Peter Harris Protege Program Questions

[Tenzin Samphel]

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone had a happy holidays. My interest in Commercial Real Estate investing led me to Peter Harris's videos on YouTube, which are all very helpful for a beginner like myself. 

After signing up for the protege program, I was scheduled an interview that felt more like a product being sold. Initial cost of $997 for books and learning material that must be purchased, plus a $10K-30K up front deposit based on time allocation with Peter over the mentorship. The deposit will only be returned after a 50/50 profit sharing of 1 million (500K goes to Peter Harris). To me these numbers sound intimidating and it seems as though it'll take many years before the deposit can be returned to me after years of profit sharing to total $1 million.

Has anyone recently enrolled in the program and what are your experiences ? 

I respect Peter Harris as a teacher giving valuable information on YouTube, but the data on students/mentees is not very transparent. 

Appreciate any inputs anyone can give. Thanks! 

-Tenzin 

[Jay Hinrichs]

dont know the program but I suspect there are very few who sign up who actually bring in 1 million in profit that is split.
that is hard to do even for experienced folks..  Unless he is putting up all the money to buy and rehab.. 

[Tenzin Samphel]

@Jay Hinrichs thank you for your honest and unfiltered opinion. I appreciate the advice! 

Do you have any opinions on how to find/approach a mentor if I'm highly interested in learning from someone that has been in the business for a while? I'd be willing to contribute to their business in some way, and in the process learn how to get started with CRE myself.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Tenzin Samphel:

@Jay Hinrichs thank you for your honest and unfiltered opinion. I appreciate the advice! 

Do you have any opinions on how to find/approach a mentor if I'm highly interested in learning from someone that has been in the business for a while? I'd be willing to contribute to their business in some way, and in the process learn how to get started with CRE myself.

 As I think about all these mentor programs that lead with HEY we will split the first million in profits  you just have to pay 30k.. I think the psychology behind that is you/mentee's focus on making 500k IE dreaming of this huge income.. so the 30k seems reasonable..  its really hard to go from no experience to making 1mil flipping homes  I mean really hard I suspect less than 2 to 5% of the folks that sign up for this actually do it..  If these students were bringing in 500k to the Guru  why does he need to charge them 30k up front.. 

I mean i do JV with folks for a living and I dont charge anything and my splits are better than 50 50

[Tenzin Samphel]

Thank you for your input  They gave me a very generic response when I asked them the percentage of students that successfully reach the 1 million within a few years. They said, "100% of students that follow Peter Harris's advice to the tee." Also when I asked for referrals, they could not disclose any previous mentee information.  

I am leaning towards not doing this mentorship program because of the million dollar commitment. But I am motivated to find someone experienced in CRE who would be willing to work with me to syndicate a deal.

Have a happy new year! 

[Scott McElhaney]

Tenzin, I’ve never heard of Peter Harris. Frankly, I’m skeptical of any investor who allocates a large portion of their time peddling mentoring/courses versus doing deals. Bottom line, you don’t need this guy. Punt on this mentorship program, if you still can. Instead read lot of books & listen to podcasts on commercial real estate. A good starting place would be to read “confessions of a real estate entrepreneur” by Jim Randel. A good podcast is “America’s Commercial Real Estate Show” with host Michael Bull.   On mentorship, start networking with people in Commerical real estate…brokers, real estate attorneys & lawyers…do this long enough and you’ll build relationships where the mentoring is organic. Case in point- my first mentor was a 70+ year old broker/investor….I literally found an ad in the Washington Post advertising his Commerical real estate consulting services for $60/hour. I did my first Commerical deal 10+ years ago through his guidance and we’ve done many since then.  

[Tenzin Samphel]

Thanks for the advice Scott! Appreciate the podcast and book recommendations. Will check them out. When networking with CRE brokers and attorneys, is it ok to reach out to them even if I may not be fully ready to finance a deal ? Or only start networking once I am serious about purchasing and already have a concrete plan for financing.

The Peter Harris folks gave me a very generic response when I asked them the percentage of students that successfully reach the 1 million within a few years. "All of their students that follow Peter Harris's advice to the tee." Also when I asked for referrals, they could not disclose any previous mentee information. The lack of transparency has led me not to pursue this mentorship program.

Have a happy new year! 

[Anupam Banerji]

@Tenzin Samphel did you end up signing up?

[Brian Plajer]

@Tenzin Samphel I am also interested in learning about commercial real estate specifically how to underwrite retail real estate. I see your post is from a year ago and I am curious what you decided to do regarding the mentorship and have you done any commercial deals since this post?

[John McKee]

You don't need a mentor to underwrite real estate, you just need a banker.  Please save your money!

[Uzziyah Mehlek Cohen]

Quote from @Scott McElhaney:

Tenzin, I’ve never heard of Peter Harris. Frankly, I’m skeptical of any investor who allocates a large portion of their time peddling mentoring/courses versus doing deals. Bottom line, you don’t need this guy. Punt on this mentorship program, if you still can. Instead read lot of books & listen to podcasts on commercial real estate. A good starting place would be to read “confessions of a real estate entrepreneur” by Jim Randel. A good podcast is “America’s Commercial Real Estate Show” with host Michael Bull.   On mentorship, start networking with people in Commerical real estate…brokers, real estate attorneys & lawyers…do this long enough and you’ll build relationships where the mentoring is organic. Case in point- my first mentor was a 70+ year old broker/investor….I literally found an ad in the Washington Post advertising his Commerical real estate consulting services for $60/hour. I did my first Commerical deal 10+ years ago through his guidance and we’ve done many since then.  

@Scott McElhaney
Do you mind sharing the gentleman's contact information for his Commerical real estate consulting services for $60/hour?

[Brian Arcangeli]

Tenzin, if you're still interested in commercial real estate, we should talk! I'm in Michigan but have been looking at other properties as well. 

Also, about Peter, you can learn most of his knowledge from his book 'Commercial Real Estate for Dummies' which is part of the 'dummies' series. Also, BP has (2) books about multifamily. 

[Vessi Kapoulian]

@Tenzin Samphel, Rod Khleif has a virtual bootcamp coming up. If I am not mistaken, it costs $97 and Rod gives you a ton of value over 2 days - the bootcamp is packed with a ton actionable steps you can take and believe it comes with his book, other free resources, and a 90-day action plan. This would be a good place to get started (this is how I got started and glad I took that step).