Lifestyles Unlimited, Inc vs. Biggerpockets - Which is the best bang for your buck

[Donald Hendricks]

I got this screenshot from an email that I got today.

For those of you that don't know, Lifestyles Unlimited is an investor "mentoring" group out of Texas that boast of worldwide membership.  The also have a daily hour long "radio show", which is actually a paid advertisement, on numerous radio stations and can be heard in podcast format as well.  They have three levels of membership that they constantly are trying to upgrade you to in a series of sales pitches.   The lowest level, the Financial Freedom Membership is $500 for the first 2 years (can't buy 1 year) and $250 each year after.  The other 2 membership levels are below.  The Challenge is for single family investors and the Preferred is for multi-family.  They prohibit challenge members from participating in any multi-family group deals, even if only as a passive investor.

If you don't know what BiggerPockets is, uhhh... Well, you are here,, take a look around and join in, it is FREE!!!  If you care to upgrade to take advantage of some of the extras, the PLUS membership is $90.00 a year and the PRO membership is $290.00 a year.

Lets compare:

$8000.00  vs. $90.00 a year = 88.888888 years of BiggerPockets PLUS membership

$18000.00 vs. $290.00 a year = 62.086 years of BiggerPockets PRO membership

Lifestyles Unlimited is open 8-5 mon-fri with limited staff to assist you to answer your questions.

BiggerPockets is open 24/7/365 with over 200,000 members available to answer your questions.

You decide.

[Tera B.]

I received a call from Lifestyles Unlimited today to provide feedback on the 2 day seminar we just attended. I told them truthfully how I felt about the seminar. They were understanding and encouraged me to take advantage of the Q&A that the $500 membership level provides. Basically I can call select investors and ask them questions for the next two years as part of my membership. I am going to definitely take advantage of this benefit.

[Raky Patel]

I am a basic member of Lifestyles. I honestly think that for true beginners they have a good program to teach you the basics. I knew the bulk of what they teach going in but I learned thru reading different books, searching BP, and my own personal experiences. A good friend of mine joined Lifestyles at the same time I did. His eyes really opened up and he was able to take action right away. I would say the biggest benefit to Lifestyles is they have a model that you follow with all the infrastructure built in to support you:

1. Will teach you how to locate ideal investment property 

2. Will teach you to run the numbers

3. Will provide you with connections for hard money loans, contractors to do rehabs, and property management if you choose to go that route.

Ultimately it is up to you to decide what you need. You can find deals yourself and honestly you can probably find a cheaper contractor than the ones they suggest. My thought in joining was that it is good to surround yourself with like minded people. That said, I will likely not renew my membership unless I plan on going the multifamily route. 

I would caution anyone to really understand all the costs associated with buying a rental property. Some of the examples they provide are best case scenarios which may not be applicable in the current state of the Texas market.