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the seminar is about using options in property developing. It depends on the market sector you're looking for but Mark's model is to basically have 'student's out there trying to find him land and to do the negotiating, then if you're ina JV with his company you get 15% of whatever he manages to sell the option for to a developer, either with a DA or without. The course itself is good, information is good, and you can use it all to your advantage. That said, I did his homestudy course and my observations after a year of doing it are:1 – options are NOT easy, they require a lot of work and aren't anywhere near as easy as he makes them out to be. He's had something like 80-85% of students do nothing with the course as it turns out to be LOTS harder than he initially made it out to be.2 – his model of having students do all the work is good for him, however some development groups pay people $100K plus to do this very job. I leave that to you to form your own judgements on.3 – His model of not paying big option fees and using a DA as a deposit only works on people who don't know what they're sitting on, and in the current marketplace, land owners are a lot smarter, and thus his model lacks flexibility as they won't pay big options fees.4 – some of his staff who 'mentor' students and provide 'support' personally I think need a LOT more training in dealing with people. I would hesitate to say the levels of support provided are adequate given the money you pay up front, and the sums of money potentially involved with some of the deals. 5 – I think 15% is WAY too little an amount to receive given the amount of time you have to put into it to get it to a saleable option phase. It used to be 35% and that's a little more realistic.If you're into development, there are a few other groups out there in Qld who do courses. Might I suggest searching on Bob Anderson and his group to start with. Marks course is good but I think for $5K you could get a lot more elsewhere. And as for the group down in Sydney asking $440 a month in fees plus their course etc…lol well when was the last time an employer asked you to pay them to go out and find them more money.. good luck with your decision.I have made a lot of contacts in the industry now through my own perseverance, and may I suggest perhaps you should call the acquisitions people in the larger development groups, and agencies who sell development sites like CBRE, Colliers etc and see what they think of options and Mark/Massland.
If he ever decides to do one in Queensland let us know.
I can tell you developers will rarely if ever agree to standard or short settlement dates due to the very lengthy times that council take in getting DA/BA approved. A developer won't part with much money until they know for a fact that council is going to let them do what they want to do with the land. They'll use an option document to ensure you don't sell it out from under them after they've started investing oney in a DA, which is fair enough too.
You can try and 'screw' the developer all you like but a lot of the admin and regulatory requirements are out of their hands so if you want to get a decent deal out of a developer making an approach, keep it realistic otherwise, speaking from experience, you'll lose your opportunity as they'll move on just as fast as they've approached you. Developers will pay you a premium IF its worth it, and as someone pointed out, IF the numbers stack up. That said, yours probably isn't the only property they're chasing, so if you 'screw' around too much, you'll end up with a lemon just as quickly as it could have been a gold nugget. Do your research, be realistic, keep it equitable, and work for a win/win. If you don't want their money you can rest assured someone else does.
