REAL ESTATE INVESTING: The Guru & The Teacher

The GURU
According to Merriam-Webster a Guru; (Hindi-Sanskrit) is"...one who is an acknowledged leader...intellectual guide in matters of fundamental concern.." Such a person is an "acknowledged leader" and such a person can guide you intellectually in matters of "fundamental concern."
Recently I have been discussing the gurus of the Real Estate Investment industry - the so called acknowledged leaders of the business. These are the people who will invite you by email or regular mail to attend local seminars they sponsor, explicitly to "reveal secrets" they have discovered - "secrets" they have been given exclusively by some mysterious individual, that they now have a burning desire to share with you. Once you are in possession of these "secrets", you will become wealthy - retire in style - travel the world - visit exotic places, etc., etc. The
"secret" always revolve around some aspect of real estate investing - and each guru has his or her own niche. They will invite you to webinars where another guru - guest - speaker will "discuss" portions of their "secret" with you, after which you are encouraged to purchase his package of "secrets." This is after you have more than likely paid for your guru's package of "secrets", paid for his 3 , 4-day or weeklong Bootcamp, and anything from 1 month to 12 months of followup mentoring to ensure you got all aspects the "secrets" right. After spending thousands upon thousands of hard-earned, and in these days scarce dollars, chasing the "secret"dream of becoming real estate millionaires many people come to the realization that the only ones getting wealthy in real estate are the gurus hawking their "secrets" to the unsuspecting. Very few benefit from the "secrets" of the gurus - many are disillusioned by the experience of chasing illusive "secrets" - yet, all is not lost!

The TEACHER
Returning to the wisdom of Merriam-Webster, we learn that the Teacher is "...one whose occupation is to instruct..." To instruct, again according to Merriam-Webster is "...to give knowledge." This then, is what Teachers do - they impart knowledge, they do not harangue,or do they cajole - hyperbole is not a part of their art. The Teacher will teach according to a structured plan that will bring the student along to achieve certain educational goals. Upon attainment of these goals, the student will be in a position to benefit financially from the knowledge they acquired from the Teacher's course of instructions.
For those seriously interested in Real Estate Investments forget the gurus and think about teachers - in future blogs I will discuss opportunities for the serious real estate investor to acquire the knowledge they will need to be successful in their endeavour.