I noticed Mark Rolton has been doing some hard sell lately and was just wondering if anyone knows anything about him or better yet, has been to one of his seminars?
Hi Mizfitz,
Various 'gurus' get asked about from time to time on this forum.
You'll find a swag of discussion and comment on this forum by using t he search facility located at the top right hand corner of your screen. Plenty there and you'll be kept occupied for hours.
Hope this helps.
He promotes property options. From first hand experience and two years of effort, I can say that the model is incredibly enticing but much harder than it sounds. In a rising market sellers want lots of money for their properties and you end up buying well above retail to get people to give you an option agreement. In a falling market again you have to pay above market price to get the option. You risk being stuck with something which isn't attractive as a development or resell proposition because it is over-priced from the start. Also when you get into real feasibility numbers on things like "splitting" (subdividing) property to add value, you will be surprised to see how quickly all the profit gets sucked out of the deal by the real costs, levies etc. "Assigning" your option to an "ultimate buyer" also sounds really exciting but there are few of these buyers who will pay above market PLUS give you an "assignment fee" to take over your option agreement. Some might say that it's worth a go because you don't pay much for the option in the first place, to which I would respond the cost is in the time and effort required to find and then secure an option over a property. Some States are harder than others but my strike rate was 1:1000 not the 1:100 which you hear Mark talk about from stage. One in a thousand is many many hundreds of hours of effort.
Having been through the whole course and even shelled out for the master class which is called "Conclave" I now realise that Mark makes a lot of money from running Seminars. He aspires to be another Donald Trump (red flag) and the people who attend his seminars get caught up in the possibility of doing property development hand in hand with Mark and his money and expertise. In reality very few developments eventuate but many people still spend a lot of time looking for profitable opportunities. Also when they do happen they are not with Mark's money, so you are back looking for development cash and carrying the full obligations. Fundamentally Mark ends up benefiting from the one in a million deal which his well intentioned seminar graduates might bring to him after considerable time and effort. Moreover the terms of the these very rare deals do not end up looking like the too good to be true model which Mark talks about from stage.
Yes mark shows case studies of people who have had success but the same faces keep appearing and given the number of people who have given property options a go, the strike rate is, as suggested, very poor. Also I know people who have been badgered by Mark for testimonials, one person I know optioned two properties in a week but what the testimonial didn't mention was that it took eighteen months for the person to get to that stage and it was just a coincidence that the two option agreements were written up in the same week. What's more, the testimonial didn't mention that eventually both options had to be abandoned because the price paid was too high to attract developers (and all this work and the zero outcome under Mark's personal supervision).
For anyone still keen, I suggest you go to the free workshop, it includes everything you end up paying many of thousands of dollars for. If you do buy into the program expect the support to be poor. If you are still itching to part with with lots of money and effort for Mark's promise of riches, check out ebay there should be copies of his course material popping up by now at greatly discounted prices.
On a final note, Mark is obviously a very driven and very earnest person, but I think he has parted ways with his often quoted phrase (apparently from his father) "what you are speaks so loudly that I can hardly hear what you are saying". I think his obsession with the "Trump factor" may have caused him to lose the meaning of his early grass roots vision of helping people. As an aside, he hands out one of Donald Trumps books at his Conclave master class. Anyone who knows anything about Donald Trump and his intense attitude of "opportunism" might pause to carefully reflect on this.
Hope this helps.
RogerBillington wrote:He promotes property options. From first hand experience and two years of effort, I can say that the model is incredibly enticing but much harder than it sounds. In a rising market sellers want lots of money for their properties and you end up buying well above retail to get people to give you an option agreement. In a falling market again you have to pay above market price to get the option. You risk being stuck with something which isn't attractive as a development or resell proposition because it is over-priced from the start. Also when you get into real feasibility numbers on things like "splitting" (subdividing) property to add value, you will be surprised to see how quickly all the profit gets sucked out of the deal by the real costs, levies etc. "Assigning" your option to an "ultimate buyer" also sounds really exciting but there are few of these buyers who will pay above market PLUS give you an "assignment fee" to take over your option agreement. Some might say that it's worth a go because you don't pay much for the option in the first place, to which I would respond the cost is in the time and effort required to find and then secure an option over a property. Some States are harder than others but my strike rate was 1:1000 not the 1:100 which you hear Mark talk about from stage. One in a thousand is many many hundreds of hours of effort.Having been through the whole course and even shelled out for the master class which is called "Conclave" I now realise that Mark makes a lot of money from running Seminars. He aspires to be another Donald Trump (red flag) and the people who attend his seminars get caught up in the possibility of doing property development hand in hand with Mark and his money and expertise. In reality very few developments eventuate but many people still spend a lot of time looking for profitable opportunities. Also when they do happen they are not with Mark's money, so you are back looking for development cash and carrying the full obligations. Fundamentally Mark ends up benefiting from the one in a million deal which his well intentioned seminar graduates might bring to him after considerable time and effort. Moreover the terms of the these very rare deals do not end up looking like the too good to be true model which Mark talks about from stage.
Yes mark shows case studies of people who have had success but the same faces keep appearing and given the number of people who have given property options a go, the strike rate is, as suggested, very poor. Also I know people who have been badgered by Mark for testimonials, one person I know optioned two properties in a week but what the testimonial didn't mention was that it took eighteen months for the person to get to that stage and it was just a coincidence that the two option agreements were written up in the same week. What's more, the testimonial didn't mention that eventually both options had to be abandoned because the price paid was too high to attract developers (and all this work and the zero outcome under Mark's personal supervision).
For anyone still keen, I suggest you go to the free workshop, it includes everything you end up paying many of thousands of dollars for. If you do buy into the program expect the support to be poor. If you are still itching to part with with lots of money and effort for Mark's promise of riches, check out ebay there should be copies of his course material popping up by now at greatly discounted prices.
On a final note, Mark is obviously a very driven and very earnest person, but I think he has parted ways with his often quoted phrase (apparently from his father) "what you are speaks so loudly that I can hardly hear what you are saying". I think his obsession with the "Trump factor" may have caused him to lose the meaning of his early grass roots vision of helping people. As an aside, he hands out one of Donald Trumps books at his Conclave master class. Anyone who knows anything about Donald Trump and his intense attitude of "opportunism" might pause to carefully reflect on this.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for sharing.
So when you do find the property, does he comes up with money to buy ? or do you have to come up with the money for the option and sell the option to him for him to pass on the ultimate buyer ?
I understand the property option, but it will be very hard for every day people to get the deal across. 1) negotiation skill is hard to master 2) today's hot market makes most of sellers want to get their hand on cash ASAP.
So my questions are 1) when we identify the property, does Mark help( or support ) for the negotiation ? 2) when he says, in the seminar, he will partner up with you for the money, what does it really mean ? at what stage ?
Thank you
Hi, Im hoping to share knowledge/ability with any Vendor Finance people in particular areas. Just did another course from a different VF/Option group.
Market Ready to make a 'Sandwich' deal, or buy, renovate, rent, resell slowly. Can partner, share, JV.
Roger, thanks so much for sharing the insight. Really appreciate what you wrote.
Adrian Cahill | AdrianCahill.com Personal Development Expert
http://adriancahill.com/from-investor-to-coach/
Email Me | Phone MeHere since 2002, however things have evolved over the years.
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