Introduction to REIC

  As an upfront disclaimer, the intent of this post is to be informative; this is not intended to be an outright sales pitch. That said, I am a very happy and enthusiastic client and would unabashedly be pleased to learn of someone becoming a client through my introduction. Would I get a kickback? Yes. Would that motivate me to do this? Not at all. I'm no salesman, and for good reason. Is this some MLM? Not one bit.

  We joined REIC in September of 2010. They are a Real Estate Investment Company. So... who cares? I've always had big financial dreams and have pondered much about how to reach them. REIC has made a significant difference in my financial hopes and shown me how to reach them.

  I hope, here, to concisely paint a broad picture about what REIC is and isn't.

So, here goes. REIC:

• Helps others do, not just learn about, Real Estate (RE) Investing
• They do have training, but that's just the beginning. They do not charge for their training. (Well, there is a one-time fee to join so you could call that the training fee, but it gets you in for life.)
• They make money when you successfully transact (so actually doing) real estate. That is their business model.
• Provides you with a financial and investment coach for the rest of your life
• With your coach you will develop a 10 year financial game plan.
• (I can't begin to tell you how cool I think this part is; I just love it!)
• Your coach will train you initially and be there to help you all along the way thereafter.
• You are encouraged set up appointments to meet with your coach or you can simply call and ask questions as needed.
• Makes RE Investing accessible to the layman. They believe that any RE investment should (they call these the "6 pillars"):
• Take the least amount of time
• Take the least amount of effort
• Have the lowest amount of risk
• Provide service
• Work under any market condition
• Be profitable for the investor
• Strives to set realistic expectations
• I've never heard (from them): "You can not fail if you do what we say"
• I have heard things like:
• "There is risk in doing Real Estate and we don't want you to take on more risk than you're comfortable with"
• "This is how we minimize the risk"
• "Real Estate can be hard"
• "You can expect having some difficult moments as a Real Estate Investor"

What REIC is not:

• A pushy sales group
• They are passionate, but not pushy.
• I remember in my first seminar, Kris Krohn (founder) said something similar to: "Some of you will be excited about this and will want to jump in and we think that's great. Some of you will think this does not make sense for you and that's fine; we will part as friends."
• There was no "you must join tonight if you want to get this price" kind of stuff.
• A couple weeks after that first seminar, we decided we wanted to join. We met with Kris Krohn and, after a while of talk, I finally said: "So.... we're in?". I realized later that he would not invite me. For him, it had to come from me. I had to want it. That is not what I call typical sales. I liked it. I still do.
• A get-rich-quick scheme
• One of the greatest parts for me is the 10 year plan, or your plan to (be able to) retire in 10 years. I don't find 10 years to be "get rich quick".
• It seems to me that get-rich-quick shemes often make it sound easy and effortless. While REIC does try to take as much of the effort out of it as possible, they make no mistake to tell you that doing RE investing has its hard parts.
• An upselling company
• REIC does not try to make a living making sales to its clients. It makes a living when its clients transact real estate.
• This is not to say they do not advise us to make other purchases. That's part of why you get a coach - so you know what you need to do to successfully do Real Estate. (e.g.: We purchased liability insurance when we bought a property. There was no kickback to them on this. It was through our already existing insurance company.)
• An MLM
• When joining an MLM, there is a product or service you are selling. You can also get people "under you" selling that same product or service. Joining REIC, you are a consumer of the service.
• Technically there is a Direct Sales group within REIC that you can join if you wish... if you're a salesman. I don't know much about it. I'm there to be a Real Estate Investor, not a salesman. UPDATE
• The kickback you get for referring a friend is there for all, though much less than what you get if you are actually part of the Direct Sales team.

Well, this is getting pretty long winded. Some things I didn't mention here that I may in a later post (or would be happy to if you wanted to contact me directly):

• What their Real Estate Investment strategy is specifically (some of the "how's" to the "6 pillars" listed above).
• Some concerns I had going in that I think are not uncommon and some experiences that helped resolve them.
• Probably more, but I'm getting tired of thinking about this post for now.

Do you have any questions about REIC you'd like me to answer in another post? Do you have any concerns about REIC you'd like me to address? Not that I will resolve them, but perhaps I can provide some helpful information? Please feel free to let me know directly or in the comments.

EDIT:
I just found this video. It seems to cover a lot of what I just said and it's only 3:18 long. I can't get it to embed or I'd let you watch it right here. Sorry.