John T. Reed’s real estate investment blog

James Randel Click here to read my review of his book, Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur. Real Estate Investment Forum—Unknown On 3/27/06, I got the following email from this organization: Hi John: As the Executive Director of the Real Estate Investment Forum I have followed your web site through the years with a certain amount of interest.  I have always found you to be an excellent voice in our business, and we have stated so from time to time on our web site. Recently, however I have lost a great deal of respect for the views you express on...

A.D. Kessler Some of his Creative Real Estate Magazine's article authors are good, others are by guys I do not recommend. Gurus I recommend rarely write for Kessler. Kessler was somewhat broker or guru oriented last time I saw any of his stuff. In other words, he was more about helping brokers get commissions or gurus sell their stuff than he was into helping investors make money in their investments. An experienced investor once told me much of Kessler’s material depicted an agent’s fantasy world—“real estate the way brokers wish it was” was the phrase he used. For example, one...

Russ Dalbey—Not recommended Loan brokerage. “Winning in the Cash Flow Business” was the name he used for his program. Not my area of expertise. Use my Real Estate B.S. Artist Detection Checklist to evaluate this guru. Or read the Federal Trade Commission complaint against him. FTC sued Russell T. Dalbey;, DEI, LP; Dalbey Education Institute, LLC; IPME, LLP; Catherine L. Dalbey; and Marsha Kellogg. Kellogg provided a testimonial for Dalbey’s infomercial. She has settled out of Court with the FTC and agreed to cooperate with the FTC in their suits against the other defendants. As usual in such cases, the...

Here is an alphabetical list of famous real estate investment gurus and seminar organizations along with information about them which investors may find of interest. Where I have a relevant product, it is mentioned and linked to the appropriate page. The Federal Trade Commission has a similar page although they are reluctant to name names, but they do identify red flags to watch for at FTC.gov. Real Estate B.S. Artist Detection checklist Who this page is for A few observations to make after ten years of reader feedback Why I created and maintain this page Real Estate Book Reviews by...

Real-estate commissions equivalent to restaurant tips? Kiyosaki says he finds it “funny” that “so many poor and middle-class people insist on tipping restaurant help 15 to 20 percent even for bad service and complain about paying a broker 3 to 7 percent.” I can help him understand that. Restaurant meals generally run about $10 to $40. The 15% tip, therefore, runs only about $1.50 to $6. Furthermore, the wages of waiters are deliberately depressed below comparable non-restaurant wages because waiters receive their income partly in the form of tips. In other words, they count on that money and it has...