Beware before engaging marco kozlowski . Do you research. Check his history .
Marco is well known as one of the world’s leading experts in Real Estate Investing, Platform Speaking and Systems Process Engineering. He is currently an owner in a wide variety of successful companies in multiple countries. From holistic medical centers to a robust property portfolio to advanced one on one mentoring – Marco’s methodologies have proven results. His Passion? Help others achieve financial independence.
Branson motel faces closure as guests are relocated
An extended stay motel in Branson is facing closure as its long-term guests are being relocated to other properties.
The
city issued the 76 Inn owners a closure notice, effective April 18,
after White River Valley Electric Cooperative on Monday shut off power
to the 2330 W. 76 Country Blvd. property. City and community partners
worked with White River Valley Electric to temporarily turn the power
back on as plans to move out the tenants were put in place, according to
information provided by Branson spokeswoman Melody Pettit.
The
deal is complicated, starting with the ownership of the motel, which
Pettit described as “in flux.” She provided March 21 written
documentation from the former owner, Arvid Hvidsten, who said he sold 76
Inn to Marco Kozlowski in December. Pettit said the city has been in
contact with the new owner via email, but the property does not
currently have an active business license.
The potential closure
is due to noncompliance with city ordinances and health codes. Online
reviews of 76 Inn point to problems with insects and drug use.
“The
city is currently trying to work with the owners to get the motel in
good standing,” Pettit said in an email. “If the owners fix all items on
the list of things they have to fix — including health code issues,
city issues, etc. — then the motel will not close by the target date.”
When the motel’s power was shut off Monday, 50 rooms were occupied, some with children and older residents.
Jesus Was Homeless, the Salvation Army and city and county officials are among those helping transition the guests from 76 Inn.
Bedbugs, anonymous owners and a fresh coat of paint: What's next for Branson's 76 Inn?
Jackie Rehwald
JREHWALD@NEWS-LEADER.COM
Published 10:39 PM EDT Apr 27, 2018
With the clock ticking and a long list of code violations
to correct, 76 Inn manager Daisy McDaniel moved quickly around the
extended-stay hotel on the Branson strip, slapping fresh paint on rails
and walls.
Donald Mobely, who has lived at the 76 Inn since February, said he's seen McDaniel toiling until 9:30 p.m. sometimes.
"These guys are working," Mobely said, motioning to
McDaniel and a man who was helping her when the News-Leader visited last
week. "They're painting, cleaning, replacing beds and furniture."
Paul and Kat Bowen carry their
belongings to a car at the 76 Inn in Branson on Wednesday, April 18,
2018.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
McDaniel declined to speak to a reporter. But according
to city officials, it's going to take more than a coat of paint and new
mattresses to keep the 76 Inn's doors open.
In a recent health department inspection, several rooms
at the 76 Inn had bedbugs, roaches, nonworking or missing smoke
detectors, unsanitary conditions, holes in the floors and bathroom
vanities, broken or missing lamps, exposed plumbing and wiring, and
broken refrigerators — to name a few of the problems found.
Through a records request, the health department provided to the News-Leader a list of violations three pages long.
City officials have said there are also multiple fire and
building code violations. Since McDaniel declined to comment, it is
unclear what other repairs are in progress or have been made at the 76
Inn.
Citing an ordinance that went into effect in January,
Branson city officials have said they will not renew the 76 Inn's
business license until it passes health, building and fire code
inspections.
The city had planned to close the 76 Inn on April 18 but
gave the owners an extension until April 30 to get the facility up to
code.
Mobely, who uses a wheelchair and appreciates having a room on the ground floor, said he hopes the 76 Inn doesn't close. More: 76 Inn investors bragged that motel is a 'cash cow' that 'farts out dollar bills' More: Some hope closing of extended-stay motel in Branson will give them fresh start More: Airbnb says Branson hosts made $2 million last year
"I want to stay here," he said. "It's good people in a good location."
Like many extended stays in Branson, the 76 Inn is
located on the Missouri 76 strip. Many of its residents do not have
transportation and depend on the central location to be able to walk to
work.
There were about 50 people living at the 76 Inn last
month when the power was briefly cut off due to unpaid bills and other
"unmet requirements." At the time, a spokesperson for White River Valley
Electric Cooperative said the power company had been struggling to
reach the new owners.
A few days later, a man named Marco Kozlowski paid the
electric bill. Kozlowski, who declined to be interviewed over the phone
or in person, said in an email he is a "minority investor" in the 76
Inn.
"The second I found out about the issue, (I) paid the
bill and am working with the city to deal with any outstanding issues,"
he said in the email.
Although electricity has been restored, many of the residents have since moved.
Paul Bowen gathers his
belongings out of his room at the 76 Inn in Branson on Wednesday, April
18, 2018. Bowen said he was going to move in with his father.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
Paul and Kat Bowen, who called Room 200 home for nearly two years, were loading their belongings into a car last Wednesday.
They were planning to live with Paul's father on the outskirts of Branson for a while.
Both said they enjoyed life at the 76 Inn.
"We had Walmart right there, a 24-hour store. We had
Denny's to go eat breakfast," Paul Bowen said. "It was all in walking
distance."
Kat Bowen said she was sad to leave.
"It's been wonderful," she said. "Comfortable beds, nice people, perfect."
Paul Bowen moves out of the 76
Inn in Branson on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Bowen said he and his wife
were going to move in with his father.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
'I don't think people are going to be displaced'
In Branson — where some extended-stay motels appear to
change ownership often and new owners can conceal their identities by
using LLCs (limited liability companies) — the new ordinance is intended
to hold owners responsible for properly maintaining the facilities.
Now when a property switches hands, the new owners must
apply for a business license from the city. But the city will not
grant the license until the facility passes health, building and fire
department inspections.
The 76 Inn isn't the only extended-stay motel facing city
scrutiny. Another extended-stay, the Maples Inn (sometimes called Motel
9), was also recently issued a closure notice by the city.
The Maples Inn is on Gretna Road next to Jesus Was
Homeless, a nonprofit Christian organization that helps people living in
Branson's extended stays.
Jesus Was Homeless spokesperson Ashley Harkness said
residents have left the Maples Inn and it is now closed. She
estimated there were about 50 people living there when it was full last
year.
Jamie Rouch, finance director with the city of Branson,
said the Victorian Palace at 600 Schaefer Drive and the Travel Inn at
505 Gretna Road will be served closure notices this week. Rouch said the
city is working to determine who owns the Travel Inn.
Harkness, who has been with Jesus Was Homeless for six
years, said she doesn't worry at all that folks will wind up on the
streets because of the new ordinance.
"I personally am very grateful," Harkness said of the
ordinance. "I don't think people are going to be displaced. I think
there are enough rooms in Branson that they will find a place to live.
"We can help them with that process. Salvation Army helps
with that process. But at least it will put some sub-par housing out,
because that is not safe. It's not healthy. Mentally and emotionally,
it's terrible."
Difficult to identify owners
According to the Taney County Assessor's Office, the 76
Inn is owned by George & Jr LLC. Connecting the property to specific
human beings is more difficult.
