Over the last couple of years, I have been watching the rise AND RISE of people calling themselves property renovation experts, charging huge fees to coach students.
There is a lot of money to be made in the ‘make money’ industry (ha.ha..the irony right there!) as people are coerced into spending money on their education, believing that they will learn enough in 3 days to completely change their lives. With reality TV shows, there has been a noticeable increase in interest in renovation, with many people happy to jump on the renovation band-wagon. So what are the property renovation spruikers up to now?
Example 1: There is the so called renovation expert who has renovated her own kitchen and bathroom, spruced up her house for sale and that of a friend with a clean-up and paint, who promises ‘six figure profits’ because she recently achieved a six figure profit, in a buoyant Sydney market where six figure profits are happening every day, with or without renovation strategies. Has this person enough experience to be charging fees and teaching renovation? I’ll leave that one up to you.
Example 2: There is a property lending expert who touts “2 houses, 1 renovation, 1 million in the bank”…… Now, I hate to be Negative Nelly here, but I’m pretty sure those figures would be difficult for lots of people to achieve, with or without the e-book.
Example 3: There is a renovation coach, who’s course is apparently content rich (it would want to be!) with each couple paying just under $10,000 to attend….That’s fine if you want to pay the fees, but the big tempter of the course is that you will learn how to quit your job and renovate for a living. Now I’ve had a lot to do with borrowing from the banks (and worked in finance) over the years and know how conservative they are. Quitting your job would make it very difficult to justify to the bank how you will service your loans, so brace yourself to be working full time for a few years longer while juggling your renovations on the weekend, until you are in the position to quit, unless you are prepared to source loans offered to higher risk clients at much higher interest rates and fees. So, it can be done, but it’s not an easy journey.
More worrying is that these students finish this course and believe that they know enough to start a business project managing other peoples renovations. Call me conservative, but I wouldn’t let any person with less than 10 years of hands-on renovation experience anywhere near one of my properties to project manage a renovation. Simply – they are learning on the go “cutting their teeth” on someone else’s property without carrying any of the financial risk. Ummm, I’m not really fan of that concept.
In many ways I find it contradictory to be writing about property education, having attended many property courses over the years and taking something valuable from every one. I totally believe in education. I believe in taking advice from someone who knows and gaining knowledge, especially when beginning something new. However, I shudder at the way that these courses are advertised. The big promises about money and profit. Yes, I know that anything is possible, but realistically, most newbies are not going to be able to mirror those results in their first few years, especially if they are starting with nothing and the property market isn’t on the move AND I worry most about people attending courses where spruikers have property to sell to them, with the promise that they are headed for financial freedom. I worry about people being misled.
So, my point is:
Is it really necessary to spend big money learning from these people when there are others online, who openly share their knowledge and free information is available everywhere? At least start with the free stuff. Stay engaged online with us, or others with our level of experience. Opt-in your details for updates and know that if we ever mention renovation profits or losses, we will be open and fair by also sharing details about the dates, mitigating circumstances and what the market was doing at the time.
Remember that learning about property renovation alone, is not enough to profit from it. The truth is, renovating for profit takes many skills – buying selling, negotiating, researching, due diligence, styling, budgeting and more. Renovation education is multi-faceted.
AND I believe that there is only one circumstance that you should pay for any course. Only One!!!
That you have made a decision. That at the end of the course, you take what you learn and run with it, with every ounce of your strength. Yes. Run!!! Get going. Apply it. Take action.
Otherwise, you’re just wasting money. Dreaming and thinking big, is not doing and it’s the doing that is rewarding, with all of the ups and downs.
– Belinda Smith