Real REIC Experiences

“… researching various systems and educational programs. After reading a few books, including some by Robert Kiyosaki, we were even more excited but we still didn’t know how to invest.

“Wanting a more hands-on approach, we signed up for a $2,000 program. After learning a little more, they up-sold us to their $20,000 package, which we paid willingly, thinking that it would give us the tools and resources we needed to succeed.

They were supposed to show us exactly how to do each step and help us along the way, but it never happened like they promised. In fact, they don’t even return our calls anymore.

“After this disappointment, we were introduced to the Strait Path™ system. Because of our recent experiences, as well as because their system is so unconventional, we were skeptical at first.

Also, at the time we didn’t have the right mindset — we were looking for a ‘get-rich-quick’ system, and Strait Path real estate seemed too slow for us.

“We started warming up as Kris Krohn and his associates counseled us on a few decisions. We had been looking at a duplex with the goal of living in one side and renting out the other. It sounded like a good idea to us, but they pointed out a number of flaws that we were unaware of, one of them being that we were paying more than market value for the property.

They pointed out all the reasons it was a risky deal and, through this time, we realized that they were the real deal, that they actually invested in real estate instead of just teaching about it.

“Soon after signing up for the program we purchased our first investment, which at a fifteen percent equity position immediately increased our net worth by $37,000. Since we were renting at the time, we moved into this first home.

Our plan is to refinance it soon to purchase our next investment. In addition, our home has an apartment that we’re fixing up to meet legal requirements, and we’ll rent it out to help offset our mortgage.

“The Strait Path is a slower game plan than a lot of the hyped systems we’ve seen, and we’ve really learned to appreciate that because there’s a much smaller margin of error and much lower risk. What sets it apart from the other systems we’ve researched and worked with is that it’s actually based on implementation.”

He started by flipping. His purchased his first home and put $22,000 of material and labor into it. When he was done, the home was gorgeous. The problem was that he only made a $65 profit after selling it.

He tried to sell it on his own for awhile, but was eventually forced to list it, which meant that his realtor received a fat check for $12,000, and he walked away with essentially nothing for his effort.

However, he loved the process, so he continued flipping. He made a little bit of money, and on his sixth or seventh flip, he decided to get his real estate license so he could make a commission when he sold his homes.

Predictably, he gravitated away from flipping as it became a full-time job.

After about seven years of intensive and broad experience, he concluded that the Strait Path™ was absolutely the best system available, and he started working the system in his personal investing.

His first Strait Path™ home was purchased for $210,000, and at an 18 percent discount he had $45,000 of equity.

He has literally set foot on the property twice in his life, the first time being when he did a walk-through inspection, and the second time to show it to a tenant. In fact, he had a tenant before he had even closed on the property. He collected $6,000 down from his tenant and received a monthly positive cash flow of $500. Two years later, the tenant bought the home and Steve received $45,000 cash.

Ecstatic about the results, he promptly purchased another home from his proceeds. An estate sale, this home was worth $285,000 at the time and Steve bought it for $215,000.

He received $4,500 from one tenant, who unfortunately left due to a job transfer. His second tenant paid $5,000 down and is on track to purchase the home by February of 2010. An ideal tenant, he attends all of our classes, which are helping him repair his credit and prepare for purchasing the home. Steve was sold on him as a tenant when he walked through the home and announced, “I am going to live in this home until the day I die.” Steve cash flows $250 per month on this property.

Since then, Steve has purchased two more properties using the Strait Path™ system, both of which are doing phenomenally well. Steve’s goal is to sell his homes every two years and roll the proceeds into new properties. Within a few years, he will likely have ten properties paid off, which will generate about $15,000 of monthly cash flow.

After doing more research, they decided to move forward.

They lived in a single family home and they also owned a duplex, both of which had equity. Although they could have moved into a nicer home, they extracted their equity to purchase another investment property.

They then moved into one of their duplex units while collecting rent from the other unit. Using Compassionate Financing™, they found a tenant for the home they had just moved out of within one week. Their current cash flow covers all of their mortgages.

Throughout these years, they discussed the idea of real estate investing, but could never agree on the strategy. Shanna pushed Chris to pursue rentals, but he dragged his feet because he feared the burden of receiving annoying phone calls in the middle of the night, managing lousy tenants; the common headaches associated with rentals.

In response, he suggested flipping, mistakenly thinking that this would mitigate their risk.

