Testing the Gurus

So, I've been buying creative real estate investing programs and reading books for about 4 years. I've listened to CDs, watched DVDs, read manuals and reviewed web sites. However, I've not done a darn thing beyond that. I've been the classic analysis paralysis person. All that is about to change.

Here is a list of the "gurus" and their programs that I have, split by type:

Tim Mai, Virtual Vesting 7-Day Instant Cash Secrets
Chris Chico, Virtual Wholesaling
Steve Cook, Wholesaling for Quick Cash
Mike Collins, Wholesaling Houses for a Living
Larry Goins, Ultimate Buying and Selling Machine
Ron Mead, Make a Flippin' Fortune

Toby Unwin, One Deal From Retirement
Dave Lindahl, Apartment House Riches

Alexis McGee, 6 Steps to Mastering Foreclosures
Dwan Bent-Twyford, Foreclosure Fortunes in Your Backyard
William Bronchick, Colorado Foreclosure Investing Strategies

Chris McLaughlin & Nathan Jurewicz, Short Sales Riches System
Dwan Bent-Twyford, Advanced Short Sales
Dwan Bent-Twyford, Short Sale Secrets

Chuck Smith, Powerful Profits with Probate
Jim Banks, Probate Profits
Ron Mead, 31 Days to Profits in Probate Real Estate

Bill Twyford, Shut Up and Stick to the Script
Bill Twyford, The Secrets of Closing the Deal
William Bronchick, Real Estate Negotiating

Dolf De Roos, Real Estate Investors College
William Bronchick, Real Estate Success Library

And these are the books that I've read that pertain directly to real estate:

The Weekend Millionaire's Secrets to Investing in Real Estate, Mike Summey and Roger Dawson
Push Button Investing in Real Estate, Ron Draluck
Making Hard Cash in a Soft Real Estate Market, Wendy Patton and Justin Ryan
Buying and Managing Residential Real Estate, Andrew J. McLean
Investing in Real Estate, Andrew McLean and Gary Eldred, PhD
Making Big Money Investing in Real Estate, Peter Conti and David Finkel

Emerging Real Estate Markets, Dave Lindahl
Multi-Family Millions, Dave Lindahl (I'm reading this one right now)
How to Make Money in Commercial Real Estate for the Small Investor, Nicholas Masters
Make Millions by Buying Small Apartment Properties in Your Spare Time, Brian K. Friedman
The Best Damn Commercial Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written, Monica Villasenor
The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings, Steve Berges
Flipping Properties, William Bronchick
The ForeclosureS.com Guide to Making Huge Profits Investing in Pre-foreclosures without Selling your Soul, Alexis McGee
Preston Ely, Probates ebook
Preston Ely, Flip Your Way to Financial Freedom ebook

How to Get All the Money You Need to Buy Property, Alan Cowgill
Financing Secrets of a Millionaire Real Estate Investor, William Bronchick

The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, Gary Keller
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, Gary Keller
Nothing Down for the 2000s, Robert G. Allen
Real Estate Riches, Dolf de Roos
How to Build a Real Estate Empire, Arsenault, Hamilton, Leeds & Marcil
Wealth Protection Secrets of a Millionaire Real Estate Investor, William Bronchick
Trump Strategies for Real Estate, Donald Ross
The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump

And, believe it or not, I have a pile of books waiting to be read about real estate investing.

The fact is that having all that in my head is very nice, but it ain't where the rubber hits the road. Right now, they are all theory to me. While I think that some sound more doable than others, it's just a guess and frankly, I'm a little nervous about getting out there and talking to someone about something that's so important to their life. What if I screw it up? Then again, what if I don't?

Is it possible to juggle several balls and have some of these systems running concurrently by setting up different businesses? Maybe I should just see if they work first.

Right now, short sale programs are coming out of the woodwork - seems to be the flavor of the month with the vast financial crisis we're facing in America today. Would that be the best place to start? Or maybe Tim Mai's program that promises cash in 7 days... all the possibilities make my head spin.

Anyway, my youngest is almost old enough to go to preschool so I thought I would try out these programs, step-by-step, one at a time. There are so many that I'm having a hard time deciding which to pick. Do I do wholesaling, foreclosures, short sales, probates? Some of these could be chunked together, but I want to test each system to see if it really does work like the author says it does. So, next post, the decision...