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Real Estate Start School Review

I’ve got two pieces of exciting news to share from my friend Chad Carson today.

First, he has just announced a generous charitable mission stemming from his online business. Like me, he is helping people from a position of having already achieved financial independence. Like me, he will be donating a large percentage of his online profits. Bravo!

Second, his signature course Real Estate Start School, which is becoming a collection of multiple courses with one main course and numerous side dishes, is open for enrollment from now through this weekend. Update: the course is currently closed.

After Sunday, 9/22, the course will close and won’t be available until next spring at a higher price. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a course with this much depth and value with a three-figure price tag. Similar courses sell for 2x to 4x as much.

 

Real Estate Start School Review

 

Who is Chad Carson?

 

Chad “Coach” Carson is a family man in his late thirties who has figured out what matters most in his life. It’s not having the most “doors” in his real estate profile or continually trading up to bigger and better properties with an insatiable appetite.

He was on a very short list of people I was most looking forward to meeting at my first FinCon back in 2017. We had some great conversations there in Dallas, and have been in regular contact ever since.

The life he’s been living looks a lot like the life that I’m just now embarking on in my early retirement with a focus on family, friends, travel, and adventure. He’s been able to afford this lifestyle with the income from his rental properties. Real estate investing is the only job he’s had since graduating from Clemson University early in the 21st century, and it has served him and his family well.

Given his experience and business acumen, I imagine Chad could scale up to owning hundreds of properties if that’s what he wanted. Instead, he’s found a comfortable spot where his properties (currently about 90 “doors” co-owned with a business partner) more than cover his family of four’s expenses without taking up much of his time.

He focuses less on growing a large empire and more on what he describes as “doing what matters.” To him, that included recently spending a year and a half living in Cuenca, Ecuador with his family, the longest of several “mini-retirements” that he has taken over the 15 years or so that he’s had in his real estate investing career.

I like to feature Mr. Carson’s work not because he’s a genuinely friendly guy, or because I’m in awe of his athletic prowess, but because he’s such a good teacher. If there’s a real estate concept that I don’t fully understand, he’s probably got a 2,500-word blog post full of tables and diagrams to explain it in simple terms.

In addition to his excellent blog posts, he’s also authored a book titled Retire Early with Real Estate, and he has his master course, Real Estate Start School, which opens for enrollment twice a year, in the spring and in the fall.

Unlike some courses which remain available year-round, this one is updated and released just twice per year. He spends a lot of time with his students in each class, coaching them through their first real estate investment or finding their next great deal. It’s simply not something he could do year-round given the amount of effort he puts in.

 

Real Estate Start School

 

If you’re familiar with The White Coat Investor’s Fire Your Financial Advisor course, this course was created on the same format (Teachable). The first iteration of Real Estate Start School was similar in length to WCI’s course, but the recent update is certainly grander in both scope and size.

Back in the spring of 2019, the course was completely revamped and expanded. While the course is only open for enrollment a couple of times each year, when you enroll, you will have lifetime access to the current course as well as any future additions or improvements.

He’s since added several Grad Courses that are included, and you will have lifetime access to these and any future courses Chad adds to the program.

 

 

Across 8 easy-to-follow modules, you’ll learn how to:

 

  • Develop a customized real estate plan for YOU: Like picking from a menu, this course will help you choose the unique real estate plan that will move you towards your financial goals.
  • Pick the right market for investing (local or long distance): You’ll receive detailed instructions and a checklist so that you can make sure you have a profitable investing market, either locally or long distance.
  • Run the numbers to know you have a good deal: Real estate investing is a numbers game. So, you’ll learn the most important formulas to confidently evaluate your next property purchase. Plus you’ll receive the same deal analysis spreadsheet Chad uses on his deals.
  • Get the money to fund your deals: You’ll learn the best sources of financing, both traditional and non-traditional (like seller financing and private money). And you’ll get ideas to raise money for down payments and other cash needs.
  • Build a dream team to help you succeed: The right team will make or break your efforts, so you’ll learn the most important team members, like real estate agents, CPAs, contractors, etc. You’ll also learn how to choose the right ones.
  • Find good deals: Nothing else works in real estate investing if you can’t find a good deal. You’ll learn how Chad has consistently bought good deals year-in, year-out for 17+ years – including 17 proven strategies including in the grad course – Real Estate Deal Finder.

 

Coach Carson Course

Coach Carson opens this course to new enrollees twice per year. He leads weekly group sessions with fellow students for 8 weeks. He also does a half-dozen live group coaching calls with his students over a similar timeframe.

There’s a Facebook group open exclusively to current and past students, and he also does monthly Alumni group coaching calls throughout the year. Past calls are archived and available to new enrollees in the course.

You can tell that he really wants people to follow through by not only finishing the course, but also by remaining active in the community he’s building and taking the first steps towards building a real estate portfolio to help achieve their financial and life goals.

For an 18-minute preview and overview, full course syllabus, testimonials and more, head on over to Coach Chad Carson’s Course (say that ten times fast!) page to check it all out. You will find his laid-back, genuine approach refreshing.

