When An Expert, Isn’t Really An Expert

There seems to be a misconception that once you become a full-time real estate investor that you work less.  I don’t agree with that.  I would say that you work differently.  You just don’t get to a particular point in your business and stop, or at least I haven’t seen that point myself.

One of the nice things about being a full-time real estate investor, is the flexibility that you have to make your own schedule.  And change that schedule according to different life events.  If your spouse or child is sick you can reschedule your time to be with them.

Sure there are appointments that you need to make, but for the most part you get to schedule in things that you want to do, including arranging lunch meetings with interesting people.  I recently met up with a very successful real estate investor friend of mine.  I went to see the new business that he was working on.

We talked about many things, but in particular about a former employee, who was working for him the year before, but had developed their own business as a social media expert.

I remembered from previous conversations that this person had only really worked for the real estate investor before, and asked how that person had got the experience to become a social media expert.

The investor said that he had no practical experience.  He had taken a course, and started doing workshops, and events where he was able to label himself as the expert.

This so called social media expert used sites like Fiverr to create video testimonials and reviews of their courses and workshops.  (There is a great CBC Marketplace television show titled “Fake Video Testimonials: Inside the World of Fake Reviews” that aired on January 27, 2017, that explains the phenomenon of fake video reviews.)

I was totally amazed that a person with no practical experience was able to position themselves as a social media expert.  And then I remembered some of the other things that I have seen in the past real estate conferences.

Unfortunately, this happens again and again in the real estate education space as well.  Where you have people who have been educated on using a particular strategy and claim their expertise by teaching the strategy to others, with little to no experience.

The instructors may or may not have even implemented the strategy themselves.  But they do have high pressure psychological sales tactics that push people into a real estate education product, coaching, or services.

One such tactic is getting you to say “Yes” during the presentation over and over.  They might even use statements that the only logical answer is yes.  “Isn’t it a beautiful day outside today?” “Would it be okay if I share a little bit about myself?” It keeps the tone positive throughout the sales presentation, and softens you up for the sales pitch.

Your job, when you meet with anyone who claims to be an expert, is to dig a little deeper.  Find out where their expertise comes from. Ask them about their last few projects or deals they have done.

Five Questions to Help You Dig Deeper

1. How many times have they implemented the strategy?
2. Does what they say make sense? Or does it seem unbelievable?
3. Is there any way for you to corroborate what the person is saying?
4. Can you talk to another person who has been trained or implemented using the strategy being suggested?  What success have they had?
   
5. Are they sharing only the good things about the strategy? What could go wrong?

An expert isn’t someone who has used a particular real estate strategy a handful of times.

An expert is someone who has deliberate practice using a strategy in all types of market conditions a dozen times or more, and is able to share the risks and rewards of using a particular strategy.

There are so many great people in the real estate education industry that teach what they are truly experts at.

I have another friend of mine, who has done more vendor-take-back mortgages than any other real estate investor than I have ever met.  He is a humble guy, that I am glad to call a friend.

This real estate investor has borrowed millions from the very people who are selling their property, and some cases, he has even walked away from the transaction with more money that he started with. If you want to learn about vendor take back mortgages then you should talk to him.  He even presented a course at DurhamREI where a recording of the workshop is still available.

Look for the real experts out there, because they do exist!  Finding them and leveraging their expereince, will help your business tremendousily.