tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433321465681915004.post8065394917194414000..comments2023-06-19T01:59:17.401-06:00Comments on The Official Franklin Squires and Rick Koerber Federal Lawsuit Blog: Another Blog Community- Fascinating- Posted by Robert PaisolaRobertPaisola.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09341314931135343411noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433321465681915004.post-76998750271857541912008-03-02T01:46:00.000-07:002008-03-02T01:46:00.000-07:00I would like to give some perspective (long) to th...I would like to give some perspective (long) to this mess from someone who went to my first FS seminar in 2005. Early in 2006 I bought the complete 4 course package of classes for about $7,300.<BR/>I spoke with several individuals who knew Rick Koerber and Gabe personally. One of whom I worked with and I was very impressed when he left our company, bought a million dollar home and was driving around a nice Beemer. All of these things persuaded me to buy the classes.<BR/>I put in hours and hours and hours of work with the classes, never seeing anything come from it. I spent time with some other students who submitted homes they found through real estate research to Franklin Squires for their Equity Mill. The research took hours to complete and very few of the homes were accepted, or used for the Equity Mill.<BR/>Finally after seeing some first hand work of those who were "successfull" I took a long hard evaluation about the process.<BR/>You couldn't have learned the process without taking the classes, and you couldn't have seen how it was used by those making money off of it if you didn't work with them.<BR/>The individual I worked with is an honest man, he didn't defraud me or any one else in his work. From my own knowledge of what is legal, I did not see anything illegal. I did see a web of contracts, forms, buyers, sellers, resellers. The man I worked with took the money he made and reinvested in other profit making ventures, not just real estate. He did not solicit investors, and he did not promise anyone anything without explaining how it worked and what the risks were.<BR/>The rest of my experience is directly with FS, not the person I worked with who used their system.<BR/>As I worked on the "lessons" and did my market research, and watched others toil at doing the same without any of us seeing anything come from it, I began to reevaluate FS. I had 5 different advisors in the 9 months I was taking the classes. The four I had before I stopped, quit the company. I would see them or talk to them or get an email from them when they left, so it wasn't like they moved up or got rich using the FS methods. They left.<BR/>Prior to the FS course I knew nothing about real estate or the government laws and regulations surrounding real estate transactions. I began to learn very quickly that some of the people associated with Franklin Squires directly or indirectly were doing unethical things. They would always justify it by saying that were not doing anything "illegal." Then the day came I was asked to do something I was not comfortable with. It wasn't illegal, as a matter of fact what I was asked to do was stipulated in the addendum of the real estate contract we had. However, I was sick to my stomach about it. I was lead to enter a contract, when things didn't work out the way we wanted them to, I was simply told to cancel it according to the stipulation in the addendum.<BR/>I felt very bad for the realtor who had worked very hard with me on the home we had contracted on. I had made some verbal representations under someone elses direction that implied just days before everything was good to go. Anyway, I had no choice because I didn't have the money to buy the house. At that point I was done with FS.<BR/>I looked at the whole system and realized, even if there wasn't anything illegal going on, it definitely was not ethical. The whole convoluted mess of contracts and buyers and investors is pretty complex, so I couldn't explain it, but I had a gut feeling that the whole thing was a house of cards.<BR/>At that point (August 2006) I sent a letter to the company. I wanted them to keep what I would have paid for the first course, which I was a little more than half way through with, and refund the rest of my money from the classes. I explained after seeing how the classes were done and the students treated, and seeing that their focus was on how much money they could get for how little of effort, rather than producing a quality educational experience, I no longer had any desire to pursue the other courses. Being that I had not taken those classes or recieved any of the "proprietary information" that accompanied them, I did not see how this refund request could be a problem.<BR/>To get the refund the letter had to be addressed to Rick and sent Certified Mail. I didn't hear anything for three months, though I called at least once a week. Finally, after not hearing anything, I looked up Rick's home information on Dex and called his house (you couldn't find his information their even one day later thanks to me!). His wife answered and I asked for him. She said he wasn't home but asked what it was for. I told her I had sent a letter to him by certified mail that he had failed to respond to for three months. Every time I called his office he was unavailable, so I thought he might be more available if I called his house. Of course she was irritated with me and asked me not to call his home for things dealing with business ever again. I apologized for taking her time. The next day I got a call from his assistant telling me the refund was being issued and sent in the mail that day. She then asked how I got his home phone number, and I told her.