Paul Strauss

[WCRTdotORG]

Hi,
I'm Paul Strauss, real estate investor, incurable serial entrepreneur. I'm here to see what's up. Seems like an awful lot of folks here have a "get a good job and save up for retirement" type plan. I'll see if I can't change a few hearts and minds on that. FWIW, haven't had a "real job" since 2002. Left the financial services industry to build my real estate investment firm. The way I feel about a job is that I've been there, done that, ain't going back.

[wabmester]

I already know about real estate, but I'd love to learn how to make money from suckers who want to get rich quick. Seriously, how's business? Can you give us some numbers?

[unclemick]

Yep

My old Denver buddy left his aerospace job in 1972 to go into RE in Denver(owns a big part of our 'non working gold mine joint venture) - and now is a modest 30 plus year overnight success in Littleton, CO.

In his 70's - er ah - still working or semi-retired - using his terms.

[maddythebeagle]

yes, I would be curious to know how to make money without doing any work since I think that most people on this board are suckers*

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WCRTdotORG Hi, I'm Paul Strauss, real estate investor, incurable serial entrepreneur.* I'm here to see what's up.* Seems like an awful lot of folks here have a "get a good job and save up for retirement"* type plan.* I'll see if I can't change a few hearts and minds on that.* FWIW, haven't had a "real job" since 2002.* Left the financial services industry to build my real estate investment firm.* The way I feel about a job is that I've been there, done that, ain't going back.

Paul,

Welcome to the board. I think.

The board's collective reaction to your inaugural post is pretty much "Well, here we go again." We've been deluged by posters flogging a blog, driving up their website's traffic, or spamming their products. That's not appropriate.

The irony to your comments is that quite a few of us have never had a "real job", including several RE entrepreneurs, and we don't care to work again. Former posters who have started in a manner similar to yours have been quickly subjected to a Darwinian gauntlet that I fear has already begun.

If you're really "here to see what's up" then read a few dozen posts and get a feel for the board. If you want to learn more about ER or if you've learned a few things yourself then we look forward to sharing. But if you're trying to bring hearts & minds over to your REI side then I think you'll be happier over at Kiyosaki's forum. Post here or PM me if you have questions.

[justin]

Welcome aboard. Realize that if you start pitching your blog/website/newsletter/books, this will immediately seem like you're a spammer. From your post, it looks like you're an investor, which is great.

[Lazarus]

Having a "Real Estate Investment Firm", sounds like a job to me.

[Telly]

Some of you guys are WAY too trusting, or not catching it. Look at the user name, it's obvious.

Here's a snip:

* "Adding to the already nutty demand for August 4th meeting is the Bring a Friend Challenge where you are encouraged to bring new people to the WCRT.* For everyone that joins, you will a two month extension of your own membership up to six people—so, you could get a year free.* Several people are all over this opportunity already.* If you’re just getting started—begin by forwarding this web site to a friend."* * *

I've just lit the fire under the tar bucket... can one of you provide the feathers?

[maddythebeagle]

YEP, I THINK FEATHERS WOULD BE TO GOOD, HOW ABOUT A TRUCK LOAD OF EXCREMENT.

[MooreBonds]

A word of warning about Paul:

He posts (or, at least, used to, as I haven't been there in a while) to the MSN Your Money "General" forum (http://moneycentral.msn.com/communit...oard=YourMoney)

He hawks his group WCRT every now and then. While he seems to have a few good ideas and points, the following example really makes me shudder when I think of being involved with him:

Somewhere on his webpage, he had a link to a section on a social group of people that he started up. The group goes to a new restaurant every month or so, tries out the food, rates it, and has a good time. Sounds like a great, fun, group, right?

Well, I'm sure it is...only, in another post that I will never forget, he talks about creative ways to save money. Guess what one of those ways is?

"Get a big group of people together to go to a restaurant, and bargain on the price of the meals - for instance, restaurants traditionally are slower during the week. If you have a group of 15-25 people, it could amount to a significant share of the restaurant's total daily revenue. You can even get your meal free if you have enough people."

Now, in the interest of being fair, perhaps Paul does get his free meal when he goes out in this group of restaurant diners and divides up the value of the free meal so everyone can share the savings....but, given that I never saw any mention of that on the food group's webpage, I'm willing to bet that Paul conveniently pocketed the free meal while everyone else was having a great time, never the wiser.

Again....I'm not saying that I'm perfect, but I just get an 'odd' feeling whenever I read some of Paul's/WCRT's posts. One second, it sounds great and logical and like a plan...but then, it suddenly sounds eerie (if any of you have read the Dark Tower series by Steven King, he reminds me of Charlie the Choo Choo - he seems great and lovable, but to some people, it looks like the kids in the cars he's pulling are screaming in terror, not screaming in fun).

[MJ]

I wouldn't mind getting together with him and a group of people. But since it will most likely be far from where I live, he'll have to provide me with free transportation to get there.

[wildcat]

Quote:

Some of you guys are WAY too trusting, or not catching it. Look at the user name, it's obvious.

Oh I smelled it before he/she/it posted

[HFWR]

C'mon, drink the Kool-Aid... :