Comments on: REIA’s in Maryland.

By: Craig Fuhr

Craig Fuhr — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:11:42 +0000

Guest – when posting as a guest, please tell us your name. I have a sneaking suspicion I already know, but c'mon – don't be so shrowded in secrecy.

$3500.00 is VERY cheap if you get at least $3500.00 in return. $100,000 would be cheap if you got $100,000 in return. That said, not all mentorship programs are created equal – so buyer beware.

Now as for ANYONE being care about my “mentorship” program. At one time I did have 12 students. The majority who chose to follow my direction and coaching made a considerable amount of money successfully rehabbing projects.

I am not mentoring at this point however. So, nothing to “beware of.” If and when I do get back into mentoring, you should beware of the fact that you will learn a lot, and you make a crap-pile of money if you follow my directions.

By: Craig Fuhr

Craig Fuhr — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:06:02 +0000

A few local REIA's have recently ramped up their marketing. One in particular just had a grand opening. If you looked closely, they were all selling something.

Regarding the local wholesaler with the mentoring course. That's a shame indeed. I get guys who ask me questions every day. Can't say I always answer, but I try to do my best.

By: Craig Fuhr

Craig Fuhr — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:02:28 +0000

Ron

Sorry for the delayed response, my MacBook suffered $1240.00 in damage at the hands of an angry baggage handler somewhere between Detroit and BWI. F'ers! Busted my screen to shreds!

I'm not sure I've noticed the same upward swing in REO prices. I'm buying REO's pretty much at will at this point. I will agree that newbies tend to pay more than they should for deals. A year or so ago, it seemed all bank owned deals were in fact duds, but there didn't seem to be any lack of dorks who would pay WAY more than I would pay.

Now - it seems the banks have lowered there expectations, but the supply also seems to be tightening.

Whatever the case, there will always be investors in ANY market who are willing to make less.

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:31:50 +0000

Concur wholeheartedly goteki45…..all fair comments. No babies or baths were harmed during the making of this blog entry! And I'd welcome the opportunity to meet more of those kind of wholesalers serving the Prince George's County Maryland and surrounding areas. If anyone has recommendations, please feel free to provide. Best Ron

By: goteki45

goteki45 — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:18:29 +0000

I understand what you are saying Ron. There are good people and bad in every aspect of the Real Estate Investing profession. There are good ethical minded wholesalers,and there are snakes. There are good landlords and there are slumlords who could care less about taking pride in their properties. There are also good rehabbers like Craig, who takes pride in turning a property into a show case top notch property, and then there are those who will do a half ass job just to put the property back on the market to get paid and hope the new homeowner doesn't find out until way down the road how bad the property was “fixed up”. As a wholesaler, I take pride in what I do. A wholesaler by nature is suppose to buy low and sell low. There are people who gives wholesalers bad names. That is probably why some landlords and rehabbers do repeat business with wholesalers they trust and are ethical. All I can say is don't throw the babies out with the bath water.

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:50:42 +0000

Valid on both counts!

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:05:09 +0000

As detrimental as the wholesalers are, the fools that are buying their deals are more detrimental to the business. If the experienced rehabber doesn't buy the deal then the wholesaler can't perform on his contract with the bank REO and he quickly loses all credibility with the REO agents. Everyone wants to make big bucks and do no work. They have no clue.

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:11:05 +0000

Craig,

As an investor and rehabber in Maryland I've watched the past year as REO acquisition prices in some areas have shifted upward…..sometimes by 20% or more. One of the reasons is that the REIAs have unleashed a horde of wholesalers who have begun bidding wars in popular neighborhoods, pushing prices higher and higher. Unfortunately, too many of these newbies have zero idea what they're doing….they run out with a MAO formula they got at a weekend seminar and the next thing you know they're underbidding repairs trying to make $20k wholesale profits…bangs his head on the desk. Alternatively, the community has also grown a number of serious, well-informed neighborhood expert wholesalers — and we appreciate them: straight up, know the numbers and don't gouge on profit ($5k – $10k). I can deal with them all day long. I caused a bit of a stir at my last REIA meeting when I told a bunch of wholesalers that if the REO bidding wars continue, us investors will simply skip the wholesalers and make our offers direct to the bank. Sure, it'll take a bit of our time, but not that much.

Keep up the good work, Craig,

Ron

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:03:56 +0000

$3,500 is cheap, I've seen these mentor programs for $20K and up. Better jump at that deal, haha. Better be careful here, I think Craig has a mentor program but he's a good guy.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:51:14 +0000

Craig makes a lot of sense. There is a wholesaler that one of the local REIA's here in Baltimore always keep promoting as the authority on wholesaling. I went to his office one day because I was in the area just to ask him a few questions. He tried to sell me his “mentor ship” program. All I came to ask him was 3 simple questions. He wanted to charge me $3,500. Frankly, I'm turned off from the REIA's. The last meeting I asked the president of the local REIA about private lending, he told me that he and another officer in the club are “starting a mentor ship program on private lenders. The days of the REIA's being around to help one another is over. Sometimes I wonder are these people still active in Real Estate.