Ian Ugarte - Legit? Small Is The New Big / Hires Property

I saw an ad on Facebook by Small is the new Big by Ian Ugarte. I went along to one of the live events where he gave a very topline overview of his approach (basically it's running boarding houses).

Now I am in two minds as to whether it is a scam / spruiker type deal or legit.

At the presentation he spoke about how vital it is to get your structure right when setting it all up. Probably spent 10 minutes on this, also someone in the crowd shouted out about how they had been screwed by not having the right structure in place for the investment. He also spoke about how passionate he was about educating others and the mission he was on to house Aussies blah blah blah.

He did come off a little "spruikery".

At the end of the presentation he then tried to flog his training course for $5,000 on the spot with the "structure" module to be thrown in for free if you buy there and then.

If you didn't buy on the spot the module is an extra $500 odd.

That's what makes me very suspect on this as some sort of scam.

If getting your structure right is so important, and if he is so passionate about teaching others, why use an integral, foundation part of the training as manufactured scarcity/urgency to try and force a sale on the spot?

Makes me doubt the rest of the program and whether students are actually getting anything out of this training.

Has anyone actually been through this course and seen results?

 

Well at least he didn't try and flog you a shiny new high rise appartment!

In other news if it quacks like a duck....

 

Was associated with Boholt not so long ago...

Plenty of info here

 

Who is Boholt? I'm not really across many of the gurus.

I've had a look through the posts on here re: Ian Ugarte / Small Is The New Big and still in two minds. Although, I'm not really seeing many saying they have had raging success with it, so the alarm bells are ringing pretty loud.

I do like the concept though on face value. Of course, I'm sure it's not as easy as it seems or everyone would be doing it.

 

Think about it. Why does he need to do the high-pressure sales technique? Who does that help?

Structure is something you pay for with lawyers and accountants. 5k will get you a long way down that road.

Quack!

 

The theory behind Housing of Multiple Occupants (HMO) can be sound but like anything do you need to do a course or hand over your money for someone to find it for you? Well that's the million dollar question.
I would actually go back to the very beginning and question WHY you went and WHY it interests you? Is it because you want a quick way to make money? If so then the lure of a quick buck is probably not the right motivator and you would be better off putting it on red at the casino.
HMOs have their place but there probably is a finite amount that is needed and with every course and client and others who want to boost their cash flow the need becomes less and less. There may well end up with too many people targetting an area and there being an oversupply then you have a quite specific dwelling that is hard to convert back to a normal IP that you spent good money on creating a HMO. You may also find that running a HMO in some areas is a magnet for people that cause more trouble - do a search on boarding houses in this forum and you'll find plenty of warnings.
Ian Ugarte is probably not a scammer, he might be a spruiker but he has found an answer that might work for some people and there are people willing to pay it. I don't think it's nearly as easy or a quick buck answer and so for many they are better off buying more traditional IPs and using time, value adding and the market to reach their goals.

 

Agreed with the sentiment, hence why I have steered clear of his training.

The way it was sold definitely felt shady.

A shame as I do like the boarding house approach from what little I know of it.

 

As I have said in other threads about Ian's brand-rooming houses are a great idea, I just don't like the way he goes about it.

You could run his business without the education component, just as user NHG pointed out, there were a lot who did his course and didn't do anything with the knowledge, thus instead of selling rooming houses he can add on selling rooming house education and make more money off people who don't have the wherewithal to see it through.

Ian is right though that the setup matters an awful lot with rooming houses as you can't onput the normal costs like water & electricity typically that you would in a normal residential leasing, thus something like having the capacity for solar would be really important.

 

I did join up but was able to withdraw. You get a vast amount of info collected from councils in all states about requirements etc for setting up those types of housing arrangements. In my case I wanted specific advice about my properties and if/how I could covert them. I found that Ian won't talk to students individually. You have to post your question on his FB page. I did that and got no response from him. I pm'd him and was told in no uncertain terms to only communicate with him via FB group. He was pretty rude. Anyway, I got out.

 

The fact is...even if you set up a house into 4-5 distinct self contained rooms:

• it's going to cause a motza plus the possibility of further costs if you want to revert to a regular house again in future
• you're turning it into a niche property
• there'll be more maintenance and headaches
• higher bills including insurance premiums
• you may overestimate people's inclination to live that way ie passing each otehr in hallways etc. Most people want privacy - actual privacy. They don't want a shared lounge, kitchen, hallways, laundry etc
• One rotten apple in the house and the place turns to s***

I don't know, just sounds like too much work. What's your health worth?

 

The council areas which permit this need to be carefully investigated. Illegal modifications and rooming may result in major concerns.

 

using selling tactics at the end of a intro night doesnt necessarily mean its a scam,

but as the saying goes "good products/services sell themselves"

 

Google is your friend.

As for boarding houses - there are plenty of councils who allow boarding houses, get a good & experienced town planner on board, architect and builder, then go for it.

There is a SEPP for low income housing (this is used for the DA) then when the units are leased out they're marketed as boutique apartments (at not so cheap rates) - which is how these things are sold to investors.

 

He's a business man, one of his businesses is selling educational courses.