LLCs allow people to replace their names with a corporate name, concealing their identities and other information about them.
Kozlowski, the man who paid the electric bill, is named as the managing member of George and Jr LLC.
Kozlowski told the News-Leader he is a "minority
investor" in the 76 Inn, and it is primarily owned by his real estate
investment students.
Mayor Karen Best said the city has been working to find out who legally owns the property.
"We've talked with many different folks who have claimed to be the owners," she said last week.
In a video Kozlowski shared on Facebook about six months
ago, he and someone named Mark Chornohus drive slowly around the 76 Inn,
bragging that the extended stay was a "cash cow" that "keeps farting
out dollar bills." More: 76 Inn investors bragged that motel is a 'cash cow' that 'farts out dollar bills'
In the video, Kozlowski continually congratulates
Chornohus for investing in the 76 Inn and encourages others to get in on
the deal.
Down the street, another 'deal' gone south
The Palms Inn, across the street from White Water, closed last month.
Kozlowski told the News-Leader that the Palms Inn is owned by his students.
However, according to Taney County Assessor's records,
the Palms Inn is owned by Branson Hospitality Capital LLC. And according
to the purchase agreement for the LLC that owns the 76 Inn, Kozlowski
is part of the Branson Hospitality Capital LLC.
A man named Arvid Hvidsten sold the George and Jr LLC,
which owns the 76 Inn, to "Marco Kozlowski of Branson Hospitality
Capital, LLC," the purchase agreement says. More: 7 reasons property buyers use LLCs, from legit to not
Christopher Courtney.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
Christopher Courtney, a real estate investor in Colorado,
said he sold the Palms Inn to Kozlowski last summer. According to
Courtney, Kozlowski and his associates promised to pay $150,000 down
but had only $50,000 at closing.
Courtney said he was promised the rest of the down payment would be made within 45 days.
According to Courtney, Kozlowski only made two payments to Courtney, who is the mortgage holder.
When Courtney reached out to Kozlowski about the $100,000 and the delinquent payments, Courtney said it didn't go well.
The Palms in Branson.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
"They told me to go screw myself," Courtney said.
Courtney said he had contractors in Branson go check on
things at The Palms. They found the now-closed motel stripped — the
furniture, refrigerators, microwaves, hot water heaters and bathtubs
have been removed, Courtney said.
Courtney was in Branson this week to foreclose on
Kozlowski and his group. Courtney said it will cost about $380,000 to
get the Palms Inn operational again.
"Last summer I had it up and running at about 90 percent
occupancy," he said, frustrated. "Not only did the people who gave him
money to put down on the Palms lose their money, but now he is
jeopardizing me and my family. It's like the pebble in the pond. The
ripples go far."
Selling Branson to a worldwide audience
As many 76 Inn residents were working to find a new place
to live these past few weeks, Kozlowski was busy hosting real estate
seminars in Canada and Australia.
In a promotional video for the seminars, Kozlowski says
he will explain how to buy U.S. properties "from pretty much anywhere
in the world."
Tickets to the seminars cost at least $7,000, according to the advertisement from the Canadian seminar.
"I want you to learn how to make massive cash flows, have
a lot of fun doing it and best of all, use other people’s money," he
says in the promotional video.
According to MarcoKozlowski.com, Kozlowski is "well known as one of the world’s leading experts in real estate investing."
Multiple news stories in the U.S., Canadian and British media paint another picture.
For example, a 2016 article in the Montreal Gazette
described how Kozlowski "sells the promise of how to buy U.S. real
estate on the cheap," but former students accused him of using false
testimonials in marketing videos and said Kozlowski's program does not
provide the promised financial windfall.
Donald Mobely makes his way back
into his room at the 76 Inn in Branson on Wednesday, April 18, 2018.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
One former student told the Gazette that students are
encouraged to invest up to $100,000 in Kozlowski's program with the
promise of receiving funding to complete real estate deals in the U.S.
In 2016, the British news outlet The Mirror called
Kozlowski a "get rich quick merchant who is trying to flog American
homes to the British."
The Canadian Broadcast Corporation in 2015 reported that
"some investors who paid tens of thousands of dollars for Kozlowski's
real estate mentoring program say he failed to deliver on a promise to
finance 100 percent of their investments in U.S. property.
Ron Usher is a Vancouver attorney who became interested
is Kozlowski back in 2010 and has attended Kozlowski's seminars. But
Usher said he didn't care about U.S. real estate.
"I saw these ads in our paper, and they just seemed wacky to me," Usher said. "I went and was just boggled by the presentation." More: Residents at 76 Inn in Branson move out More: 76 Inn investors bragged that motel is a 'cash cow' that 'farts out dollar bills'
Back when Usher attended Kozlowski's seminars, they were
free events held at hotels. On the third day of the seminars, students
were pressured to invest tens of thousands of dollars in Kozlowski's
program.
He said attendees were told to shut off their phones, not exchange contact information and not ask questions.
"These people know how to hijack the human mind — how they get people in these rooms to suspend disbelief," Usher continued.
Usher, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University's
Vancouver campus, said he once brought students to a seminar to educate
them about real estate seminar scams, something Usher said is becoming
more common.
Usher said he wasn't necessarily surprised when he saw a
News-Leader article about Kozlowski and his students purchasing
properties in the Ozarks.
"What the heck does he know about Branson, Missouri? But
he's done this all over the country," Usher said. "They are looking for
places that, to outside people, seem really cheap. ... He says he has
this magic talent for finding deals."
"His big thing for a long time was luxury homes," Usher
continued. "He keeps changing, tuning the pitch. It's evolved over and
over again through the years, but it's all hustle."
'Fixing what's broken'
Kozlowski declined News-Leader requests for a phone or in-person interview but did respond by email.
"I won’t do a face to face Interview. But I’ll gladly do a
Skype one while I broadcast it live as a failsafe. I know your job is
to sensationalize and vilify to help you get a meaty story full of
drama," he said in the email, "even when mistakes are made that are not
intentional.
"When I’m done fixing what’s broken. And making sure it doesn’t happen again, I’ll be happy to get the interview under way."
Through a Sunshine request, the News-Leader obtained
correspondence between Kozlowski, his associates and Branson city
officials. In those, the self-described real estate guru and his
collaborators pushed back against the city's intervention.
Kat Bowen sets her belongings
outside of her room at the 76 Inn in Branson on Wednesday, April 18,
2018. Bowen and her husband Paul Bowen are moving in with his father.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
In an email from Kozlowski's associate Suzanne Burgess to Branson City Attorney William Duston, Burgess wrote in part:
"We have been remedying all violations since we were made
aware of them. ... [T]he city's actions in March caused a severe
economic loss and downturn to the owners of the 76 Inn and with the
city's continuing refusal to cooperate and work proactively with me adds
further economic loss and creates greater economic and financial
damages to the owners.
