After the year of silence in real estate investing and going through a divorce, I decided to get active again. I needed a distraction from everything that was going on so why not get involved with things I enjoy doing. I had already started reading my bible more often which helped ground me in my belief; I took swimming lessons, because I didn’t know how to swim; and I took tennis lessons to have fun. The local adult school sent out booklets of the classes they offered for that semester which included the swimming and tennis. The timing was perfect for me to receive that booklet.

I randomly had late nights where I didn’t get much sleep but one night in particular, there was an infomercial on about Real Estate Investing. Although I had not thought about investing in a year, I felt compelled to stay tuned to all that was being said. This was an infomercial by Russ Whitney, a real estate guru who made millions in real estate investing. They were giving a free seminar 45 minutes away from me, 2 weeks from the day I saw the infomercial. I quickly called in and registered because they said it would fill up quickly. I was not familiar with real estate seminars so I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that they were giving this information out for free.

The day arrived to go to the free seminar. It was held at a hotel in North Jersey. When I first got there, the line was pretty long and as we entered the room, it was filling up quickly. I was very eager to hear what they had to say but unfortunately it was not a step by step lesson on how to get started in real estate investing. They pretty much explain that one of the best ways to invest in real estate is with OPM, which stands for “Other People’s Money”. It was the first time I heard that acronym/expression used but they did not explained how you get OPM. They also talked about passive income with rental units and having section 8 tenants live in the property. If you are not familiar with section 8, read below:

Section 8
The Section 8 program is designed to increase the housing choices available to very low-income households by making privately-owned rental housing affordable to them. It provides rent subsidies, either rental certificates or vouchers, on behalf of eligible tenants. These subsidies usually equal the difference between 30 percent of the household’s adjusted income and the HUD-approved fair market rent (for certificates) or the PHA-approved payment standard (for vouchers).

What this means for landlords is that majority of the rent will be paid by the Section 8 program and not the tenant. It also means that your rent will be paid on time each month. That was the major advantage explained at the seminar. To get more information about the section 8 program, click here.

The last 30 minutes of the seminar was spent talking about the boot camp and courses they offer for real estate investors. The boot camps lasted on average between 3-7 days and the cost was roughly $2000-$6000. They were selling different learning material at the back of the room as well as books and pamphlets. They also said they would show people who bought their material, how to write it off on their tax return. It was very tempting because of their strong sales pitch to charge something on my credit card but I did not. I suddenly saw why the seminar was free. It was a way to get as many people there as possible to sell their information/products. The little information I received for free was enough to get me wondering about my next step. When I walked outside to my car, there was a flyer on my windshield for a real estate investment club. The flyer said I would get in free if I presented it. I instantly found my next plan of action, go to the club!