The other day I got surprise tickets in the mail to a Scott Yancey “Flipping Property Event”. This is my review of the seminar. Be sure to read to the end of the post, as my evaluation might surprise you.
To those who might not know, Scott and his wife Amie star in the TV show Flipping Vegas. I really enjoy that show as a guilty pleasure. They have released a new book called “Go Time” that at the writing of this post has no reviews on Amazon. My purpose in going to the seminar was to shake Scott’s hand, let him know I enjoy his show, buy the book, and perhaps get it autographed if he had time.
When I arrived at the seminar venue, they had me fill out an information card before entering. I left the phone space blank. This turned out to be a smart decision on my part.
Entering the seminar room, there was a screen near the front, some tables manned by workers at the back, and a tight cluster of chairs near the front. I looked for Scott, but he was nowhere to be seen. I sat near the back.
Each chair had some candy, a schedule, a pen, and 2 pieces of blank paper for notes. As each speaker was going through their presentation they would tell us what to write in our notes. I wrote things that I found interesting instead. At the end of the four hours I had 2 lines down.
When the time to introduce the expert came, it was done as a video insert into the powerpoint slide presentation. Along with Scott, there was another expert introduced – Dean Graziosi. This made my hair stand on end. Something wasn’t right.
Now, one of the people who I trust as an expert in real estate is John T. Reed. And whenever I am confronted with a new situation I start to mentally consult John’s Real Estate BS detector checklist: http://www.johntreed.com/BSchecklist.html.
During the seminar, the presentation triggered 11 different BS events listed below. Let’s just say my guard went up and my wallet stayed in my pocket.
(The numbers refer to John’s list linked above)
8: Offer to invest in your deals – self explanatory. (Although no details were given)
10: Emphasis on no down techniques- something to appeal to beginners
11: Blank paper – they literally gave us blank paper.
16: High prices – they were selling a $2K boot camp.
23: Repeated efforts to sell higher priced packages –
26: Advocating use of property managers – again, something that will appeal to beginners
30: Focus on the beginner market – a good part of the presentation was spent defining vocabulary
35: Citing religiousness as a selling point – when a salesman shakes my hand tells me what a good guy he is, I check to make sure my watch is still there
37: Riff raff in audience – 100% on this one. Although to be honest, I had just returned from a redeye flight from Las Vegas, was sleep deprived, and probably counted as riff-raff to the other attendees also!
40: Deliberately making a meeting room look crowded – everyone was bunched up at the front
41: Constant warning that the price would rise – check.
After the seminar I found a link to a review of Dean:
http://www.glancingweb.com/1998/the-dean-graziosi-real-estate-scaminar
Basically the scheme is to give a free seminar to sell a 2K bootcamp, to sell a 20-40K mentoring session. It might help some people, I don’t know. But there is plenty of bad feedback about the upselling process on the web.
What about Scott? Did he deliver what he promised?
At the end of the presentation everyone was given 2 CD’s and some coupons. One of the coupons was for a camera (you enter the info on a website and they would send a camera). To be honest, I didn’t think anything would be sent, but I filled it out on the website anyway.
Well, it only took 2 weeks to get the camera! That is faster than most any other promo (usually it’s 6 to 8 weeks for shipping). It came with drivers on a CD for windows 2000/Me/XP/Vista/7 and a USB cable. It takes 2 AAA bateries (not included) The camera is plastic and toylike, with 16 Mb SDRAM and has a capacity of 26 pictures VGA (640*480) or 104 pictures AVGA (320*240), or double that if the pictures are compressed. The software allows for a self-time mode (10 sec delay), video at 12 frames/sec, and a direct PC Camera mode (so you can use it as a video camera when connected to the PC via the USB cable). The picture of the ticket at the top of this post was taken with the camera (about a foot away, cropped to show only the ticket, and using the self timer mode so I could put the camera down and step away to get a non-blurry shot). Overall, the camera works and has software that works.
Of the 2 CD’s, I only expected a sales presentation for the boot camp. To my surprise, one CD has the entire “Go Time” book as a pdf file. The other CD has about 48 Kb of a Q&A pdf file and a list of lenders. I really liked getting the Go Time, as that saved me $25 I was planning to spend for it. The other CD confuses me – why burn a CD for a short text file or two? I’m sure it could have fit on the other CD, or sent in an e-mail to participants.