 

If you do enroll in the course (and do not take advantage of the 30-day money back guarantee) via a link on this page, this site will be credited and compensated and you will be supporting our charitable mission

 

What’s Actually Included in the Course:

 

  1. “Find Your Focus” Kick Off Course with 17 lessons to find the right real estate path for you
  2. 5 Core Training Modules with over 55 audio and video files
  3. An 80 page workbook mailed to your house (and downloadable) to keep you focused and on track
  4. Live Office Hour Calls with Coach Carson – ask anything – 4 in first 8 weeks and monthly throughout the year
  5. Past Office Hour Archives – 31+ Q&A Sessions
  6. An Authentic and Active Community
    • Inside the Course Facebook Group
    • In the comments of the course modules
    • In the voluntary accountability partner program with other students
  7. Bonus “Grad Level” Real Estate Training For More Depth on Critical Topics
    • Lead Generation Mastery (value $197)
    • Creative Financing for Real Estate Investing (value $297)
  8. Bonus Digital Text Book For Topics Not Covered Directly in the Course
    • The Book on Estimating Remodel Costs, by J Scott
  9. 5 Bonus Expert Interviews with leading experts
  10. Lifetime Access to the Course

EXCLUSIVE PoF BONUS!

 

If you enroll via my referral link (this one or any on this page), forward your receipt to me via email and I’ll send you a copy of Chad Carson’s book outlined below or any Bigger Pockets book of your choosing.

 

Check out Real Estate Start School

 

Are you a real estate investor? How did you learn the ropes? Did you have an expert available to guide you through the process?

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9 thoughts on “Real Estate Start School Review”

  1. Pingback: The FIRE Motion is Right here to Keep | Genius Interactive
  2. Subscribe to get more great content like this, an awesome spreadsheet, and more!
  3. I’ll pick up the book and consider the course. In general I’ve found a lot of people who are now experts, bloggers, FIRE etc -in this area all started buying RE right after the crash and have done well with appreciation, low interest rates etc. I’m interested in hearing Chad and other folks’ take on starting now, when valuations are sky high and good deals hard to find. Are there examples in the book? What about people who did this before the last crash, how did they do?

    Reply
  4. I’m very disappointed in this comment :
    “For example, it’s not unusual to see 6% to 8% cash-on-cash returns for a fully paid-off property in the right market. Ten homes purchased for $100,000 each could generate $60,000 to $80,000 per year after all expenses are covered.”
    I’m halfway through your book and I cannot find anything remotely close to this scenario. Please explain how the numbers work because I simple don’t see it.

    Reply
    • The second page in Chapter 1 has a table (page 31) has a table demonstrating this. “A $1 Million portfolio invested in 100% in real estate at those numbers [7% yield] would receive $70,000 per year before tax.”

      Reply
  5. PoF – Thank you for the review and kind words!

    And your criticisms are also appreciated. That’s why I like reading the blog of a smart guy like you!

    On the taxable vs tax-free growth, your point is well taken. The assumption that formed the basis for my example (which was not stated and should have been) was similar to my own IRA investing experience, which was investing in private notes. These do behave in a similar manner to my example because the total interest returns are completely exposed to tax liability (thus their preferred vehicle of retirement accounts).

    But I presented it as too clear cut in favor of the tax-free account. In reality, because taxable accounts are exposed to taxes you invest in things with less tax exposure as you stated (i.e. low dividend stocks and/or depreciation sheltered real estate!). I should know because that’s what I have done with my real estate! Depreciation sheltered most of my rental income returns, and appreciation wasn’t taxed until I sold (unless I did a 1031 tax free exchange).

    And on the length of medical education, I guess that’s what they were selling me when I applied to medical schools 16 years ago (and subsequently withdrew my application):) Obviously I missed that and should have asked friends who know better!

    I hope your readers find the book and course helpful!

    Reply
    • Thanks for stopping by!

      I get what you’re saying regarding the taxable account. The take-home message should not be to avoid one (although I do believe in masing out tax-deferred accounts first), but to invest as tax-efficiently as possible in a non-qualified, taxable account.

      I thought 98% of the book was spot on, and would absolutely be beneficial to my readership. Same goes for the course, and I’ll update the text to include a link to your free course, as well.

      Cheers!
      -PoF

      Reply
  6. Real estate has been my primary focus for investing for a little over a year now. Besides maxing out all my retirement vehicles with index funds, I have solely thrown the extra money into real estate (which since I am an accredited investor I have been doing private syndicated deals in the commercial multifamily apartment sector (Class B).

    The main draw for me is that there is a relatively nice cash flow that has been slowly increasing my passive income stream. The fact that I can continue this without having to sell the original capital (ie I don’t have to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs) is why this has such a big appeal for me.

    There is a lot of potential in real estate but due diligence is a must as there are even more ways where you can find yourself in trouble. Like you, I don’t want to be an accidental landlord/active real estate owner, so syndicated deals are perfect for me as it is really, “mailbox money” for me (of course the tradeoff is that I do lose some money for the middle man but to me it is worth it to not have to deal with active management).

    Reply
    • Thank you for sharing your experience. I think you hit the nail on the head about due diligence. I find that to be the most challenging part of crowdfunding real estate deals. I love their increased access to deals and their potential diversification, but I do worry that many of us (myself) will short-change due diligence because it’s so darn easy to press a button and invest!

      Real estate as you presented is a nice hedge to other strategies and a solid source of retirement income.

      Reply

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