International Association of Investors IAI review: Misleading promises 9

I took this course in Toronto, Canada. I wanted to invest in a buy and hold with income producing units. I was 27, and a single woman... never did anything this big before, so I knew i needed training. I was super sceptical at first because the price was so high, but I knew I needed to try. I learned a lot from the course, and I still refer to my notes, and have used them several times since my first investment.

From my first invest I made 550% return on investment, and I had my tenants pay my mortgage, expenses and my spending money the duration of time I owned that property.

It was definitely worth it to take this course. What I think is more important is having a vision of what you want to do before you jump in, so jumping in is already rehearsed... it eliminates fear, and creates a focused execution.

I wish you all well on your journey.

I've been on more, even more expensive 3 day courses since, and they all more than paid for themselves. I owe my financial freedom to the education I received from other people experience.

Matt Matson has also been part of a bum company called Sports Link Inc. in November of 1995. How do I know you ask? I am the naive owner of 15150 shares of the defunct Company. Good luck all.

IAI and Don Burnham are a scam.

They pump you up and you are filled with hopes and dreams of getting a head with investing made easy by investing in programs in The Wealth Institute ranging from $4, 000 to $50, 00. Don Burnham told us at break at the first seminar to call our credit card companies and ask for more credit. We were showed these resort like properties on an overhead and presented low prices with returns of huge profits.

To make a long story short, they were just apartments/conversions the developer could not sell and then preyed on out of state hopeful investors. We were not allowed to see the properties we were purchasing because of the tenants being home.We were told the developer incentives would pay for 3 years of HOA fees, property taxes, and property managements fees. Turns out all these incentives were included in the inflated false appraisals included in the purchase price.

We had to use the preferred lender in this case Bank of America in St. Pete, Florida Nathan Lindley CMS. He told me that he would invest in one of these of properties if he were in a position to. When I question finding properties online for $100, 000 less in the same area, he assured me it was worth it, and to not discount the "Developer Incentives." Just before flying out to purchase he told me I had to come in with an additional $7, 000 for points to buy down the rate and my loan went from 30 yr fixed to one loan interst only for 10 years. I wanted out then and he shouted how no other CPA would have gotten me this loan. I felt threatened, scared and already committed. Turns out Mr. Lindley and the other industry insiders just filled their pockets with more money and none of it was to pay for discount points, just fees buyer had to pay at closing.

At closing I even mentioned that I did not understand why my loan terms changed just before closing because the bank knew there would be a tenant residing in the property because my wage would not cover the mortgage without it. I was the last to find out a year later that Mr. Lindley BOA failed to notifying me he did not included the rent money on my application, nor my property taxes and HOA fees on my primary property I reside in to get me qualified. Looks like I lied, but he did without me knowing. Never sign docs you can't see the complete copy and get copies of everything you sign before and after. They told me to just sign the last page.

Well, I got really scammed, my 800 credit score now tarnished, savings depleted, and lots of hurt, agony, anxiety and time lost. Now the place is in foreclosure, my attorney tells me Bank of America does not care about what happened and just wants whatever assets I have for a short sale.

IAI is a scam, Don Burnham hides behind Christianity, industry insiders are recruited such as Nathan Lindley of Bank of America to pull off the scam so you feel it's all legitimate. My advice, trust your gut, check out anything you decide to buy or purchase over the internet or in person, and if it's too good to be true, walk away.

I tried to get out many times, canceled my contract, but was reeled in with more lies at every corner. I still will be in this mess for years to come. Don't know the final outcome, but know foreclosure or short sale, I will still have thousands ahead of me to pay if I get a 1099 by BOA. I can now just hope that my god Jesus will get me through this. I hope that everyone of these crooks get what is coming to them.

IAI is a scam, if you try to get out, or information you will get the run around, or told the person you dealt with no longer works there or will refer you to some other company involved. Stay Away from Don Burnham and IAI. They are in the business to ruin lives.