Overall, I would say Scott Yancey delivered what he promised. Participants got a working digital camera, and a free copy of his new book. He didn’t show up, but he didn’t promise that. I’m really disappointed he is partnering with Dean Graziosi and is attaching his name to the whole upselling real estate scheme.
Very nice article, just what I wanted to
find.
Just got back from this 4 hour long seminar in Knoxville, TN. They got quite a few people out of $2000.00 – $4000.00. Things they were saying just weren’t adding up. Not to mention the company that was holding the seminar was not even affiliated with Scott Yancey, whom him and his wife were not even there. And as a reward for everyone attending and for those who paid for this “opportunity for people to get rich off desperate people who think they will get rich” seminar, we got a free dvd “book” and a Made in China “Digital Camera”. The camera, might I add, looks like something I would buy my one year old daughter as a toy from the Dollar Tree. It says “Digital Camera” on the camera, no brand. I just think this is a scam for people to make a huge profit off of innocent people. And the thing is, to use their resources, you have to pay interest rates, and fees, and not to mention a $4000.00 deposit to participate in the FULL program. Someone correct me if I am wrong, BUT, this has SCAM written all over it.
Hello folks, I couldn’t help but read into these when folks share their thoughts and feeling about these programs. First things first, I’m like many of you, I was invited to one of Scott Yancey’s events, and yes, I was presented lots of information, and yes, I purchased the program. It cost me $1997 to go to a “3-day workshop” that just so happened to be in the same hotel, the following week. I KNEW my spouse was going to be upset, but I felt very strongly about what I was taught, and the company’s desire to help me “do a deal.” When my skeptical husband caught wind of what he did, he threw his hands up and said this was “my mess to deal with.” Well, be it fate, or a desire to prove my husband wrong I carried through with the 3-day event. It was absolutely wonderful! I couldn’t believe what resources were available to me as I wound down the 3 days… I was on fire. Yes, they do offer different packages at different prices… and at first, it rubbed me the wrong way, but after having looked at the possibilities I realized one thing, the more money I put it, the faster I would get a return on my investment. Long story short, I did my first wholesale deal in less than 4 months. (If I’d done it in less than 100 days, they would have given me my $1997 for the 3-day event back to me as an incentive to get out there and get working) I missed that, but this first deal literally changed my life…and definitely changed my way of thinking. I’m now at one wholesale deal, one rehab-flip, one 3-bedroom home, and I have had an counter offer accepted on a duplex I’m partnering on with my girlfriend. So, say what you want… Scott Yancey’s program has turned out to be a game changer for me. My return on investment has been far better than anything I’ve done in any of my retirement accounts, (which I have used to help me in my real estate investment ventures) I might be what some would call the “poster child” for Scott’s program, but I’m very glad I did it. (By the way, the husband is now my biggest fan.) So say what you will…but for the amount of money I have spent on my real estate education…it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what my BA and MS degrees cost me… Thanks for reading.
Is there really an investor/lender who will lend you the money like they say at the 4 hour seminar to purchase a property up to $500,000 per transaction and up to five transactions at a time and without putting a dime out of your pocket! And if so the one on one coaching is optional, right? No need to invest in coaches before we get access to funds, right! Also they mentioned at the seminar that all we need to pay when the transaction funds is 1% of the funded amount. Is all these true? They also mentioned we need to establish a business entity
Lynn Black, did you purchase more than the three day event?
Hi Lynn,
I will be going to the 3 day workshop and don’t have any more money for any more programs. From what I’ve read in reviews, the 1% financing applies to closing in 3 days and I can get 12% financing if closing in 2 months. Does that include cash to fix up the property or do you have to come up with that on your own?
The financing was the only reason I was willing to risk money I didn’t really have to risk. I’d like to find out it won’t all be in vain.
Can you help me out with an answer please?
Becky
Just what I needed to know. Watching commercial and looking at mailer. Think I would rather pay for the discounted book on Amazon then waste 4 hours,
The only “flipping” was the money from your account to his.
