All Forum Posts by: Adam Adams

@John Burtle - I don't know what I can name on here as far as products for fear of getting this very active post shut down. I sent you a message. There are several systems out there. The one I use has a monthly subscription for $5 a month and I can pull 20 searches. The results will get me a general search. It will give me phone numbers, addresses, next of kin and such. Or I can search by phone number or address. Nice to be able to see who is using that house as a residence and such. For criminal, traffic, legal and such, I'll get a flag count. For example, here are the flag counts for the following people we've been talking about.

Scott Carson - criminal:8, traffic:2, financial:6, properties:5, legal:13, licences:0

Jay Tenanbaum - criminal:21, traffic:2, financial:1, properties:4, legal:4, licences:2

Adam Adams - criminal:0, traffic: 0, financial:0, properties: 3, legal:0, licences:0

It doesn't show my properties in my companies, so I am assuming it does not show legal actions against the companies. I'm not positive about that. I am also assuming that any legal action would be against me and my company and not just my company.

So looking at these results (for $4.99 a month), I do not need to spend any more money on the detailed background check. Why would I invest with anyone with 21 criminal records. Maybe a few can be explained. Maybe a couple folks I invest with have had a BK or Foreclosure back in the 2008 crash. I'm OK with that. Maybe that 1 legal action is my dog bit my neighbor's dog and the neighbor is suing for damages. Or maybe it is a million-dollar lawsuit.  So if I get a count that everything looks good except for 1 or 2 flags, then I might pay the extra for the detailed report. 13 Legal records? I don't need a detailed report. Financial records would be things like Foreclosure, IRS liens, etc. Criminal could be anything like public intoxication to a full-blown felony.

If anyone wants to know what system I use, just shoot me a PM and I'll tell you.

Whatever it takes for me to NOT work without being on welfare. 

I find rentals acquired through defaulted notes to be a nice way to do that. However, with pricing the way it is these days, sometimes it's better just to buy the REO. With the IRAs, we buy into other companies and commercial multifamily syndications.

He knew about them being defunct. I bought a note from him for West Cleveland. Turns out Cuyahoga county wants to see the status of all parties involved when recording the deeds. That's when I found out his business was out. In Texas, you just get online and plug in some numbers and you are done with staying up to date. It's even free. I do it every year, so it's not that hard. Months later, he still wasn't up to snuff and I still couldn't record the deed. We finally found out that the Secretary of State was behind the comptroller by about a year and I found a record I could use with Cuyahoga County. I eventually got the deed recorded without his assistance.

Later on that year, or the next, one of his students reserved the name We Close Notes since Scott had let it dissolve. They were too nice and gave it back to him. I wish they kept it so we could watch him have to rebrand.

@Chris Mayes Is that the current status of his companies? If so, he's let them lapse again because he did get them squared away a year or so ago.

@Jay Hinrichs Didn't know that. That would suck. 

@Christopher Winkler Here is the rub with going to the authorities. The authorities don't make Scott pay anyone back. They seize all the assets and assign a trustee. After years and years go by, you might get some nickels back. What really sucks is you can't even write off the loss because it's not lost. It's with a trustee in a state of limbo. I speak from experience on this. One of the complaints from the Feds in the lawsuit I am involved in is that the culprit was living luxuriously beyond the means of his earning. I see Scott doing that every day. So the only people that are going to say anything to the authorities are those that have given up on getting their money back, or those that were fortunate to get their money back already.

In the end, I do expect the authorities to come in and seize everything. He doesn't own anything but hides the assets with Stephanie. It's a lame trick that the authorities don't care about. Stephanie will lose everything too. Bankruptcy won't protect fraud either. I wouldn't be surprised to see jail time when it is all said and done.

