So I went to Lifestyles Unlimited here in Dallas...

[Albert Yamoah]

So, I went to a Lifestyles Unlimited 2 hour intro this morning in Dallas, and I want to know of any experiences anyone in the BPverse has had with this organization. I enjoyed the emphasis on cash flow (I'm a cash flow guy) among other subjects discussed. I signed up for the basic membership In hopes that I could leverage much of the support and knowledge offered to expedite my investing. My hopes are that continued use of BP and participation with Lifestyles Unlimited will greatly accelerate my efforts. Questions I have are:

1.) Have you had any positive or negative experiences with them?

2.) Is it like a REIA?

3.) Will I be guru'd? 

4.) Have I been guru'd?

Feel free to well wish if nothing else. Thanks in advance for your input; I greatly appreciate it. 

AY

[Joel Owens]

People call me all the time asking about such companies. All I can say is that there are memberships that cost tens of thousands of dollars.

What I tell people is find a local investor and take them to  a nice lunch for 30 bucks and see if it goes well. 30 bucks no harm no foul. 25,000 to a membership not working out possibly is a huge deal for many. 

[Nick B.]

@Albert Yamoah, 

I became a basic member of LU about a month an a half ago.

My experience is this. I went to a 2-days class and found that I already knew 90% of what they taught. There were a few important tactical and operational details in the single family business model that I either did not know or overlooked. Overall they gave enough info to evaluate, buy, and operate a SFH.

The multifamily part of the seminar had far less details and was centered around the importance of the right team and mentors. There was a sales pitch to upgraded to PIG membership, of course, but there was no pressure or urgency in that pitch. I did not upgrade but about 15 people did.

Was it worth $250 that I paid? I think so. I got missing pieces of the SF puzzle and plenty of motivation and entertainment. There is also a "members only" website with a vendor list and lease documents. It also helps when you contact a vendor and mention that you are an LU member. They become more responsive.

I am not sure that PIG membership is worth $18K though. I spoke with several PIG members but could not see what exactly they got for paying that fee other than getting connected with a lead investor. Everything else was "hand holding", consulting, education, and mentoring. Maybe it is worth spending $18K for an aspiring lead investor but for a passive it is an overkill.

Nick

[Paul Ewing]

I haven't been but I have heard a fair amount about them and read several threads here on LU.  There was one earlier this week where one of there VPs of Sales commented on some questions about their what many consider optimistic cash flow predictions.  She basically said that they do not allocate any money for vacancy because they tell you how to get great tenants (but even the best lose their jobs I have found).  Nothing held back for maintenance because the houses they recommend buying are all newly rehabbed, and nothing held back for capital expenses because you should sell them in less than five years and move into multifamily investments so nothing major should break before then.  If I did the same I would be raking in 45% to 80% of rents as cash flow too.  If I wanted to do high stakes gambling I would go to Vegas and get free drinks not pay so gurus to blow smoke.

[Jon Klaus]

• Search on Lifestyles Unlimited here   They've been discussed several times. Look below and to the left, there should be some links to a few of the discussions.

[Albert Yamoah]

Thanks @Paul Ewing and @Jon Klaus 

I'll keep everybody updated on this thread as well.

[Dan N.]

Disclaimer: I'm a satisfied Lifestyles member. 

@Paul Ewing , what they recommend is buying a house at a price you can afford to also fix up enough so that you have minimal maintenance. It is the properties which are intended to attract a high number and quality of tenant so you can try to pick the best one. It's true that those are best case scenarios but probability is in your favor. Admittedly there are no guarantees. Personally, I don't consume my cashflow so I have had reserves when I needed them. 

[Jay Hinrichs]

250 is not a bad deal if the information helped you. its the 25k to 40k that gets a little much

[Chris Soignier]

After doing the 2 hour seminar, I joined LU w/ a basic membership, deciding there was no way I'd pay the $$$ for the SF or PIG programs.   Well, after doing the 2 day class, I changed my mind.    I have no vested interest or desire to sell anything, but will say if I could change anything about my decision to join it would have been to do so years earlier.    My first MF deal is yielding well above expectations, and the value of my investment has increased by a multiple of the membership fee.   I'm hoping to invest another $150K this year w/ Lifestyles MF deals, and you can't do that w/o the membership.

[Dan N.]

@Jay Hinrichs as far as I know Lifestyles does not have any program that costs that much. 

[Jay Hinrichs]

@Dan N. 

  that's what Nick B said he paid to go... so I was using that as my info..

