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John T. Reed on real estate investment information

This page contains a number of articles by John T. Reed about real-estate-investment gurus and the approaches they advocate. Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 by John T. Reed
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John T. Reed's view of various gurus.
Are you seeking real estate investment advice for the right reasons?
Nothing down
"The real estate B.S. artist detection checklist."
Why you should not buy expensive seminars or mentoring services.
What you need to know about lease options.
Reflections on three years experience with my guru-rating page.
The ethical standard of suitability in real estate
How can you tell who’s telling the truth: John T. Reed or the gurus he criticizes?
If these guys are not telling the truth, why haven’t the authorities shut them down?
Positive cash flow
Should you only read books by active investors?
Suggestions for beginning real estate investors.
Review of Carleton Sheets' material.
The truth about getting around due-on-sale clauses.
Common real-estate-investment misconceptions.
Why John T. Reed created and maintains his real-estate-investment guru-rating page.
What about those amazing guru testimonials on TV?
Who my guru-rating Web page is for.
Some real estate investment basics.
What the bad gurus say behind your back.
How to get a refund of the money you paid to a bad guru.
Review of Robert Kiyoaski’s book Rich Dad Poor Dad
Best-selling real-estate authors: Where are they now?
Flipping real estate
Articles about Russ Whitney:
Main Reed on Whitney page
Whitney claims vs. Reed research
Status of Whitney vs. Reed lawsuit
Whitney hit and run
Whitney assets
Have information on Whitney?
Review of Building Wealth
Whitney affiliations
Whitney publications
Unauthorized biography of Whitney
Suing Whitney
Whitney and income taxes

I receive a steady stream of inquiries about what I think about various gurus who sell expensive seminars and home-study courses. In 1990, I tried to answer the guru rating question by writing an article called "The real estate B.S. artist detection checklist." The article was reprinted in the Los Angeles Times. Click here to read it.
In general, I do not directly compete with gurus who promote seminars, mentoring services, $100-plus books, and “home-study courses.” However, I believe many of them give real-estate-investment-information providers a bad name and many cheat their customers. At worst, they cost their customers far more than their exhorbitant fees because people who actually try to do most of the hyped techniques have a good chance of losing their savings or their credit or both.
In particular, I believe seminars that cost more than $100 per hour per attendee are grossly overpriced. I also believe that recent claims by gurus that they will buy deals which you bring them are almost certainly lies. In fact, the typical guru has probably put money into a couple such deals so he can truthfully say he did. But he has no desire to ever do so again and only says he does for seminar or home-study marketing purposes. The “I will invest in deals you find” line is designed solely to overcome the objection “I don't have any money to invest in real estate.”

“Real estate investment advice is the only field I know where the worst material available is also the most expensive.”*
John T. Reed
* There is a logical reason for this. Knowledgeable people won't overpay for advice. Only ignorant people will. So gurus who want to charge extremely high prices must necessarily prey on the ignorant. Since the audience is ignorant, the gurus in question are free to offer material that merely sounds good.
The guru stats project

Another good site for avoiding being scammed is http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/.
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John T. Reed, a.k.a. John Reed, John T Reed, Jack Reed, 342 Bryan Drive, Alamo, CA 94507, 925-820-7262, Email: johnreed@johntreed.com

CONSUMER WARNING NOTICE: I recently saw Russ Whitney on a late night TV infomercial and then attended one of his "free" seminars. Unfortunately I believed all of their LIES and FRAUDULENT CLAIMS and I paid thousands of dollars to go to his "training camps". Needless to say I was clearly ripped off, cheated and lied to by Russ Whitney and his employees (band of thieves). My mistake was not searching the Internet to find out more about Russ Whitney and his company's HORRIBLE reputation for fraud, deception and illegal activities. Had I searched online I would have found out about THOUSANDS of customers being cheated, HUNDREDS of investigations by the Attorney General into the fraud of Russ Whitney and his company's, and that Russ Whitney himself is a CONVICTED VIOLENT FELON and spent years in PRISON. I saved the cached pages from the major search engines of the John Reed lawsuit with Russell Whitney and the TRUTH and FACTS that Reed discovered during his investigation of Whitney. I am posting this information on real estate discussion boards so other people do NOT get cheated and ripped off like I did.