How much did you spend on real estate courses?

[cadw2005]

Title pretty much says it all. I'm wondering how much the newbies are are spending on RE courses/'guru' courses in their first year of investing. Me - haven't spent any but am strongly considering two different ones which will add up to almost $2k.

Do any seasoned investors think this is unnecessary?

[motivatedceo]

No way, no way, no way, would I recommend spending $1k or $2k on a single non-seminar course. If a weekend seminar is involved for that price, then it's not that bad of a deal. However if you are just getting some books or CDs...FORGET IT! It's a waste of $$$.

If you need a book on short sales, buying foreclosures, wholesaling, whatever specific subject...checkout Amazon.com and you'll spend $10 to $50 on a similar book.

When I started out, I visited John T. Reed's "Guru Rating" webpage, and bought every single book that he recommended minus his own products. See http://www.johntreed.com/Reedgururating.html

I do not totally agree with what John T. Reed says about every "real estate guru" - but most if not all of his recommended book authors are EXCELLENT - including John Schaub, Kevin Myers, Lonnie Scruggs, Bill Nickerson and the like. You can honestly probably buy all of the popular books from his recommended authors off Amazon.com for just a few hundred bucks, and you will have the best real estate educational materials that you could ever dream of!

Good luck

Title pretty much says it all. I'm wondering how much the newbies are are spending on RE courses/'guru' courses in their first year of investing. Me - haven't spent any but am strongly considering two different ones which will add up to almost $2k.

Do any seasoned investors think this is unnecessary?

[daniel08]

Nada.  Don't waste your money on overpriced real estate courses.  You can learn all you need here.

[justin0419]

You've already got a couple good responses, but in case you want another....don't waste your money on guru courses.  Read the forums here and maybe get a few other books.  That should be all you need.

[cadw2005]

huh, I wasn't expecting so many thumbs down. Seems like I should save my money and spend it on marketing instead! I guess I was hoping for a confidence booster from the courses and to feel like I finally know enough to start my marketing campaign as I don't want to start marketing unless I've got a good plan of action in place when I start fielding calls.

Thanks for the advice all.

[cadw2005]

oh, and how about marketing courses? Is that also a big thumbs down?

[javipa]

I disagree.  If you want specialized information, and are not willing to settle for junk eBooks with just enough information to make sure you remain stuck, you have to spend some money. 

Nobody gives away truly, actionable, specialized knowledge in an eBook.  Otherwise, eBooks are for the unicorn chasers that aren't really serious about building a business and are just tire kickers and dabblers.   That's fine for their level of ambition.

On the plus side, once they've read a cheapo book from Amazon, etc., they might get motivated to actually move beyond dabbling and curiosity-satisfying.

If so, they can make some clear distinctions about which direction they want to go, and become experts in that field of investing ...and actually get educated. 

Either way, if they move beyond curiosity and dabbling, they're gonna have to put in the time or the money to move into the bigger leagues.

FWIW

[Real Estate Seller]

Get you a good mentor.

[motivatedceo]

It depends. Marketing in the real estate business is not very complicated at all. You do need to learn some things, but a college degree in real estate marketing is definitely not required - nor is an expensive course in marketing.

I would say sales skills are FAR more important to get ahead in business and real estate...you can make 2x or 3x the money if you are an excellent salesman and selling your own products.

I learned many of my sales skills from the world's greatest salesman - Joe Girard. I have read ALL of his books and/or listened to the audiobooks, many, many, many times.

What will your total out of pocket cost be? Probably less than $100 from Amazon.com for all 4 of his books. Checkout http://www.joegirard.com/

>>> Do NOT be suckered into spending $1000 or $2000 for books and CDs. <<<

>>> Do NOT be suckered into spending more than $1000 or $2000 for any live seminar or training course; and always make reading a book a higher priority than ever going to a seminar as you will learn a lot more and it's cheaper <<<

Good luck!
 

oh, and how about marketing courses? Is that also a big thumbs down?

[gaulkin]

Check out the local asscoiation and see if they offer anything, mine has a pretty good short sale course.

[TerenceDilla]

I think courses with practical experience always matter. What sort of pratical experience these ppls give

[balopez]

I've spent more than I care to admit to in the past year but unlike others I DO recommend taking courses and finding and paying for a good mentor.  The school of hard knocks is very expensive and having a mentor to help steer you in the right direction is worth it. 

I'd recommend starting with a local real estate investment club in your area so you can start meeting active investors and getting to know the local market.  People there can also give you recommendations on training.  I think of transitioning into real estate investing like any career change; you have to have the skills and knowledge to even get started.  The courses and books I've read gave me the language and knowledge I needed to get started.  Even deciding which area to get started in couldn't happen until I knew more about each and what was the market in my area.

My background is in training development so I'm trading my skills in that area with my mentor and building them a training website on foreclosures and I get access to the information.  I made the same offer to another multifamily mentor/trainer so it's a win-win for both of us.  The site should be live in the next day or two and I'll be happy to give you a pass to the site if you provide me with feedback on the user experience.  Good luck!

[pilot76180]

I think if you are looking to shell out $$ for a course, make CERTAIN the person you are giving the $$ to actually DOES What they are going to TEACH you to do...
If you are looking at buying a course on...foreclosures...have the person send you proof, website, data, etc. that shows they actually buy foreclosures...
If the person selling the course has 20 courses available on varying topics...guess what?
They don't do 20 different things..they do 1....they sell courses....

[asmayameen]

the courses of which u r talking about contain how much discipline. can u provide a list of contents, their target areas and and any practical exposure? 

[Bay Area Brian]

Listen to motivatedceo. I constantly had people bring in courses they had taken and found them to be useless, some I suggested that they put a lawyer on retainer if they wanted to follow the course content.
 
I believe if you can get specialized info and cut your learning curve time by enough time then a fair price for the info is worth it but only if your going to use it. How do you know which course is worth it. Well I've only taken 2 in 56 years of investing and they were worth it. One was a John Beck course on trust deed investing, yes the same as the tax lien guy, who I believe has been tarnished by the losers that took over his tax lien course, his early self taught good stuff, I know I was doing it at the same time he was doing it. I would see him at sales in the Sacramento Delta, and then I heard about his trust deed course.

I was weak in the trust deed investing side so took it. It saved my brother and I from making over a $100k mistake while I was taking the course when the annual salary was about $9k, Plus that course added thousands to our income every year, and it cut the time I probably would have taken to reach that point by several years. I believe in doing and then finding out what I don't know and then focus on that. And finding about that doesn't require a costly course by someone who knows a little more then you do and wants to earn a living off you.