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.
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.”
Beware the Real Estate Investment seminar scam artist
http://virtualrealestateteam.com.
Yesterday morning on Oklahoma City television I saw something I haven't
seen in over four years the no money down, bad credit, make you a
millionaire in one year seminar. Trust me, these people who claim they
are the No. 1 real estate investment expert are nopt making money
teaching you how to invest like them. They are making money selling
desparate people DVD's and programs. Back beofr 2008, many of what they
were teaching could land you in jail in many states, and to think that
you are going to buy a $150,000 property in the greater Oklahoma City
area for $25,000 is ludicrous, and downright deceptive at best. I sell
investors as a specialty and I have a hard time finding deals for my
investors, and all of these people either pay cash or get 20% down
Fannie Mae backed loans with good credit. Let me give you a free and
valuable piece of advice, before giving these people money that you
don't have to spare, use them to pay off your credit cards. Credit card
interest is typically around 25% so if you put your money there it is a
25% return on investment on what you are not paying interest on and you
are on your way to real financial solvency.
76 Inn investors bragged that motel is a ‘cash cow’ that ‘farts out dollar bills’
Jackie Rehwald
JREHWALD@NEWS-LEADER.COM
Published 12:04 AM EDT Mar 31, 2018
According to a video posted on Facebook about five months
ago, investors in Branson's 76 Inn considered the extended-stay motel
to be a "cash cow" that "farts out dollar bills."
"If anyone wants to be a partner in this deal and wants
to make an incredible return on your cash, we will cut you in,"
self-described "luxury real estate guru" Marco Kozlowski said in the
video.
The gassy cash cow is now at risk of losing its business
license, according to city officials, due to several health, fire and
building code violations. More than 50 people were living at the 76 Inn
when the electricity was shut off briefly Monday due to an overdue bill
and other issues.
Hayden Brown, 2 mos., sits in
his stroller and looks at his dad Cheyenne Dingman as Bethany Brown,
Alora Hughes and Neal Richmond eat lunch at the 76 Inn in Branson on
Wednesday, March 28, 2018. They are moving out of the extended stay
motel after the electric was turned off due to the owners not paying the
bill as well as other building and fire code violations.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
When the News-Leader visited the 76 Inn on Tuesday, a
family with a two-month-old baby was waiting outside their room in the
rain while their room was being treated for bedbugs yet again.
The young couple both had jobs and were paying more than
$600 a month in rent. But with no car, they relied on the 76 Inn's
central location to be able to walk to work.
Located on the strip in Branson, the 76 Inn is home to
many people who don't have vehicles but work at Branson's tourist
attractions and restaurants.
Cassie Cunningham, a spokesperson for White River
Electric Company, said Monday that the company had been working with the
new owners since early February regarding some "necessary requirements"
that have not been met. More: Some hope closing of extended-stay motel in Branson will give them fresh start More: Branson featured by Washington Post, HLN channel for 'Hispanics 101' class
The company had planned to shut off electricity again
Friday if those requirements were not met, but according to Cunningham,
those plans changed on Thursday.
"Electric service will be ran to the location unless
activities aren't followed as promised," she said, declining to give
specifics. "That doesn't mean to say the facility will not be closed due
to other issues they are having."
Kozlowski told the News-Leader in an email that he only learned of the issues with the electric company Thursday.
"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.
Guests of the 76 Inn told the
News-Leader that trash has been piling up in this Dumpster since January
-- an indication that the motel's owners have not been paying the trash
bill.
Jackie Rehwald
Throughout the week, representatives from the city and
county and Salvation Army have been assisting residents who wanted to
relocate.
Kozlowski, who offers real estate mentoring programs to
foreign investors who want to buy property in the U.S., told the
News-Leader in an email that he is a "minority investor" in the
property, and it is primarily owned by his real estate investment
students.
Kozlowski said the Palms Inn, another extended-stay motel
located across the street from White Water, is also owned by his
students. The Palms Inn closed a few weeks ago.
White River Electric has shut
off the power to the 76 Inn in Branson due to an outstanding bill.
Submitted photo
Two residents from the 76 Inn, who worked at the Palms
Inn before it was closed, said they saw Kozlowski at the Palms Inn and
thought he was the owner.
