Review of ‘Than Merrill’s Free Real-Estate Seminar’

Introduction

I went to Than Merrill’s real estate seminar.[1] This is a free, real-estate seminar that was advertised in my area. So, I thought I would do a quick review and share my thoughts.

Spoiler alert! It was a roughly two-hour sales pitch!

But here’s the thing. I am a complete real-estate novice. I want to point that out because it is highly relevant.

Given that I’m a novice, what I might get out of a two-hour sales pitch is likely to be different than what you might get out of it, if we both have different levels of background knowledge.

Ask yourself: “What is my current real-estate IQ?”

Because I had very little real-estate awareness going in, almost any factual information that was given in the seminar – granted that it was doled out as a sales presentation – was going to be new to me.

For me, then, I think I learned a bit. I’d say that it was worth my time.

But it might fully well be that some of my readers know a lot more about real estate than I do. Honestly, even knowing the basics of real estate – in terms of real-estate investing, flipping houses, and setting up rental properties – would put you ahead of where I was.

Maybe it wouldn’t be worth it to you to sit through a two-hour sales pitch, just to have a refresher course on things you know already.

Three-Part Outline

I’ll conduct my review in three separate pieces.

Firstly, I’ll survey the factual claims that were presented.

Secondly, I’ll describe the sales presentation.

Thirdly, I’ll give you a few concluding remarks.

Sketch of Factual Claims

Just a preliminary point, for clarification. By “factual information,” I don’t necessarily mean that I know that the presenter’s claims are correct. Rather, what I mean is that if you ignore the sales pitch and the inspirational comments, what remains were claims about what is true. They were factual claims.

Looking at that information, there were a number of things that were that were canvassed.

One idea was that of reverse wholesaling. If I understand it correctly, it’s basically the idea that you are going to sell rights that you to a real-estate contract. You sell contractual rights rather than real property. If enter into a contract with a seller, then you can sell your rights to that contract.

The presenter made an effort to distinguish this “reverse wholesaling” from something that he referred to as “bird dogging.” Essentially, “bird dogging” seemed to be another word for selling real-estate sales without a license.

Needless to say, this is illegal and is liable to get you into a lot of trouble.

The presenter wanted audience members to understand that Than Merrill’s course isn’t encouraging, teaching, or in any other way promoting illegality.

Now, I can’t comment on the accuracy of any of this. I’m not a lawyer. I’m not in real estate.

We also got into house “flipping,” rehabbing, and rentals. He also touched on the subject of tax deeds and tax liens. (Though, I’ll put an asterisk on that one because he said that tax liens aren’t part of the course that was covered by the main sales pitch. It’s a separate class.)

What basically is presented is information about evaluating properties. He talks a little bit about what you need to know to look at a property and to make a determination as to whether or not it’s worth your time to explore buying it.

So he also gets into finding properties: where can you find properties, evaluating databases, evaluating divorce and other probate and foreclosure listings.

The presenter talked about four different numbers you need to make an offer on a property.

These four numbers were: (1) Your cost to repair the property. (2) The estimated value of the property after you repair it (also called “After-Repair Value,” or ARV). (3) Your “holding cost” – that is, the amount you’ll have to spend (in insurance, property taxes, utilities, etc.) just to keep the property once you buy it, and before you resell it. (4) The expected closing costs – or, the fees you’ll have to pay to complete any of the contemplated real-estate transactions.

I don’t want to give away the entire presentation, here.

Hopefully, these scattered comments suffice to give you a pretty good idea about whether you want to attend the presentation yourself or not.

If you’re intrigued and you’d like to know more, then maybe it’s worth it for you to go. If you already are abreast of these (and other, related) issues, then maybe your time is better spent elsewhere than at Than Merrill’s sale presentation.

Again, most of the presentation seemed to be a very basic survey or elementary real-estate concepts and practices, like what information you need to make an offer on a property.

To me, this stuff was interesting because my background is completely different.[2]

Interlude 1: How Involved Is Than Merrill?

Than Merrill’s name is on this thing. But Than Merrill was not the presenter of the seminar that I attended.

In fact, he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

There was a professional presenter / speaker and then a couple of other people – maybe three or four people – in the back who were there to collect orders for the various things that were being sold.

And that brings me to the second part of my summary.

The Sales Part

The core of the evening was a sale presentation. Actually, it was a series of sales pitches.

There were at least three sales pitches that were made.

The first essentially has to do with evaluating deals. So Than Merrill has a software package called the “Deal Analyzer.”

Basically, what you would do is input certain numbers. There is some kind of algorithm built into the software such that it is supposed to give you a pretty good idea of whether or not a property is worth your investment – of money and time.

This is all provided that you can provide the four numbers that we just talked about, and it is provided that those numbers are accurate.

Given the sales price of the property, the ARV of the property, together with your estimates concerning closing, holding, and repair costs, you can use this deal analyzer to get a feel for a property’s lucrativeness for your purposes.

That was sales pitch one: The Deal Analyzer.

Now the second thing was a three-day course where they – that is, Than Merrill and his “Fortune Builders” company representatives – get into their procedures.

