Why anyone should avoid "FREE" Real Estate Investing Seminars

[Justin Shanahan]

These "Free Real Estate Investing Seminars" have been becoming more and more popular recently and I just wanted to give my take on them before people get scammed out of their hard-earned money. 

After I attended one of the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" real estate events last year, I wrote a review (http://bit.ly/2n7J3UN) about how much of a scam it was. I have been receiving tickets in the mail for these seminars as well as hearing about them on the radio. So here it goes:

Believe it or not, this whole scam started with the one and only, Donald J. Trump. Heres how the system they are all running works. They advertise a "FREE" seminar on real estate investing. So of course, people get the idea they're getting free education so alot of people show up. Upon attending the "free" seminar you'll learn a few things about real estate, but you'll learn more about this 3-day seminar special they're giving away for 50% off to the attendees. Typically they'll say you can bring a friend for free to make the deal sound better. Sounds enticing, Right? Wrong! So if you fell for the trap, you now are gonna attend a 3-day seminar. Which is similar to the free seminar, you'll learn a little bit more about real estate investing, but you'll learn more about this "amazing, elite, exclusive" mentorship program that they offer ranging anywhere from $10,000-50,000. Don't have that kind of money? No problem, 1 of the 3 days you learn all about credit cards, and they even tell you to "go home and call your credit card company and tell them you want a credit increase!". So thats mainly how the system works. Its all about baiting you in to buy their "mentorship program" for the same price of a college tuition. 

Back to the Donald. This system first started with "Trump University". Im sure you've heard of it. The fact that this system is still scamming people out of thousands of dollars is beyond me. Looking back, Im happy I fell for singing up for the 3 day seminar because it gave me a good insight on what they were doing, but I'm also mad at myself for not realizing it off the bat. Just look up Tigrent Learning, they are the company who uses this system but just using it under different company names to get away with it. Dont fall for these scams!!! Everything you need to know about REI you can learn through books and on BiggerPockets. If you're looking for a mentor, attend your local ACRE or REIA meetings and you shouldnt have a problem finding someone willing to teach you what they know. And its actually FREE!

[Giachinno Geromia Bedogne]

Its funny I have never actually attended a "Free" seminar but was stupid enough to sign up to an auto responder for rich dad training.  I used to respect Robert Kiosaki but his programs are nothing but snake oil sales pitches, I am not sure he intended it to be that.  The auto responder got me to give away my phone number and this dude calls me to sell me to the rich dad mentorship program.  It was all sales and no value.  He than tried to convince me to put it all on my credit cart.  I newly was married and was saving for our first home.  I told him that I was not ready for that kind of investment.  He than spend all but 40 minutes of my life trying to convince me I was a loser and did not have what it took because I was not willing to buy the program.  I told him that I would think about it, but the hard sell of I need to get off the phone with a sale actually made me realize what he was doing.  It ended really bad with some four letter words toward the guy, it still makes my blood boil.  And an email written to the Rich Dad training.  It was such poor taste, it actually set me back 2 years because I was convinced that real estate investing was not the way to go.  Thankfully I found BP.