General (main property discussion here) - Circumspect Training Courses

Hi everyone

Did anyone see this today?

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ec701fd0-c18e-11d9-943f-00000e2511c8.html

Bryan

Afternoon Bryan

Yes, it was front page of the FT today.

I'm not sure of the grounds for shutting them down, but I personally wouldn't go near them because I'm not into off-plan at the moment and this is all they offer from what I understand.

I think the rationale for investors clubbing together to buy from desperate developers at a discount is sound. If 30 guys on these boards could get together and do it, and the market was at least flat, and the "discount" was genuine (not completely made up as seems par for the course in off-plan at the moment) it might be good.

The fact that the profiteers are in the pockets of the developers, each taking their margin and that the individual investor relies on the salesman for his research, is a recipe for disaster though.

Caveat emptor, as ususal.

John

i can't believe it took the dti so long to shut these sharks down and there are still too many left. its a question of time.

though what really greates is that inside track is about to ipo for £200m! the directors must drink ovaltine....how do they sleep at night?

tom

Hi everyone

Yes, "training" seems to be all the rage at the moment, not only in property. Everyone holds a degree. No amount of business school would make you or I Warren Buffet, and why people feel they will learn more from these interested parties than from just chatting to old, grey, landlords is beyond me!

Bryan

Bryan,

Thanks for posting this interesting article. It is very worrying how these training courses have done so well.

What was also worrying from a Landlord Trader perspective is that one or two people have confused Landlord Trader with these companies which we are certainly not.

We are a property investment exchange between investors.

We would be interested to know if anyone else has made this mistake and why?

Any comments appreciated.

Julian

Hi Julian

No, I always thought of this as a landlord to landlord service. Caveat emptor, as they say.

I think the trouble is there are so many property companies, all involved in the same scene, that everyone will be tarred by the same brush to some extent.

Unless you have some bulgarian off-plan "almost too good to be true" deals for us!

Yours

Bryan