About a year and a half ago, i was sitting pretty on a pile of cash wondering where to invest it. I had read a book by someone called Mark Stephen Garrisson called Unlimited Real Estate Profit. It was slightly better than a fluff piece and it went into some minor detail about market cycles and said people should buy in undervalued areas that were starting to see increase in prices. [well it didnt exactly says that but it mentioned fancy terms like absorption and expansion]. However it didnt say where to invest. The author did suggest I check out the website narei.com.

At NAREI, they offered buying tours in undervalued markets for $8k. Basically they put you on a bus and show you around the city they think you should be buying in and hook you up with agents to buy properties and also property management. I thought it was a good idea although a little steep. $8k per person, 12 people per tour, 12 tours per year is almost a million dollars for the promoters. Plus they get a cut from the commissions and property management. Hmm…sounds even better than investing itself! I did some more research online, trying to find people who had been on the buying tour. I did find a handful of people, all of which said it was bogus and that it wasn’t worth it. Also to get on the buying tour, you had to buy a set of educational materials for $500 so everyones “on the same page”. The disgruntled tourists[thats what you call people on tours right 😉 ] said the materials were “godawful”.

So I decided to pass and decided to do my own research on where and how to invest.
But thats a topic for another day.