It has come up several times now, so we want to make a point here regarding the get rich quick schemes and courses we all have seen on TV… you know the ones: no cash out of pocket, no hassles with credit agencies or mortgage companies, buy cheap, sell high… and once you take the course, you are an expert.

Wrong!

It takes a bit more than a course to become rich in real estate… it takes market knowledge, money, patience, timing, and skill. It takes having a good team of professionals. And being an expert in anything requires more than one course.

Let me give you an example: I used to teach scuba diving. I am a PADI Course Director certified instructor. I don’t teach now, and have not for some years, but when I did, I taught beginners, advanced divers, and instructors. It never ceased to amaze me that folks just out of the open water tests for the basic certification now felt that they were experts. They literally had 4 or 6 dives under their belt, and all with the accompaniment of a qualified instructor and a qualified dive master. But they were expert, in their own minds. I found through hard experience that it isn’t until two more courses, and 25 more dives, that I would consider them to novices. NOVICES, not experts. After perhaps 30 or 40 more dives, in a wider variety of conditions, they might be considered advanced, even though they had the course they call “Advanced” many dives earlier. In point of fact, as a highly trained commercial diver and trainer, with more than 10,000 dives logged, I refused to dive with buddies that had less than the three courses: Open Water, Advanced Open Water, and Rescue Diver. It was the rescue course that made them comfortable in the water, built their confidence, and made them less likely to panic.

Statistically, more accidents happen with basic trained divers… they get cocky, and then panic, and suffer for it. After a few close ones, many give up, but other persist, and it is those that persist that become good quality divers, with buoyancy control, confidence, and surety… they are safe because they are not given to panic and have the experience needed to survive the tougher times.

What does this story have to do with Real Estate?

One course does not make you Donald Trump. Start smaller, learn the ropes, learn the market, get your balance, and move ahead slowly and surely. In the end, after 10 years and 100 house purchases, with 20 that went bad, you are an expert. Not before.