"As a result of the closure notice in March 2018 ... the
occupancy at the 76 Inn decreased from about 96% to over 40% and it
displaced several residents of Branson in a horrific manner. The city is
conducting itself against its own code and the closure of the hotel
will displace further Branson residents and potentially cause the owners
to seek bankruptcy. As you can imagine the damages bill to the city is
going to [be] substantial. It is disappointing that your city officials
have no regard for the tax payers as this is a complete waste of tax
payer dollars."
Marco kozlowski is a pathological liar and a scam artist.
I live in Orlando and Marco Kowlowski has been one of those road clowns
going around the country claiming to be a guru that does deal. He first
started scamming people about flipping luxury homes for $100 option for
a $5000 course. I attended that many years ago and I was surprised that
the FTC had not shut him down. (Marco prove to us you have done
deals... He can't)
He has only done 1 deal and that was 7 years ago, yet he claims that he
does all these deals. He is a great salesman but he has the worse
customer service, never gives refunds. I have written a letter to the
FTC based on the new law guidelines and hoping this will finally shut him down.
Now he has got out the real estate business and calls himself a world
expert on delegation.. ANOTHER LIE AND SCAM. He just start doing this
product 3 months ago because the real estate stuff people caught on that
it was BS.
I would like to file a class action lawsuit against him so please reply to this post with an email address and our office will contact you.
Marco is a nice guy but I cannot in good faith let this scam artist
continue to operate. I recently attended a Bill Walsh Powerteam
international event and saw his pitch his stuff there. Turns out Bill
Walsh who I once had respect for is nothing more than an enabler scam artist himself.
If if u have been scammed by his product, just call your credit card company and file a chargeback based on fraud. The bank has to give you the money back
Orlando, FLorida
Marco kozlowski is a pathological liar and a scam artist. I live in
Orlando and Marco Kowlowski has been one of those road clowns going
around the country claiming to be a guru that does deal. He first
started scamming people about flipping luxury homes for $100 option for a
$5000 course. I attended that many years ago and I was surprised that
the FTC had not shut him down. (Marco prove to us you have done deals...
He can't)
He has only done 1 deal and that was 7 years ago, yet he claims that he
does all these deals. He is a great salesman but he has the worse
customer service, never gives refunds. I have written a letter to the
FTC based on the new law guidelines and hoping this will finally shut him down.
Now he has got out the real estate business and calls himself a world
expert on delegation.. ANOTHER LIE AND SCAM. He just start doing this
product 3 months ago because the real estate stuff people caught on that
it was BS.
I would like to file a class action lawsuit against him so please reply to this post with an email address and our office will contact you.
Marco is a nice guy but I cannot in good faith let this scam artist
continue to operate. I recently attended a Bill Walsh Powerteam
international event and saw his pitch his stuff there. Turns out Bill
Walsh who I once had respect for is nothing more than an enabler scam artist himself.
If if u have been scammed by his product, just call your credit card company and file a chargeback based on fraud. The bank has to give you the money back
"In mid-2015, I decided to work with Marco Kozlowski after attending his
boot camp and joined his silver package, which cost me around to
$25,000. After joining, I had a hard time getting the mentoring that I
paid for from his coaches/mentors for long periods and when I would get
someone they would change frequently and would disappear. I tried to get
in touch with Marco but he did not respond.
In June 2016, I
again met up with Marco in Toronto during another one of his seminars
and expressed our displeasure and he came up with a sob story saying of
how he was targeted by the media and all his consultants and partners
all bailed on him and that he would keep to his promise and work with me
directly which never happened. Instead he put me in touch with another
of his coaches who too left as Marco owed him money.
I was
interested in investing Assisted Living facilities (ALFs), so I
approached Marco again that I were seeking an ALF expert to mentor me
and and he stated that he is an ALF expert and would help me out if I
could commit to paying him for 3 months in an email dated September 27,
2016. On October 4, 2016 Marco again contacted me repeating that if I
work with him, I would earn enough revenue to cover his fees. He also
stated that he has a private lender who can fund our deals and we have
to bring zero money down to the table. We later found out he has no idea
on how an ALF operates or has any idea on the licencing requirements
and due diligence that is required to acquire an existing ALF. He even
had no idea on how to structure contracts for purchasing an ALF which
caused me more monetary expenses when I used his so called accurate
contracts to acquire ALFs.
I paid Marco the 4 months of
mentoring but I did not receive any revenue from any of his mentoring
services. Part of his mentoring included me to come to his Success
Reflex classes at his home in Maitland, FL where it would be like a boot
camp and I would walk away with some great deals. I did attend his
Success Reflex twice hoping to make some revenue but nothing came
through from them and these trip costs me more money. I became
suspicious as it didn’t make sense why I was losing out on all my offers
after the price has been agreed on and the contract is being written
and sent to be reviewed by Mr Kozlowski when finally, it came to our
attention through an agent that he was going behind our backs and
acquiring the deals I had worked so hard on putting together after
investing more than 10 hours a day on researching, calling and
negotiating deals and to find out they were being stolen by the same
person who is supposed to assist me in acquiring them and secured them
for himself with other students whom were ready to partner with him and
receive 1/3rd of the profits is NOT fair.
Once this came to my
attention and I questioned his ethics, all of a sudden, I was banned
from all of his mentoring, forums, webcasts and Facebook groups. As of
now I know of 3 deals (with proof) that I was working on that he
acquired with other student. God only knows how many more he has stolen
from me and partnered with other students from his inner circle behind
my back.
I feel I have been targeted by Marco Kozlowski who used
me to acquire good investment deals for himself and his inner circle. I
also feel that that he committed fraud by promising me guaranteed deals
by making me pay for his consulting fees for his mentoring services and
providing me with false information that he is an expert in Assisted
Living Facility (ALF) business. Even his promises of getting deals with
zero down are all bogus.
Based on the all this I have found more
information on his Fraudulent behaviour and is targeting people from
Canada, UK and Australia. I would like to get this sum back and at the
same time make people cautious or avoid doing business with this person.
Here are some websites exposing his fraudulent behaviour
Marco Kozlowski Luxury Home Group - Fraud, Scam, Con, Beware ...
Marco Kozlowski arrogantly boasts to be a "World renowned platform
speaker. Business automation expert. Luxury real estate guru" Charging
upward of $5000 per person to attend his seminars. Arrogantly chanting
his mantra "We are in the helping people business" and "I always want to
leave people better than when I find them".
His proprietary
formula is a sham .... tried, tested and FAILED .. time and time again.
Simply google his name to see the plethora of complaints from
financially ruined and frustrated former clients and homeowners.
His
"incredible" formula for which he charges $5000 to teach basically
involves having the "student" contact every home owner listing on sites
such as Craigslist and FSBO, BuyOwner etc. He finds his prey by looking
for key words such as "must sell", "motivated to sell" "desperate" or
"assume my loan" etc. He informs his students to go to the very last
listings on Craigslist as these buyers are more "desperate".
He has them send out the first email "is your home still for sale?"
Second email "can I call you? When do you want to sell? Are you flexible on the price?"