The seminars that are put on are similar to network marketing companies in that some people have great success and others just don't. Why is that? The company (Amway or IAI) is the same for each person, and the company tells everyone the same thing. The difference is each person's activity level. I've bought a few real estate courses and read them, but I've never made an offer, so how can I become successful? Fear kills.

Similarly, just like most network marketing companies, people have filed numerous complaints against most of the seminar companies. Does that mean their techniques don't work? Most likely the person, like myself, didn't work. I'm actually successful in sales and marketing so fear always has to be conquered.

I paid $995 for the intro class then $8, 495 for the Discount Notes class in September 2007 and never received the class - I was never notified - then I was called by IAI and told they were not going to hold the class ever again. I sent a message to IAI and requested a refund. I received a call from a receptionist who told me she would pass on the information but I have not been able to contact anyone with knowledge of either the calss or the refund policy. I would like a refund for the money I paid.

this is matt mattson... I am sure there is a mistake here.

I would never tell anybody (unequivically) that any body (including IAI ) would or could refinance their property without first having to do a few things first.

You would first have them fill out a 1003 and then pull thier credit. I could have said that IAI would look at doing your refinance and if you qualify we would love to do your refinance.

But not knowing what the LTV is and thier credit score and thier debt to income level is as well as other items, nobody could tell you that yes "we will do your refinance".

Oh yeah, almost forgot,

My Sachse property was purchased for 114k...

Paying for and attending their training does not guarantee success. You are responsible for applying the techniques and achieving your own successes. I checked the disagree box when posting my remarks but in truth, I neither agree nor disagree with the writer’s opinion. I will only say that the cause of the writer’s opinion in this article can only be seen in the mirror.

I purchased a basic IAI training package without their mentoring package and I have had success because I did not just sit on my hands and wait for success to happen. I have developed some friendships with fellow seminar students; some have been successful and others have not. The differentiator has been action or inaction. One couple purchased the $49,000 seminar package with mentoring and every time I had seen them in later courses, their answer was the same when asked if they had started yet. That answer was “No, not yet”. Others who had purchased the smallest of packages without mentoring had completed profitable real estate transactions as I have. My first property required no rehab and was resold 10 days after resale listing, for a profit of 22k. I counted the total number of hours worked to acquire, carry and exit the deal and calculated my hourly wage to be at $922 an hour. The bottom line is it took 22 hours of action to accomplish the deal.

I have purchased and sold 3 properties successfully since my final seminar September 14th and have 3 other properties in varying stages of the process. One is rehab complete and on the market (appraised at 330k, purchased for 224k, rehabbed for 4k, listed for resale at 297k, on the market for 11 days). The second is currently under rehab to be completed by January 15th (after repair value appraisal at 750k, purchased for 380k, rehab cost budget of 73k, planned listing price of 675k). The third has just been acquired (appraised value 167k, estimated rehab costs 5k, planned listing price of 147k).

Oddly enough,

When I was in the bank this morning requesting a cashier’s check for $3,000 from my business account for a payment to my rehabber for work being conducted on my 750k property, I had an interesting conversation with the bank teller. She asked if I was in the Marines or if I was simply wearing a cap that said “Marines” on it. I explained that I was in for 12 years but that I was now a “Former Marine”. She said she asked because her cousin was a Marine and then she asked what kind of business I was in. I explained and then she stated that her and her husband wanted to buy a home and had planned to do so after she started working, hum. I asked where they planned to do there home search and she replied “Sachse, Texas”. My third property valued at 167k just so happens to be in Sachse, Texas, hum.

Hum,

I explained that I planned on selling the Sachse home for 20k below market value and that if they want to see the home and they like it, I would further reduce the price by over $5,000 if I did not have to list it and they would purchase without a buyers agent.

I could go on and on...

Jason Gobelli is a good speaker. I just didn't like the crap that he was trying to sell. If it would have been a free seminar I would have been more receptive to them.