My dad thinks I want to scam people...

[Ivan Jouikov]

So whenever I visit my father for our "weekly meeting" I always go on about real estate investing. He always has only 2 responses:
1) you cannot do that here (i'm serious)
2) what you're trying to do is rip someone off

No matter how hard I try to explain that I want to create a win-win situation, he has this core belief that if you're "making money off somebody" then you're scamming them.

He has same belief when it comes to car dealerships (ie they'll try to take you for all you got if you don't negotiate).

I tried to explain to him the basic idea behind Capitalism, but he strongly belives that profiting off someone, especially in excess, is ripping them off. The idea here is that if you disclosed to the buyer/seller how much you're making, they would never want to do the deal.

He has strong belief that all business in America is built on ripping people off. The only way to get "truly rich" is to rip someone off. While he doesn't have a moral objection to ripping someone off, he is ready to use it as an argument against REI strategies.

Anyone got any advice on how to deal with this? My father's support would be a big motivator.

[Ingrid Nagy]

Ivan, don't talk about REI to him; just prove it down the road and he will come around. Its a European thing. My dad from Czechoslovakia also had a similar attitude. When I was younger and would excitedly talk to him about buying real estate and using OPM he would lecture me "if you don't have the cash saved you don't buy something". He thought it was a death sentence to buy property with mortgages. He owns 2 properties; I own 54, thus over time, I earned his respect and changed his attitude. Stick to your plan!!