Here are attendees review of the bootcamp:
I attended this conference from start to finish. The conference focus was the Marketing and Wholesale of Real Estate Investments. It was both well planned and well executed. Than Merrill was the primary speaker. He is young, talented, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and dynamic. A panel discussion provided a friendly interaction between the audience and several panel experts who represented a wide range of real estate investment experience.
Bill, as you know, I subscribe to both of these organizations. And I believe that both Than and David provide excellent education, materials, resources, and conferences. I recommend them as speakers for SDCIA.
__ A.L.
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It was a pleasure speaking with you today. J and I wanted to share our experience this weekend at "Than Merrill's Wholesaling Boot camp" in San Diego.
At the wealth builders expo in January we listened to several speakers share their concepts and training programs. Being new to the investing arena J and I were comparing a few key points to determine who we may align with and what school we would attend for additional training.
J had checked out the Norris group, on line and through his radio program. He was very impressed with the systems, knowledge and information they are willing to share with their listeners. At the seminar they offered their three day boot camp and hard money lending for their students ($3995 per person): They also offered to rebate the cost of the seminar back to you on every deal that you use their hard money program.
The reason we did not sign that day was: They operate in Riverside county: The cost was more than we had to spend and we thought it would be valuable to work with a company in the county that we wanted to invest in, which in our case is San Diego.
When Than Merrill presented his company: They were offering a cash buyers list in our area: A four day wholesaling boot camp located in San Diego. They also offered to walk their students through their deals and lend hard money to their students who were able to fund their own deals. They also seemed to have a great system for marketing on line and direct mail campaigns. In addition, they were offering a discount: $1995.00 for two people. For these reasons we were the first to stand up and accept the offer.
This was our first real estate seminar; I would say our expectations were that at the end of the four days we would have a clear picture of the steps needed to complete a wholesale deal. The first day was an overview of information that you could apply to any business. It was a lot of great ideas of marketing and a basic "how to" to do business. We were excited that if the remaining three days were filled with that much information on wholesaling our expectations would not only have been met, but exceeded.
Day two we were expecting to learn about the acquisition of probate properties and instead we heard from a”Vegas Hypnotist"! Marshall Sylver. He was selling his seminar for $2000. He told the room that if we were not willing to implement his systems we shouldn't do real estate investing because it was the missing link. The entire time he spoke he had the crowd raising their hands in agreeance, he went as far as to say if you do not agree with this program and do not want to attend his seminar you should leave right now!! I didn't feel it was his place to tell those who were not interested in his seminars to leave the wholesaling boot camp. One thing is sure he was able to control a lot of people in the room and therefore many signed up.
That afternoon was a segment on rehabbing: There was some good general information on rehabbing properties and working with contractors; however, the rehab Boot Camp in San Diego this July was now being sold. (2000.00)
That afternoon Than Merrill spoke. There was information throughout the seminar that would be very valuable for all who attended. However, now the selling for the Mastery Program began. Here is when we discovered that although we had signed up for the wholesaling boot camp and the cash buyers list that did not make us students. To become a student with the benefits of the Fortune Builders assistance for your first several deals and the use of their hard money lenders you needed to join the Mastery Program that cost $25,000. They said there were three levels of commitment; however, the only dollar amount we heard was the highest level of $25,000.
I had heard that they tried to up sell people at these seminars before: however, I never expected this.
The third day there was a teaching on tax planning and corporate set up. Of course this is very valuable information and they were also selling their program. ( I heard from another student it cost; $7,500.00)
The Memphis Invest group followed the tax segment. There was a lot of information on the Memphis Company and purchasing properties to hold as long term investments. The company locates the properties, you invest and they take care of the property management for you. (Although this was a turnkey operation, it doesn’t have anything to do with wholesaling).
Day four began with locating private money for your investing: growing your company, hiring employees and building your team. (Again good information.)
Then the selling began with Zach Childress and MLS Gorilla. His concept was a virtual investing business and taking that to the next level with all virtual assistants. Although there was good information for this type of business plan, it seemed to be specific to his program.
I think I was disappointed in the lack of a comprehensive plan to come home Monday morning and begin wholesaling properties here in San Diego with the assistance of Fortune Builders team and access to their hard money loans.
I don’t believe I would have attended the boot camp and spent the money if I thought we had to spend an additional 25,000 to get access to the benefits Than Merrill presented at the Wealth Builder Seminar.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to our concerns. __ M.A.
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