I personally have never heard of this company.. I think paid for education is definatly worth it if you find the right fit.  If nothing else it gets you in a group of like minded people..

Its hard to study on your own and get motivated.. Like people talk about here on BP its nice but like for me I just don't have the patients to listen to a pod cast more than a few minutes past the joking around.  So a more formal setting is usually better for me personally.  I have gone to other guru seminars the expensive ones as a guest.. and from my perspective its just like anything Real Estate related 4 to 10% will take the info and do well with it.. the rest will just fade away... I have owned 3 different RE brokerage companies over the past 40 years and that's the stat's for AGents coming in to the business 10% will make a darn nice carrer out of it another 40% will do Ok and keep at it on and off over the years the rest come and go.. Just like those on BP many get excited and then try whatever system or approach that interests them.. they have good results and another investor is born.. they have bad results and they just fad away .. this is a tough business to get established in but once there it can be great.. And for those that make money at their jobs and then can invest said dollars its just about picking the right deals.

[Dan N.]

@Jay Hinrichs I wasn't questioning the 250. I was saying Lifestyles doesn't have a 25K to 45K program that I'm aware of, though they do have some higher priced membership levels. I didn't read your post that you were asserting they did necessarily, but I thought someone else might have read it that way. 

I did pay for the additional membership level and I'll say that I feel that it's worth it for me. Because of it, I'm in multiple multifamily deals which I wouldn't have been able to invest in otherwise. However, I can see where others might not be willing to invest / risk the money. 

[Nick B.]

I think it also depends on the amount of money one has available. It is not that hard to swallow $18K access fee (I don't think passive investors need any mentoring or consulting) if you start out with a million $$$. After all it is only 1.8% of $1M. It is totally different if all you have is $100K and the fee eats up 18% of that. Now you have to make at least 21% just to break even. 

[Albert Yamoah]

@Dan N. are MF deals only available at the higher levels?

[Nick B.]

MF deals are exclusive to PIGs. That said, you may find an MF deal on your own but LU MF consultants will not work with you unless you upgrade to PIG.

[Ayman Elmasik]

I got invited to the free workshop and I think I will be enrolling in the 2 days training (although I already did 1 rehab deal and the second is in the market). any updates from the PIG members?

[David Key]

Their realtors want to sell houses from behind their desks and the extent of their work is to run a query of houses in your price range through MLS and tell you to go look at it yourself and let them know if you want it. When Lifestyles tells you you get a credit off your fee to use their realtors, you should know it's because their realtors don't do much. Use your own realtor if you want a friendly service experience that has value to you.

The mutlifamily program was simply a rip off, keep your money and buy a trip to Vegas or put it down on a house, you'll thank me later. They have a slick salesman, I'll call him Brad S, he offers no help in making deals for new clients. Most of the time he spends looking for deals for himself and his friends not Lifestyles customers.

When you deal with a Lifestyles Mortgage Company you are dealing with a boutique business. Sure they can make it work but the problem with dealing with a boutique business is that often times if the owner is sick, going on vacation, going through a divorce, not licensed or their kid's sick the business shuts down and so does your offer. The range of acceptable conduct of a boutique business is much larger and often times will disappoint you if you were expecting professional conduct. The reason Lifestyles suggest these companies is not because they do the most mortgages it's for other reasons like kickbacks and favors.

I found out that Lifestyles knowingly allowed one of these boutique vendors to be promoted on their webpage that wasn't even licensed to do work in the state! If you foul up and accidentally use an unlicensed vendor you could find yourself in some considerable financial trouble as well as having to redo all your work using a licensed company. When I pointed out that they were listing and unlicensed vendor they said they would remove them and they did from the Dallas website but they kept them on their Houston website. Houston is still in Texas. Perhaps Lifestyles ethics got lost on the way to Houston. I also discovered that the company in question had a history of not renewing their license and hadn't so in 2011, 2013 and 2016. I have little doubt that if you log in today you'll find the same vendor on their website.

It's a waste of money, the PIG program is a huge waste of money.

[Dan N.]

I believe Brad S. currently works for himself and not for Lifestyles. I am a current PIG member (from a different office) and I have more than made my money back passively investing in apartment deals. For people who want to learn how to buy and run properties, I have personally seen Lifestyles employees go on site to evaluate a potential purchase with a prospective member buyer. Success as a passive requires networking with enough lead investors who have deals and also networking with passives to find out who the best leads are. It's true that everything Lifestyles does can be done outside of Lifestyles. However, Lifestyles has enabled me to invest more quickly and confidently with people than I believe I could have done without them. 