I've seen a lot of comments in regards to risky investments, bad management, incompetence and such. I think you need to go back to Gerry's and Al's comments. Once you give money to Scott, the communication stops. No updates on the investment. No distributions. Nothing. Even legal action doesn't get anything out of him once he has your money. The only time he'll get back with you is when he thinks you are going to hurt his business, as in the case of this post. Most of the posts in the past have been taken down because he pays off his investor. Testor v Carson was the first one I saw. Testor put up a website that a few people saw. Scott saw it, paid him off and it was down shortly after. Other posts have been in his basecamp forum. Very short-lived posts because the OP gets paid off.  Anyone notice that he's suddenly got a ton of CFDs for sale. He he's raising money from Peter to pay off Paul to get this post down. The guy takes your money and runs away with it to Disney Euro. Same goes for the guy I invested with that is his buddy that used to be an attorney. Every month I'm on the phone with someone out there that calls me wanting to know what I know about these two. Every time I go to a conference, more people are wanting to know more about what I know. Why me? Heck if I know. Maybe because I did a ton of videos for him. Whatever the reason, I do get a lot of calls. And since this post started, I've got 7 people calling and writing to me wanting to know what I know. And it's not just Scott that's a crook from that group. 

And while this comment might hurt a lot of people including myself, everyone needs to have some suspicion with all of Scott's associates and former associates. I know I do. These are not incompetent investment managers. These are crooks who con you into showing you the ropes of the business using their positions as mentors and "successful" note players. Then they want you to buy their crappy notes or JV with them on their crappy deals. Success is just around the corner if you just let them show you how, and pay them. @Michele Orgel named a few, but unfortunately, she didn't name them all. I'd name them, but my wife will kick my *** if I do. 

The big problem is that Scott is a "Guru". And unfortunately, being a "Guru" that's on several stages across the country gives one a sense of credibility from the start. We're all taught to trust our teachers and to have a mentor and do what they tell us to do. So you get done with his class and there he is and other folks in his group to show you the ropes.  I've had great mentors in the past and still have one for apartments. I've had success with mentors. However, if you have never done a note before and he's there to teach you, how do you know it's crap. How do you know that what he's teaching you will get you into legal trouble? You don't. I invested in one of his lackeys listed on this forum and listened to another that's floating around here somewhere. They are all cons. "Give me your money and I'll show you the way... Help me grow your wealth..  Join my mastermind.... " pffttt...

I was fortunate though. I found my own attorneys and did my own research and did things differently than what they told me. Unfortunately, I think that all of his "students" that I met while in his group have been screwed and some are still getting screwed by Scott and his lackeys. 

Now I always stress to everyone.... DO BACKGROUND CHECKS ON EVERYONE. Even your mother. Not just credits scores and crap. Get a full background check. They are cheap. You'll see the criminal, civil actions, tax liens, bankruptcies, traffic tickets, everything. You never know who the good con men are because they are good. Do a background check even if you "trust" them to teach you.

I got it too.

@Jay Hinrichs A lot of us learned from Scott. I can say that I probably wouldn't have started buying notes without his class. A few months into it, I started hearing the stories like Gerry's. We've revamped our business and did away with a lot of the things he taught us.

@Patrick Desjardins - There are a lot of similar stories. Most of them from his students. If you run a background check, you'll see some nasty stuff. And some of the guys he promotes are just as bad. I invested with one of his buddies. After I gave him my money, I learned that he was a disbarred attorney. He was suspended for mishandling client funds and disbarred for practicing while suspended. I was lucky and got my money back, but I know several folks that are in a bind because of him and will probably lose their investment.

Since I got involved with those two fellows, I always tell everyone who writes me or calls me to do a background check before giving anyone any money. There are a lot of services online that will do it for $10-$40. It's a cash business which means no one is screening these folks like they should. If it were a commercial deal with leverage involved, not one bank would give them a loan. Spend $10 on due diligence before giving someone $10,000.

I've been using Quickbooks. Once you set it up, your Schedule C is all ready for your CPA. Makes things nice and easy.