Than Merrill?

Question

Hugh Ayles · Answer

I live in Austin which is where Phill Grove lives.  His average student pays around $20k for his guru class.  They meet monthly at one of the local REIA meetings.  I am not a student but I attend the REIA meetings.  I saw around 50 people in the room.  That represents $1 mil of revenue.  For argument's sake, let's say his overhead for running the program is $300k (advertising, a couple of employees, meeting room rental).

So his take home is roughly $700k with very little risk.  How much risk do you face to make that much money investing in real estate every year?

Account Closed · Answer

@Kevin Zimmer

I agree that people just need to get started. I've made plenty of mistakes with my first rental house. I wish I had $20k - $30k for a guru course. I'd take that money and buy another rental property with it!

Kevin Zimmer · Answer

@Russ Brantley

I get the same feeling about gurus, but most of us have purchased something from one of them, and you need to start somewhere.  That is the key, you need to start, so you can make a mistake and learn. Fear and ignorance stop a lot of us from doing what we know we should do.   I agree with @Ashley Pimsner.   There is nothing like having skin in the game to help you focus, learn, and act.

Thomas Mitchell · Answer

Here's what I can tell you about ALL of them.  I've paid a lot of money to gurus.  Some was well worth it and others weren't.  They are going to tell you how incredibly easy it is to make money in real estate.  And if you know what you're doing, it is.  The problem is they don't tell you how incredibly hard it is to get to the point where it becomes easy.  You will have many stumbling blocks along the way that will make you want to quit.  The "coaches" that most of them employ aren't real investors and are paid to just encourage you.  If you have a real, technical question they won't have an answer.  Most of real estate is learning in a trial by fire fashion.  That's true for most money-making ventures, though.  I think I read it best once:  If you ask someone what you should do with your money, inevitably their answer will be "You should give it to me."

Kevin Zimmer · Answer

One more comment, I think many members of the BP audience have read the E Myth by Michael Gerber.  (I listened to the audio book for free from my library).  I recently purchased and read "the E Myth Real Estate Investor" with Than Merrill as co author.  I have to reread it.  I thought it was good, spoke a lot about systems, but I was under the mistaken impression that some of those systems were going to be revealed.  I think they were just teasers, because  every other chapter suggested you go to their website for more information on how they could help you as a real estate investor

Ashley Pimsner · Answer

@Nate Leaders, the topic of fortune builders had been covered often in the forums, so please forgive me as I cut and paste a previous response of mine.

I agree with @J Scott that the experience you gain from your first flip is worth far more than the $19000-$33000 tuition to attend the Fortune Builders Mastery class offered by Than Merrill. However, I did pay the $200 to attend the 3 day seminar of Fortune Builders hosted by Cole Hatter, and can say without reservation that I completely ripped them off! This seminar is obviously set up to enroll students into the Mastery program but Cole Hatter was a true real estate expert and extremely motivational. The amount and depth of information provided was incredible and this seminar is definitely worth your time. If you take good notes then you can pretty much duplicate their systems or at least have a basic blueprint on how to start your business. The problem with most newbies is that they fail to take action and implement the knowledge that they have gained.

Account Closed · Answer

Everytime I hear a guru advertising on the radio I tell myself that if their system worked so great, they'd be doing it instead of trying to teach others how to do it.

Dev Horn · Answer

I don't know anything about his course, what he charges, or if it's a good value.  I will say that we know Than and he is a good guy, a legit educator, and Fortune Builders offers solid programs and products.

I didn't pay a coach, but for people considering this as a NEW career, it's short-sighted to just say "do it and you'll learn it!".  Do this wrong and you could lose tens of thousands of dollars on a single bad deal.  Use the wrong investing strategy on a deal and you could see a 5% ROI rather than a 50% ROI.  So, considering a real education to get going in this business is a legitimate consideration.

Problem is, so much of the education in this biz is overpriced crap.  And there are more gurus and wannabe gurus than you can count.  Than has proven success in this business and he's built an impressive company...

Brent Coombs · Answer

@Ashley Pimsner, what a fantastic comment:- "I did pay the $200 to attend the 3 day seminar of Fortune Builders hosted by Cole Hatter, and can say without reservation that I completely ripped them off!" Good for you, getting better value out of it than you paid. Cheers...

Than Merrill?

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