He
then has them follow through with a call and the goal is simply to
determine if the seller will hand over the keys to their home (and their
furnishings, boats, cars, possessions ...or "goodies" as he likes to
call them) These goodies he will keep for himself or sell for more
personal profit.
He then writes up a contract for deed where he
promises to take over payments, pay off the mortgage after one year
(selling the home to his exclusive tenants that he has access to), he
will keep an escrow for the taxes, insurance etc. He will pay all bills
in a timely manner or .. as with my clause ... he will pay a $4000
penalty if he is in breach of the contract.
Skip to one year
later ... after a stressful year of having to chase Kozlowski
relentlessly after he "purchased" my home in a contract for deed
agreement (this was after he put his girlfriend's name on the contract
instead of his name, hoping I would not notice the change of buyer) for
missing payment after payment after payment. He stopped paying for the
pool and landscaping, he never complied with the HOA violations, he
constantly had the insurance canceled due to lack of payment, the home
now has a tax lien on it as he was unable to come up with $3K to pay
taxes, he has not paid any HOA fees (he cannot scrape together $700),
despite constant assurances that he was transferring ownership of the
property into his name, this never occurred. He put BANKRUPT tenants
into the property and then was unable to evict them as the property was
not in his name. I was never informed. Subsequently, I am now left with
the costs of legal proceedings against him, a house that is trashed and
needs complete rehab before it can be rented out or s old, a tax lien on
my property, HOA lien on my property and many more unforeseen
headaches.
In typical Kozlowski style, he refuses to answer his
phone or respond to emails. He hides behind an attorney (who
subsequently refuses to represent him) and his portfolio manager, David
Early, from At Will Events. Early states that there are half a dozen
properties in the same situation as mine.
In conclusion - this
real estate guru who scams people out of their money to teach them
investment strategies (and no, I am sure the SEC will verify he is not
licensed to do this), does not have a penny. He does not own any
properties .. he takes over properties, takes what he can from the
rental and then washes his hands of the problem homes .. leaving the
original homeowners sucker punched with financial ruin and stress. He
drives around in his Audi A8 and boasts about his riches and how much he
cares for others ... the truth is, he remains a penniless fraudster who
preys on others. He scammed a group of Australians and New Zealanders
out of $170K and claimed his company was closed down and therefore he
was unable to refund them. We encourage all to contact us with their
horror stories. Kozlowski dreams of being a television celebrity, a
household name ... we wish to grant him this wish .. on the next episode
of "American Greed".
Marco Kozlowski's investor seminars use testimonials revoked by clients whose real estate deals collapsed
Marco Kozlowski's free real estate seminars promise big profits
using testimonials from past participants, some of which were filmed
before any money was actually made.
Promotional testimonials
from clients praising his methods are a key part of his marketing
campaign, but CBC News has learned that at least four of the people
featured in the testimonials have requested they no longer be used
because they're not accurate.
The Black
Eyed Peas blast from the speakers. A tanned Californian says just $3,500
US can change your life, at a November seminar hosted by Kozlowski's
company, At Will Events.
Participants are told they can get rich with no money down and no credit by buying cheap houses from desperate Americans.
The
free seminar at a Vancouver hotel is one of four that CBC News attended
where a charismatic speaker tries to recruit students for Marco Kozlowski's three-day training course. Each time, video testimonials from clients who say they cashed in big time are played.
One video features Kirpal Bhogal.
A still image from Kirpal Bhohal's video testimonial played at Kozlowski's seminar. (MarcoKozlowski/youtube)
"On
the second day of Marco's training, we purchased a property for
5,000 and sold it for 62,000," says the Toronto area man, attesting to
the apparent profit he made with Kozlowski's guidance.
The
well-dressed man at the front of the room, Lance Robinson, stops the
tape and asks who is ready to "invest" in the next step of the course.
"We're gonna surround you with multi-millionaires at a three-day event," he says.
Several people pay the tuition, having no idea that Bhogal's success story wasn't completely true.
Testimonial filmed before deal closed
A
CBC News investigation has discovered that Kozlowski is using
testimonials by Bhogal and at least three other students who say they
are not accurate.
This
testimonial appears in brochure handed out at free seminars in
Vancouver and Toronto in November 2015, despite Kirpal Bhogal's request
it not be used. (At Will Events Brochure)
Bhogal has confirmed to CBC that he more than once requested his testimonials not be used.
"This
video was recorded just after signing the contract but before closing,"
wrote Bhogal in a post on Kozlowski's YouTube channel, which features
one of two video testimonials Bhogal shot.
Marco
Kozlowski, left, with Lance Robinson, who spoke on behalf of Kozloski
at free seminars to recruit students for Kozlowski's $3,500 US course,
in Vancouver. (Ron Usher)
"The deals did not close; No profits were materialized."
In a statement to CBC News Nov. 14, 2015, Kozlowski said he was not aware one of Bhogal's deals had fallen through.
But an email suggests Kozlowski knew months ago that Bhogal was unhappy with his experience.
"Despite
my verbal request and email earlier, my testimonial recorded at your
office, is still being widely publicized," wrote Bhogal to Kozlowski,
May 15, 2015.
When CBC inquired why Bhogal's testimonial was still being used, Kozlowski emailed this response.
"The testimonial is not entirely inaccurate. Mr. Bhogal made money on his first transaction," wrote Kozlowski.
Bhogal
questions whether he made any profit on that transaction, because
Kozlowski applied the proceeds toward Bhogal's tuition fees for advanced
training.
"I have now instructed that his testimonial not be used in any form," said Kozlowski.
Despite
that assurance, a printed version of Bhogal's testimonial was still
being distributed at a seminar in Toronto two days later.
'It's not my testimonial'
Another
former student who paid to attend Kozlowski's weekend course in Toronto
was shocked to see her face on one of Kozlowski's ads in August of
2014.
A woman who never made an offer on a home was shocked to see her photo used in a testimonial, claiming a $132,000 profit. (Facebook)
"It was ... saying that I made a $132,000 profit," says Shauna Walker, furious her photo was shown beside a photo of a cheque.
"It's not my testimonial and I never made a dollar," she told CBC News.
Montage of advertisements showing what appears to be the same cheque for $150,329.92 used in three different testimonials. (Natalie Clancy)
"I emailed him and said this has to stop," she said.
Kozlowski
replied, "Seems an eager marketer put your head on someone else's deal.
That cheque and profit was from another Shauna."
Three months later, her ad appeared again in a newspaper, prompting her to complain once more.
"I'll break some heads. Sorry. Never happen again. Pinky promise," wrote Kozlowski, Nov. 5, 2014.
An
image of the same cheque appears beside other testimonials in ads
published in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Walker's ad has not
reappeared.
'Many red alerts'
"I've attended the seminars," says Ron Usher, a lawyer who has been tracking Kozlowski's advertisements.
"There
are many red alerts for people," says Usher, who tried to warn
Vancouver investors to stay away from a recent seminar before
Kozlowski's staff asked him to leave.
