Any info on Robert Shemin?

[David G]

Ok guys...Myself and a partner were contacted by the offices of Robert Shemin...Here is a brief rundown...They offered to "mentor" us since we were just starting out as a "phase 1" investor. After hearing a great sales pitch and speaking with them a few times, they told myself and my partner our monetary investment would be $15,000. Basically we both looked at each other and said to ourselves that was 15,000 we could use as a down payment, or even towards marketing. We also searched the internet for reviews or other peoples opinions on this "metoring" and we found some opinions, but it was hard to decipher if it was an honest opinion or a biased one because they were selling their own products. So I figured I'd come here and ask all you seasoned investors your take and opinions...It seemed awesome at first, because we have yet to close a deal, but then reality started to sink in.

Everyone's advice and opinions will be greatly appreciated as I'm a new investor as is my partner, and love learning on a daily basis.

[dealmaker]

I've been at this for 29 years now, never had a mentor, advisor, counselor or anyone else that wanted money up front. The "only" money I've paid for my REI education was for a Robert Allen book that my library didn't have, and monthly dues at an REI club, back when it was about $5/month.

Save the $15K, read here and other sites, free and worth every penny you pay!

delamaker

[Burke]

BTW, if you want to read why people like my mentor from 20 years ago and I mentor the way we did, you might want to read this article. (http://reitactics.com/BecauseSomeoneDidItForYou)

Tim, I just tried to link to your article and it returned an error. I noticed in a different thread that you mentioned you were having some technical difficulties. Not sure if this is related or something different.

Disregard. It seems to be working now.

[Burke]

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that until about a year ago I personally mentored people. My rate for mentoring? $0.00

I think $15,000 is very steep. When I was branching out on my own in the early 80's my mentor charged me exactly $0.00 and we are still friends to this day.

Tim: Just curious...do you think it is possible for a person to provide the kind of mentoring that you used to provide or that you received from your mentor from a distance?

[Debbie]

So I figured I'd come here and ask all you seasoned investors your take and opinions...It seemed awesome at first, because we have yet to close a deal, but then reality started to sink in.

Everyone's advice and opinions will be greatly appreciated as I'm a new investor as is my partner, and love learning on a daily basis.

Forget Shemin or anyone else that charges. I don't care who/what they are.

Get free advice from Magic Bullets or your local mentor(s) who don't charge.

Local RE investor club(s) and/or local Landlord club(s) would provide excellent resource for your area. They may have annual fee. Fees are anywhere from $5/mo to $200/year.

FYI--hubby and I got into RE on our own. Eventually became members of a local Landlord Association.

[Bernie (FL)]

I want so bad to get of the rut of living pay check to pay check. I want to take a chance which I've been afraid to do.

I would love mentoring. I am willing to split any deal I receive mentoring on 50/50. Hell, I would go 70/30. I just want to get my feet wet. It would have to be an assignment of contract because I currently can't qualify for financing except maybe for hard money.

I saw a home in my area that appears to be empty and for quite awhile now.

I noticed it is owned by a trust in Mass. The home just appears to need some tlc. I noticed on the property appraiser's website that a new roof was installed in 2003. The taxes are paid up to date.

I believe the trustee of the trust is very elderly (over 50) just joking, I believe she is in her 80's.

Anyone interested? The home is in Spring Hill FL.

[Ceres]

Is Fear Holding You Back?
17/09/2006


A while back I made a decision to share my learning and experiences as a coach with a wider audience through writing and publication. Weeks ago I started with this article on the topic of fear. Somewhere I got stuck, put the article aside and than failed to return to it. In fact I completely abandoned all writing. What only recently was a source of joy and self-expression, became the object of anguish and felt more and more out of reach.

Being a firm believer that choice is always ours and every moment is a moment of choice, today I decided to find out what was stopping me from writing. And I realized it was the very topic itself: fear. That in reading and writing about fear I had hit on my own fears around writing, and that, not being aware of this, I unconsciously had put fear in the control seat. And from its high and mighty place, fear decided to stop all writing immediately. What if I lacked the talent? What if nobody would read what I wrote? Or worse, what if they would and than not like it? Or what if they did like it and demanded more? What if I actually had to make a full commitment and become more disciplined? Way too many “what if’s” for fear to allow me to continue on my chosen path.

