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Below you will find overall ratings for the "major" real estate gurus with links to their individual, detailed review pages. Or visit our home page featuring all of them here.
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John Beck
[ UPDATE: On July 1, 2009 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a case with the US District Court for the Central District of California against John Beck and all associates including the companies John Alexander LLC, John Beck/Mentoring of America, John Beck Amazing Profits LLC, Jeff Paul LLC, Shortcuts to Millions LLC, Mentoring of America LLC, and Family Products LLC as well as John Alexander, Douglas Gravink, Gary Hewitt, John Beck and Jeff Paul as individuals (collectively listed as "Defendants"). In the complaint the FTC lists fourteen (14) counts of violations of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act which prohibits deceptive or unfair acts and practices in or affecting commerce. Misrepresentations or omissions of material facts constitute deceptive acts or practices. Case information can be found at the FTC page on this case]
COMPLETENESS: Of the 21 methods listed, Beck's materials cover two very limited strategies - tax liens and tax deed sales, and more recently he has begun offering materials on foreclosures. But like most other gurus (with one exception, noted below), his materials seem to be purposely shy on enough detail to do anyone any good, which makes it necessary to buy into his expensive coaching. That is what Mr. Beck and most of those other "gurus" (with one exception noted below) are really selling - very expensive coaching. Their "program" is only a teaser intended to start reeling the customer in, and is the basis for most of the complaints filed against him with the Better Business Bureau.
COACH COST: Up to $15,000 or more
COACH QUALITY: John Becks "Mentoring of America" or Mentoring of Utah, with its own "F" rating at the BBB and a defendant in the aforementioned FTC case is to be avoided at all costs. It has been alleged to drain credit card balances, and provide little, if any, mentoring of any value. The Better Business Bureau does not give a worse rating than the one they bestow upon this group. Their mentors are not investors, so their ability to help anyone is minimal, at best. They are, it seems, only trained telephone operators, which is the basis of many of the complaints filed against Beck with the BBB. In other words, the most important and crucial part of his program apparently is not very helpful. Again, "Mentoring of America", used by several gurus (Beck, Alexander, Paul), should be avoided at all costs. There is ZERO value in their mentoring, and the cost is prohibitive.
In all fairness, the government brought action against Beck and Mentoring of America, and the resulting settlement may have forced them to improve to some degree. But their "mentors" still are not trained, experienced investors.
Before buying into any real estate program, find out 1) if their mentoring is "in-house" or farmed out to a third party, and 2) if the mentors are actual, practicing investors. And above all, find out exactly what it will cost you in the end. Only one real estate investing program reviewed provides FREE mentoring from actual investors - "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate", and is one of only two with an "A" rating at the Better Business Bureau.
BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU RATING: The Better Business Bureau gives John Beck an "F" rating - the worst rating they have, with complaints ranging from deceptive marketing practices, unauthorized credit card charges, misrepresentation, and false advertising concerning the offer's actual ability to generate profits as advertised. Many complaints allege the quality of mentoring services provided was not as represented, or did not meet their expectations. Clients complain that mentors are inexperienced, unprofessional, or unavailable when needed. Others report services consisted of one phone call a week, that mentoring services provided by the company taught them very little, or they were unable to apply the materials for practical usage. In other cases, complaints included difficulty obtaining refunds; non delivery of merchandise; or that the company fails to honor their money back guarantee. Several complaints allege that after the initial purchase, the company re-contacts buyers by phone and uses high pressure sales tactics to sell additional high priced mentoring services.
OVERALL COST: The $39.95 "cost" is very deceptive. When you place an order, you probably will not realize that you have just signed up to have your card debited by another $39.95 every month. And that cost does not even include the mentoring, which starts at $2,000. And if you stop paying the $39.95/month, the materials you already purchased become virtually worthless, as all support is forfeited.
SUCCESS RATE: Unknown. From all sources that have been checked, there seems to be some of Beck's customers who achieve some small degree of success, on a limited basis. But that can be attributed to the simple fact that tax liens are not at all complicated, and anyone can invest in them without any help from Mr. Beck.
COMMENTS: Of all the programs we have carefully studied, only two in our opinion should be avoided at ALL costs - and John Beck's is one of them. We found little of any value, and the cost is prohibitive considering tax liens are incredibly simple and need very little instruction. In fact, it is so simple that "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate" by Bill Vaughn includes the entire tax lien program and the foreclosure program with their course at absolutely no additional cost. It even includes free, unlimited access to state-by-state and county-by-county tax listings, which other gurus charge a hefty monthly fee for.
If you are truly interested in really learning how to make money in tax liens & deeds or any other legitimate real estate strategy and receive the benefit of free, unlimited coaching, all at a price you can afford, with no monthly fees or add-ons, "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate"®, by investor Bill Vaughn is worth considering. Bill's credentials are sound, as he is the person who developed the Reverse Mortgage that has been endorsed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). And their personal coaches are actual, practicing investors who volunteer (it's free) on a not-for-profit basis to help others. It is the only low cost program found that provides free, unlimited coaching from actual investors. And their instant download (full version) allows you to start immediately. It costs nothing to check it out...
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