We Read This Crap So You Don’t Have To: Greg Clement “This Is New To Me….”

This blog begins a new series of “We Read This Crap So You Don’t Have To.” The purpose: To read the e-mails with the “amazing” subject lines from real estate gurus . . . and then to look at what these folks are peddling. Every once in a while, the subject line and e-mail text are actually worthwhile, and we’ll cover those, too. I promise. But 90% of the time, it’s pure hokum. And 8% is just plain dishonest.

Ready for the first one?

Greg Clement E-Mail "This Is New To Me . . . "

So what precisely is so new to this savvy real estate investor? What is one of the “coolest investing strategies” he’s ever seen? What is “a TOTAL new concept to me”?

Here’s the top and the bottom of the sales page:

Beginning of REO Rockstar Promotion

Bottom (with price) of Greg Clement's REO Rockstar Sales Page

I read the copy and watched most of the tedious videos (watch this blog for a rant against time-wasting videos!). From the sales page itself:

Effectively we have solved the real estate investing community’s biggest problem … how to flip bank-owned properties without taking a dime out of your pocket.

And now we’re ready to reveal the exact same system that the REO Rockstar uses to flip 10+ houses a month in this f’d up market … to YOU. Like I always say … “I go? You go.”

That’s it? For $997 plus $97 a month? (And maybe more–it’s difficult to tell whether there’s any continuation pricing on some of the items. There likely is for the REO leads and access to the REO Rockstar himself. Woo hoo!) And most of the course is online.

Look: The course may or may not be worth $997 plus $97 a month (or $1,164 a year forever plus other add-ons). As is said elsewhere: We report. You decide.

But c’mon. A savvy real estate investor talking about wholesaling REOs: “I had no clue you could even do this. I’m not kidding. This is a TOTAL new concept to me. You’ve not seen this before. It’s simple and soooo smart. . . P.S. It’s one of the coolest investing strategies I’ve EVER seen.”

And frankly I don’t know what technique’s being promoted here. (That’s part of the reason I call this “crap.” Greg’s not revealing the concept; he’s not showing us what it is, as his e-mail suggests. Instead, it’s just a link to a sales page.)

But there are plenty of ways to do what’s described here: Flip REOs with none of your money. You borrow money–from a variety of lenders–to buy REOs. The only catch, in many cases, is that the property be priced far enough below the market. (And even that doesn’t always apply if you’re borrowing privately.) And as far as flipping, a lot of investors will put the property into a newly-created LLC, then sell the LLC itself. Or, heck, just buy and sell. There are a bunch of other ways to flip REOs.

On our Crap-O-Meter, let’s give this a 9 out of 10.