Best 5 Real Estate Seminars for Investors & Consumers
Thinking about becoming a real estate investor? Absorbing as much information as you can about the industry is a great place to start.
Real estate seminars are one way to do so, although they also have a questionable reputation.
From employing dubious ways to encourage attendees to part from their money to outright real estate seminar scams, a quick Google search will reveal a slew of dissatisfied attendees of real estate investing seminars.
While real estate seminar scams certainly exist, if you do your research, there are reputable residential and commercial real estate investing seminars and advice out there too.
We’ve compiled a list of the 5 best real estate seminars, including free real estate seminars that you can use to improve your knowledge of the industry and possibly even your bottom line.
What Are Real Estate Seminars?
Real estate seminars are events that offer prospective and current investors education in the real estate industry. Attendees range from full-time to novice to beginner investors, including those simply looking to improve their industry knowledge.
Real estate investment seminars can also be useful in helping residential property investors make the transition to commercial property investing.
The common thread to most real estate investing seminars is the promise to help you build your wealth. Essentially, seminar goers pay for investment advice and guidance.
However, consumers and investors should keep in mind that not all real estate seminars are equally valuable.
AdvisoryHQ has researched numerous real estate investing seminars and compiled a list of the 5 best real estate investing seminars across the United States and Canada, depending on your investment situation and goals.
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How Much Do Real Estate Seminars Cost?
Prices vary. Although free real estate seminars exist, paid real estate investment seminars are the norm.
One MoneySense.ca article pegs the range of such events at anywhere from $1,900 to $7,000. Advanced classes are much more expensive, ranging from $20,000 to $70,000.
There are certainly more affordable real estate investing seminars, however. The real estate seminars–and alternative options to the best real estate seminars–focus on more accessible options.
Best Real Estate Seminars and Alternative Options
1. Real Estate Investment Network (REIN)
Founded in 1992, by successful investor and CREW magazine columnist Don Campbell, REIN identifies itself as Canada’s “most trusted real estate investment education, analysis, research and strategic leadership resource.”
REIN is member-based, with its more than 2,700 members enjoying access to a great deal of information, services, and products. These include monthly workshops, online webinars, educational and research materials, and major conferences that are held quarterly.
REIN membership has three tiers: Basic Online Membership, Insider Online Membership, and Premium Membership, with each offering additional benefits.
The Premium Membership costs $199 per month, giving you inclusive access to all REIN real estate seminars and events as well as preferred pricing on third-party real investing seminars.
One self-professed former real estate seminar junkie asserts: “Many of my mentors and business partners are REIN members who are making some serious money with real estate investing as their full-time business.”
Since a monthly fee is required to maintain REIN membership, it seems best-suited for motivated investors who are committed to making the most of their investments rather than those who are simply looking for basic investment education.
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2. Fortune Builders Real Estate Investing Seminars
Reviews on Biggerpockets.com identify Fortune Builders’ 3-day real estate workshops as a great place to start learning about real estate investing. At $197 for two people, the price is affordable.
Former attendees cite the experience as providing useful, educational information as well as valuable networking opportunities. It is especially useful for those who don’t know much about investing, making it well worth the $197.
Image Source: Real Estate Seminars
Keep in mind, however, that the bigger goal of these real estate investing seminars are to convince attendees to buy into Fortune Builders’ Mastery Program, which costs over $25,000.
Be prepared to discern between the educational information being provided and an inevitable sales pitch for a more intensive real estate workshop.
3. The Investor Forum
The Investor Forum offers successful speakers and networking opportunities to more than 700 residential and commercial real estate investors, including both first-time and seasoned investors.
The event is recommended because it offers two full days of dynamic workshop sessions and keynote speakers. With three different registration options, attendees can pick and choose which sessions they want to attend.
Although there is a free pass, the best value for this real estate workshop comes from the Editors Pass ($215) and the Workshop Pass ($542).
These dynamic passes make these real estate workshops an ideal choice for serious investors seeking detailed information on specific topics, novice investors looking to learn from real-life examples from other investors, or new investors simply looking for ideas.
Compared to other real estate seminars, the Investor Forum is relatively cheap in comparison and offers, arguably, more value because it features a number of resources and suppliers rather than just one company out to sell its services.
Moreover, the Investor Forum features over 50 speakers from diverse companies and backgrounds, offering varying strategies and perspectives to real estate seminar attendees.
Lastly, the Investor Forum is recommended because it allows attendees to learn from each other. The majority of conference attendees are active investors, with 88.5% actively investing.
Additionally, 28% of attendees have 20 properties or more, and 67% have a focus on U.S. and international investments, making it a great event to pick up tried-and-tested tricks of the trade.
4. Alternative Options | Think Local
While most real estate seminars and real estate workshops will promise you exceptional returns on your investments if you just spend a few tens of thousands of dollars on their big-ticket courses, the best way to learn is often through someone actively investing in your local area.
