Be careful where your investing advice comes from!

Real Estate investing has historically been fraught with so-called late-night infomericial “gurus”. “If you only pay us $10,000, we will show you how to get rich in 1 month, and you will never have to work a day for the rest of your life.” Yeah, right! Few things in life are this easy, and there are no shortcuts to a solid real estate investing education. I came across this video today, and was appalled at the advice given to the poor woman in the video by Russ Whitney. He and his instructors recommended to flip the investment property. Well, anyone with half a brain can see that today’s market is fit for anything but flipping.

And yes, real estate conditions vary from state to state, city to city, and even neighborhood to neighborhood. Per my neighborhood real estate broker, my neighborhood in Jersey City only experienced a 5% drop in prices, while the less affluent parts of the city and Bayonne have dropped about 10% (of the new listings there about half are in foreclosure). But still… Even in Manhattan, the hotbed of real estate activity, unsold inventory is starting to build up, making a flipping decision tantamount to financial suicide.

Check out this video! (unfortunately, I am having technical issues embedding the video, so you will just have to click on this link)

Enjoy!

The Most Fascinating “Guru” Website Ever!

I have to admit that after I stumbled upon this website by John T. Reed, profiling various real estate “gurus” – the good, the bad and the ugly – I could not tear myself away from my computer screen for several hours.

Real estate investing has been historically infested with the “gurus” and infomercials that prey on the less-than-sophisticated novice investor. Even though I myself am not an advanced investor by an stretch of imagination, it is quite clear from the get-go what some of these gurus are all about. I find this list a must-read, especially for beginners.

In the world of real estate investing, it is important to separate the truth from fiction, the good advice from the bad, and opportunistic schemes from ways to build real long-term wealth. We at MeetMOJO are committed to becoming a resource for real estate investors, so we will be working on providing the most usable and transparent information to our users and readers. Please share your experiences with our community, so that we can all become stronger and better educated.

Here’s to your success, wealth and health!