Syndicates / Property Clubs - Property Workshops -Do they work?

I see a lot of Property workshops/seminars/ weekend courses advertised and wondered if anyone's been on one are they a waste of time (and money?! well not for the organisors) or are they genuinely useful? I've seen ones advertised for Challenor, PropertyMentor to name a few and I believe these cost in the region of £2-4000. Any comments

Also there seems to be a mind boggling number of both property investment companies setting up claiming to offer discounts on overinflated or unsellable stock on new builds. There seems to be no regulation in the way these companies are regulated and looks like anyone can set up and create finders/sourcing fees for very little work.I guess wheres theres demand they'll keep increasing....

I've been on one of the better known property workshops and in my experience, don't really teach that much. They are, in essence, sales tools.

As you point out there are huge numbers of property investment companies that charge finders fees for seemingly doing nothing.

I've recently been dealing with a company that do very similar things - BUT DO NOT CHARGE ANY FEES. They make it very clear that they make all their money from the developers who's properties they are selling.

They have moved away from "no-money down" deals, and instead offer realistically priced properties, but with various incentives that make them more attractive than the average buy-to-let property. They offer free advice and this, is my mind, offers them more credibility than charging for a weekend worth of "advice".

It's a risky market out there and my advice would be follow to my route and do as much research as you can before committing to anything. Research costs nothing but time and you can learn so much.

Let me know if you would like to discuss further - I made some costly mistakes in my "early career" investing in property, and am happy to share my experiences with others.

Lewis

Yes, sure would love to discuss further. I too have recently come across a company that don't charge any finders fee (that term somehow always makes me laugh!)/sourcing fees but they make their money from the developer...which just begs the question why not ask the developer yourself? Get 5+ interested parties and we all share the discounts -as it is theres so much competition on over priced new builds in the market.

I actually run property workshops in Dublin. They run for approx 3-4 hours and then the attendees meet with me a week or two later on a one to one basis to go through their specific requirements. I charge 150 euros. I get a very positive response to these workshops and I'm planning to run them over the internet shortly. I do not bombard people with useless information and ridiculous "buy with no money down" schemes.

We get alot of UK companies coming over here to run workshops. They run the normal ads - "free 3 hour property investment seminar" to get you in. You are then given a presentation on how easy and risk free it is to invest in property. The potential risks are never mentioned. After three hours of hearing the good news you are offered a 2-day intensive course for a discounted price of 2,500 sterling. The courses always finish with a list of properties that these companies have for sale and at a "fantastic discount". When you think about it they are extremely clever salespeople who have managed to get themselves a captive who pay £2,500 each to listen to their sales pitch and then actually get a number of people to buy from them.

In my opinion you should be able to cover all the relevant issues relating to property investments in a 3-4 hour period. After that it comes down to working with a good professional team ( agents, solicitors, brokers etc) and then gain as much experience as possible.

I get alot of enquiries from the UK and people are now starting to come over here to attend these workshops. The flights are cheap and they also make a mini holiday out of it.

I hope this helps.

Darren.

Darren,

Can you give me your contact details?

Email is alithepostie@hotmail.com

Thanks

Ali

Hi Ali,

it's dcostello@propertyinvestments.ie

Darren

HI Lewis I would be vey interested to hear your experiences could we have a chat chrisbucknall@hotmail.co.uk thanks Chris

Hi Lewis

I too would be interested to hear of your experiences - family_gb@hotmail.com.

Whilst I believe there is no such thing as a 'free lunch', now a days it is very hard, if not impossible, to know what is and is not genuine.

Cheers Pam

Hi Lewis

I too would be interested to hear of your experiences - loveandmuzic@hotmail.co.uk. I'm new to all this so any advice / suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks, Miraaj

hi lewis, hate to jump on bandwagons but i too am new to property investment,i have done one of the seminars and agree to a point a waste of a lot of money.i am no nearer purchasing than before the seminar...so if you could add me to your list of followers i would be grateful.

regards iain_rhodes@hotmail.com

Some of you may be aware that I run a Property company and historically we have always charged our clients a fee. We could take a fee from the developer instead for every one sold but that would reduce the discount offered to clients.

These no fee to the client companies sound great but ultimately it is swings and roundabouts as you are paying for it either directly or through the cost of the property.

I went to a what I thought was a reputable company, Inside Track seminar. What a mistake. They were arrogant, looking for niave "put your money down now" targets, fast talking get-rich-quick salesman. Advertised as a "no hard sell" seminar. I walked out after 45 minutes and will never deal with Inside Track again.

Hi there,

I 've been on several Property workshops(Inside track one of them) and spoke in depth to the majority of the other big companies and i my opinion they are all taken off of the same script.As is said in the above post they are get-rich-quick sales men offering property for nothing and as we should all know there is nothing in this business that is for free!!!. So when they say there workshop is free you have to laugh, As the whole idea is to get people on board for there '3 day intense make you a millon in no time courses' where they charge you in the region £2000-£5000 but you obvisously get it at a major discount if you purchase at the so called free workshop on the day plus a free property at the end of the 3 day course.No doubt deals they can't sell elsewhere.They also miss the bit in the middle where you have to cash flow these properties for how ever long to get to your millonaire status.Some of the courses that i have attened were quite motivational and i can see why people can get caught up by it all and unfortunately there is always several people that are willing to part with there money there and then.If you are considering going with these big investment companies/clubs i would advise: Ask about there deals get examples from the past and present, DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE!! on the company,directors/owners and the deals, ask for referals, go to the companies office but above all don't be rushed in to anything and remeber the above is easy fabricated so don't take things for 100% true. The line these will sell quick is fine but there will be other deals soon and you can gurantee there next deal will be the biggest and best yet appartantly.As someone that has used these big clubs,I now wouldn't go near them and prefer using people that are investors/sources thereselves and have been in the business for a while. I hope this is been of some help. Regards Damian

Been on a property mentor FREE taster session and am interested, any one got any thing good or bad to say about them.

Stuart

Went on Property Mentor in 2004. It was great then and changed my life for the better but I wouldn't recommend now because they haven't changed the course! With all the new regulations that have come in, you need to be on top of all of that in order to succeed.

Myself and two other HMO landlords (houses of multiple occupancy) run a 1 day course for a very reasonable fee of £245 single £345 couple which covers everything you need to know to get started in property plus we teach you how you can buy a property with no money down and rent it out by the room to make £500+ per month cashflow.

Our portfolios comprise of 90% HMO's so we know what we are talking about and as we only do 1 course every other month, we aren't hear to make money from courses.

For more information look at www.propertywhys.com

many thanks Matthew

I've been to loads of them, joined two of them (Portfolios Of Distinction/ Sterling Mansions etc..( big mistake ) lost thousands (42k), but have learnt so much over the past 10 years in doing so and quickly got that loss back - but by doing it myself!

If you want to talk to someone who will give you honest frank advice (with nothing to gain personally) then give me a shout. I will point any new starter in the right direction.

Good luck. Mike

Hi Mike, Could you drop me an e-mail with some contact details so we can have a chat. Thanks stuartwilson@tinyworld.co.uk

Hi Mike

Sounds like you have some very interesting stories to tell. I would really appreciate your honesty. I am someone that wants to to get started but there seems to be a shark on any corner. Can you give me some pointers?

Thanks mccallamichele@yahoo.co.uk

Hi Mike, would be good to chat to you, drop me an email at leedamians@yahoo.co.uk Regards Damian