Make a million dollars now! No money down! No-risk offer! Maybe you've heard these come-ons, or similar ones, offering you the chance to learn how to become a real-estate investing millionaire? One primary reason that real-estate investments attract newcomers is that debt is an accepted tool for doing business. Thus, you can get into the business with no money down. These high-volume, low-brow pitches are common from promoters of real estate investing seminars.
- The first part usually is a goal-setting exercise.
- The middle part gives some information about what could be done but not how to do it.
- At the end, it all leads to having to take more expensive -- $3,000 to $5,000 -- seminars and boot camps to receive the actual hands-on experience you need, suggesting that if you didn’t take it, you would fail.
But not all real-estate investing seminars are a bad bet. Indeed, many will help you learn about the business of investing and can be a worthwhile place to start, experts say. How can you tell the good from the bad?
Savvy would-be investors should take their time developing their knowledge of the real-estate industry and shouldn't look to get rich overnight. The number of seminars offered to would-be real-estate investors has exploded along with the booming real-estate market. Public seminars may be fine for an introduction to investing, but clearly the business of real-estate investing can't be learned in just a few days. The skills it takes to be successful in real estate take years to accumulate, such as the skills of a Professional Realtor.
Some hints from the Federal Trade Commission:
- Take your time.
- Don’t be rushed into buying anything at a seminar.
- Avoid high-pressure sales pitches that require you to buy now or risk losing out on the opportunity.
Remember, solid opportunities are not sold through nerve-racking tactics.
