All Forum Posts by: Danielle Cage

@Thomas Oliver I like this reasoning! I think it could also apply to many who might get cold feet about investing.

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely keep it in mind. I wonder how strict or lenient they are with that. I would think there has to be a strong reasonable cause otherwise just about anyone could use that as a defense. Unfortunately it's not beyond a justice system to turn a victim into the criminal. Though I'm going off topic with that line of thought.

All the best,

Danielle

@Debbie Lee just a quick suggestion... and I am *not* a lawyer so this is not legal advice in any way... here in Illinois it is illegal to audio record a phone call without both parties agreeing to it. So be careful with that!

Good luck to you!

@Wendell De Guzman back in August we had a tv guru sweep through Chicago. They advertised relentlessly day and night. While I was not working in REI then, it caught a friend's eye. She "believed" every word they said and so signed up for the "free" seminar. She signed me up too because she knows that I traditionally had a strong interest in it. I protested but went because I was super hesitant to let them go by themselves.

At the "free" seminar they upsold the majority of the room for a 3 day seminar @ $200, 1 guest included. My friend bit on this, and asked me to go if she paid. I protested, she insisted. Of course I knew they were going to try to upsell more and couldn't let her go on her own.

During the three day seminar, they spent more time talking about upgrading to their "master program" than they did giving details to people about how to get started. Ex: They spent nearly a day teaching people how to structure their business for tax purposes... though of course I knew this was useless because they weren't teaching people enough to actually make money in order to worry about taxes.

Their lesson on how to find cash buyers? The man literally spent 2 minutes on the topic - he told people to Google them. I spent the entire time thinking about this website and all of the free knowledge that anyone could tap into.

Long story short (or is too late for that?)... they eventually dropped the "mastery" program price on people. I believe it started at 19k and went up to 30k or so based on level support. No worries though because they would help people pay from their 401ks, credit cards, etc.

I remember sitting there for three days, watching the *packed* room around me... elderly, disabled, low income people... they all had an excited glow about them. They were going to achieve financial freedom, they were going to get what the speaker had, the boat on the lake. I knew better. I read between the well placed lines. Honestly, my heart broke a little for these people.

This experience reignited my passion for REI so in my opinion a lot of good came from it. Though I can't help but think about all those people in that room.

Anyway, to anyone out there who is considering a guru, please reconsider. There isn't one out there who can compare with the knowledge that can be found right here on BiggerPockets.

Danielle

@Stephen Durante thanks for asking this question. I've been heavily thinking about obtaining my RE license for the purposes of REI. I'm a little unsure as to whether this will end up helping or hurting me as a rehabber/ seller here in Illinois. I've read the prose and cons of both. I'll most likely get licensed once I get my business somewhat established and stable, unless I find additional major negatives to it.

@Brie Schmidt I just took a look at this company. They look much better than some of the others out of the Chicago area. Thank you for the suggestion.

@Wendell De Guzman thanks for posting this as it's quite inspirational. I'm about 30 minutes west of you and I'm motivated even more by what the local investors are doing. Thanks for sharing!

All the best,

Danielle

Hey,

@Dale Stevens duly noted ;) I plan on making sure that whichever group(s) I frequest will be a good fit. Otherwise I would be wasting their time too.

@Linda Govan I will definitely Google them! Right now I'm fairly open to investing anywhere in Chicagoland, however think I'm going to concentrate my investing in the suburbs. So I will also be looking for groups out here. That also means that I'll have a bit of research to do on the different areas that I end up focusing in.

@Gautam S. In the past I found the BiggerPockets community to be open and very helpful. Based on what I'm seeing now, nothing has changed. I'm excited about learning as much as possible and networking with some great people!

Thanks for all your kind welcomes!

Danielle

Hey,

I'm just taking a few moment to introduce myself and say hi to the Bigger Pockets community! I am not new to the site, unfortunately haven't been here in over 5 years and seem to have "misplaced" my account! I previously set up a business geared towards Short Sales. (My interest is now in Flipping.) I spent day and night on this site gaining as much info as possible and once I had all of the pieces in place, I froze. Some call it "analysis paralysis". I call it fear.

Now that I'm a little bit older, with a little more life experience, I see things far differently. It's time to spend my life's energy working to build my own business. I love everything about REI. I see it as the path for me to create something positive in my life and something that will allow me to spend my time how I choose... because that's one of the most valuable things we have: time.

My plan is to be able to work part-time with my currently employer within a year and full time as an REI within another year.

Currently all of my focus is on rehabbing and flipping SFH using Private / Hard Money. I am located on the Naperville / Aurora border which is roughly 35 miles straight west outside of Chicago.

I'm in the process of setting up my company, which includes but is not limited to:

• Locating HMLs
• Choosing my main farm area
• Connecting with wholesalers, lawyers, contractors and REI friendly Realtors
• Creating a solid marketing plan
• Locating local REI meetings
• Putting together an LLC

Aside from all of that, I'm reading, reading, reading! Soon I'll start asking questions here. I've found no better REI community on the planet. Please feel free to say hello, comment or make any suggestions now or on any future post.

Best wishes,
Danielle