What You Should Know Before Attending a Real Estate Investment Webinar
Real estate investment webinars are increasingly popular, promising attendees insider knowledge, financial freedom, and “secrets the wealthy don’t want you to know.” While these sessions can provide interesting teasers, they are often structured as much to generate sales leads as to educate.
Having attended several real estate webinars, here is a guide on knowing how to identify hype, omissions, and unrealistic promises can protect you from costly missteps.
What to Expect: Part Education, Mostly Sales Funnel
Most real estate webinars are designed with a dual purpose:
- Education – Presenting concepts, strategies, and case studies that build interest and credibility.
- Sales Funnel – Guiding attendees toward the purchase of a course, mentorship program, investment property, or fund.
This isn’t inherently problematic—after all, businesses need customers. The danger lies in the fact that the “education” portion often sets up assumptions that make the sales pitch sound irresistible, without fully disclosing risks, costs, or limitations.
How They Make Money
It’s important to understand how webinar hosts make money as it makes it easier to identify conflicts of interest:
- Course or “mentorship” fees – charging thousands for coaching programs or training packages.
- Event upsells – selling tickets to bootcamps, masterminds, or in-person workshops.
- Property sales commissions – earning commissions or markups on properties promoted during the webinar.
- Referral fees – payments from builders, lenders, property managers, or turnkey providers for sending clients their way.
- Syndication or fund management fees – taking acquisition fees, management fees, and carried interest from pooled investments.
- Software or tool subscriptions – selling access to deal calculators, lead platforms, or “exclusive” resources.
- Affiliate arrangements – receiving compensation when attendees sign up for recommended services (LLC formation, tax prep, financing, etc.).
- Custodian or SDIRA partnerships – earning referral compensation when attendees open self-directed retirement accounts.
Common Promises You’ll Hear
Many real estate webinars recycle the same promises designed to appeal to new or eager investors:
- Guaranteed cash flow from rental properties.
- “Fast path to millionaire status” through aggressive growth or syndications.
- Zero-money-down deals available to anyone.
- “Pay no taxes” by using advanced strategies like cost segregation, 1031 exchanges, or claiming Real Estate Professional Status (REPS).
- Exclusive builder incentives that supposedly create instant equity.
- Leverage through retirement accounts using a Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA).
Each of these claims contains some truth—but also a series of caveats, omissions, and risks that are rarely discussed in detail during the pitch.
If you’re about to listen to a webinar, create a bingo card out of these and see if you can get a bingo!
Errors, Omissions, and Deceptive Practices to Watch For
Real estate investing can be a great way to build wealth. But there are no guarantees. I’ve seen successful investors but I’ve also seen many investors lose money, and get frustrated with the complexities of real estate investing.
Here are some common items that you should be aware of:
Cash Flow Projections without Realistic Expenses
Many highlighted properties with high returns on investment only include gross rental income minus only mortgage and taxes, conveniently omitting:
- Maintenance and repairs
- Capital expenditures (roof, HVAC, appliances, etc.)
- Tenant turnover and vacancy periods
- Property management fees
The result is inflated “cash flow” numbers that look enticing but collapse under real conditions.
Aggressive Appreciation Assumptions
Webinars often claim that a 7% (or higher) annual appreciation rate is “conservative.” Historically, U.S. residential real estate has averaged closer to 3–4% per year, with significant regional variation and downturn risk.
Assuming a high growth rate is a way to solve any problem but it’s not a good way.
Misrepresentation of Tax Strategies
You’ll hear a number of different tax benefits to real estate investing of which there can be many but they don’t apply to everyone.
- Rental Losses Offsetting Active Income: In most cases, rental income and losses are classified as passive under IRS rules, meaning they cannot be used to offset active income such as wages, salaries, or business earnings. While rental losses may reduce passive income from other properties, they generally stop at the passive activity limit and carry forward if unused.
- Exceptions exist—such as qualifying as a Real Estate Professional or meeting specific short-term rental (STR) participation tests—but these are narrowly defined and require strict documentation.
- Real Estate Professional Status (REPS): Presented as if anyone can qualify and offset active income with rental losses. In reality, it requires 750+ hours annually and more time spent in real estate than any other job—a high bar for most investors.
- Short-Term Rental (STR) Loophole: Promoted as a way to avoid passive loss limitations. While it can apply, the rules are nuanced, and IRS scrutiny is increasing.
- 1031 Exchanges: Marketers sometimes claim that a 1031 exchange gives you “new depreciation” every time you upgrade properties. In truth, while you may receive some additional depreciation from new capital, your original basis carries forward, limiting the benefit.
- Self-Directed IRA for Real Estate Investing: Using a Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA) to invest in real estate can sound appealing, but it comes with important trade-offs. All income and expenses must flow through the IRA, requiring a custodian to process transactions—often slowly and at an added fee. Investors lose common benefits like depreciation, and if leverage is used, the account may trigger unrelated business income tax (UBIT), reducing returns. These extra costs and complexities mean that while SDIRAs can work for certain investors with large retirement balances and passive strategies, they are rarely the most efficient way to hold real estate which is why some webinars encourage early IRA withdrawals….
- Encouragement of Early IRA Withdrawals: Some webinars suggest cashing out retirement accounts to buy real estate, downplaying or ignoring the immediate taxes and penalties—plus the long-term loss of tax-advantaged growth.
Incentives and Rate Buydowns
- Builder Incentives Framed as “Free Money”: Builder incentives, such as closing credits or upgrades, are not free cash. They are discounts or marketing allowances baked into the property’s pricing strategy.
- Mortgage Rate Buydowns Presented as “Free”: Rate buydowns can reduce monthly payments temporarily, but they require either upfront cash from the buyer or a builder’s subsidy. This is not a windfall; it’s a financing tool with trade-offs.
Checklist: Questions to Ask Before Believing a Real Estate Webinar Pitch
- What expenses are included in your cash flow projections?
- How do you account for CapEx, vacancy, and turnover?
- What appreciation rate are you assuming, and why?
- What are the exact requirements for the tax strategy you’re promoting?
- How do builder incentives impact the purchase price?
- Does a 1031 exchange provide new depreciation, or only limited step-up?
- Who pays for the rate buydown?
- What are the penalties and taxes for withdrawing retirement funds early?
- Who ultimately benefits most from this investment structure?