I’m signed up on a lot of real estate mailing lists – a good way to stay abreast of trends going on in the real estate community.  Every now and then a real beauty pops up in my mailbox – one that I have to memorialize in some way before I hit the delete key.         

Check out these quotes from a note I got today from a guy hosting real estate teleseminars (emphasis mine):      

-----------------

 "Hi Christopher, I want to make sure you get one of the few remaining open spots for my free upcoming teleseminar...

...If you for some reason feel the need to get rich slowly, with lots of trial-and-error and a ton of work, then this call is not for you...

...however, if you suspect that some people make big profits in real estate very quickly, and would like to know how they pull it off...you need to be on this call...

My mystery guest will explain the very fastest way to make big profits in real estate...

If you're not curious about this unusual investing technique by now, well, I guess your name is Bill Gates, and you're all set with investments...." 

-----------------

He goes on in this vein for a while, explaining that the secret techniques he’s going to unveil don’t involve risk, hard work, big downpayments, or any other such unseemly elements. 

If I'm insulting your intelligence by stating the obvious in pointing out that these guys are sham artists then please accept my apologies...but I think it deserves a mention.  If people didn't sign up for these things then these guys wouldn't be in business. 

A good reference for investors, especially new ones, is the John T. Reed guru checklist which spells out 53 tips to sniff out sham artists.  Reed isn’t the most positive guy I’ve run across on the web, but he gets an A for ethics (and he’s a fellow West Point grad.)

Bad advice abounds on the web.  If you see a particularly galling or amusing offering send it to me - if I feature it here you'll get a free three month subscription.