Lawyer
Ron Usher has been tracking what he calls misleading advertising and
unrealistic promises made at seminars to recruit students. (cbc)
He says if Kozlowski has helped so many students, as he claims, why would he use a discredited testimonial?
"I just wonder why you would need to do that if there are so many successful stories?"
CBC
News put that question to Marco Kozlowski, who responded, "We have many
success stories ... and there is no need to to use Mr. Bhogal's
testimonial."
Kozlowski was asked to provide contact information for such students, but has not done so yet.
CBC
News did speak to six Kozlowski seminar participants who said they had
no complaints about their experience, including one who appeared in a
testimonial.
Testimonials altered for different markets
A
review of several advertisements shows other discrepancies.
Testimonials from three people list them as being from different
cities.
For example, "Steeve R" is listed as living in Markham
in a Toronto paper. The same photo and testimonial appears in a
Montreal paper listing him as from Montreal. In other ads, he's listed
as living in Surrey and Edmonton.
Montage of ads with testimonials from Steeve R. who is listed with various home towns in several different newspapers. (cbc)
Mistakes blamed on marketing company
Kozlowski says the discrepancies were made by a firm that has since been fired.
"The ads were the responsibility of the marketing company and neither I, nor my staff reviewed their work," said Kozlowski.
'Suspicious' ads could lead to penalties
Brenda
Pritchard, a lawyer specializing in advertising, says any advertiser
who uses false or misleading testimonials could be prosecuted criminally
or civilly under the Canadian Competition Act and face fines up to $10
million.
"It does look extremely suspicious, if you
have one person's name and picture pretending to live in different
jurisdictions," Pritchard said.
Advertising lawyer Brenda Pritchard says the Canadian Competition Bureau can prosecute companies that use false testimonials. (cbc)
"It's
whether or not these people actually used the service, got their
results that they are representing here … all of these things have to be
true and currently true."
When asked about whether his
advertising could be in violation of Canadian laws, Kozlowski wrote, "I
have every intention of complying with all federal, provincial and local
laws and regulations."
I know, this is off topic for Canadian
Sovereigns and not really related to any Quatloos forums. But it has a
photo of our occasional poster Ron Usher!
The story is about an American real estate huckster who uses
questionable testimonials to drum up business for his free seminars. Get
them in the door and they're yours!
Ron tried to warn the suckers but got thrown out;
"I've attended the seminars," says Ron Usher, a lawyer who has been tracking Kozlowski's advertisements.
"There are many red alerts for people," says Usher, who tried to warn
Vancouver investors to stay away from a recent seminar before
Kozlowski's staff asked him to leave.
But canny Canadian investors weren't going to listen to Ron's guff when millions awaited them inside! As Marco's shill said;
The well-dressed man at the front of
the room, Lance Robinson, stops the tape and asks who is ready to
"invest" in the next step of the course.
"We're gonna surround you with multi-millionaires at a three-day event," he says.
And Marco had a pretty solid defense of his use of the testimonials;
"The testimonial is not entirely inaccurate. Mr. Bhogal made money on his first transaction," wrote Kozlowski.
Not entirely inaccurate? That's like me saying I'm not entirely drunk
after a night's pubbing. Technically true but it wouldn't help me if I
was driving and stopped by the police.
"Yes Burnaby49, I do in
fact believe all process servers are peace officers. I've good reason to
believe so." Robert Menard in his May 28, 2015 video "Process Servers".
Marco Kozlowski's promise of 100% financing not kept, former students say
Some investors who paid tens of thousands of dollars for Marco
Kozlowski's real estate mentoring program say he failed to deliver on a
promise to finance 100 per cent of their investments in U.S. property.
Until
a recent statement to CBC News, Kozlowski was promising would-be
investors they could get funding for real estate deals in the U.S.
through him and his organization.
When
Kozlowski failed to come through with financing for Corrina Tanizawa's
purchase of this Chicago property, she found another lender. (Corrina Tanizawa)
"All
my students get access to cash so you can buy properties in the U.S.
You can use my money to buy, using none of your own money," proclaims a Kozlowski marketing video featuring three Canadians who claim to have made money in just seven days.
At a series of free seminars in Metro Vancouver earlier this month, Kozlowski's salesman Lance Robinson made the same promise.
"How
many of you would love it if we fund every single one of your good
deals out of our fund in the U.S. so you never have to take a dollar out
of your own pocket?"
100% financing 'only reason I joined'
"That's
the only reason I joined, that 100 per cent financing and it's
guaranteed" says Vancouver investor Corrina Tanizawa, who paid Kozlowski
more than $20,000 for his advanced real estate training course.
Manuela and Mike Noel say they did not get their money's worth after paying for Marco Kozlowski's mentoring program. (CBC)
"I've been investing in the U.S. market for quite a while and the challenge is to find a lender," she told CBC News.
Tanizawa
first paid for a $3,500 three-day training seminar with Kozlowski's
organization. But she says that in order to get access to any lending
funds, she was required to join Kozlowski's mentorship program, offered
for $15,000 to $150,000 US. But even then loans weren't available.
Tanizawa
chose the $150,000 level — the Diamond program — but elected to pay by
instalment. She paid one instalment of $20,000, but was soon
disappointed in the program when the financing fell through on a Chicago
sixplex.
"So I brought them another deal and another deal and another deal and none of them closed."
She says she eventually found another lender and purchased the Chicago property.
Ultimately Kozlowski refunded all her money.
'Bank of Marco'
"That's
why we signed up, was the funding advertised it as the 'Bank of
Marco,' and then there was none," says Manuela Noel who, along with her
husband, paid Kozlowski $100,000 for advanced training last year.
Marco Kozlowski says he no longer funds student's purchases, despite what his sales people told Vancouver investors. (facebook/MarcoKozlowski)
"Being
involved in Marco's program for the last year, I have no faith in his
program, or in him," says Mike Noel, who isn't aware of anyone from his
class who obtained financing from Kozlowski.
Noel breaks down in tears, saying he regrets encouraging two young Vancouver brothers to sign up.
"They
both signed up for the $100,000 course. They can't afford that,"
said Noel, who says they went into to debt to pay Kozlowski, and were
never financed.
"Long on promises, short on delivery," he said of Kozlowski.
'Mentored' by Richard Branson
Manuela Noel said one of the reasons she and her husband trusted Kozlowski was because he claims his mentor was Richard Branson.
In a YouTube video, Kozlowski states, "I
worked very closely with Richard Branson for quite some time. I was
mentored by him — a very special program that I'll discuss at a later
time. It was a very good experience, I learned a lot from him."
In
a YouTube video, Marco Kozlowski shows this photo of himself (right)
with Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, whom he claims he was
'mentored by.' (Pinterest)
At the
free seminars in Vancouver, which CBC News attended, a photo of
Kozlowski and Branson was on the big screen and his salesman told the
audience that "Marco's friend, Sir Richard Branson," was the one who
gave Marco the idea to teach people his real estate system.
In a
statement to CBC, Kozlowski said, "The statement is not accurate and I
have now provided Lance with the facts … I have worked briefly with
Richard Branson, but he did not encourage me to start teaching real
estate."
