Interesting thread. People make some interesting points all round. 

Jon  yes people have a negative attitude towards seminar spruikers and the like because there seem to be (more often than not) good reasons to have that attitude towards them, for example false or grossly inflated claims of potential income/wealth, grossly inflated claims or plain false claims in regards to the company and it's core business, false claims as to what they can 'do' for you in support or in fact their qualifications/experience to provide that guidance/educationd and support in the first place… they take advantage of people who don't know better using high pressure sales techniques and NLP designed to do nothing but seperate people from their money. As someone rightly pointed out above, ultimately the $2 company and trust based in Nauru is worthless when ASIC or the ACCC come knocking and write another 'stern letter'.

I don't doubt there are one or two good ones out there, but for those one or two there are plenty of shoddy, baseless and utterly deceiptful spruikers. I can think of one in particular who's about to meet his maker as finally he pis*ed off the wrong people and now faces some legal action for fraud and deceptive conduct. Every dog has its day and I will be laughing all the way when he gets charged. I don't think what's being expressed is a negative attitude, I think it's a stance of 'prove what you say is real, prove you've done it and can do it again before I give you a single cent,' which in my book is simply called due dilligence. I dont' call that negative, I call that smart.
 

Hmm … 'land banking entrepeneur' sounds like spruiker-speak for someone who uses property options! 

I wonder if a certain well known property options spruiker is this one and same 'entrepeneur'…..

Good luck with your advertising campaign Kevin.

Dr Robert and others I'd suggest you go back to the first page of this thread and read carefully the experiences of people who have already been through all the JV experience with mark and in one case (in the game's post) actually worked FOR Mark and his company for nearly 2 years. if you still want to get involved in any way shape or form with him after that then …. well i won't say..but i've personally spoken to 4 of Mark's former staff members, nearly every company he says he has relationships with or funding from, and many in the development and marketing industry, and let's just say that there was a common thread coming from them all.

The theory they teach is get the option, add a DA, onsell. Simple, effective and has been done for decades by developers around the world. However, big problems arise when:
a) you have no money to spend on a DA and no one in your 'coaching staff' has every closed a deal themselves (so in my mind how are they supposed to coach you how to do it?)
b) no one in the industry will deal with you based on what they've seen heard and learnt over the last 7 years
c) the JV agreement doesn't force anyone to pay you, the one who does all the work, a single cent.
d) there are few if any financiers who will work with you despite what you say in public

I'd go back over the course and remember all the names of companies mentioned and how 'close' a relationship they apparently have. Ring them yourself, see what they say. What harm in doing your own due dilligence. Dig deeper than what you're told in an NLP laden marketing festival. Believe me it'll be worth your while legally and from a 'wake up call' perspective. I can only speak from my personal experiences, and the collective experiences of those I've spoken to, which over the 2 years since I did the course, has been considerable.

simple question for them: Prove all the claims you make. Prove them via an independent source of verification. Prove you're company is worth what you say, has projects valued at what you say and where you say, prove you have successful students' who've been paid out, prove something.. anything.. I don't feel that's unreasonable to ask.

If they can? Great. If they can't? .. your call.

Have a look at where the state government is spending a large proportion of their infrastructure budget, and you'll find a lot of it is focussed on that Bowen Basin/Ayr/Central Qld region near the Abbott Point Coal Terminal, and the (what appears to be) new Mt Morgan Gold Mine. I know that Ayr has just had a major residential development approved (500 home sites) with more to come. Surrounding areas are starting to notice too now that government has got hold of some huge parcel of land around Abbot Point (in the region of 1500ha or something like that), so people are saying now "gee we may need to be close to all this"..
Depends on what kind of investor you are and what view you take. I personally look at where government is spending millions of dollars on new roads, new transport nodes, new water/power etc. I then look at the mines and energy spending, and then finally look at where the larger develpers are investing their time and money. A combination of those factors will usually (and I qualify that by saying do your own research) suggests that there is a lot of interest and potential growth in an area. Central and North Qld are still emerging in a lot of ways, some sectors have peaked, some are just starting to become interesting.