Is it a scam?
He teaches a strategy, whether you implement it, and implement it well comes down to you.

The course covers multi-residential. This can be boarding houses, NGBH, HMO's, etc. Anything with more than 1 tenant.

Can you make money with these strategies?
Yes, though you can make money doing anything with the right knowledge, and grit.

Do I know anyone who has made money from these strategies?
Yes, most make low 5 figure profits. A handful make well into the 6 and 7 figures.
Some have done Ians course, others figured it out on their own over a decade or more.

Would I recommend it?
Definitely, I think it's a great community. Be aware, this is a business, not a passive investment. What you get from it, is directly correlated to what you put into it.

 

That's all well and good and I totally understand he is running a business.

The thing that rubbed me up the wrong way was he preached in the seminar about how important the mission he is on is and how he takes education so seriously and that's why he does what he does. He then also harped on how important it is to get your structure right from the start, that it is vitally important etc

Then at the end of the seminar they have the high pressure sales process in place, go to the back of the room and sign up now and get x,y,z, one of the "bonuses" was a module on structure. If we didn't buy then and there we had to pay hundreds of dollars extra for the module on structure.

Him valuing education and the importance of structure but then using sleazy sales tactics and holding the structure ransom are at loggerheads.

To me that is a big red flag.

 

All the information taught can be found here ,or from a book for free.
These courses can be great in condensing what may take years into an easy to consume package.

I would say however, that you should always speak with a licences professional.

If people are buying, then he is in integrity with the purpose of his business. I also hold a personal belief that everything has a price. Whether it be the time and effort to learn something on your own from scratch, or paying a financial cost to learn it quicker.

Learning something quicker, with no price, the information will rarely convert into experience and wisdom.

 

I attended his Adelaide seminar just yesterday.

I found a lot of the information useful. I picked up tips to move one of my projects forward.I paid $49.00 for a VIP ticket. For that I got a front row seat, catered lunch, two books and access to an informal q and a session. Good value it was.
I'm a retired journalist and TV Producer (documentary) My life's work has been around analysing people and motives for news and documentary.

In his style, he uses a formula common to many providers of wealth education, of value added tips, inter mixed with personal tragedy and recovery, benevolence and scarcity. If I have any criticism its in the mixed delivery. He simply cant be or shouldn't try to be all things to all people. It looks disjointed and unstable from a media perspective anyway.

Of the approximately 50 people attending, I saw 6, perhaps 7 sign up at the end. At just under $5k, I would certainly be confident in suggesting that 3-4, would have chosen the part payment option. From the after seminar commentary in the room, I'd also suggest that a few more may have signed up if not for the force behind the push to sign up. At least 1/4 pf the women attending were aged 55 plus (thats me incl!) I wanted to hear from their pool of success stories how these women had fared, in particular from those who had little to no money to invest. But no, not a one.

Ian, did however single me out for an example of how I could maximise my $15k investment. $5 for the course and the rest on a spruce up. That seemed to be the entry point $15k, which is doable for many people, and well on the way to convincing me to sign up!

But then came the hard sell, scarcity and scare tactics. Ian told us that his price of $5k was going up after yesterday. It was about this time that I started to yawn, and I stopped hearing him. 9.30am to 4.30pm is a long day.

My recommendation.

1) Yes, go to the seminar, but not just to hand back and listen. Its a waste of time.

2 ) Instead upgrade to the $49 VIP ticket.

3) Yes, come with one vital question to ask him, because he will answer it during the VIP only lunch session.

4) Come prepared for the chaotic delivery and hard sell at the end.

5) If you dont have $15k, i.e $5k for the course and a min of $10k for the spruce up or additions - dont bother signing up for the course even on part payment plan.

Instead:

6) Join or form a support network of people in like situation who have invested in various courses, but done little to nothing because they cant afford to.

7) Be selective. Ensure your group has a skill or resource to share to help each others projects move forward. There is no point in having a group of only listeners and talkers, and no walkers
Typically and at a minimum, your group should include, but not restricted to:

a) Those who have paid for courses and willing to share that information
b) Person/s with a legal or compliance background of who is proficient at arranging access to expertise.
c) Person/s with financial expertise, access to short term 2nd tier finance
d) Person/s with real estate expertise, access to the distressed report and

There is no magic wand with wealth creation. No matter if you have money or not a lot, you have to get off your butt and make stuff happen.

If anyone is interested in joining mine or wants to help to set up their own support syndicate and looking for a template - msge me.

Cheers, Rosina

 

Investors In Focus - Ian Ugarte And Christine Manning - Australian Property Investor

 

So Ian aims own a million units .
That's going be a busy big business!

 

I went to Ian's intro seminar last weekend . I was looking for innovative options for my properties and for my clients' properties . The first hour or two was semi-interesting with a few "emotional" touches that seemed quite overdone . During the first break i approached Ian ( as did a few others) to ask a few basic questions... I was surprised by his abrupt manner and lack of empathy. I would never react or use this languaging with any of my clients . That was all i needed to walk out for the day . I will celebrate the day when i come across a genuine property advisor/ mentor that can adequately educate the average Joe without gauging them with $5K + seminars that rarely produce any reasonable results .

Careful out there ...