The course was $3000 if you paid in 2 x monthly installments of $1500, or $3500 if you paid within 7 days of attending (I booked a month or 2 earlier). It went for just over 2 days. Friday 7pm-10pm, Sat & Sun 9am-6pm.

Joe

Hi Sooshie, thanks for the warm welcome

Yes well I figured I better learn and get a good foundation to begin with before jumping in and doing the wrong thing, which is what happened when I entered the share market in 2000 (wrong time obviously after the boom) plowing in $17k, which was reduced to $4k in a matter of 2-3 mths… I didn’t have an exit strategy and that cost me… I am still holding the shares as I sold some at a profit but the remaining bunch are worth around a miniscule $1300 so I figure there’s no point writing a loss just yet unless I need to..

Anyhow, property investment appears to be a safer, more stable vehicle for wealth building. I’ve decided that if I want to do it seriously and do it successfully, then I ought to spend some time & money to learn from people with a proven track record.
I have lots to learn, of which I’ve learnt a lot in the past 3 months or so reading up on the net about different strategies, books and some of the intro seminars etc…

Regarding Peter Flanagan, I don’t know of any web references other than Break Free Events, you could give them a call and ask them on 1800 889 909. I have a copy of an email here which promotes the introduction night, if anyone wants a copy let me know and I’ll forward it as I don’t want to post it here (bad net-etiquette?)

Quentin, there isn’t a Melbourne seminar as far as I know, he only mentioned the one in Sunshine coast. He is probably promoting it around the country though.. or he could just Melbourne based, I’m not sure..

I have now completed the Real World seminar, and must say I am pleased with my decision to attend as I got a lot out of it. I went in mainly wanting to learn the fundamentals of property selection criteria, what research to undertake, a bit about developments, and to learn Michael’s investment methodology/thinking..

I gained a lot more than that, there were some guest speakers that gave talks on vital issues such a property lawyer discussing legal issues with contracts etc, there was Dale Gatherum-Goss (an accountant that knows property investment) discussing some truly creative and legal tax strategies that a family/hybrid trust can take advantage of, also good for asset protection which is a must for any investor.
Also learnt about rentals and property management, the amount of effort required to be a successful developer (with town planning permits and project management, feasability studies before commencing etc)

As with most events of this nature the networking with other like minded people is great too, getting to hear other peoples experiences and what they have acheived, also the potential to partner up in joint ventures etc..

There were 2 people that attended the course last year that came again just for the session on property development, and they found it worthwhile. Basically it was a no-hype event with practical, realistic strategies (mainly buy & hold/development, just briefly mentioned options/wraps though so don’t go hoping to learn them) for building wealth. They also had a speaker discussing finance options as well, so it pretty much covered everything from beginning by setting goals, adjusting your mindset, selecting, evaluating, purchasing, negotiating (good session on dealing with auction’s), and how to finance and structure it. Received a nice thick folder of notes and research material, Dale’s Tax Battles booklet, plus a recording of the whole event that arrives on CD once it’s been mastered.

It answered a lot of questions for me, so had I not done it I would still be left wondering about a lot of things, which I may/may not find in forums/books, plus the added bonus of how important asset protection and the right structure is in helping your portfolio grow steadily and safely. Some of the more experienced people went for some of the specific topics and it was good to see that most people there already had a few IP’s. I think I was the youngest person there at 28.

I hope that gives you a non-biased overview of the event. The other thing worth noting is that it was a small group of 50-60 people in a class-room type format (tables & chairs) not like a lecture session with books on your knees, unlike some other seminars that have 100+ people where you don’t get the chance to speak 1-1 with the presenters and get to ask questions during the seminar. (we could ask questions on the microphone so whole audience could hear and participate throughout the course)

Oh and they provided nice coffee, biscuits, lunch (with dessert) and snacks throughout the breaks. I think it was worth it just for the extra calories

Q, it’s up to you to gauge where you are at knowledge wise and decide which area you which to focus on, but I found that most participants had been to other seminars and were still happy they went along. There was one guy who half way through thought he may not have gained what he went along for (this was before the 4 hour discussion on the property development/planning process took place), but by the end of it he realised he spoke too soon. I didn’t hear/see of any other complaints from the attendees.

I guess seminar junkies will get something out of every course and say it’s worthwhile so it’s really an individual assessment as to what you think is good value. Simply not being aware of a legal implication could well cost you $10k+, or not maximising tax could deprive you of the same amount. So with property courses it can take 1 single gem that’ll pay for the course (considering the size of property transactions). Sure you can get some of those gems free and some people do quite well being all self taught, which is how I learnt computers from using them to networking/hardware and programming them. It also depends on the time you wish to spend learning, as you could save time and invest some money or save money and spend some time.. Which is more important? Timing is a key factor in cycle-driven investments, so the earlier you know something and can apply it, the better off you are. That’s how I look at it anyhow. Just do some research before you part with hard-earned $, find out what you’ll get from it (ie,think of the end result) and make an informed decision rather than an impulsive one.

My next step is to review the course material and plan my investment structure, set some goals and buy some property! (and learn whatever else I can along the way)

I hope I didn’t go too off-topic or too long here so please forgive me if I did.

Joe

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“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.” – Bruce Lee / Johann von Goethe.