$20-50k for a mentor?

[Brandi Graham]

My brother and and have been studying the business for a month in a half. We are currently attending a 3 day training with great content!!! They are soliciting their others services which consist of a personal mentor with phone number, email and access to their time for a price of $20-50k. Can anyone share thoughts or concerns?

[Shawn Pottschmidt]

I met a couple at my local REIA meetup who paid 60k for similar services. I told them about a brrrr deal I did and that 90% of my education came from BP. They had never heard of BiggerPockets. I explained in detail about purchase, renovations, tenant screening, rent collection (I use Cozy) etc. They were mostly silent. Not to sound braggy but I was very proud at that moment. Save your coin for a property. Let that be your tuition.
✌️

[Brandi Graham]

@Mike Sola haha already done!!!

[Brandi Graham]

@Rhonda McDaniel thank you!

[Brandi Graham]

@Mike Bolen thank you

[Brandi Graham]

@Jeremiah Mon I can totally dig it!!!

[Brandi Graham]

@Shawn Pottschmidt haha i already know most of those things just from here... noted!!!

[Greg Felt]

The seminar business is full of mentors asking for tons of  money and promising financial freedom. Look for partners to joint venture with you.

[Mayer M.]

@Brandi Graham

Crazy......just crazy.

There’s no better education you could get than by jumping in and purchasing a property yourself with that money. Please, don’t throw it down the drain on these ridiculous mentorship programs

[Dell J.]

Since you are starting out, alot of information you need at this point can be had for less than 100$ in books.  Try not to get caught up in buying systems and expensive seminars. It may take you further from your goals.  50K is alot of money. What aspect of real estate investing are you planning to get into?

[Dulce Beltran]

I agree with @Jay Hinrichs, obtaining my RE license opened up the whole can of worms that RE is and how far the rabbit hole it goes! It's a great way to earn the experience much more quickly and learn from top producers!

After you've gained experience used that 20K-50K to grow your RE goals. It costs significantly less to start as an a licensed agent, receive actual "how to" training, learn about your market and us market. There is a ton of FREE material on BP and so many recommended Books. Also, your local community college will have RE classes for a small cost and can even get fin aid to either pay for the full costs or partial. 

[Bevla Reeves]

@Brandi Graham Every person I know who has "paid" for a "Mentor" has regretted it!  They felt scammed.

REAL mentors don't charge to teach...but COACHES do!  

REAL mentors teach from the heart!  

Don't fall for the scam.  You can find a local investor to mentor you in exchange for sweat equity which will give you the best kind of learning, hands-on learning!

That's what I did and I was able to flip 30 houses because of him!

Ask the BP community for an experienced investor in your area who could use some assistance growing his or her business, they'll mentor you from the heart!

Those REI Guru scammers have hijacked the title "Mentor" because I'm sure it's easier to trick people into paying out more money for their bogus programs.

You can learn everything you need to know here in the BP forums.  And for hands-on learning find a local REAL mentor!

Cheers to your success! ;)

[Charles Kao]

@Brandi Graham For 20-50k I would rather just invest in a syndication. You learn alot more and will walk away with something besides education. There are way better mentorship courses for cheaper where you actually get funding as well if you find the deal so whatever course it is I would say is a ripoff.

[Caleb Heimsoth]

@Chris Seveney. Funny you mention grad degrees. My grad degree costs less then this program lol

[Mark Sewell]

Look, like you, I did the gurus program, spent a bunch of money.  And I was feeling good about it, right up until they started hammering about getting a personal mentor.  Then I knew I'd probably been had.  So I finished up my classes, tried hard to glean all I could from it, and just dove in.

Far better to just partner up with somebody that has done it before.  These guys are just going to fly in, impress you with what they have done in their careers, offer some canned wisdom about 'taking action' and fly out.  They got no skin in your game.  You paid them, they show up - but that is so different than having some real material interest in your project.

