Seminar – Mark Rolton

Something of interest, I reposted In the Game's comments over at 21st century academy who 'promote' mark and  massland, and i've been banned from the forum and told i've defamed etc etc.. one would begin to question such a strong reaction from seminar providers and why they'd stifle an opinion being offered and a suggestion people do due dilligence into something like this…..

Hmm.. again I leave it for people to make up their own minds..just thought I'd share.

Thanks Michael, I was quite disappointed, however in hindsight I am happy NOT to be involved with either groups. Being master of my own destiny far better suits my world view than being tied to .. well…. my point I feel is already made.
As they say, every dog his its day…

just make sure you can verify what the guy told you.. independently..thats a lesson I learnt.. they can tell you anything they want, but you need independent proof of what they're saying.. I may be a bit jaded but i too had lots of people who worked there tell me all sorts of things, ultimately none of which were true, or at very best they were highy exaggerated.

hi hengjin.li .. I'd really appreciae a copy of the book if you're willing to send one to me.
If that's ok, please email it to : [email protected] ..

And if I may comment on the statements by Pauly P, on one hand I agree education costs if you can get benefit out of it are probably ok to deal with, however when the people selling the education are misleading you about the potential, the business they're in and their standing in the community, that's when I have a BIG problem with giving them money. That level of deception, misleading conduct etc boils my blood and I hate to see people who through no fault of their own, don't have enough knowledge to know when what they're being told is unrealistic and grossly exaggerated, who then place all their hopes and dreams on these things. People need to learn to question more deeply, to expect and deman proof of the claims being made by these seminar spruikers and 'educators'. I think people sadly are taking far too much at face value, believing anyone who 'appears' sincere, and who will sell them a dream with no real substance..

end of rant…

Hello Hengjin,

As you say, there is not much material available in the market for property options. I would  be keen for you to send me a copy of the US Real Estate Options book, it would be most appreciated.

Cheers,

Strata1

Hi  all

Well, I have read with interest all the valid comments regarding options, in particular, Mark Rolton and Rick Ottons.

Here is my view.

We did the 21st C seminar, (some great content, shame it has become a big con sales department), and I was very interested in 2 people. Mentioned above. I thought I would investigate by asking questions of them, before putting pen to credit card paper. Thankfully I did.

Within 2 seconds of talking to Rick, my wife, (women are a much better judge of character than men – proven in business), said, this guy can not be trusted! Was she right. I was brushed off very quickly by Rick, before even getting to fully ask my first question. I put it down to the mass of people who had already asked their questions. I signed up!!!! (Mistake number 1).

2 months later, with the course date approaching, I had heard nothing. I started asking questions and responses were not happening. Finaly, I was told that there was a problem with my credit card, (probably good luck  the payment had not gone through- but there was no valid reason why), and that the offer tha was made by Rick at the presentation, was no longer available and the 2 for 1 offer had now gone up $1500.00 from the $2600, (I think it was), that we paid. Guess my response????? Go and put your course where it deserves to be and watch out if you even try to debit my card with any sort of fee.

Thus, one interest down and one left!

I did not get to talk to Mark, but my wife was confident that this presentation was a lot more trustworthy and was worth a look. (That just killed the character judging theory!)

I signed up and then the problems started. They quickly took my money and gave me nothing. It took weeks to get the home study pack and then to get some answers on attending a course date – well. There was a course in a few weeks time and I wanted to attend. The staff could not tell me where or what time, only that it was on the Gold Coast. I said I needed to book flights and accommodation, but still no answers. I finally got an attendance welcome email, 3 days before the event – Guess my answer.

There was another course 2 months later and once again, the response was slow, but I at least had 3 weeks notice.

The course was good – I did learn a few good concepts, but wow, is Mark a great salesman. The people rushing to sign up for $30k course was embarrassing. It proved how good a sales man Mark really is. Mark was adamant that you could not do well without having RP Data, UBD and Google Earth Pro. A must have.! Well I signed up – (mistake number 2). You needed to sign up today because the offer was not valid from tomorrow and the log in's would be processed the following week so you can all get started.

3 weeks later, I had heard nothing and had to remind them of this promise. The RP Data password arrived – fantastic. Living in Melbourne, Mark had stipluated, start in your suburb and work out from there. Work on the areas you know and when you find one that works, work that radius from the CBD around your city. Fantastic. I got started only to find that Massland's access to RP Data only covers 7% of metropolitan Melbourne! How can you apply Mark's so called great system to only 7%? I asked the question, only to be told by one of the clearly incompetent support staff that these ae the only areas Mark belives are viable in Melbourne. Do they think I am stupid? How is Melbourne different to Brisbane and Sydney where they have had so much success. Dig a bit more. O'hh, it costs more for them to have greater RP Data coverage in Melbourne, so sorry Melbournians. You are not worth it!

I have since asked for my subscription to be stopped ( I have still not received Google Earth), and I may lodge a complaint to ASIC and Fair Trading. My requestes have been received by Massland, but I get no responses. I have found seveal other "students" who have had similar problems, so you can make up your own mind.

One last thing. I spoke with one person who tried to take a personal cheque to Rick's registered business adreess. It was a set of post office boxs and when he called them, they were insistant that he sould just post it. He ripped it up and cancelled his course and later found out that another course he paid for (another provider) could not be prosecuted, since the business was registered in Vanuatu. MMMMMMM

Sorry for the long posting, but do your homework. As one person said, save time by trying to learn from other peoples mistakes. Mark has some very good information, but do not get conned. There maybe a better way, we just have to find it and that will take time. A lot of time.

Good luck.

Hey Wangster, why don't you pass on Marks so called good information on this forum so that curiosity does not entice people into attending this course.

I did a one day course a year or more ago with Mark Rolton.
it was very inspiring and exciting, but then we found we needed to join RPData (no provision for group joining at this stage). Cost when we investigated, would be about $600 per month. Ouch!
Some of the concepts were certainly worthwhile, but we decided that to put so much money (RPData) and time into it, JV with them (too difficult to do ourselves after one day's info), was not for us.
I'm not averse to paying for education, but not sure when (if) this info will benefit our investing….

Quickchick.  

 It is my understanding that Mark Rolton's seminars educate people how to find sites and option them, then he buys them and develops them. Is that correct?

Do the students put these options in their own name or in Marks?I have not done Marks course, but I have a friend in Victoria who has. I am familiar with options and I just found out this weekend that when you option a property in WA and/or Victoria, you are liable to pay the stamp duty for the purchase price of that property whether you go ahead with the option or not! I was pretty annoyed to find this out since my strategy utilises options. There are ways around this but it puts you at risk. Can anyone shed light on this for me?

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.