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Is John Beck Free and Clear of the Truth?
By Debby, for Joanne Musa | May 7, 2009
by Joanne Musa
Recently Inside Edition did an expose on John Beck and his “Free & Clear” system for buying properties for pennies on the dollar. John Beck’s Free & Clear infomercials can be seen on TV at all times of the day. He tells how his students are able to purchase homes that are worth thousands for only a few hundred dollars. But he does leave out the details. Inside Edition filled in all of the details that John Beck leaves out in their investigative story. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it from this link: insideedition.com/news.aspx?story.
So is John Beck Free and Clear of the truth? Well maybe, but not really – how’s that for an answer. Let me explain. He did stretch the truth a lot with the examples that he showcases in his infomercials to get peoples attention. And yes, there may be some shady things going on in the company that sells his program and the high end coaching that goes with it, but that doesn’t mean that tax lien and tax deed investing are not profitable methods of investing and that you can’t purchase a tax sale home for a fraction of its value.
I’ll admit the examples that he shows on his infomercial of houses that have been purchased for $500 or less are grossly exaggerated, and as you can see from Inside Edition’s investigation, he did not tell the whole story. But I wanted to see what kind of information he was selling for $39.95, as he advertises on TV. So I called the toll free number to order his Free and Clear Kit.
Of course they tried to get me to upgrade my order to include extra products and services – which I declined, except for the CDs. The price that is advertised on TV is only for the digital program delivered to your e-mail address. If you want the CDs, it’s an extra $10, and they try to sell you on a year’s VIP membership to the John Beck club – which I declined, and very expensive expedited shipping – which I also declined. There was no tax but somehow my total still came to $72.44. And by the way I did get the program in less than a week, even without the expedited shipping and handling.
So what did I get for my money? For 8 dollars extra, I got one month’s access to John Beck’s Property Vault, which I recognized as the same information that is on John Lane’s site TaxSaleLists.com. The Property Vault is nothing more than a reseller of John Lane’s tax sale lists. For $39.95 a month you get access to lists of tax sales coming up all over the country. You get to download up to 10 standard lists and 1 enhanced list per month.
But if you go to John Lanes site www.TaxSaleLists.com. You can sign up for a free membership and find out what tax sales are coming up all over the country. You can buy an annual subscription for only $300 to purchase the tax sale lists and download 25 lists per month. And you can download the standard list or the enhanced lists. Since the standard list is only what the taxing district publishes and usually does not even include the property address, you’ll want to get the data enhanced lists anyway. With John Beck’s program you pay $479 ($39.95 per month) and only get one enhanced list per month and with John Lane’s subscription you pay $300 per year and can get 25 enhanced lists per month!
I also received no less than 8 CDs and a Quick Start DVD that I couldn’t listen to because the sound did not come through on my computer. I also received a call from a “Start up specialist” who tried to sell me some coaching – which I also declined. After investigating the Property Vault and trying to watch the Quick Start CD, which seemed was nothing more than John Beck answering some basic questions about tax lien and tax deed investing, I was reluctant to take a look at what was on the CDs. I presumed that they would be more of them same, no real how to information, just a bunch “this is what you can do” but not any of “here’s how you do it” information. But since I had told people that I was evaluating this program, and someone had sent me a link to the Inside Edition Story, I decided it was time to look at the CDs in the Free & Clear system.
I was surprised to find a lot of useful information on some of the CDs. If this information is valid than the product is worth the $72.44 that I paid. Seven of these CDs contained e-books with very useful information. There were 2 CDs on how to get real estate for pennies on the dollar. Though one was labeled “Tax Deed Edition” and the other “Tax Lien Edition,” they really both focused on tax liens. They both had some detailed, state specific information. What remains to be seen is, is this information valid in today’s market, since I had determined that some of the information on the other CDs was more than 5 years old.
The CD labeled “Tax Deed Edition” focuses on how to purchase left-over liens from the county that are ready to be foreclosed, and on purchasing tax liens at the annual tax sale that are less likely to be redeemed. Perhaps these methods of tax lien investing, particularly purchasing left-over liens that are ready to be foreclosed, is the reason that the houses that John Beck showcases in his infomercial and the were highlighted in the Insider Edition story, were extremely distressed and needed so much repair. In any case there is a lot of state specific and detailed information on these 2 CDs.