Instead, consider this:

Find a good HM lender, one that actually does deals locally in your area/market.  Those guys will partner with you, for a fee.  Only they bring money to the equation, and they are familiar with your market.  They will prevent you from veering too far off course, after all it is their cash that is being invested in your project.

[Nathan Killebrew]

One of my favorite parts of the cash flow quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki is when he buys his first REI. He brings it to rich dad and informs him that he bought it but is having negative cash flow. He tells him never to buy stuff that loses you money.

If you think you make more than 50k in returns on this course then who am I to tell you not to buy it, but if you are not 100% sure you can make that return don't buy.  I have bought things such as this and they were all scams.  Bp has every possible topic covered.  Buying this mentorship would be similar to 5 dollars for a bottle of water when your friend will give you one for free. 

[Krishnan T.]

You could try to take the middle ground here between folks saying you do not need mentors etc and folks saying mentor ships are useful. Research on BP and maybe pay for mentorship that is affordable for you and at the same time join a REI ...so if the mentor ship did not impress you ,you would not regret the money paid cuz u paid only what you could afford to lose.

[George Munoz]

I almost got into it, and thank god I used that money for myself and self-development and helped me get going with real estate.  in my case, it was 15k. I don't really think in my case I will have taken advantage if I would have paid 15k to a mentor. Now it works for some people, I think in one of BP podcast Andressa ( a Brazilian girl) said that's how she started and now she is killing it. ( I think she paid 50k. for a mentor) 

In my opinion, I will 100% Recommend continue hearing the BP Podcast, go to the local BP meetings and expose yourself more likely you will definitely find a friend or guide that will work as mentorship. ( I remember the first time I went to a BP Local meeting) I met these two guys, they also met that same day and after that, the second time I saw them, it was a year later. ( Guess what? ) they were together in another meeting and recently bought a 60 unit mf.. as a partnership. Isn't that amazing!! First time I saw them one was a newbie, the other one was more experienced...

I guarantee 100% just get out start making thinks happen with those 20k  ( make offers, Network and/or maybe partner with a more experienced investor...  

And Read!! :) 

[Carl S.]

@Brandi Graham Great post!

In my opinion, it all comes down to your goals and your time! I've seen many people pay large amounts of money for mentoring and not be able to fully utilize their investment. I have personally invested in a mentor ($30k+) and for me, I would not think twice do it again! However, I still don't recommend it for everyone! 

I am also in DFW, I'd gladly meet for coffee and share my experiences to hopefully better assist you in evaluating if paid mentoring is something you absolutely need to do and if so, with who. Let me know if you'd like to meet, and that goes for anyone else in DFW reading this who may be in a similar situation.

[MJ Clyburn]

@Brandi Graham I am no expert but I have done 4 deals and personally speaking if you have 30-50k to pay a mentor you can use those same funds to do your 1st deal. You will learn all you need to know. It may have a few more challenges but you can access the same info here posting questions on BP forums and at the end you'll own an asset that will pay you instead of you paying someone else.

Struggle through the 1st one and you will know if you need a mentor. If so, refinance the property and let your tenant pay for it, LOL!

Lastly, ask yourself, are you considering a mentor to making the path to financial freedom easier? If so save your money. There are no easy solutions. If you have hard work, perseverance and the courage to ask for help when you are unsure you can do it!

Happy Monday!

[Mary Conrad]

I live in Louisville, KY. Frank Miller is a former President of the local REIA (KREIA) and has a six month program for about $5,000. This includes a monthly webinar, monthly in-class and twice monthly ride-alongs. He rents a bus and we go out to look at his or his students' properties in various stages of rehab. He shares his contacts/contractors, and even draws a name that will share in the rehab. Depending on which program you purchase, he will mentor you on a flip. He shares the actual numbers - and he and his students are making REAL money ($34,400 | $33,900 | 22,700) after carrying costs including realtor fees. And getting 100% financing. Contact me if you want more details I'm in his current class - he's got several youtube videos under Believe Investment Group. I've done some rehabs in the past but made some major mistakes - I wanted to learn from people really willing to share their expertise at a reasonable cost.

