What's Bigger Pocket's view on IG Gurus like Thach and Jake....

[Mario Casarez]

So I'm sure most of us have an instagram (or FB) account and have come across coaches like Thach Nguyen and Jake Leicht showing how they used real estate methods (flipping, brrrrr, etc) to make loads of money and promising to show you all their tricks if you just pay them $5000+ for their content. 

I have listened in on their free consultations just to get an idea of what they offer and what I discovered is that they teach the same things found in books you can find on Amazon written by Brandon Turner or J Scott.  Books we can get for under $20 each.  HOWEVER, what they do offer that can't be found within the books, is a network of like-minded people all in one place.  Although a book can't offer that live-networking aspect, i feel Bigger Pockets offers that.

So my question is, what is the sentiment around here on paying $5K+ to avoid having to search for all your networking needs.  Would the $5k+ be considered an investment on yourself?  Or is that considered a waste of money when you can have it all for less (or free?) here on Bigger Pockets?  Is this a case of "you get what you pay for?" or are those just "get rich quick money scams"?

Thank you,

Mario

[Jim Kalish]

Like you I've attended a few free seminars, which are merely thinly disguised sales pitches. Quite often things open up with everyone telling the room about themselves. One of the first things I noticed is that most of the people there have little if any experience or understanding of what real estate investors do. And secondly it seems most of the people would be hard pressed to pay for the lunch if it weren't free. But by the end of the hard sales pitch at least 2/3 of the people stand in line to shell out big bucks for a week end boot camp to hear what the so called gurus have to say. These folks, although well intentioned, do not offer any local networking. And as you pointed out all of the information is readily available for free or nearly free as long as you are willing to put in the effort. Your local REIA association is a much better option for local networking. And forums like this on BP have provided me with all kinds of advice and insights. So my recommendation is to dig in and do your research, attend your local REIA meetings and try to find a mentor, and put that 5k towards your first flip.