Another CD contains a tax sale directory for North America. This CD did not have contact information for every taxing district in the U.S. and Canada. It does list each state of the U.S. and each province in Canada, and provide contact information and links for one or two of the taxing districts. But it also gives detailed information of what goes on each state, what the bidding process is and which departments to contact for more information. Most of the links to county websites are working links, but a few of the links are outdated and do not work. However, all in all this CD has good information.
The CD for “Internet Resources and Making Money Links” is a different story. The information on this CD is a repeat of what is in the North American Tax Sale Directory CD, just presented in a different format. It must be an older version because most of the “making money links” do not work.
There is a CD on buying tax deed properties and tax lien certificates through the mail. This CD has some very good information and helpful links that work, but I don’t think that it’s been updated in the last 5 years or more. Why do I say this? Charlie Daniels is listed as the Commissioner of State Lands for Arkansas and Mark Wilcox has held this position since January of 2003. Even so, this CD does contain some very detailed information for certain states that do allow you to purchase tax deeds and/or tax liens through the mail.
Another CD explains John Beck’s system, or should I say systems, for getting free and clear properties for pennies on the dollar. John actually has at least 3 different methods that he uses to purchase tax deed properties in tax deed states, purchasing property at a tax deed sale, purchasing property at a redeemable tax deed sale, and adverse possession. There is some good, state specific and very interesting information on this CD, but I don’t think it’s been updated in the last 5 years, since at least one of the examples is from prior to 2003. And since State laws change constantly, I’m not sure if the adverse possession laws in California that he talks about in this CD have changed since then.
One CD contains links so that you can “find, purchase and resell properties from your computer.” Again this has outdated information. Many of the links no longer work. There also is a CD with a video tutorial that explains how to use the property vault, which is pretty easy to figure out on your own anyway. In any case just for the educational value, I’d say that I got my money’s worth, even if some of the information was out of date. There was some good information, and I did learn a couple of new strategies. I would recommend this program as long as you don’t get sucked into to any of the up sells.
OK, so how does the John Beck Free & Clear Real Estate System stack up? Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly:
The Good – In John Beck’s defense, his information is accurate and truthful. He’s one of the few tax lien investing guru’s that does have accurate information for all of the states in the U.S., plus he give very detailed information on states that most other gurus gloss over. Also the customer service department is responsive and will cancel the VIP membership program when asked.
The Bad – Much of the contact that he gives in this program is more than 5 years old and is outdated. Many of the links on some of the CDs do not work.
The Ugly – His claims on TV are grossly exaggerated and are deals that were done long ago. Show us some more recent stuff John, show us all the numbers and show us some proof.
Topics: Online Success | 2 Comments »
May 9th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I read your article with interest and have seen the recent negative press on John Beck.
I have been told by a representative of Marketing of America they are in the process of creating a new infomercial with ever house depicted as being verified and confirmed as to the claims that are made about the initial cost and if sold, the sale price. As to the current infomercial: I am having a little bit of trouble separating truth from fiction. I believe some of these properties were purchased for the amounts claimed. And for example the house with the wrap around porch that is now on the market for $198K – well, I expect that it needed extensive repair. And the house that the contractor lost because of financial difficulties – could that have been unfinished as well? And all of this mis-information – how much is deception by John Beck and how much is deception by the marketing guy? I was told that these “books and tapes” sold by any of these gurus costs about $7 to duplicate and we are all aware of the prices that can be charged for the information. – Talk about profit margin!
If you go to http://www.badbusinessbureau.com you will see an endorsement for John Beck because he has stated he will “make good” for anyone who feels cheated by his coaching program. It must be that he is tied to a long contract with Mentoring of America. If I met John Beck at a party, I would advise him to get rid of MOA as they are giving him a bad name.
One final comment about the current infomercial. The average price of a house in the United States is no longer $219K so, is there a safer way than tax liens and tax deeds to invest and ensure a profit in this down economy?
May 9th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Joanne,
I came up with the same good, bad, and ugly
as you did! I tried some of those links especially
in new york and they did not come up. Thank you for your detailed analysis.
Reinhard