Lifestyles doesn't buy any properties so investor returns are a function of the investment. I don't believe credit for using Lifestyles realtors is something they do any more either. I know people that have used non-Lifestyles realtors for SF and MF properties. It's not a requirement. 

I can't speak to the licensing issues, but it sounds like overall you had a different experience than me. Perhaps there was an issue in a certain office or perhaps they've corrected some of those issues since you experienced them. 

I just wanted to post my experience as a counterpoint to yours.

[James Clark]

I'm a member of LS I and I was doing my own deals so I was thinking what can they show me I join the basic membership and it was great I also went to other Reia's, BP, different conferences on real estate and after I dove deep I joined LS Pig program I'm a passive on a couple of MF deals and it has been great for me and my family we are studying to find our first MF deal but it is like anything else you have to do the work.  

[Todd Roberts]

I have been a Preferred Investor of Lifestyles Unlimited for over 10 years.  I paid 10K to join, and made that money back in equity capture on my first SF rental purchase.  I bought 4 SF rentals in my first year, making the fee I paid for Lifestyles, a punchline.  I now own 10 SF and over 4,000 units of MF (passively). Could I have done that without the mentoring of Lifestyles???  I honestly don't think I would have had the guts, not to mention the knowledge, at that time.  Given that Lifestyles is an education and mentoring forum for like-minded RE investors, I had all the confidence in the world knowing that I was not recreating the wheel with each RE project.  If you are active in the weekly workshops/webinars/networking you are surrounded by investors who just did what you are currently doing (both in SF and MF).  Lifestyles preaches that this is a team sport.  That takes a lot of the fear out of taking action. YOU may not need a 'jump partner', who will push you out of the plane when you start bringing up the myth's and lies to why you might fail at this project.  To quit my well paid job, for which I attained 2 undergrads and a Masters, I needed to know that I had a plan that worked.  Lifestyles gave me that plan.

Since joining, I have Sextupled my net worth and quit my corporate job.  Lifetyles Unlimited can provide you a great financial roadmap.  However, the key is that you must be a 'doer'.  No amount of RE GURU-ing by anyone will make you be a 'doer'. My brother bought a health club membership 2 years ago, and still complains about being out of shape!?! Well, you have to use what you are paying for. You can't NOT go to the gym, and expect results. The same goes for a RE club, or Guru materials. If you know that you are not a 'doer', then no amount of Real Estate Investment consulting or mentoring is going to make a difference in your life. Maybe you should try Tony Robbins instead, because he addresses 'Action'. However, if all you need is the knowledge to undertake REI; then Lifestyles Unlimited will give you the map, confidence and mentoring that you need.

I am not paid by LU.  I do not gain by this post.  I just hate it when people who fail at so many things in there lives, point to the wrong reasons.  Having the right map is usually the most important part.  Any capable person can follow a map.  If you don't have the commitment to follow the map step by step (i.e. being a 'doer'), then Good Luck creating your own wheel.  For those that have already decided to be successful at REI, I suggest you find a mentoring group and get educated.

[Fran Young]

I went to seminar in 2015, bought 2 houses I 2016 and a 3rd in 2017.  My parents had a couple of rentals and I know people who have been landlords for 30 yrs.

life styles is a good place to start if you have no knowledge, they will give you the tools necessary to succeed.  They reaffirmed what I already knew.  I sold one house this summer when prices were high and made a tidy profit to invest in another real estate venture.  I would do it all over again.

[Sherri O'Neal]

I have not invested before and brand new to this platform with a lot to learn. I watched the LU webinar this past week and have gotten phone calls daily since then about the membership fee. They claim to use the method of teaching that uses hard money loans to find your property, improve then rent. I’m not knowledgeable about how all of this works but I can’t make the math work. Someone please advise differently but here is the scenario they proposed; buy a house, renovate, put tenants in. Cash flow around $300 bucks a month. 

My questions are- what happens if tenant doesn’t pay and you have to evict or, when tenant moves out you discover $20k worth of damages that has to be done before you can rent to next tenant. Of course, that also eats up time between tenants where you not only aren’t earning cash flow but are in the hole. Between interest rates being day high, construction costs being through the roof and propert taxes and interest rates climbing by the minute, how is this profitable? I understand the long term investment profitability but, waiting for ten years and staying afloat if these scenarios became part of your situation, it looks like you need quite a bit of money sitting around to cover these types of predicaments. Please, someone, enlighten me.