<BR/><BR/>After seeing first hand that FS was not producing anything, they were just using an elaborate scheme to get equity out of houses. After being exposed to their poor ethics. And judging from their lack of dedication to their clients, my moral compass told me to GET OUT and I did. It was wrong to push the envelope the way FS did and anyone who took the time to do a little reading about real estate outside of the FS lessons could have seen how they were abusing the system. I am glad I followed my better judgement, and I feel bad for others who lost so much. If you want to learn how to earn 5% on your money take ten years to learn how to do day trading and options trading. In those markets they tell you you can loose everything, even if you can pull a Soros move. I don't thing the FS team was maliciously lying, I just think they were overconfidant in the market and not nearly savvy about market fluctuations as they believed them selves to be. They would talk about how "real estate never looses value" and that is why even if they couldn't continue operations they would be able to at least refund all their investors the full value of their starting capital. Really? What is going on now then! Rick Koerber isn't a lying crook, he is just an arrogant fool that thought he came up with some newfound way of raising capital, but couldn't see how the whole thing could implode on itself. Though their are undoubtedly many who were dishonest in this, I believe Rick and Gabe started out with good intentions and thought they were doing something good, or found a good system for flipping houses and building capital. They just weren't as smart as that thought they were. Some people change when they get money too, and I don't know them personally, but they may have gotten so much of it that they believed the money in and of itself was proof they were doing something good. The money also may have become the end goal. The love of money is the root of all evil. If money is your only priority you are very susceptible to evil influences. Perhaps the money became their ultimate goal, rather than producing. If that is the case the greed may have lead to doing illegal things later on. I just know what I learned in the classes did not smack of illegal methods. It was the unethical practice of those methods that sent me packing. Well, that and the fact that I didn't recieve what I paid for in those classes. The classes and the support system were amateur and unprofessional. It was the work of someone who wanted to get as much money as possible for as little work as possible, rather than someone who valued there client and sought to fulfill the obligations of the contract to there utmost. Not enough talk of an honest days work for an honest days pay anymore. It is all about how much you can get how fast, regardless of how it is done.KimSThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16440136593324709669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433321465681915004.post-37139159179126415342008-03-02T00:26:00.000-07:002008-03-02T00:26:00.000-07:00I would like to give some perspective (long) to th...I would like to give some perspective (long) to this mess from someone who went to my first FS seminar in 2005. Early in 2006 I bought the complete 4 course package of classes for about $7,300.<BR/>I spoke with several individuals who knew Rick Koerber and Gabe personally. One of whom I worked with and I was very impressed when he left our company, bought a million dollar home and was driving around a nice Beemer. All of these things persuaded me to buy the classes.<BR/>I put in hours and hours and hours of work with the classes, never seeing anything come from it. I spent time with some other students who submitted homes they found through real estate research to Franklin Squires for their Equity Mill. The research took hours to complete and very few of the homes were accepted, or used for the Equity Mill.<BR/>Finally after seeing some first hand work of those who were "successfull" I took a long hard evaluation about the process.<BR/>You couldn't have learned the process without taking the classes, and you couldn't have seen how it was used by those making money off of it if you didn't work with them.<BR/>The individual I worked with is an honest man, he didn't defraud me or any one else in his work. From my own knowledge of what is legal, I did not see anything illegal. I did see a web of contracts, forms, buyers, sellers, resellers. The man I worked with took the money he made and reinvested in other profit making ventures, not just real estate. He did not solicit investors, and he did not promise anyone anything without explaining how it worked and what the risks were.<BR/>The rest of my experience is directly with FS, not the person I worked with who used their system.<BR/>As I worked on the "lessons" and did my market research, and watched others toil at doing the same without any of us seeing anything come from it, I began to reevaluate FS. I had 5 different advisors in the 9 months I was taking the classes. The four I had before I stopped, quit the company. I would see them or talk to them or get an email from them when they left, so it wasn't like they moved up or got rich using the FS methods. They left.