All Forum Posts by: Brian Christensen

Back in July I was contacted by a "real estate investor" saying that he was looking for some people to come and join his office and learn real estate investing. Now this was the first time that I, at 19 years old, had ever given thought to getting in the real estate game, but I was told it was a free dinner and presentation and there would be other investors there he wanted me to meet.

So I figured, "what the hell?". I was supposed to arrive at 6:45 and be there for the 7:00 meeting. Well, I got to the hotel MUCH sooner than I though at 5:30 and accidently wandered into the meeting already in progress, where Andrew (aka...Mr. Big Shot) was speaking with a group of about 30. Now...mind you, I walked into this HUGE conference room, with about 500 chairs set up. I of course thought, "I'm in the wrong place." But there were signs all over the stage and room with the Nouveau Riche logo. Anyways, as I sat and listened to this meeting, within 5 minutes, I figured out that this was not the meeting I was supposed to be in.

He was basically explaining to them that to get leads, you have to call call call...blah blah blah. I now realized that these "leads" and these "contracts" they needed to get done, were people like me to bring into the "real estate" school. So, I sat through that whole meeting where Mr. Big Shot ended it with looking at his watch and saying, "Alright, its 6:50, we're ganna let these suckers in and see if we can make some money tonight." I'm thinking..."what the hell is going on?!" So the doors open and in pours about 600 people...(remember how I said about 500 chairs...yeah...people were standing).

This supposed "dinner" was nothing more than the founder of Nouveau Riche, Jim Piccalo, on a video talking about how wonderful life can be, and how signing up for the school will change your life. It was halfway through the video that I finally put it ALL together and figured out how this was a MLM scam. (I know, it took me forever, but at least I figured it out before I gave them $19,500, that I didnt have).

But while I was sitting there, I thought of how I could use the company to maybe make some money with thier marketing scheme, and possibly get some knowledge of how real estate is done from my "mentor". Well, truth be told.....my "mentor" had no idea about real estate...except for the basics, and when I thought was finally at the "level" to be able to get paid(what they call, being certified)...I never saw a dime. Why? Because it turned out that when I let my "mentor" handle my forms to send in to the company, he took all the information I got from the leads, and re-wrote them onto his own forms, and collected the money for himself...

When I went back and tried to re-track how much money I should've made, it was about $45,000. Which would have been a VERY nice chunk of change for me. So when I contacted "headquarters", they said they never even heard of me (meaning I wasnt on record.) I later found out from other people that you were supposed to get an account and access to websites and all sorts of things. I spoke with my attorney (who is also a RE attorney) and he said unless I have ANY evidence (which I didnt because I was stupid and gave him all the forms), there was nothing I could do.

All I can say, is luckily, I never put any money into it...so I really didnt lose anything but time....

If anyone else has had any experience with this rip off of a company...post your story.

Maybe I should've done this last night when I joined, but, oh well, never too late...

Just wanted to say hey, and that I'm not only a new member to this forum, I am a new real estate investor. So new that I havent even negotiated my first deal. I'm looking to start off for a while in wholesaling, just so I can learn the ropes a little and generate some cash, but eventually, I would like to get into rentals and rehabbing. So if anyone has any advice, I'm always open to listening

So, if I'm correct, you want to double close when you stand to make a huge amount of cash, but assign when you're making just a decent or low amount. Am I correct? Or can you just say screw it, and assign everything. I'm new and dont understand everything too well yet. I havent even pulled my first deal yet, so I want to find out as much as possible, or get some one on one help.

The attorney is no problem. I already have one actually. He has been a close friend of the family and even though he is primarily a real estate attorney, he has been mine since I got my first ticket when I was 17.

Hello, I am a young and new real estate wholesaling investor (so new that I havent done any deals yet), and what Im looking for is someone in the chicago area (I live in Elgin), who has done at least a couple of wholesale deals, and can meet with me personally and help me learn the ropes, and get a couple of deals under my belt before I go completley solo.

I'm not sure if this is where you would post something like this, but it seemed to be the best that I could think of.

I have been looking into real estate and researching it for about 5 or 6 months now, and I feel confident enough to where I would like to get in the game, but like I said...not solo right away. Maybe I could just tag along to a couple of offers, closings, or be there for some calls. And maybe while I work through my first deal, you could point out to me what I should/shouldnt do here or there.

If someone in this area could take the time to help me out it would be GREATLY appreciated. I'm not looking to steal anyone from your buyers list, or lift deals from under you...in fact, in those aspects, I dont want to know ALL of the EXACT details. I'm more interested in methods of attracting buyers/sellers, negotiating deals, what laws I need to follow...those kinds of things.

Thanks!

Thats actually a good point. I figured I would need a couple for various things, but I never thought about just taking a couple and writing up my own. That way, I would deffinetly understand it because I wrote it...thanks.

I'm new to the wholesaling thing and I am trying to build up my buyers list and just continue to research.

Now, what I need to get a couple of contracts for sellers. I have one that I got from my RE attorney, but I would like to get a couple more to have more options. I live in Illinois by the way.

I also am looking for some assigment contracts for when I find a buyer.

If anyone has any that they can send to me either through Adobe or Microsoft Word, I would greatly appreciate it...

I dont take any advice as anyone being an ***...lol...so dont worry about that.

I do have an RE attorney who has been a very good friend of the family for many years. I have the contracts that he uses, but I just wanted to know if there are any other ones out there, just so I have a little moe knowledge of what I may see in the future. But before I would sign any deal, I would deffinetly bring it to him and have him approve it first.

As far as the ebooks you have, I would certainly like to use them. Im looking to collect as much information and knowledge as I can before I even go looking for deals. I've only been looking into this for a couple of weeks now, but I would deffinetly like to begin before February.

Thank you for your help.

BTW, I'm in Illinois if anyone else knows any IL specific laws and regulations, like if there is a limit on how many wholesale deals I can do in a year.

Any additional advice that anyone has to offer to a new person starting out would be appreciated.

I recently decided to start investing, but I have basically $0 start up money. So I decided to start with wholesaling. I know the basics of how it works, and how to find deals and such, but now its the technical stuffI need advice on. So I have a few questions that if anyone can answer, it would be greatly appreciated.

1. Contracts...where do you get yours from? How do you fill yours out?I've read in many places to leave $0-$10 earnest money, is that a good idea? I also read to add in a clause that states if your "partner" doesnt apporve the deal (meaning if you can't find an investor), you can back out of th contract with no penalties. Does that sound like a good idea also?

2. When presenting a deal to an investor, if it is accepted, what assignment contract do you use? What is the standard for figuring out your assignment fee? I've read that depending on the equity, your fee should be between 5-20%.

3. When rearching a possible seller/deal, what attire should be worn? If I'm visiting a house to get all the info on the house and negotiate a deal, is suit and tie necessary, or is just nice pants and button up shirt okay?

4. What are some ways you have found investors? I have seen that posting ads about potential deals, going to forclosure auctions and talking to the ones who didnt win the house, and just calling investor companies. Do those sound good? Are there any more?

5. Also, I wanted to know if the money I collect for assignment fees is tax free or if I have to report it on my tax filing.

Like I said, I have the basic idea down, and I have started to draw up a plan, but I still need some of the technical details. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!