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Thanks to reader Heather, I have a new favorite real estate guru: Tom Vu. I guess I was too young to know about this guy when he was in his prime. His bluntness and blatant disrespect for our intelligence is so refreshing. You simply must watch.

My Personal Favorite Quotes

“Today I’m gonna show you how to drive a sports car. First, you need a lot of money!”

“Your friends are loser!”

“What if you bought a house worth $300,000 for $200,000. Think of the profit you could make!”

“Do you think these girls like me? No, they like my money!”

Seminar Details

After some internet research, it appears that most of Mr. Vu’s tactics were very similar to the ones taught by Robert Allen. That’s is, you buy a house from a “motivated seller” at a below market price, and then find another buyer at a higher price for an easy profit. Here are some excerpts from a letter written by a seminar attendee:

Vu’s main strategy was to “control,” rather than own, real estate. So you would go out looking for distressed properties, (foreclosures and such) and offer to buy these houses at incredible discounts. He claimed to never offer more than 50% of market value, but said it would depend on whether it was a buyer’s or a seller’s market how much your discounted offer would be. The desperate owner would be happy to just get out of the property without ruining his credit, so he takes your offer happily. In your offer, you write that the agreement is between the seller and you “or assigns”. Then you offer ten bucks as a down payment to make the contract legal (“exchange of consideration”). Your closing date is a couple of months hence. In addition, you tack on a whole pile of whim-and-fancy clauses, such as “this deal is subject to the final inspection and approval of the buyer before closing.” During the time before closing, you find a buyer to assign your interest in the contract to. Selling the place will be easy, since after all, you got it at a huge discount in the first place. You walk away at closing with a hefty profit. Unlike the vast majority of seminar attendees, I actually tried for a long time to do this in my neck of the woods, British Columbia, Canada. I failed miserably. I encountered the following realities: 1. Even with distressed properties, offering to buy a property that far below market value was a joke (I was trying 80%). I was laughed out of most negotiations… 2. Many of these properties were over financed, and even if they weren’t, there was no desperate bank mandate to unload these non performing assets at all costs. Generally, even in foreclosure sales, the owner or later, the bank, wanted fair market value. 3. Whim-and-fancy clauses were not acceptable to anyone I dealt with.

Where Is Tom Vu Now?

After apparently being shut down by the government for his tactics, Mr. Vu can now be found in poker rooms as semi-pro player. Let’s analyze this career move:

How does a real estate guru make money?

By taking it from chumps with illusions of making lots of easy money.

How does a poker player make money?

By taking it from chumps with illusions of making lots of easy money.

You’ve got to hand it to the guy, he definitely knows what his strengths are.