In 2008 they received an invitation to attend one of our seminars. Shanna urged Chris to attend with her, and he, though skeptical, agreed. It didn’t take long before they were sold on the Strait Path™ system. They recognized that it was the best of all worlds and appreciated its safety.

Using cash they had in bank accounts, they quickly purchased their first two homes. Soon after they refinanced their home and used the equity to purchase two more investments. Then, they partnered with a friend to purchase yet another property in the same year.

These five investments brought in over $15,000 in down payments, immediately increased their net worth by more than $300,000, and produce a positive monthly cash flow of $1,165. They have since purchased many more properties above and beyond the Strait Path system.

At its highest point — and after more than fifteen years — their 401(k) totaled about $100,000. In 2008 it tumbled to $65,000. When they joined our program their net worth stood at about $600,000. Within less than a year, that figure has leaped to about $2.1 million after they engaged on the Strait Path™.

Their increased wealth is one thing; what it allows them to do is another. Chris is passionate about helping people increase their resilience, their ability to manage opposition successfully. He and Shanna have a dream of building a foundation with this focus—and the Strait Path™ provides the funding for that dream, which would not have been possible had they stayed on the worn-out, traditional retirement path.

“I got so excited about the possibilities that I started telling everyone I knew about it. This led to forming some partnerships, through which I purchased four more homes. I’ve since purchased twenty more homes through bulk bank foreclosures, which I own free and clear.

My net worth has gone from negative to $1.3 million — and that’s just counting my real estate holdings and excludes my ownership in a few companies. My monthly positive cash flow from real estate totals $2,100.

“Strait Path™ real estate provided me with a rope that I’ve used to climb out of a hole of debt and a limited mindset.”

“I wondered, ‘Where does this young guy get the money to buy all this property? And how, and what, and why and…?!’ All these questions flooded my mind. Our conversation ended up lasting almost two hours.

I asked Kris to personally mentor me in real estate. He invited me to some at-home meetings he was holding for a few other co-workers, where he showed us what he did, how he made phone calls, how he found the deals, etc.

“I jumped into the program. REIC immediately helped my wife and I buy a new primary residence, get tenants for our existing home, and buy another investment property and get it successfully contracted. It was exciting to watch all of my dreams beginning to take shape.

This year Kris has helped me buy many pieces of land as well as more than 25 homes nationwide, in addition to our three local properties.

“Over the past year Kris has helped us grow our personal net worth to well over half a million dollars. I can’t wait to see what we create in the next five years!”

He eventually moved to Utah so we could train and help him. He quickly purchased his first investment, which he moved into. Since he was single, he rented out the other rooms and made enough to pay for the mortgage.

He got so excited about the system that he began telling everyone he knew about it. Soon he was bringing in a lot of people to our events, and three of them wanted to partner with him. So far he has purchased homes with two of them, using their income and credit and his knowledge and effort, and he has formed an LLC with the third and they will be purchasing a home soon.

His own investments jumped his net worth from -$33,000 to over $100,000, and his partnerships boosted his net worth to over $200,000.

Within a couple weeks of joining the program, he bought his first property with a purchase price of $182,000 and a market value of $230,000. After about two months and one failed attempt, he found a solid family that had fallen in love with the home and were ecstatic about our rent-to-own program.

One of their children had a congenital heart disease, which forced them to accrue a mountain of medical bills and eventually declare bankruptcy. They had lost their first home and had been living in an apartment, which was a terrible situation. Their downstairs neighbor was a volatile man with a mental illness. He would bank on doors and yell frequently. They were afraid to even let their children play in the play area. Though they had spoken with the landlord about the situation, he had refused to do anything about it.

Overjoyed, they gladly put $5,000 down and are now paying $1,300 per month, of which $200 applies toward their eventual purchase. They have replaced the furnace and cleared the yard to install playground equipment, among other improvements. Dan receives a positive monthly cash flow of $200, they have never been late on their rent payment, and Dan never has to handle maintenance issues.

When Tyler explained the program to them, they were ecstatic. They couldn’t believe that it was possible for them to control a home, live in it like it was theirs, build equity, make improvements, and all without having to get approved for traditional financing. What made the deal work for them was the flexibility. Without our program they would have been forced to rent and would not have been able to live close to their family. Tyler worked with them and met their needs during a very difficult time. He received a $5,000 down payment and they have faithfully paid their rent for over a year.