Maryland seminar imparts real estate investment "secrets"

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Mar 31, 2008 by Caryn Tamber

It was a chilly Thursday evening between Christmas and New Year's, but the conference room at the Colony South Hotel in Clinton was hopping.

About 200 people had come to a free seminar to hear Lloyd and Vicki Irvin reveal the secrets of getting rich in real estate.

By the time the Irvins and students from their Maryland Real Estate Secrets course finished speaking three hours later, the audience was energized. They clapped hard and laughed at all the right moments.

And when it was time to submit applications for the Irvins' $6,500 real estate investment training program, dozens of audience members rushed to the sign-up table.

The Irvins' pitch is that they learned how to get rich in real estate, made millions themselves and now want to pass on their knowledge to others. Their program, they say, is for people who want to make "life-changing money."

The Irvins declined to answer questions in person or by telephone for this article, but they did respond by e-mail to e-mailed questions.

'Man of greatness'

The woman who introduced the Irvins at the seminar, who gave her name as Dominique Danielle, said Irvin was a "man of greatness" who once was featured on the cover of Fortune magazine. A search of Fortune's archives does not reveal any hits for Lloyd Irvin's name. When asked about the claim, the Irvins wrote that Danielle had made a mistake.

The magazine that featured Irvin was actually Millionaire, and the December seminar was the only one at which Danielle confused the two, the Irvins wrote.

They later wrote that they had meant Millionaire Blueprints. That magazine bills itself as providing "Detailed Examples, Step-by-Step Instructions, And Specific Blueprints From Self-Made Millionaires."

From the Irvins' Web sites, their seminar and public records, a picture emerges of a multifaceted empire of enterprises, including martial arts, Internet marketing, and a connection to cosmetic dentistry.

Those enterprises are in addition to Maryland Real Estate Secrets, a term they trademarked and, according to the trademark application, have been using since May 2006.

Lloyd Irvin has an undergraduate degree in business administration from Bowie State University, while Vicki Irvin has a bachelor's degree from American International College and a master's from Bowie State.

When it comes to real estate investing, the Irvins claim to have trained more than 600 students. Their Web sites feature written and video testimonials from people who say they have gotten rich or plan to get rich using the Irvins' techniques, such as a woman who says she bought a Porsche with her earnings.

"[T]here are a lot of scams out there," the Irvins warn on their Web site. But they bill themselves as the real deal: ethical local investors who have used their own techniques to get rich.

"You will not see me taken out in handcuffs because I did something illegal," Lloyd Irvin told the crowd at the Dec. 27 seminar.

Being the bank

Those who say the slow real estate market makes it a bad time to invest in property are wrong, Lloyd Irvin told the seminar audience. It is a bad time for "traditional" investing, but not for the techniques he teaches, he said.

"They're not talking about what we're doing," Irvin said. "It's a great thing for an investor for there to be millions of people who want houses."

What the Irvins teach, he told the audience, includes getting cash immediately by "wholesaling," or finding a deal and selling it to another investor.

Irvin said students should look for deals with people who have good income but bad credit. Then, he said, "[y]ou can do what you want because you're the bank."

Buying a house and leasing it back to a resident with bad credit at a price higher than the monthly mortgage can bring in serious money, especially if investors conduct such transactions repeatedly, Irvin said.

"How do we find the millions of people with good income and bad credit?" Lloyd Irvin asked. "You call up and you solicit one of the top Internet marketers in the country: me."

Asked about that statement, the Irvins wrote that students are on their own for finding deals, but that Lloyd Irvin offers his expertise on how to attract customers.

His wife, he said, refuses to raise the rent too high on the properties she owns because "she loves her little renters."

Irvin told the audience that he also teaches about deals which allow investors to defer paying capital gains taxes and "fix and flips," where an investor buys a property, improves it and sells it quickly.

The best money can come from the ugliest houses, he said.

"If you smell dirt and nastiness, that smells like money," Irvin said.

Using his techniques, investors should be able to retire in "anywhere from two to five years," Irvin said.

Package value

All this contrasts with a disclaimer the Irvins give on their Web sites, warning that people who take their course may not make anything at all and that the Irvins are not liable for any damages incurred as a result of their program. Lloyd Irvin also said at the beginning of the seminar that anyone interested in real estate investing should contact a real estate lawyer.