<BR/>Prior to the FS course I knew nothing about real estate or the government laws and regulations surrounding real estate transactions. I began to learn very quickly that some of the people associated with Franklin Squires directly or indirectly were doing unethical things. They would always justify it by saying that were not doing anything "illegal." Then the day came I was asked to do something I was not comfortable with. It wasn't illegal, as a matter of fact what I was asked to do was stipulated in the addendum of the real estate contract we had. However, I was sick to my stomach about it. I was lead to enter a contract, when things didn't work out the way we wanted them to, I was simply told to cancel it according to the stipulation in the addendum.<BR/>I felt very bad for the realtor who had worked very hard with me on the home we had contracted on. I had made some verbal representations under someone elses direction that implied just days before everything was good to go. Anyway, I had no choice because I didn't have the money to buy the house. At that point I was done with FS.<BR/>I looked at the whole system and realized, even if there wasn't anything illegal going on, it definitely was not ethical. The whole convoluted mess of contracts and buyers and investors is pretty complex, so I couldn't explain it, but I had a gut feeling that the whole thing was a house of cards.<BR/>At that point (August 2006) I sent a letter to the company. I wanted them to keep what I would have paid for the first course, which I was a little more than half way through with, and refund the rest of my money from the classes. I explained after seeing how the classes were done and the students treated, and seeing that their focus was on how much money they could get for how little of effort, rather than producing a quality educational experience, I no longer had any desire to pursue the other courses. Being that I had not taken those classes or recieved any of the "proprietary information" that accompanied them, I did not see how this refund request could be a problem.<BR/>To get the refund the letter had to be addressed to Rick and sent Certified Mail. I didn't hear anything for three months, though I called at least once a week. Finally, after not hearing anything, I looked up Rick's home information on Dex and called his house (you couldn't find his information their even one day later thanks to me!). His wife answered and I asked for him. She said he wasn't home but asked what it was for. I told her I had sent a letter to him by certified mail that he had failed to respond to for three months. Every time I called his office he was unavailable, so I thought he might be more available if I called his house. Of course she was irritated with me and asked me not to call his home for things dealing with business ever again. I apologized for taking her time. The next day I got a call from his assistant telling me the refund was being issued and sent in the mail that day. She then asked how I got his home phone number, and I told her.<BR/><BR/>After seeing first hand that FS was not producing anything, they were just using an elaborate scheme to get equity out of houses. After being exposed to their poor ethics. And judging from their lack of dedication to their clients, my moral compass told me to GET OUT and I did. It was wrong to push the envelope the way FS did and anyone who took the time to do a little reading about real estate outside of the FS lessons could have seen how they were abusing the system. I am glad I followed my better judgement, and I feel bad for others who lost so much. If you want to learn how to earn 5% on your money take ten years to learn how to do day trading and options trading. In those markets they tell you you can loose everything, even if you can pull a Soros move. I don't thing the FS team was maliciously lying, I just think they were overconfidant in the market and not nearly savvy about market fluctuations as they believed them selves to be. They would talk about how "real estate never looses value" and that is why even if they couldn't continue operations they would be able to at least refund all their investors the full value of their starting capital. Really? What is going on now then! Rick Koerber isn't a lying crook, he is just an arrogant fool that thought he came up with some newfound way of raising capital, but couldn't see how the whole thing could implode on itself. Though their are undoubtedly many who were dishonest in this, I believe Rick and Gabe started out with good intentions and thought they were doing something good, or found a good system for flipping houses and building capital. They just weren't as smart as that thought they were. Some people change when they get money too, and I don't know them personally, but they may have gotten so much of it that they believed the money in and of itself was proof they were doing something good. The money also may have become the end goal. The love of money is the root of all evil. If money is your only priority you are very susceptible to evil influences. Perhaps the money became their ultimate goal, rather than producing. If that is the case the greed may have lead to doing illegal things later on. I just know what I learned in the classes did not smack of illegal methods. It was the unethical practice of those methods and hypocritical performance (what has FS produced and the classes I paid a premium for were amateur in their presentation and follow up at best) that sent me packing.KimSThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16440136593324709669noreply@blogger.com