NORRIS GROUP REO BOOT CAMP

[Jerry Maguire]

anyone have experience with the norris group reo bootcamp? im trying to start out but the cost of the boot camp could mean not being able to startup at all so wanted some honest feedback on it

[Aaron Norris]

Thanks everyone for weighing in. The conversation has been quite fair. I have to be careful because I know Mr Dorkin and monitors don't like self promotion. Hopefully this won't be too promotional.

The Norris Group has two divisions: Investments and hard money loans. The end goal of our education is hopefully people will use us for hard money. Better yet, we're hoping we can show investors how we'd like them to structure offers so we can easily get them funded and also have all parties make money at the end of the day. If we do a good job educating and funding, perhaps one day you'll come back and invest in trust deeds when you're tired of flipping or being a land lord. It's a long customer life cycle.

We do offer the credit/rebate program for our advanced training as an extra incentive and a "thank you" for using our funding. It's all CA specific education and the strategies will change and shift as the California market warrants.

Our investment side used to buy 100% REO. Right now, they are 100% trustee sale. Nothing that says that won't change as we've been 100% builder before too. We go where we can best utilize our talents and resources. We over-improved properties back in 2009 and got frustrated with the appraisals coming back low. Instead of lowering our level of rehabs, we looked into trustee sales. Trustee sales offered a different avenue where we could leverage efficiency and volume, and that's what we're good at.

We still teach REOs and short sales because 1) We've done hundreds and know how to do it; 2) We know that's where the majority of deals are coming from now (see tngtrustdeeds.com/blog - these are the deals we're closing every day in our loan department in Socal) 3) Trustee sale requires all cash and is extremely competitive, not for beginners.

We visit the courthouse steps at boot camp simply to go over what's involved and what they'd need to get used to if they decide to go that route. Margins are extremely tight and the competition is not friendly to rookies. Then again, REOs and short sales are not a sure bet either, but at least you get to see the inside and have more time. All strategies require firm knowledge of repairs costs and markets values, no matter what strategy you pursue. All cash, however, makes barrier to entry a lot higher. While we do occasionally refi a trustee sale buyer out of a recent purchase, short sales and REOs are a much more frequent transaction.

For beginners, I suggest taking a real estate principles course. There's an awesome company in Riverside called First Tuesday that has a take home course. I have their entire broker series. If you ever plan to get your Realtor license, this course can go towards that effort. It's under $150. Getting basic real estate language under your belt is a huge help.

We also have an essentials course which is aimed at beginners and is not expensive. We also recommend people apply for our loan program before they come through boot camp. We can't make people borrow from us but we hope if they ever need funding, they'll consider using us.

The radio shows and news blogs are probably our biggest contribution to our industry and its free. Over 240 shows and 100+ hours of free info is in our archives. We purposefully don't allow advertising in our show. Info only,.no fluff, all content.

Thanks for giving us a fair shake. Hopefully this won't get deleted but Josh knows I'm still a huge fan, even if he does.