[Ryan Dossey]

BP as a whole tends to be pretty "anti mentorship". With the number of people who've done a few deals trying to sell coaching, I get it. 

I will say though that personally and professionally my ROI on paid groups/mentoring has been some of my best investments.

Anytime I'm looking into buying in to a group, mentorship, or program I look at the fruit. Is the person who is selling this uniquely successful in their field? Are they actively doing what they teach? What do I imagine my ROI to be? What are my goals with it? 

I paid a (non real estate) group $90,000 last year to teach me how to scale companies, develop core values, mission statements, increase profitability, and more. They paid for themselves in 90 days. I've used what I've learned in that group to buy properties now as well. I've also made some incredibly close friends.

I paid another group this year $20,000 to join a Rei mastermind. I now have access to people all around the country doing hundreds of deals a year in some of the hottest markets. I've already made more than 20k off of that group. 

I bought a FB course for $997 a few years back and it was the foundation that has helped me to generate 7+ figures in revenue off of 32k spent on ads. 

Sure you can "tough it out" and go it alone but I'd rather pay people to help me short circuit my learning curves. 

I spend $140 a week meeting with a clinical psychologist for an hour a week and I've grown more as a human being, business owner, and entrepreneur from learning about myself than I could have fathomed. 

Would I spend 20-50k for the weekend seminar upsell deal? Heck no. The "coach" they'll pair you with has probably done 1 deal and it was buying his home with a 3.5% FHA loan.

Would I spend 50k to learn from someone who is doing what I want to do every day? Yes. 

We all have a gap from our present reality to where we'd like to be. It all depends on how fast you want to bridge that gap. 

[Greg Dickerson]

Some people and programs are the real deal and can fast track your success and learning curve. Not to mention save you a ton of money by avoiding the mistakes they made along the way.

I coach and mentor some of the top entrepreneurs and investors in the business today helping them grow and scale their business and do the bigger deals. I have bought developed and sold over $200 million in RE and built and scaled 12 companies from the ground up very quickly. 

I came from nothing and started with nothing, I didn’t go to college. I educated myself through books, courses and more importantly by taking action and doing deals. I learned some lessons the hard from a mentor who took total advantage of me costing me over $100k on 4 deals early in my career.

You can’t put a price tag on experience. You either get it the hard way or learn from someone else who’s been where your going and doing what you want to do. That’s the difference. 

Many coaching programs outsource to coaches that have never started a company or done a deal. Not all are this way but it’s especially common in the free seminar circuit or infomercial world. Some very big names use and abuse this model just for a profit.

Bottom line is you will pay for your education one way or another. Either by making costly mistakes and learning the hard way or through books courses and mentorships. 

Learning what to do is important but sometimes it’s knowing what not to do that is the most valuable in the long run. After 23 years in the business I have made a lot of mistakes that could have easily been avoided with the right mentors and information.

[Greg Dickerson]

Sorry duplicate post

[Joel Fine]

Here is what I would suggest.

I would first max out on the free education you can get on Bigger Pockets: Webinars, blog posts, and podcasts. Then go for the "nearly free": books in the BP library, maybe a pro membership so you can dig through the webinar archives and get unlimited use of the calculators.

At the same time, find a few meetups in your area. Attending those will advance your education AND help you develop a network. You'll meet people who are ahead of you in this journey (often just barely ahead) and learn first hand what has worked and not worked for them.

Next I would get on Zillow, learn how to run searches and find properties that might be good investments. Learn to analyze them using the BP calculators. Get feedback on your analyses from your network, and from the BP community, so you get really good at it.

After that, you can decide if you need a paid mentor, and what you would want out of that relationship.

[Rebecca Jensen]

@joefunari @Brandi Graham  I aggree with Joe!