The presenter declared that there is a seven-step procedure for going through and finding properties, making offers, fixing them up and so on.

I’m not sure if it is referred to as “flipping” or “fixing and flipping” or what.[3] But it is essentially their process for making money on real estate.

The third and final thing is a separate course or separates on materials that has to do with the tax deeds and tax liens. I think there was some kind of an online course for this.[4]

Interlude 2: The ‘Franchise’ Metaphor

A lot of the sale pitch sort of revolved around the idea of buying into a franchise.

The idea the presenter said was basically this. Than Merrill has developed a system that is apparently successful at making money on real estate. So, basically, their idea is: if you them (that is, Than Merrill and Fortune Builders), then you can buy in to their business model.

It’s almost like opening a franchise for a restaurant. You buy in to a business plan that has been proven to be successful in different areas. You put down money, you buy into it, and they provide you with a brand and business materials.

At least… that was the analogy that was provided. You may want to ponder that analogy, as you as you think through whether or not this is something you want to get involved with.

Final Thoughts

You are probably used to YouTube videos where, at the beginning of the video, somebody – like a Tai-Lopez type – starts out life with only $47 in his pocket and then ends up driving away in a fancy car. Or, you watch as a camera tracks along with someone jogging on the beach and they say, “Hey, if you want to live this lifestyle, I’ll show you how to make millions working from home!”

A lot of this stuff is really masterful from a psychological point of view. It’s very persuasive.

The free seminar had that kind of feel to it.

It’s not just giving you information. It’s using information as a fisherman uses bait. They’re trying to get you to want to buy into their “franchise.”

The presenter was a great speaker, both in terms of delivery and in terms of sales prowess.[5] There’s no question that he was a skilled presenter – very relaxed, very fluid. He displayed an ability for fielding people’s questions. But, mostly, he tried to stay in control of the presentation.

He clearly knew the material.

Since the presentation was a sales presentation, you could recognize certain phrases that kept being thrown in – like “can we all agree with that?” – some of which were designed to elicit the so-called “yes set.”

You say “yes” to a series of preliminary questions and then you’re more likely to say “yes” to the sales pitch.

For example: You want to be successful, right? (Yes.) You want to have the flexibility to be your own boss? (Yes.) You realize that real estate has a lot of money-making potential? (Yes.) So, then, do you want to get started right now by signing up for Than’s course?

And after the first three questions have primed you by getting you into a pattern of saying “yes,” the idea is that you’re more likely to say “yes” again to the actual sales question.

The presenter also engaged in another sales tactic, which was set to try to get a audience member to “buy in” to what he was saying. To put it slightly differently, obtaining a “buy in” is an attempt to get little commitments from people along the way.

So, he would ask things such as: “If there was something you could do to increase your income, how soon would you want to begin?”

In addition to that, he kept having a lot of audience members raise their raise their hands. Ostensibly, this is done in order to facilitate audience participation. But, on a deeper level, it’s down for a couple of other reasons, too.

Number one, you get accustomed to doing as the presenter asks. Don’t look now, but you’re following instructions!

Number two, he’s also creating a group-mind or “mob” mentality. You begin to feel peer pressure to participate. But it’s not simply pressure to participate, it’s pressure to participate in the same way as everyone else.

For example: Anyone who’d love to get started with this right now, raise your hand.

So, a certain number of people raise their hands. And everyone feels some level of pressure to join in.

Be aware, then. It’s not just that it’s a sales presentation. But, it’s a sales presentation in a group setting.

You can have the peer pressure heaped on top of whatever buying pressure you already feel.

And, I think, these are real, palpable pressures.

Additionally, the presenter also tried to anticipate and inoculate the audience against objections.

For example, he would say things like: “Some people, when you tell them you’re interested in attending this course or engaging in real estate of this kind, are going to tell you that it’s a bad idea”

The presenter is trying to get you to chalk that kind of talk up to fear and ignorance.

So, he advises audiences members to surround themselves with people who are going to be positive. This is generally helpful advice. But, in this case, of course, it means that you should only surround yourself with other people were equally enthusiastic about attending Than Merrill’s three-day course!

Finally, there was a lot of inspirational stuff. (A lot by my standards, at least.)

I think there was a 10-minute video just trying to get you to “seize the day.”

This is all fairly standard stuff. You’ll be peppered with quotations.

“You have to do what other people won’t do to have what other people don’t have.”

“If you do what is easy, your life will be hard. But it you do what is hard, your life can get easier.”

Etc., etc.

In summation, I think number one: Obviously, this kind of thing is been around for some time. If the presenter was being genuine about having encountered a class like this 20+ years ago then Than Merrill wasn’t involved in at that time, but obviously this stuff is not new.

Moreover, it’s a sales pitch! Make absolutely no mistake about this.

But, having said that, I think there was some information that I did benefit from receiving. That is, I did gain some knowledge that I didn’t have before. Assuming that the information I received is correct, of course! It seemed plausible, but I haven’t checked it. Again, I’m not an expert real estate.