Ultimately its your choice where you go and what you do, but good luck with whatever that may be.
M007

Corporate Monkey: sounds like the Massland model, which i have some experience in, and I can tell you first hand what they tout and what Rolton speaks of is NOT how it really is. You realistically need a 24 month option, especialy in this current market, you need a list of buyers who want the product, you need some good consultants on board who can get your DA within the specified time frame, and you need a lot of time to make it work. and you also need to find someone who doesn't really know what they've got. Very few people out there will accept $1K or even $5K as an option fee, most want non refundable of at least 1% of the strike price. You can do it but its nowhere near as easy as Massland et al purport it to be.

My lessons learnt from my experience so far is:
a) I'm never going near Massland again. Ever.
b) Establish your network of buyers, consultants, agents etc first otherwise you'll be left holding an option that no one wants
c) make sure what you're proposing for the site has an established, current and very real demand, or you'll end up with the same scenario as b)
d) Make sure you get accurate and more importantly realistic (not inflated or plain untrue) figures for your feasibility, both for the civils/development costs and the marketing/sales costs/value of the end product.
e) Make sure your JV partner (if you're going to use one) is well connected and respected in the market place. No point in JV'ing with someone no one will buy from.

Good luck with your project.

Is that a question or a statement?

Hi folks, I can't speak to Carly Crutchfields course as i've never done it, seen it or met her so have no idea, although I do see more positive feedback on her than I do anyone else these days.
Let me be clear, i'm not formally accusing Massland of fraud or anything, I'm simply saying if someone is making extraordinary claims, make sure those claims are real, valid and true. Get proof. dont' get sucked into the NLP marketing techniques and go forking over thousands of dollars. Do your own research in the industry, Ask questions, and do NOT fall into the hype.
Options themselves are indeed a powerful tool, and they CAN work in certain circumstances, but they do take time, effort, and in many cases money to complete. I do also think they require some good background knowledge of the development industry as a whole and that takes time.
Again, i am no tpublicly making any accusations, but let's just say I am very pleased NOT to be associated with Massland, and I have met an ever increasing number of people who feel the same. One can begin to wonder why that is.
If you want to email me, do so at [email protected]
and put property options in the header so I don't spam you!
cheers,
Matt

Depends on who you did the 'seminar' with and what promises/claims of results they made. I've been doing options for about 18 months, did the Massland course, and thankfully now have nothing to do with them. Options are NOT easy, they take a long time to learn, longer to do, and require a lot of consistent work. My advice to you based on my personal experience is ask the following questions of teh seminar spruiker in question:

can they prove the claims they're making. Eg: if they say they're worth $500Million get some accountants statements to prove it and make sure they're not just renting somewhere and living upstairs (doesn't sound liek someone worth $500 Million does it?),

if they say they have 100 projects on the go, get them to show you some proof of that and I mean independent proof.

If they say the industry will deal with them and they're all good mates etc, prove it, have one of them provide a letter of reference, and most imortantly,

if they say they have many successful students then ask to speak with one of them. Find out if any of them have actually been paid out more importantly, and what kind of support they get.

Find out if the 'coaches' they say will mentor you through things have actually done any deals themselves and are speaking from experience, and if not, how can they mentor you through anything..

If  they use big names as references ask them if those names are contractually bound to their 'system' and if so for how long, see some evidence that its not just "oh well we were in the same room as them once".

My experience has been that there are some out there saying they're a development company who do 'seminars' on teh side, when in reality it's the opposite – they're a seminar company trying to do developments and their primary source of income is upselling you into 'mentoring' programs. I'd ring around the industry, mention the name of the group you're dealing with, and find out what the industry thinks. I've had some very, very interesting conversations over the last year or so. Options themselves are good, but they require a very in depth knowledge of the developing industry, very good contacts and a lot of patience and experience. My advice is tread very carefully, ask a lot of questions, get a LOT of proof that you're not just being seperated from your money and left out to dry.

Best of luck.

edited own post because i really couldn't be bothered dealing with the tanty's and explaining how to read what was actually said rather than what people want to see…