Kozlowski used that same photo showing him with Branson in an advertisement in the Vancouver Sun.
But
Branson's communications director, Christine Choi with Virgin
Management USA, says Branson has nothing to do with Kozlowski's
business.
"The two may have participated in and met at a
conference where they were among the speakers, but we have no insight
into his business nor authorized this use," said Choi in a written
statement.
'Funding for flips'
At first, when
asked by CBC about his lending policies, Kozlowski stated in an
email that he and his organizations "provide transactional funding for
flips."
"We provide the funding in order for our students to buy
the property and the funds are returned to us within hours or days when
the new buyer purchases," he wrote, in a statement Nov. 14.
Kozlowski
says if students want to hold rental properties, his team will only
help them find "non-bank, private lenders who will lend based on the
merits of the deal."
No longer funding students
Yet four days later, in an email on Nov. 18, Kozlowski provided a different answer about financing, writing: "We no longer offer in-house funding to our students."
He
said his program has been so successful that "our funding reserves were
depleted more quickly than anyone expected," and wrote: "For a short
time a limited number of students were unable to access in-house funding
to help complete their real estate transactions."
"We
understand completely that this has been frustrating for them, and we
worked hard to find alternatives," he added. "We help students who
require financial support to identify external sources, including
private lenders and other non-bank lenders." .
Yet just two days
before that apparent change in policy, his sales staff were telling
would-be investors in Toronto and Vancouver that if they signed up for
future training seminars, funding would be available.
"We
established a fund specifically to fund our student's deals,"
said Robinson to a crowd of Vancouver-area would-be investors,
explaining they don't even need to make a deposit because Kozlowski'
would use his "investor documents."
And in Toronto a speaker told potential students they could access Kozlowski's fund if they paid tuition to learn his system.
Consumers advised to be cautious
B.C.'s Financial Institutions Commission advises consumers to be cautious when it comes to free real estate seminars.
"We
encourage those attending seminars like this to approach any investment
opportunity with caution and to seek professional investment advice,"
said a spokesperson for the Superintendent of Real Estate.
"It
is important that anyone who feels that a product or service is using
false and misleading or deceptive marketing practices to submit a complaint to the bureau," said Phil Norris, spokesman for the Competition Bureau of Canada.
A lawyer from Vancouver is questioning the validity of a seminar
designed to teach Canadians how to invest in American real estate after a
personal testimonial about its effectiveness proved false.
Over a five-year investigation, Ron Usher found a number of
inconsistences in the advertisements for the three-day training
workshop, hosted by a real estate organization, which costs $7,000 to
attend.Usher reviewed years of advertising, which includes claims of
deals made and personal testimonials about the successes of former
students.
Usher tried to corroborate some of the information by digging into
American property records and court filings, and shared some of his
research with The Province, a publication in B.C.
When presented with inconsistencies in the advertising, the company’s
founder Marco Kozlowski admitted to making mistakes, but said the
program has been helping investors.
The seminars are hosted in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary as well. Some
of the ads feature a cheque for $150,329.92; in one case it featured the
text: “150K+ profit first deal!”
According to Usher’s research into different ads over the years, the
photos and names of at least three different people appear with the same
cheque, each claiming to benefit from the real estate training: a woman
from Mississauga, Ont., a man from Gatineau, Que, and a woman from
Ottawa.
However in 2014, when Usher reached out to one of these success stories,
he found out that neither Kozlowski nor any of the other former
students had anything to do with the deal, according to The Province’s
report.
“I am not familiar with (the company) or Marco Kozlowski and they were
not involved in the purchase or sale of this property,” one woman was
quoted as saying.
“I do not know who they are affiliated with, but am unaware of any other
way they could have been involved with this transaction.
”Kozlowski dismissed the accusation that his seminars are fraudulent,
saying the company simply made an internal error and blamed his
marketing team for the mix-ups.
“I’m human — and I make mistakes — as does my team — please talk to my
students that actually do the work, and they will attest to the strength
of what I do,” he is quoted as saying in The Province.
Ex-Montrealer sells the promise of how to buy U.S. real estate on the cheap, but seminars have raised doubts
Marco Kozlowski runs seminars that claim to teach people how to make
money buying houses in the U.S., but the Better Business Bureau is
investigating him for his advertising claims.
File photo of real-estate sign. Tyler Anderson/National Post
Mitch Johnson struts across the carpeted room, a PowerPoint presentation looming behind him, a chandelier hanging above.
From the second floor of the Sheraton Hotel near Montreal’s Trudeau
airport, Johnson’s warming up to the roughly 30 people attending a free,
late-September workshop advertised as teaching people how to buy real
estate in the United States and “create instant cash flow.”
The company hosting the workshop is called At Will Events. The man
behind it is Marco Kozlowski. He is nowhere to be seen, but Johnson
mentions him every few minutes. It is Kozlowski’s name that has been
featured in newspaper ads for the conferences.
“Where is Marco from?” Johnson asks those on hand, to little response. “Where does he live?” he tries again.
“Just down the road,” he ends up saying. “He’s lived here his entire
life, he understands real estate in Montreal as good as anyone else.
He’s a multimillionaire that made millions in the United States real
estate market.”
Kozlowski eventually pops up on the projector screen, wearing a black t-shirt and two big rings on his fingers.
A video begins. In it, Kozlowski says he’s sitting in a hotel
somewhere in Canada, but that’s not the point. He says it doesn’t really
matter where he is, because he can do what he’s about to show from
anywhere. “I could be on a beach if I wanted to be,” he says.
He’s excited about playing an audio recording outlining a deal he
negotiated that he calls “pretty snappingly good.” The recording starts,
and he leans back in his chair.
It’s about a property in Macon, Georgia, and the conversation is
intended to teach those on hand how to negotiate and “buy properties
virtually.”
In the United States, the Better Business Bureau began investigating Marco Kozlowski’s advertising.
Kozlowski shows a picture of a duplex and a single-family home
sharing a piece of land. It’s a deal he says one of his students found,
and now he’s helping him through it.
In the recording, Kozlowski is heard speaking over the phone to a man
named Darius, who Johnson describes as the homeowner’s “buddy.” Johnson
says the man is facilitating the sale for the homeowner because the
owner has a disease. He doesn’t offer more specifics.
“I’m 2,000 kilometres away from this property as we speak, and I’m
able to buy three properties worth about $150,000 for $30,000 total,”
Kozlowski says. “The rents are about $1,100 a month that comes in.”
Kozlowski, who says he grew up in Montreal, now holds workshops like this around the world.
In them, he schools people in a formula he says has worked for him.
Among other techniques, he says, he teaches how to make money in U.S.
real estate by finding discounted properties, tying them up quickly,
having them verified and either “funding or flipping them quickly.”
Kozlowski says he can show people how to do it without using “a nickel out of their pocket.”
The free Dorval seminar is a pitch for more of Kozlowski’s training,
which starts at $3,500 for three-day workshops, and can then rise
dramatically to $100,000 as participants are offered a deeper look at
his techniques and more one-on-one mentoring.
