It was quite a few years ago when I first read one of Robert Allen’s books, it was quite the read, and I remember feeling as though it was for people who had more ability than myself. Today, though, I do feel as though if I gave it the hard work it requires, that indeed it would be possible to pull it off. Well, it is a lot of work. It’s a lot of unconventional work, and I think that is where the rub begins.
There was a time when the Robert Allen people came into town for a one time, one day seminar and offered you a three day seminar. Naturally, of course, as anyone who has gone to these things can tell you, there is lots of selling. What gets me, and I find this a bit amusing, is that you can practically see the yellow legal pad full of lists of sales resistance and objections through out the day in one of these meetings. The single day meetings are just a sales pitch. You won’t learn anything about the business, they know better than to let the cat out of the bag on this one. You’ll receive only a small share of the concept, just enough to wet your appetite. Then, at the end of the day, they let you know that the three day course they are offering in order to become one of their associates is usually $3995.00, but, of course, if you join today, it’s only $1995.00.
The company has gotten smart about this, and I guess the economy has forced their hand, but now the three day seminars are free. And I went to one of these, also. The thing is though, as they really do reveal a lot more about what it is that they do, it’s really just another upsell. This time, the upsell is more like $15,000.00 at the end of the three days. I suppose if you are really motivated, and know you can do this sort of thing, then more power to you. I would never want to dissuade anyone from something they feel they can accomplish. But what is it exactly that you are doing? That’s the real issue. The presenters are very sharp, they handle the audience with power and grace, and obviously they are deep into the process. I applaud them for their professionalism. I do not agree with the core value of this program, however.
What’s it really about? What is required is for you to go looking high and low for desperate and on the edge sellers, who have no real estate broker. They don’t like realtors, I think it’s because realtors operate within the system, and that’s a no no. This might be a 100-1 job, and still you might have to wait for the 1 seller to reach a panic state before you can make the deal. And that’s the rub, for me at least, because it promotes a kind of “vulture” mentality which waits for the carcass to go almost belly up before the buyer swoops in. So, you make a deal, to sell the house for the seller, and you increase the price arbitrarily, whatever makes sense to the training, and when you sell the house, you just take the profit for your self. So, you have a house worth $20,000, a desperate seller, and you increase the sale price to $26,000, sell it and pocket your $6,000. This is all done outside the regulations. Now, it’s not illegal, they have been doing it for thirty years or so. But you have to wonder how moral it is. All you did was make deals and re-arrange situations over payments and ownerships, all without banks and real estate sales people, depending on the desperate condition of your individual seller, and you pocket $6,000. It’s possible to do, but is it right?
The speaker I saw was quite proud of the fact that he often just made things up in order to manipulate the situation for events to head in the course that would be most lucrative for himself, all within the law, of course. But, like a woman who is in love with a prisoner should consider, I had to wonder, if I had joined up, how long would it be before imaginary manipulations became reserved for me?
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