Seminar Scams…

[whistle]

OK I’ll stick my neck out[blush2]

I have a vested interest which will become clear in a minute.

There is no doubt that some seminars are a waste of money. And of course you could read some of the content in books or find it on the internet.

But there are others where you will definately get value for money and learn from the presenters.

Steve McKnight is someone you would learn from and pick up points that are not in his books or on this forum.

How do I know?

Well… I have read his books and I have presented on the same stage as him(in Nov last year in Brisbane.) He was a great presenter and of course some of the contents is in his books but some wasn’t. At a seminar you have a chance to interact with the presenter.

Are seminars worth the money?

Well that depends….

For 4 years I have been running an annual seminar called the “Real World” real estate workshop and each year I offer a money back guarantee, for anyone who at the end thinks they didn’t get their money’s worth (that’s right you get to stay till the end.)

Of the hundreds of attendees NOT ONE has asked for their money back, so they felt the investment was worth it.

What about the stuff that’s not in the books or on the internet?

I can give you a hundred testimonials from experienced investors that attended my workshop who will tell you that the advanced topics covered are not available elsewhere.

I know because I “spill my guts” and tell all the details I have learned over 30 years in real estate as do the other 7 presenters.

All the presenters are active in property today and are increasing their portfolios in this market.

There is still alot to learn, don’t be cynical.

Find someone who has done it already and is still doing it.(not a theorist.)

Steve McKnight has done it and has shown others how to.

So have I for a bit longer than Steve, but then I am a lot older. So have the Reno Kings, Dale Gatherum-Goss, Rob Balanda and that’s why I have invited them to join me at our workshop. Check out this link

http://www.metropoleprojects.com.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?art_id=107

Please keep learning. It’s one of the traits common to successful people.

Michael Yardney
METROPOLE PROPERTIES
Author of Australia’s leading property e-magazine.
Join over 10,000 readers each month.
FREE subscription http://www.metropole.com.au

I’ve spoken at one of the Reno Kings seminars and seen how they run them. There are group sessions and exercises, real life problem solving etc. They are a high energy, high involvement seminar. I’m not sure whether those guys have a book, but if they do I can’t see how they could replicate everything they cover in a seminar. I think a good seminar allows ample time for questions from the floor, too. You won’t get that opportunity from a book.
But of course, there are lousy seminars too where the presenter is just paraphrasing their own book.
I’d say the ones to be wary of are those where the presenter has just released a book and is riding the publicity wave. They’re the ones where the seminar tends to be the book.
Scott

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Yes! I am a person who goes to various seminars. As a trainer and seminar presenter myself, I learn a great deal about how people present and sell on stage. Seeing people present is a great way to learn the stuff you can not get in books etc.

I have learnt 99% of what I know about property and share investing at seminars as I prefer not to read books, it seems to take me too long. and I don’t get to ask questions.

Cheers Steve Gray

PS if you pick up one thing from a seminar and use it, you may well pay for the session many times over, I have! eg an intro to negotiating (free) seminar. I saved over $10,000 in the next 6 months!

I went to a Henry Kaye seminar a few years back. Not the $15,000 one, just the intro where you paid $49 and got to bring another person free. There was a money back guarantee.

At the seminar there was nothing groundbreaking, just very general strategy to buy off the plan on long settlement with deposit bond, then revalue just before settlement, borrow 80% of valuation (which hopefully given capital growth in the past year or so should be enough to borrow the entire original purchase price), then revalue again every year, then build your portfolio and draw out the rising equity to fund your lifestyle.

I didn’t feel that I learned anything particularly useful, so I decided to take them up on the money back guarantee. When the session finished, I looked around for a staff member to speak to. All I saw was an empty desk at the doorway. No one in sight. The next morning they could proudly say no one wanted their money back, so everyone got value from the seminar.

I have been to other seminars from time to time, and I must say that the only value I have got from them was just a prompt to think about investing. I have not met anyone who has gone to a seminar and gone on to make a lot of money from it.

If the seminar presenter was to work with me personally to source and arrange appropriate investments, and only got paid out of the profits if I made money out of it, I would be the first to sign up. But if they want my money up front, and offer nothing but promises that they can’t be held accountable to, then forget it.

Having said that, I believe seminars CAN be very worthwhile. It’s just that I haven’t come across any that I have been impressed with. Apologies to the seminar presenters on this forum. This is not directed towards you guys.

Jason,

Yep, my Lender takes Settlement price or Valuer’s latest price – whichever is the lower…sneaking up the equity levels makes great seminar material but in reality the Lenders aren’t that stupid…it’d be their extra money being put at risk and they aren’t into that…

In terms of attending seminars – never been to one myself…perhaps I’m missing out on something really good – dunno. Maybe a jar of motivation and some contacts from fellow seminees (sounds kinda rude doesn’t it ??) is what it’s really about…

What I do know is that the group of elderly gentlemen I’ve met recently who’ve been developing CIP’s and IIP’s for donkeys and are now heavily loaded have never been to a seminar in their life and wouldn’t give the time of day to the “upstart young” presenters as they call them.

Each to his own though….motivation is a powerful driving force linked to a well marked out plan…maybe that is where the seminars real strength lies, in providing that little boost needed, with the actual specific content not that relevant ??

I’ve found sitting down face to face with these elderly gentlemen over a cup of tea far more enlightening than any advertised slick presenter. To me it makes sense that if you are making buckets of cash doing developments, you couldn’t afford the time to tell other wannabe’s how to do it, regardless of the seminar cost…unless ego and other cross endorsement products start to come into play…now I’m getting a tad cynical.

Do you reckon there is likely to be a little “Stevie” doll on the market soon ??

Cheers,

Dazzling

“Go hard or go home”

Not so long ago Peter Spann was in the forum answering some questions. I have read both of his books and found them to be very informative and motivating.
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Peter freely advised that his seminars are not for everyone and that there was no information that you could not get from his books. I respect him for such and honest answer in a public forum. However, others who had been to his seminars highly recommended them.
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These days you can get alot of these books on mp3 through amazon or sites like limewire etc. For people that do alot of driving or travelling on the train etc it really makes sense.
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I have heaps of this sort of material a freely lend it to friends and family. Sharing these resources is great for keeping the costs down and also exposes you to ideas that you may not have selected off the menu if you were making the purchasing decision yourself.

I will not pay more than $59.95 for any seminar, there is just no magic bullet in property investing – it takes common sense, time and efforts. Without doubt some of these ‘property gurus’ make truck loads of money from these seminars. That’s my 2 cents worth.