousands of hours of your life.) this book is not sold in stores. perhaps Russ you can explain here how to order the book from your company.
my first book on r.e. investing was the same one you first bought,‘awaken the financial genius inside you’ by mark o. haroldsen
Russ if your travels take you up here in new england please email me in advance and i will be more than happy to show you around.
michael e. v. knight
Re: RUSS WHITNEY - Posted by rw
Posted by rw on March 06, 2001 at 08:22:06:
Mike,
Great post. Do not allow this person to badger you with that sarcastic junk. Answer sincere posts from people who are trying to help themselves.
Posts like these will only waste your time. It is obvious that this Toni (doubt if it’'s a real name), is intereested in learning anything,At least not based on the post.
Toni - if that is your real name and you posted your ‘real’ email address (if not the post will be deleted shortly),Why not try this approach??<<<
Hey Mike, Your story sounds great. In fact I appreciate the detail you’ve taken the time to type. I think I could benefit from some detail of a transaction or two that you have done.
Specifically, here is what I am having trouble with… Can you take some of your valuable time to assist me?
Thanks ever so much.
Toni.
ps: Toni, if you want testimonials, watch my infomercial, theres a hundred of them. Come to our convention, theres a thousand of them, read my best selling book that is in every book store in America and you will see dozens of testimonial documented…
Come to Denver in April where I will be a featured speaker in a 10,000 seat arena with President, George Bush, Mikhail Gorachev, Margaret Thatcher, Chuck Norris, Zig Ziglar, Barbara Bush ex first Lady of of the US, etc., and yours truly,Russ : - )
What more do you want? Oh I know,JUST GIVE YOU AN ADDRESS, HUH? Brother,what a world…
Hope life gets better for you. Would certtainly like to try to help you, if at all possible. God has poured blessings on me and my family and thousands of our studnets across the US, Canada and the World!!!, and I’d love to share some…
Care to partake in a positive approach?
Sincerely
Russ Whitney
Re: My .02 - Posted by Mark (SDCA)
Posted by Mark (SDCA) on March 06, 2001 at 21:12:05:
All of those questions are impossible to answer except within the context of a specific deal. Additionally, all of those answers are available free or basically free in a variety of places.
Still, here are the answers in the context of some deals I am pursuing right now.
The property is a SFR. I don’t buy anything else anymore. It is either owner occupied or vacant; therefore, there is no rent to credit. The day of the month only relates to my per diems versus how far in advance I want to make my first payment. So I don’t really care what day of the month I close.
AS previously stated, it would be a SFR. It would probably cash flow but I am buying instant equity so a break-even or even slightly negative cash flow would be acceptable. The equity build up if nothing else will probably make up for the negative. These are solid properties in quality neighborhoods in a strong metropolitan area. I know what the rent is in my neighborhoods. Additionally, I have realtor contacts and rental agency contacts to verify my figures. I have an excellent mortgage broker so I know what my loan costs will be. I can “guesstimate” what repairs will be based on doing this for 11 years. Additionally, I have roofers, electricians, plumbers and general handymen who will give me free estimates against the work I will throw them. Therefore, I have a pretty good idea what the cash flow will be. Additionally, I put a great deal of responsibility on the tenant. It IS their home after all so the repair bills on my houses are generally fairly small.
As for cosmetic improvements, I have no idea. I never look at properties without a signed contract so I have not seen any of them. Carpet and paint are likely. Carpet runs me about 1000-1200 for a “typical” 3 bedroom. Paint is about 500 or so. I factor that at least into all my offers. Anything else is handled from within the inspection period ie price reduced based on what I discover within the inspection. My “formula” is fairly simple. I want to buy at 80% of FMV. I may go to 85% if there are extenuating circumstances (eg I am not getting outside financing or the house is absolutely in move in condition).
I am a long term wealth builder so it is very possible I will never sell. I do NOT flip. I still have the first house I bought 11 years ago. It has thrown off a positive cash flow every MONTH except one and keeps on ticking. I have no reason to sell.
If I do decide to sell, it will be on a LO without a realtor. I don’t need to sell RIGHT NOW. I have a “built in” buyer in my tenant and there simply is no reason to pay a realtor’s commision in that situation. Not to mention that the realtor would want access to show the property thereby alerting and disturbing the tenant, possibly causing the tenant to move and creating a vacancy until the realtor sells the property. (and potential repairs as well). All in all: Not worth it.
As for my butt… I have been doing this for 11 years and it still goes everywhere I do.
Since we seem to like proverbs so much:
Don’t buy the cow when you can get the milk for free. 
Cheers,
Mark
Re: My .02 - Posted by Mark (SDCA)
Posted by Mark (SDCA) on March 06, 2001 at 20:47:28:
But it isn’t an either/or. In other words, the question is whether the information is available cheaper than $1900 and I think it is. Free right here, in fact.
Mark
Re: My .02 - Posted by rw
Posted by rw on March 06, 2001 at 18:42:21:
Mike,
Brilliant. As all will see, the cream always rises to the top. I believe in what comes around goes too.
We do a great job for folks that want to get it done…
Hope to help and meet you
Russ Whitney
Re: RUSS WHITNEY - Posted by rw
Posted by rw on March 06, 2001 at 18:34:28:
Mike,
Thanks for the invite. How do we reach you?
Russ
Re: My .02 - Posted by rw
Posted by rw on March 06, 2001 at 21:26:27:
Mark,
Brilliant. And your point is???
Russ Whitney
Re: RUSS WHITNEY - Posted by michael e. v. knight
Posted by michael e. v. knight on March 09, 2001 at 01:05:52:
Russ i emailed you my contact info, did you receive it?
thank you,
michael e. v. knight