But if you are not a novice to real estate – as I am – then none of this information might be new to you. So, in this case, it probably just boils down to whether or not you want to subject yourself to a sales presentation in order to hear a few minute’s worth of real-estate information.[6] Do you want to this take risk of feeling pressured or persuaded to join Than Merrill’s network of real estate informants, buying into the Deal Analyzer, attending the three-day paid course, or whatever else.

One Last Thought: ‘What Do They Need Me For?’

A guy told me one time that there’s an interesting question you should always ask after presentations of this kind.

“If all this is as lucrative as you say it is, then what you need me for?”

And that question is extremely valuable. It can be used for all kinds of sales presentations.

In this instance, the question is really interesting because, in many cases, when you ask the question, “what do you need me for?” you think about guys with their YouTube videos. And the answer might be that they’re not as successful as they say they are. So, they literally need me because I am the one that makes them successful. They may be trying to sell me a course on how to make money. But, really, they get rich just by selling me the course.

If I believe they’re successful, I give them money. I buy their course or whatever. And that’s their revenue stream.

On the other hand, it might just be that they can be more successful with me than without me.

And in this case, I think that points to something that might be like.

I can’t really comment on it, maybe it would be clearer to those who actually go to the three-day course.

But it might be that Than Merrill is trying to create a network of real estate investors, speculators, or people on the streets who are going to be viewing properties. If you join that network, and if you feed information into the Deal Analyzer, then maybe this information ultimately gets back to Than’s investors. Maybe he becomes a kind of matchmaker between the money and the properties and then he take a cut of the profits.

If this is so – and I haven’t the foggiest notion whether it is or not – then it seems like he does stand to gain by increasing the size of his network. So, it might be something along the lines of that. Ultimately, you buy into this program and feed deals and then you might have an opportunity to avail yourself of some of the financing that Than Merrill has put together. In that case, he probably takes a percentage of it.

If that is what he’s doing, then at least it is understandable why he’d want to expand his network. And it’s at least plausible that this expansion might be beneficial both to him and to the people that join.

Furthermore, and presumably, Than Merrill’s going to want to take on good risks, and not loan money to people on endeavors that are doomed to failure  or that involve liability.

So, unless he can indemnify himself against those kinds of losses, it could point to the fact that he does have some confidence in this program – or in his Deal Analyzer – and that that would be a good sign.

But, again, I am incompetent to make any additional judgment along those lines.

I simply say if you have two hours to spend and and you’re interested enough to attend, then just be aware that it’s a sales pitch take it for what it is. Scrape what is of value to you, personally. But don’t feel pressured to spend any money.

Conclusion and Disclaimer

Anyway, this is been my appraisal.

This is for general informational entertainment purposes only!

Personally, I have no affiliation with the Than Merrill. I am not certainly getting any money at all from him or from anybody affiliated with that person or his Fortune Builders organizations.

These have just been my impressions after having attended the free seminar with a friend.

I’ll let you know my thoughts if I actually go to the three-day course.

Notes:

[1] This is a review of Than Merrill’s free real-estate seminar. I have no affiliation with Than Merrill or Than Merrill’s Fortune Builders company. This is not a paid review. It’s literally just my own thoughts after having attended.

[2] It’s also likely that you could find this information elsewhere. I’m certainly not saying that Than Merrill’s course is the only place to learn this information, even if you don’t already know it.

[3] So, “flipping” is often defined as buying something (and it can really be anything, boats, books, cars, houses, or whatever) and then reselling it for more than you bought it for. “Fixing and flipping” would be more or less the same thing, except that, in between buying and selling the thing, you spend a little money or time (or both) making improvements, repairs, upgrades and so on. Now, you should be aware that some people use the term “flipping” for both practices – buying and reselling on the one hand, as well as buying, fixing, and then reselling on the other.

[4] At various times, things got to be a little loud. People were moving around and going back and forth from their seats to the tables in back to place orders. Additionally, people were asking questions and talking to one another. It was a bit difficult for me to keep my attention on the main presenter during this interval. He did mention that the tax-related information was not a part of the three-day course. Presumably, you have to spring for the extra online course if you want to get into that.

[5] As a side note, the presenter said that 26 years ago he attended a course like the one he was presiding over. And then 23 years ago he put $1000 down to try to make something of real estate. He didn’t explain why he waited three years. But, I asked the guy after the fact, “Was Than Merrill supposed to have been involved 23-26 years ago?” According to his Wikipedia entry, Than Merrill is around 40 or 42 years old. So, 26 years ago he would’ve been 16. 23 years ago, he would’ve been 19. Of course, the guy said, “No.” The wealth course he previously attended – assuming that he really did attend one – had nothing to do with Than Merrill. My only point bringing that up is to say that, obviously, if that course that this presenter allegedly attended 20+ years ago, was relevantly similar to what is being presented today and had nothing to do with Than Merrill, then it’s not like Than Merrill has created some brand new, original system. In other words, this information is nothing new. To put it another way, don’t fall into thinking things like “Than Merrill created this or that.” Than Merrill’s got his name on some business model and they’re trying to get you interested in buying into it.

[6] Out of two hours, the factual claims might have taken up around 30-45 minutes.