“I’m going to show you, if you decide to do this business, how to get
cash, get financed,” Kozlowski says in the video before Johnson stops
it.
Last year, some of Kozlowski’s past trainees started speaking out against him and the claims he makes.
Some investors say they never received that promised money. Others
say Kozlowski has used testimonials in his advertising that are
misleading, made early on before the would-be buyers did any deals. In
the U.S., Kozlowski’s advertising claims have been referred to the
Federal Trade Commission.
As for the house in Macon, Georgia, the owner says he’s never heard
of Kozlowski. Nobody has negotiated on his behalf. His name is Kevin
Davis, and he told the Montreal Gazette he has owned the home for 12
years.
“And I have not been sick,” he laughed. “I’m on my two feet and doing very well.”
***
Kozlowski says he got his start in the real estate business in 1999.
He was a broke concert pianist at the time, he says. After growing up
in Montreal, he moved to the Ottawa area, where he opened a music
school. He later opened another one in Florida, he says, where he ended
up attending a real-estate workshop “very much” like the ones he now
teaches.
He started buying and flipping properties and says he did well.
In 2003, he says, he started giving seminars on how to flip luxury
homes. He wanted to do it to help people who were struggling financially
the way he was.
By 2005, he was charging upward of $5,000 for four-day seminars.
Kozlowski stands by his program and insists it works if people are willing to put the work in.
But he stopped doing that in 2010 because he says he didn’t feel he
had mastered that segment of the market enough to be teaching others.
Around that time, he says he hit hard times again. In a recent
webinar, he explains how he went through a nasty divorce. He says he
came home one day and his house was empty, and millions of dollars were
gone from his bank account.
“I basically was left penniless overnight,” he says. “I went from multimillionaire to completely broke.”
In the days that followed, he says, he tried to give a homeless man
some money but the man told him he looked like he needed it more.
“That was wake-up call number two,” he says in the webinar. Soon
after, a friend lent him money, he says, and he got back on track.
Two years ago, he started the seminars he now teaches.
The focus has shifted from luxury homes to finding distressed owners
and wholesaling, a process by which people can put property under
contract — a signed agreement to buy the property at a certain price —
and then assign or resell the contract to another investor at a higher
price. It’s in that transaction that a lot of his students make money,
Kozlowski says.
His program says it helps students find distressed homeowners by
using the “5 Ds”: divorce, debt, displacement, death and disease.
“I’m teaching people to fish in a pond that very few people fish in and understand,” he says.
Kozlowski said that’s what he was explaining in the video about the
property in Georgia—that he was talking with someone who had the
property under contract.
“I’m going on the information told to me,” he said. “If someone says
to us that the owner is sick, then that’s the information we had.”
“If they do not have a contract, they are the ones doing things
wrong, not us,” he said. He could not explain how he could be
renting out the property for $1,200 a month, as he mentions in the
video, when Davis says he still owns it. Kozlowski said he would look
into it, but hadn’t answered by deadline.
***
Former students of Kozlowski started challenging some of the claims
the program makes last year, and how effective the system is. That
included some participants who were used in testimonials.
Comments started appearing under videos of them online, from the very
people in the video saying they hadn’t actually made the money they
speak about in the videos. The comments were quickly disabled.
Ron Usher, a real-estate lawyer in Vancouver, became interested in Kozlowski in 2010 after noticing his ads in newspapers.
To him, they were outlandish: “Former broke and debt-ridden Canadian
musician to reveal how he made $2.3 million in real estate in just 15
months,” one of them read.
Kozlowski holds real-estate seminars across Canada, in the U.S. and in Europe.
When Kozlowski started using new testimonials last year, Usher started noticing increasing inconsistencies.
One ad he saw in three markets featured a success story with a photo
of a man who had taken the course and been cashing in ever since. It was
the same man in all three ads, but his hometown — Markham, Ont.,
Montreal, Surrey, B.C. — was different every time; it was always one
nearby, depending on where the ads were running.
On the website for At Will Events, there was a two-minute video of
that man talking about how great Kozlowski’s program is. His face and
story were all over pamphlets given out at the September seminar.
The person truly is from Montreal. But he is no longer praising the program.
Reached by the Montreal Gazette in the fall, he spoke on condition
that his name not be published because he was planning legal action
against Kozlowski. He eventually settled out of court with him, but
before he did, he said he felt cheated by the program, paying $50,000
for training before deciding to stop. He said the program does not
provide the promised financial windfall.
“After three months, and around $15,000 in appraisals paid and
deposits lost, when he didn’t fund my properties, it was pretty
obvious,” he wrote in an email in September.
Only on the third day of the conference, he said, are people told
they can invest in additional training — a “platinum” program for
$60,000 or a “diamond” program for $100,000. That additional training is
not mentioned at the first free seminar.
“You’re never under the impression that you have to pay something
else besides that $3,500,” the man said. “You think you’ll be good to
go after that weekend.”
He says that on the first day of the weekend workshop, attendees
are asked to fill out forms detailing their financial situations.
On the third morning, he said, some participants are asked to attend a
“VIP lunch,” where they’re told that “only people with great
potential” are asked to attend.
“Really, it’s only people that can plunk $100,000 that are invited,”
he said. “But it’s all about ego and making you feel special.”
He said he was asked to do the video testimony the first week he signed up, unaware of what was to come.
“It’s an art,” he said of the company’s approach. “When you invest
$100,000 into something and the guy says ‘Hey, would you mind doing a
video,’ well, once your $100,000 is invested you don’t want (Kozlowski)
to not do what he promised. So when he asked for a video, you’re in a
good mood, you do it.”
His testimonial was finally removed from Kozlowski’s different websites last week.
The ads for the workshops also have other inconsistencies. Some show
different people posing with the same cheque for the exact same amount.
In Canada, a block of text that usually appears beside Kozlowski’s
photo reads: “I am a Canadian and I have specifically created this
system for Canadians just like you.”
In European countries, advertisements for his conferences use the
same photo of Kozlowski but read: “I am a European and I have
specifically created this system for Europeans just like you.”
In the United States, the Council of Better Business Bureaus began
investigating Kozlowski’s advertising. It asked Kozlowski to
substantiate nine claims he has made, as well as 14 claims made in
testimonials or success stories used to promote the seminars.
When he never responded by a deadline he was given, it referred the case to the Federal Trade Commission in December.
Kozlowski said he doesn’t spend much time in Montreal anymore, but that he has lived in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Westmount.
Two of the claims Kozlowski was asked to substantiate deal with how
he promises participants they will receive funding to complete deals.
“All my students get access to cash so you can buy properties
anywhere in the United States using none of your own money,” one of the
claims reads. “One hundred per cent financed. No money out of pocket,
you can use my money to buy property.”
All testimonials from 13 different students cited by the BBB have
recently been scrapped by Kozlowski. He says he began replacing them
after being questioned about them for this story.
“As soon as we found out that there was a problem, we did everything
we could to fix as much as we could,” he said earlier this month.