One disgruntled attendee of a less than useful real estate seminar suggested on Biggerpockets.com to “learn how to invest from someone doing it in your own backyard.”
Real estate conditions vary greatly by locality, so this is much more beneficial and financially lucrative than spending money on generic boot camp courses.
Rather than attend real estate investment seminars, you can find someone in your area who is investing in real estate and reach out to him/her to grab a coffee.
In addition, checking out local real estate agents who also actively invest in real estate themselves is a great place to start.
You can also attend your local Real Estate Investment Association meeting to meet like-minded individuals.
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5. Alternative Options | Use Online Forums and Resources
In addition to connecting with local investors, scouring online forums can be just as useful, if not more beneficial than shelling out your hard-earned money to attend a real estate seminar.
Do your research to verify the information you find because, of course, a lot of information found online is anecdotal, and much of it is downright false.
That being said, the Internet is home to a plethora of valuable resources. Consider skipping real estate seminars altogether and, instead, start with Forbes, Investopedia, and BiggerPockets Investment Forums, to name just a few.
After conducting your own research, the next best way to learn is by doing. Trust your gut. After all, you are the only one with your own best interest in mind.
Related: How Much Do Bankers Make? – Find out Here! (Job Description, Annual Salary & How to Become a Banker)
Real Estate Seminar Scams
Many customers are left dissatisfied because, while real estate seminars are not always outright scams, they are often sales pitches for other more pricey events.
A MoneySense article titled, “The True Secrets of Real Estate Seminars,” highlights how real estate seminars typically convince customers to buy into their programs:
- An ad, email campaign or infomercial tells you that you can become financially secure through real estate investing and invites you to attend a free or low-cost residential and/or commercial real estate seminar to learn more.
- Once at the real estate seminar, a successful investor – generally a celebrity figure or individual claiming to be financially secure and showcasing his/her lavish lifestyle and frequent vacation trips – will tell you that you, too, can live this dream. The catch is that you need to buy into a much more expensive program that promises to teach you all the tricks of the trade.
- If just 3 or 4 out of 100 attendees buy, say, a $30,000 program, the company has pocketed a significant amount of money. Essentially, it is the seminar hosts who are getting rich, not their investors.
Signs of Real Estate Seminar Scams
The same MoneySense article outlines several strategies employed by real estate investing seminars to convince you to part with your money.
Groupthink
“Many seminars plant someone in the audience to guide the group toward a certain way of thinking.” These persuasive individuals are then able to sway up to 10 other people.
Even skeptical investors have been known to be drawn in when these “plants” employ tactics, like asking leading questions, making supportive comments throughout a presentation or instilling a sense of urgency by being the first to sign up for a deal and enticing others to do the same.
Signs of Real Estate Seminar Scams
Free Real Estate Seminars
Offering free seminars is a common tactic for encouraging many would-be investors to sign up. As mentioned, however, the first presentation is often a precursor to the more expensive seminars and events that follow.
The following experience of a dissatisfied real estate investing seminar attendee speaks for itself:
After attending a half-day free seminar, Caranfa spent $2,000 on a three-day weekend workshop.
She thought she’d learn about making money in real estate, but instead she was subjected to yet more success stories and promises that she’d get rich once she’d mastered the ‘secrets’ taught in the full course, which cost a whopping $25,000. While Caranfa was skeptical, she eventually forked over that fee.
Caranfa thought her money was being invested in real property, but it wasn’t. All she got was ‘a few flimsy books, a couple of DVDs, and the chance to fly all over the U.S. for a series of three-day boot camps on how to invest successfully.’ She’d paid almost $30,000 for little more than vague information she could have found for free.
Once again, residential and commercial real estate investing seminars can offer educational information, especially for beginner investors.
However, the above timeline of events is quite common. It’s up to you to decide if buying into further real estate seminars is worth it to you.
Understanding how most real estate seminars work and how they make money is important to ensure that you understand what you’re paying for.
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Conclusion: The Verdict on Real Estate Seminars
The bottom line? Proceed with caution. Real estate itself is certainly one vehicle for successful investing.
Moreover, investing in real estate involves careful research and a team of professionals to help with everything from property evaluation, negotiations, financing, and managing investments.
Real estate investing seminars, such as the one we’ve suggested above, can provide investors with valuable knowledge to navigate the industry.
Choose a reputable association’s conference that is likely to offer you useful information rather than a boot camp-type real estate seminar that will likely require you to discern the educational information from a potential sales pitch for further, expensive courses.
Keep in mind that real estate investing seminar promoters are looking to make money on their courses.
Don’t assume that attending a few real estate seminars alone will make you rich quickly, and do your own extensive research before spending any money. If a promise of easy financial gain seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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