If you don't want to read all of this, just go to Maryland Case Search, and look up the HUNDREDS of former Students that Plaintiffs Charles and Ian Parrish - and Investors United - have sued and collected on after they stopped payments! Do not believe their homespun humor and hype! PLEASE RUN!
I came to an Open House 2 years ago. I was told, over and over agsin, that I could 'EARN WHILE YOU LEARN' at this school. I had been laid off from my Computer Center job, and was tired of submitting resumes and waiting for new opportunities. Charles and Ian Parrish convinced me - and about 10 others who signed up that night -
That if we just listened to him, followed the curriculum, made the calls, mailed the letters/postcards, followed the classifieds, went to the courthouse for records, talked to landlords, let friends and family know what we were doing, and walked the streets of certain (bad) neighborhoods, we would find:
Deals on foreclosed homes, people looking to sell older or run-down homes, or estate properties, or fixer-uppers, or investment commercial properties, or apartment buildings or short sales, or probate homes, etc.
I had about $25,000 in the bank (life savings!) took my savings, made a $3000 down payment, and began the classes. I went at this full-time, deciding to take 12 months off from working (no biggie - Between jobs anyway!) and dived into everything available at the school. Suffice to say, after folllowing all of the steps above, and walking neighborhoods that I may not return from, and Begging for help from the Parrishes, (whose promised coaching and counseling turned into, 'You're just not doing enough!'), I did not get anymore than a couple of 'encouraging nibbles' that never panned out! And of the nine others who joined with me that night, only ONE ever closed a deal on a decrepit house in North Baltimore that he WAS UNABLE TO SELL! (He eventually let it be foreclosed on!)
All the other 'nibbles' that we had were FOLLOWED UP BY THE MASTERMIND GROUP. It turns out that we 'Students' were used to FEED into the Parrishes, School 'Instructors', and 'Mentors', who skimmed anything off the deals, secretly closed other deals with prospects, or insisted on 'sharing' (up to 75%!) of any commission of the few deals that the other 40 students in my class came across in the year that I gave them. I attended almost every class, I went to their auctions, I met and paid 'instructors' for side sessions, I went broke mailing postcards, placing ads, running down landlords, digging thru court records, calling people, meeting people, making repeated offers that went nowhere. Allthe while, Charles and Ian Parrish and their 'cronies' skimmed the 'cream' off of any viable deals we presented and closed them for themselves. (Don't believe me? Look it up - they own 'Hundreds' of homes between them.
Oh, and look up the name Parrish, because tyhey like to put them in their wives, kids and family names!). They GUARANTEED you would succeed, or they would give you your money back! Turns out, if you miss ONE CLASS in a year, or fail to turn in a 2-page, typed, double-spaced report on my opinions of EACH CLASS, your guarantee is VOID. They created 'skinny contracts' to get sellers to sign quick (two-page sale contracts that turned out to be void in Maryland without the necessary disclosures, lead-paint forms and regulations that the state requires!), they taught us to lie through our teeth and misrepresent our intent, our roles and our agreements with potential sellers. They had us con potential buyers, but luckily, (!?!), we never got any homes close enough to actually dump on prospective buyers or contractors!
Earn while you learn? After 15 months of late bills, broken promises, and chasing pipe dreams, I went back to my 'day job', and was lucky to find a job back in my field of computer operations - at less pay than before, of course! I informed the Parrishes that I could no longer make the $385 monthly payments, and would not work with them anymore, as I almost lost MY OWN HOUSE to foreclosure! I tried to move on and forget this horrible nightmare, but it came back again to haunt me:
To add Insult to Injury, Charles and Ian Parrish took me to court and sued me for $13,000 still owed to them for their 'Valuable Classes'. They won the judgment and raided my bank account for the $4,000 that I had left, and put a negative balance of $9,000 on my account. Now I cannot keep a bank account, because they will track it down and put a lien on it - happened twice! - and took everything in my accounts. All the while, they were assuring me thst I could come back to the school and take more classes - for free! (Whoopee!) My credit is ruined, I cannot have a bank account, my own home is pending a loan modification, but I cannot pursue, because I do not have a bank account in my name.
Moral of the story: Don't BUY THEIR BULL. I had 'classmates' who lost homes, and lost hope - all the time listening to Charles and Ian Parrish tell you that they don't have time for you, but you have got to do more! I tried every method they taught - diligently and for 10 to 12 hours a day, even on weekends, andnever got a serious offer, while the Parrishes and their 'Instructor" cronies closed our deals left and right - FOR THEMSELVES! Don't get involved with these Shysters, they will feed you BULL and TAKE YOUR MONEY!!! Please, don't continue to let these CON ARTISTS take you for a ONE-YEAR RIDE!!!
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