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John T. Reed
Well in my studies I came across the following link which I think might help new people who are starting out avoid some authors and "get rich in real estate" programs.
http://www.johntreed.com/Reedgururating.html
Reed takes a no B.S. approach to debunking a lot of the programs and books out there...good way to know what to avoid for us newbs : )...
John can be quite acerbic and he is mostly negative, but his comments are rarely off the mark. I think everyone should visit the site to see what he has to say. I'm waiting for the day he reviews us, as I'm sure that something in what we say will rub him the wrong way (he's a staunch 20% down guy and I definitley enjoy the concept of leverage). Regardless, what he has to say definitely worth considering before getting into bed with one of the big named gurus.
Sean
i found his guru ratings site a few years ago. i didn't really like it because he basically has nothing good to say about anyone. there were a few he recommended but i can't remember who they were. but specifically he bashed ron legrand who is the one probably most responsible for teaching me how to buy & sell houses.
John definitely has a negative edge to 95% of his comments. He is a very conservative investor, and I think that's why he disapproves of 95% of gurus out there.
Agreed, but don't look at him as the final answer to whether a guru or mentor or what have you is a good guy or bad guy. Look at it as one piece of the puzzle. On some people, he's short and harsh. On others he provides a LOT of detail as to their negative issues. Read it, consider it, and add it to the other research you do.
Again, once we come up on his radar, I'm fully expecting a negative report because we advocate highly leveraging long term holds and think Neg Am loans (if we're still able to get them) are a good tool for someone who knows how to use them. But just because he's conservative and negative that doesn't mean you should avoid his information all together.
Sean
Now that I think about it isn't he the one that had a long legal battle with Russ Whitney? They sued and countersued for slander or whatever. If I remember Reed uncovered some facts about Whitney's youth where he ran afoul of the law and printed the court documents on his website. i think the case is settled now but jeez, i couldn't imagine going to that kind of trouble over anyone.
how many real estate deals do you figure he could have done with all that time and effort? and how much more money would he have made?
The ONLY thing, and let me state this as clearly as I can... THE ONLY THING one needs to know is what John T Reed has on his own site about his history in Real Estate Investing.
Visit: http://www.johntreed.com/Aboutauthor.html
Please note, that John himself shows he hasn't purchased anything since 1983. Almost 25 years ago!!! And even then, he says himself he did 12 total deals and lost money on 2 of them.
I mean, Reagan was president. If ya want to slam people about REI, maybe you should be an active investor yourself, wouldn't you agree?
Now don't get me wrong, there are somethings he points out that I agree with 100%, but hard to claim you can review investors, when you haven't been an investor yourself for almost a quarter century.
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Don't forget that Reed has incentive to put down many of the other guys . . . he's also a "guru" himself. If the others look bad, then he comes out as the not so bad alternative, right?
At the very least, his explanation of positive cash flows in rental situations is pretty darn close to what BP vets follow as well:
http://www.johntreed.com/positive.html
Reed offers fairly scathing words for about everyone in the business. The reality checker is that much of what he states is very true and rational. He's a very analytical mind. A very good reality BS checker if you get caught up in the hype. Not to say that fortunes aren't made in the vortex of the hype. Just be aware of the vortex as a salesperson, and don't ever, ever, ever believe your own BS.
I found it interesting that the former president of the local Cincinnati REIA, Vena Jones-Cox is on his radar, but he offers no specifics about her other than his ******** detector checklist. She's a big wholesaling promoter charging $99/seat a seat for her seminar which is a sales pitch for her $2495/seat Wholesaling Boot Camp. She generally gets 1000 to the small show.
I think a lot of what he says in his site is true. There are a lot of complaints on the guru's from other sites.
John Reed has a lot to say. His full time job seems to be writing reviews.
Some of the material he pans I know works because I applied it.
Even the bible appears to have places where the facts do not line up.
No matter what you read you need to question if it will apply in your situation. Even if the material only inspires you to do something different that could be good enough.
In comparison to what most people watch on TV I would not be all that concerned about many of the seminar folks. Most people lose money because they make bad decisions. The biggest problem is spending too much time thinking about starting rather than starting.
Use Reed's site to highlight areas where you need to question what you are reading. Assume that he can be wrong as often as the other party. Then make your own decisions and do what appear to work successfully in your market
Even here on BP there are debates about what works and what does not. Many times the debates highlight a person's bias more than real facts.
John Corey
I bought into his criticism of the other gurus so I had high expectations for his materials. I bought a few. He sels books for about $30/ea on different elements of real estate investing like AGGRESSIVE TAX AVOIDANCE, etc. The material is dated, info from the 80s maybe early 90s. He claims to have updated the material and lists a series of new publication dates. Total bunk... You will see a bunch of info from the 80s, then the last sentence may say, in 2001 I tried the previous technique using google and here are the results. He also seems to use info from other investors, he likes a few, has interviewed them and writes about their tactics. He does pack a lot of info in each book, does provide a few ideas of things to research to see if they may work today.
I think this guy lives off of what he did in a previous life.