Scott Yancey Seminars Real Estate and Tax Liens and Deeds Programs
We attended one of these events just recently, and it was quite a sales pitch. The first Speaker, Shawn, was a very personable and forceful talker, although he stated that he wasn’t much of a public speaker. I think he might be convincing enough to sell whisky to a Southern Baptist preacher! He had the attention of most everyone in the room, and kept the process going to the extent of having everyone (that did not include me most of the time) raising their hands and ‘agreeing’ with his slick line of BS.
There’s always people present, whom are easily persuaded, and will agree to almost anything. Those are the “head-bobbers” that will believe everything they see and hear. Shawn had the people who were interested in the 3-day ‘training’, go to the back of the room and let the handlers take their $1,997.00. There seemed to be about eight suckers at that point in time. Little do they know that will be just the start of a scheme to remove many thousands of dollars from their investments and retirement funds. My advice; don’t do it!
Anyway, after about 80 minutes of this session, we took a break and they fed us a cold meat and cheese sandwich on a sesame seed bun (did I mention a bag of chips and a little fruit cup?)….yummy! After the break we got back to the business at hand.
During this second session, a guy named Layne talked about investing in Tax Liens and Tax Deeds. There is lots of money to be made in this type of shady business, but it takes patience and diligence to make the most of it. I personally don’t desire to be party to stealing someone’s property this way.
If you want to get involved in this enterprise, you can do it on your own with some study and research that’s mostly freely available. This company will gladly sell you a “lifetime membership” in their “Tax Liens and deeds” program for a mere $1,497.00! And there may be a ‘discount’ if you buy into both programs at the same time. What a deal! My advice; don’t do it!
If after all this, if you decide to get involved, just be aware that the Real Estate buying program will make your portfolio many thousands smaller than you could ever imagine. The Tax Liens and Deeds scheme will allow you make money on investments over a period of years, but your chances of actually acquiring a piece of property like this, are probably much less than 1%. My advice; don’t do it!
When the three-hour plus sessions were done, there were some more people signing up and giving their hard-earned money away. I would estimate that about 10-12 signees bought into the business before the night was over. That’s approximately 20% of all attendees. Not a bad night for the guys doing the event!
There’s one other point I want to bring up…FREE GIFTS. When some attendees asked about the free gifts, they were informed that they simply were “not available”, with not much further explanation. The brochures stated that all attendees would receive Scott Yancey’s “Go Time” book and two discs…free?? Well, they were not available. I did not attend just for the free gifts, but I think many people did. I called and emailed them the next day, and I think mine may be forthcoming. I feel blessed…. They did give us a certificate for a free “camera”. You have to go online for that. I can hardly wait! Many people may have attended just for the chance to ‘win’ a tablet. If so, they were sadly disappointed, because those are only (maybe) given away during the larger ‘Super-Money Taking’ events.
In closing, I will say this. The guys are good motivational speakers, and know how to ‘hawk their goods’, and I feel the evening was not a total waste of time. There was some good information imparted throughout the sessions. However, they need to “do what they promise” concerning free gifts, and stating that Scott Yancey himself would be at the event. Concerning all these programs….my advice; don’t do it!
PS. I enjoy Scott’s “Flipping Vegas” show, but he should be a little ashamed of this manner of taking people’s money (and lots of it) for a business venture such as this. Next time I attend one of these deals, I’m seriously thinking about “crashing their party”. I would rate this scheme less than one-star if that were possible.
Thanks everyone for posting. I am a seasoned Real Estate broker that has become extremely discouraged within my industry because I am keenly aware of the issue of Securitization and how this Wall Street created animal has deprived millions of people from their greatest assets, their homes. I watched this webinar thinking, “What if by doing this, I could meet investors and contacts that might help me, help people save their homes?” Especially after Amie started crying when she mentioned that they gave a disabled Vet a free home.
I am not interested in profiting off someone else’s pain. And I am certainly not interested in being a landlord. What I am interested in, is meeting investors that want to help homeowners STAY in their homes someway. I know that there must be at least a few that understand the Law of Reciprocity.
Please e-mail me if you know of anyone in the Texas area that wants to team up with me or even consider doing a Joint Venture ~ for the good of it and how it will help others.
April at Mobilemarketmybiz dot com