We are often sabotaged in our efforts to act on what we want by our fears. Not only does fear prevent us from making a decision or taking the first step, even after we have started the process of creating new realities, fear continues to claim its veto right. And when it does, we tend to stop, surrender, procrastinate and give up. We hurry back to the old and familiar status quo, even if we know this is not where we want to be. We resist change, even if our heart cries for it.

If we don’t break through this impasse, we basically choose to remain in a situation, a career, a live we know we don’t really want. I would even go a step further, and say: where we are not supposed to be. But we believe that fear, like love, is something that overcomes us, is outside of our control and in control of us. If we want to move beyond out fears, we first must confront this belief in order to take the magic out of fear and bring it in within our power.

The second step is to call the culprit by its name. This can require some deep digging. Fear can manifest itself in very subtle ways. We often don’t recognize our fears and what role they are playing. Acknowledging your own fears can be scary and takes courage. We are much more skilled in rationalizing our unwillingness to move and act with practical considerations that sound enough truthful to us. I just don’t have the time. I have other responsibilities. I don’t have a bad life. I must first do a,b and c. I am such and such person. It is not my fault. But if we are aware of what is really at play, we can do something about it. It was only when I realized fear was holding me back in my writing I could start the process of right-sizing it from FEAR, a paralyzing roadblock to action and fulfillment, to ‘fear’, an ally and protector…more on this below.

Fear is mysterious and seldom logical. Mostly we are afraid of things that do not exist or have not happened yet, and not really the event itself, but how we will feel as the result of the event. And we associate fear primarily with negative results: fear of failure, fear of lacking skills, fear of harm. We are less aware that we are also afraid of positive results, often at the same time. When embarking on a new project we might fear failure and the resulting feelings of shame or self-doubt, but also the consequences and responsibilities (e.g. more projects) that success might bring. At a network function we might fear both not being noticed (I am not interesting) and to be visible (I don’t know what to say).

When we are looking to make changes in our lives and careers we are excited but also scared of what we may find on our journeys. The closer we get to our true selves the scarier it tends to get. What if it turns out we have all this talent and opportunities? But equally scary, what if we what we find disappoints us?

There is a famous quote by Marianne Williamson that says: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

The fear of this “powerfulness beyond measure”, or what we coaches sometimes call “untapped potential” has a fiery companion in the fear of untapped nothingness, that once we let go of what is not working for us, there is literally nothing out there to replace it with. And this is a tricky area. Because being afraid of not having what it takes also means being afraid to be stuck with what we have and know we don’t really want. A spiral of interconnecting fears that keep referring back to each other.

We mostly think about fear as something negative. But fear’s intention is not to be a negative presence in our lives. Fear is a protector. Its role is not to prevent us from doing what we want, but to protect us from things that are not good for us. Fear is for us, not against us. When fear knocks on the door, it is trying to tell us something. Fear is our ally, and is looking out for our best interests, not an authority figure who knows better than us. The key is to listen and team up, to create a relationship with the experience of fear that is positive and empowering. The same deepest fear Williamson refers to in the quote above also holds the key to our deepest truths.

Our fears, once we recognize them, are very real to us, even if they are irrational. We cannot just simply ignore or suppress them, or face them head-on, although that is what we often think we should do. Without understanding where they come from, why they feel so real, changing our attitude and doing our soul research, they will always lure on the background, pop up at unexpected moments and keep pulling us backwards or in directions we know in our heart we don’t want to go.

Take a moment here and ask yourself the question “is fear holding me back?” And even if the answer is a vague maybe, do yourself a huge favor, and allow yourself some time to explore what it is you might be afraid of.


Written By Jacinta Hin (jacinta_hin@hrc-network.com), celebrated and approved writer for kimknightcoaching

[David G]

Thanks to all who have replied...You all are truly a tremendous help!

[Robertjabalos]

I like Robert Shermin's books, especially UNLIMITED RICHES, which is an excellent primer on basic real estate investment despite the gimmicky title and a book I highly recommend.

However, I cannot recommend ANY expensive mentoring services of any kind, his included. To be blunt, you don't need them. You can get lots of free mentoring by working for an experienced real estate investor as a "gopher" or just by hanging out with them at foreclosure auctions, REIAs, and other places where they congregate. In some places, even local bars and watering holes will do. Experienced real estate investors love to talk and trade war stories. Most will help newbies if just asked.

Robert J. Abalos, Esq.

[David G]

Thanks again for all the replies Tim, Robert, and everyone else!!