"Not much I can tell you other than students of mine have
purchased (the 76 Inn and Palms Inn) and I help them when needed,"
Kozlowski said in the email to the News-Leader.
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.
According to a 2016 article in the Montreal Gazette,
Kozlowski "sells the promise of how to buy U.S. real estate on the
cheap," but former students accuse him of using false testimonials in
marketing videos and said Kozlowski's program does not provide the
promised financial windfall.
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."
From left, Cheyenne Dingman,
Neal Richmond, Alora Hughes and Bethany Brown walk back to the 76 Inn
after getting lunch at McDonald's in Branson on Wednesday, March 28,
2018. The group was moving out of the extended stay motel after the
electric was turned off due to the owners not paying the bill as well as
other building and fire code violations.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
Asked about his real estate program, Kozlowski said in an
email: "I educate people on how to find properties, buy them and use
professional management companies to run them."
According to the Taney County Assessor's Office, the 76 Inn is owned by George & Jr LLC.
Asked who specifically city officials are working with to
resolve the code violations at the 76 Inn, Branson spokeswoman Melody
Pettit said, "The City is currently working with several different
groups who are claiming ownership of the property. We are in the process
to determine who the legal property owner is. We can tell you all
individuals involved have stated their commitment to fulfilling all code
requirements."
In the video — one of dozens posted to his Facebook
page — Kozlowski slowly drives around the 76 Inn while filming himself
and another man, Mark Chornohus, bragging about the smart investment.
"What is cool about this property other than it makes
just s*** loads of cash and it keeps farting out dollar bills ...,"
Kozlowski says, before the sentence is finished by Chornohus.
"It's right in the center of Branson, right on the strip
where all the shows and action is," Chornohus says. "This is very
exciting."
"(It's) by the busiest Walmart in the United States. Period," Kozlowski says.
In the video, the two men talk about putting $350,000 down on the motel and netting $150,000.
"They (tenants) are paying $140 a week and the going rate
is $180 a week," Kozlowski says in the video. "We can actually increase
our rents about 30 percent, meaning our money is going to be even
better."
Chornohus used the calculator on his iPhone to estimate profits, as Kozlowski suggests an equation.
"Right now it's at $140. Let's do $160. Let's raise the
rents slightly," Kozlowski says. "$160 times 50 rooms ... 49 weeks a
year ... Our gross on that will be $392 (thousand). Our expense is
around 55 percent."
Throughout the video, Kozlowski congratulates Chornohus
for investing in the motel. Kozlowski asks Chornohus how he, as a
Canadian, is able to buy property in Branson.
"Following Marco's system and making phone calls and getting deals done," Chornohus replies.
Kozlowski asks Chornohus if he attended Kozlowski's "Success Reflex" program.
"Yes," Chornohus responds. "It was a great experience. I learned so much."
Cheyenne Dingman, right, and
Neal Richmond move their belongings out of the 76 Inn in Branson on
Wednesday, March 28, 2018. They are moving out of the extended stay
motel after the electric was turned off due to the owners not paying the
bill as well as other building and fire code violations.
Andrew Jansen/News-Leader
In the description of the video, Kozlowski called the 76 Inn a "cash cow" and wrote, "When we up rents... it’s stupid returns."
A message sent to Chornohus via social media has not yet been returned.
In a 2017 YouTube video, Kozlowski discussed purchasing
an RV park and motel in Branson. He does not say the location or name of
the properties, though he shows photos of the motel; it does not appear
to be the 76 Inn or the Palms Inn. It is not clear if Kozlowski or his
students purchased either of these properties.
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.
"
You my friend are perhaps imbecilic... as my comment had no reference to believing or not believing this man in the video...
I was referring to YOUR youtube page "About" section and your quote (which you've obviously changed now).
P.S. - This man's public records and sales records speak much louder than Timothy Han's youtube comments.
P.P.S - If you get tired of selling yourself on youtube channel then I might be able to give you a job at my real estate company at 26 W 17th St. new york,ny
YOU believe in the saying, "Don't tell me the skys the limit, when there are foot prints on the moon" and you write,"what a loada bollocks" here?? Really ??
What a Loada Bullocks THAT IS!!
