Flip Advantage/Flipping Formula Inner Circle Success?

Question

Hello everyone...has anyone participated in the Flip Advantage/ Flipping Formula Inner Circle? I am considering signing up for their Inner Circle Mentorship Program but have never met or spoken with any alumni. Just wondering if anyone here can vouch for the program/mentoring. Thanks!

Michele Valenti · Answer

My nephew and I attended a free seminar back in March of this year. They were promoting the techniques of Tarek and Christina of Flip or Flop.  We did do the 3 day seminar @ $1,997. What really sold us was the fact that we could use their funding source and we didn't have to worry about  out of pocket cash (so we thought) or credit to qualify for buying a fixer upper and other re loans.

We went to the 3 day training and we learned a lot of valuable information. We then decided to  upgrade to the $5,200 training program that includes unlimited access to the videos, support line and 6 months use of the property farm software.

We recently contacted our guy from the seminar with a question we had and he did call us back, but also suggested for us to use the support number for the training site.  3 Hours later we got a call from someone else and suggested to set up a conference call with a coach. This was today. At the end of the call, it was suggested that we upgrade to the 12 month training, that includes no cash out of pocket financing for fixer uppers and access to their tools to find wholesale transactions  and have personal one on one coaching with a mentor, personal phone consults, and more.  We could have all this for $6,500. We declined.

I'm not saying the company is bad or a scam, but it just seems as they keep wanting to up sale on their training tools all the time. I have been doing a lot of reading on Bigger Pockets today and wish I would have had this resource before going to the free seminar.  We may have thought twice about spending all the money. From what I can tell, after reading a few chapters of the Bigger Pockets Ultimate Beginners Guide, we could have probably found the same information and tools, buy doing Google research and saved some money.

Scott Grossman · Answer

I recently attended the Flipping Advantage initial seminar (not the inner circle).  It was just an obvious pitch for their 3 day program.  There was little to no useful information.  My B.S. detector hit the red line.  I left without buying anything.

Account Closed · Answer

No information given about real estate investing. Simple scam to get your money. The most heart breaking thing is watching older people pull out three or four credit cards to pay for the fake work shops and get nothing in return but wasted time. These guys should watch their back. When I see them in Austin on Dec. 3-5th at the Omni hotel for the fake 3 day work shop that people paid 2k to attend, I'm going to tell them to go fuck themselves and stop stealing from peoples 401k. ***** losers! They walked out with at least 60k this morning (11-23-14) after people bought the three day work shop for 2k and the tax lien program for 1k.

Will S. · Answer

This is the exact scam company in the thread https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/79/topics/185362-please-help-41-000-paid-to-a-guru-company-to-be-refunded

They change their name constantly to stay ahead of the law and are being investigated by several state attorney generals offices.

Currently Tarek and Christina El Moussa from HGTVs Flip or Flop have sold their souls and are the spokes people that are leading to ripping of their desperate fans.  See page 20 of the thread link above for contact details.  I suggest reading the entire thread.

I'd assume anyone writing anything positive about the scam is working for the company as on that thread you will see they have changed their name about a dozen times over the years.

If you REALLY care about people and don't just like bitching on forums you can go to page 20 of the thread link I provided and do something as simple as write an email and try to make a difference.

Ray Hurteau · Answer

I took the course (yes, I am completely ashamed of being duped).  They push and they push hard to convince you that you need them.  This particular organization has 0 after-sale support. Unless after-sales support means pay more to get very little.  About 6 weeks after the boot camp, they called asking how it was going.

I now know it takes months and possibly years to get your business going, not days or weeks like they claim.  So naturally, they call before you are up and running and you are probably frustrated because you haven't landed that monster deal yet.  They prey on your lack of success and "invite" you to the inner circle.  Everyone gets the call.  Don't be naive.  We confirmed this because we asked the others in our group if they got the call.

Don't waste your money.  Spend it on your business, not someone else's.

For anyone considering the Flipping Formula or any other "guru" course.  Take the money you would have spent on it and use it towards marketing.  Then you can wholesale, especially in the Boston area, for 10-50k each deal.  You should be able to easily make your money back and then some if you market for 6+ months to the same group of people and build rapport with local investors via REIAs to source them deals.  Focus on MFHs, because that's where there is greater wholesale value than SFH.

For my specific experience with the FF (yes, I bought into it and regretted it), you can see my other post reply here (scroll down a little for my post): https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/79/topics/147...

For anyone seriously considering paying for their course: please PM me because I can help advise you on how to start  a marketing campaign or to better use your funds.  The guru course is not cheap and you only need a fraction of what they ask to get a wholesale operation going.

Paul Timmins · Answer

@Chris Manitius

Welcome. Time to build the foundation below.

Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.

Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice. And you get the benefit of having over 80 past ones to catch up on.

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,The Book on Estimating ReHab Costshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and all the cash buyers (rehabbers) you will need.

Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.

You might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing. Rents can be 2-4 times more. Remember you don't have to own a property to control it.

Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over

http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonatbp/file/real-estate-rewind-a-biggerpockets-community-book

Good luck

Paul

Account Closed · Answer

Total bullshit. Give me a yes!

Mike H. · Answer

I actually tried putting a blank white pic for my profile so then this stupid gray thing wouldnt' show up.  But they blocked it twice and then sent me an email saying I was doing something against the site's policies.   I read the policy. It says you can't do anything to advertise you business, or anything with copyright issues, etc.

I responded and said I did none of those things and why are they saying a blank white photo is breaking any policy. No response at all.

I don't see why a white space is worse than a grey face.

But this site is a bit touchy about anybody saying anything negative at all. I still say the email/inbox feature is awful because of how much scrolling I have to do and/or how difficult it is to find a previous message from someone (i.e. a sort by sender would be nice wouldn't it????).As for Pete and Dave. Its funny how charma comes back to get you. Kinda like that show "Storage Wars". Turned out they were salting the lockers to make the show more interesting and everybody stopped watching it. Hopefully, the same thing happens with Pete and Dave. Do a bunch of shady marketing stuff to sell some training program and maybe people will stop watching their show too.  As it is, this last week's show went into one of their existing rentals and the place was an absolute dump. They should be ashamed at the condition of that place. There was water damage in the bathroom ceiling that they just left. The kitchen was awful. Flooring. The tenant's kid wrote all over the bedroom walls - literally ALL OVER.  And they were ok with that.

It was the absolute definition of what a slumlord's rental unit would look like. Dave and Pete show's facebook page was lit up with negative comments about the condition of the rental. One week later, the comments were all removed and it was nothing but comments on how so and so loved their show.

Mike Hurney · Answer

@Mike H.You don't even have a picture here on BP!

Welcome.

You'll get to see Dave and Pete soon enough.... We see 'em here all the time;-(

Nilesh Makhija · Answer

I will recommend learning by experience and there no quick learning thing in RE

Flip Advantage/Flipping Formula Inner Circle Success?

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