He admits mistakes were made with the ads, but partly blames a marketing firm used to produce them.
He took people at their word in the now-removed testimonials that
they had made money with the program, but never verified it. He said
he’ll be doing that now.
“We didn’t think it was a big deal,” he said. “But, clearly, it is.”
Kozlowski’s ads have boasted that the program has “hundreds and
hundreds” of successful students. Yet testimonials used, including the
newest ones, are from people who have only recently invested in the
program.
Asked why there aren’t any testimonials from people with sustained
success, Kozlowski said it’s only because he wants to show the “newest,
cleanest testimonials,” to show that people can be successful in a
matter of months.
“We’re not trying to mislead anyone,” he said. “Anything that has
been, or has been perceived as, or that could be misleading, we’ve
removed from all our marketing.”
“We’re working very hard at disclosing, so people are clear that we do what we say we do.”
***
The Montreal presentation is coming to an end, but not before a warning from Johnson.
“We had someone from this class give us a negative report. You know
why?” he asks. “They were lazy and did nothing and blamed it on Marco
and not themselves.”
He then talks about how easily good businesses can be damaged
by negative online reviews. He stresses that you “can’t always believe
what you read on the Internet.”
One of Kozlowski’s online ads circulating this week.
A portion of the presentation is spent telling people that they won’t need to spend their own money to make deals in the U.S.
“All I’m saying is: Who else is going to help you do this?” Johnson
says. “If you don’t have cash, if you don’t have proof of funds, I wish
you the best of luck. If you don’t wanna use us, find someone else who
will help.”
An older woman with blond hair and glasses, who has taken notes throughout the presentation, lifts her hand and asks a question.
“The ‘no money out of your own pocket’ part, that comes from Marco?”
Johnson nods. “It’s coming from a letter, a proof-of-funding letter,” he says.
“And how much does that cost?”
Nothing, Johnson answers. “It doesn’t cost anything.”
The presentation comes to an end, and Johnson’s team circulates throughout the room to ask people if they plan on signing up.
A handful make their way to the tables in the back of the room and
do: A $7,000 weekend boot camp can be had for half price if they sign up
immediately.
There is no mention of the more expensive training to be offered later.
An older woman and her daughter debate what to do. Someone from
Johnson’s team works on convincing the daughter as the mother heads
toward the table.
When approached by a Montreal Gazette reporter, Johnson refuses to comment and asks the reporter to leave.
***
People who have invested in Kozlowski’s program for $100,000 told the
Montreal Gazette they never received the promised funding for
real-estate deals, or the one-on-one mentoring it’s said to include.
Mike Noel, a 61-year-old from Vancouver who’s attended a number of
similar real-estate investment workshops, says he and his wife attended a
Kozlowski seminar in Calgary in August 2014.
They borrowed against a line of credit to be able to afford the
$100,000 for the “diamond” training he says. They’re still struggling to
pay it back.
“The overall level of support just isn’t there. There’s a lot of idle
promises, and the training is poor,” he said, adding how he tried to
get funding through the program for eight different deals he found but
was never funded.
He said he and his wife took nearly monthly trips to Indiana and
Florida in search for properties and applied “90 per cent” of the
techniques Kozlowski preached in their training sessions.
“We did all the work, worked on it full-time,” he said.
Kozlowski stands by his program: “It’s like anything in life,” he said. “You get what you put in.”
People who have invested $100,000 in Kozlowski’s program have said they
never received the promised funding for real-estate deals, or the
one-on-one mentoring it’s said to include.
But some people confuse the terms funding and financing, he said.
Kozlowski no longer finances people’s deals, though he does still fund
them, he said, during the wholesaling process. He says he still lends
money to students when they have a deal lined up that he knows will
return his investment in them on the same day.
“We will fund someone for a day because we make $2-3 thousand every
time we lend out the money for one day,” he explained. “We get it back
immediately the same day. When it comes to financing long-term, we don’t
want to be in bed with a student for that long.”
He defends his practice of not mentioning the $100,000 training until after people have bought the initial $3,500 in training.
“It’s not an upsell. It’s an opportunity to go into something else,”
he said. “We are giving them exactly what they pay for at the three-day
conference.” He said no one has ever asked to be refunded the $3,500.
Kozlowski says he has more students that are happy than those who are unhappy.
One student, a 37-year-old man who attended a Kozlowski seminar in
London, England, in October, told the Montreal Gazette he bought in for
training worth $100,000. He didn’t want his name published, but said
he’s made $24,000 on seven duplex properties in Cleveland, and used that
profit to buy rental property in Toledo. His testimonial is now being
used to promote workshops.
Another student, a 26-year-old woman from Toronto,
got involved after her mother went to the three-day conference in early
2015. She couldn’t say how much her mother invested, but said she’s
since “closed two duplexes in Ohio.” She said Kozlowski helped her fund
the deal through a separate investment group.
Olivier Carter, 35, attended a free seminar last August at the Delta Hotel in Montreal.
He attended a $3,500 three-day workshop two weeks later at the
Montreal Airport Marriott Hotel, hosted by Kozlowski. On the second day,
he was told of the additional training, though he says he knew it was
coming. He bought the “diamond” program, paying $20,000 at first and an
additional $80,000 within two weeks.
Carter is also featured in testimonials currently used by Kozlowski.
“I wouldn’t say successful yet, but I have been seeing results and I’m very excited for what’s next,” he said this month.
He made his first profit in November: He says he got a contract to
buy a three-bedroom home in Indiana for $17,000 and was able to assign
the contract to an eventual buyer, making $7,000. A deal on another home
in Indiana banked him $5,500.
“(Kozlowski) never promises that it’s a get-rich quick scheme or
anything,” Carter said. “It’s something that you have to put work into,
and I have and it’s working.”
He is confident he’ll earn back his $100,000. “And I’m going to make a lot more than that over my lifetime.”
Kozlowski’s conferences and training are marketed under several brand
names: At Will Events, At Will Education, Turnkey Trainings, U.S.
Property Success, and U.S. Property Network.
The next conferences in the Montreal area will be held at hotels in
Laval, on the South Shore and near Trudeau airport from Feb. 5-7.
***
Before you invest in anything, do your research
Real-estate seminars have multiplied over the last few years, says
Sylvain Théberge of the Canadian Securities Administrators, an umbrella
organization of Canada’s provincial and territorial securities
regulators.
“They’re very well done, held in fancy hotels, with fine
presentations and well-spoken individuals,” he said. “Everything
indicates that it’s a very serious business.”
Some people do achieve success through them, but “most of the time,
it’s the beginning of something that you don’t know where it will stop.”
If you’re considering investing in any kind of program, there’s one
thing to remember, said Daniel Williams of the Canadian Anti-Fraud
Centre: “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”
Williams has some general advice:
— “Be aware of the astroturfing technique, which is the use of false testimonials, which can usually be spotted with some due diligence.”
— Research the companies, as well as any identifiable key players
behind them: “It is hard to hide your sins from the Internet.”
