Complaint Review: REI Black Book LLC - Internet

I personally know this software well.  I have used it, and others like it.  It's a rather sophisticated tool yet, it has been designed to be used by those who may not be sophisticated themselves.  It can only be "dumbed down", for lack of a better term, so much, before it becomes useless and ineffective.  What I mean by that is, if you don't understand how all of the moving parts work together you will end up using none of it and feel as though you have wasted your money.  However, if you take the time to sit down and figure it out, and you make an attempt to leverage the robustness of the software, you will be amazed by how much you can accomplish by one software package.  Don't get me wrong, it is not in and of itself a unique piece of software because there are many out there that do the same thing; auto-responding, landing page building, CRM, etc.. It is, however, the only one I've seen that adds value by producing content specifically for smaller real estate investors so they don't have to spend money/time doing so.  Out of the box REIBB is a fantastic product for those who are willing to take the time to invest in their business and spend some time learning about "technology".  Over time, as your business grows, you will outgrow this software because you'll need to replace modules of this product with some that have greater depth, but out of the box this is an amazing system.  If you think that by spending some money you'll magically have a real estate business up and running over night, you're delusional. REIBB can only bring you to the watering hole, it can't make you drink. 

This is a rebuttal in reply to another rebuttal that stated difficulty in using Microsoft Office as one of the reasons for paying a high fee on the REI Blackbook site.

If you find Microsoft Office difficult to use, then of course you need to put a grand down and another grand in monthly payments for someone to show you an easier way.   

Besides, I fail to see the reason behind charging a fee for posting on Craigslist when it's free otherwise.  A robbery on the freeway, but hey, it works for some.

I am a customer of REI Black Book and I see a report that REI Black Book is a rip-off with which I have to disagree. Its true I'm sure that you can get property analyzer software much cheaper and also cheaper software to post a professional page with 16 or 24 pictures to craigslist but REIBB is much more than that. For a full-time real estate investor it has many great things to offer.

It has so much in fact that you could work with it regularly everyday and probably still wouldn't utilize all it has in a year. One can just about run every aspect of a real estate business with their client genie, mail merge, websites, contact manager, and too much other stuff to name here. It puts microsoft office to shame as far as ease of use, plus its tailored to investors and is similar to facebook for investors except not as corny. The service is a little pricey with the initial fee but I don't think the monthly fee is unreasonable. 

For a tech savvy real estate business it would be worth it if the business is profitable at all. If real estate is a hobby or you are looking to start investing in real estate its not for you - yet. Once you turn some deals you will appreciate their service. It took me several months to learn my way around enough to leverage my production sufficiently and thats what its all about.