DFWREIN: Alive or Dead?
Apparently there is a federal warrant out for the arrest of Cliff Robertson. I have not seen the warrant, nor have I confirmed it with the FBI.
Edit: My source for the FBI warrant information was wrong. Cliff Robertson, the owner of DFWREIN, is being investigated by the FBI in connection with complaints raised by people who believe they were ripped off. There is no warrant for his arrest. An investigation by the FBI does not mean Cliff is guilty of anything. I will keep you informed of any news.
Hi, I am the web master for DFWREIN.com. If you are being billed for a membership in DFWREIN please contact your bank or credit card company to stop the charges.
The web site may remain up for some time. The domain name is still in the possession of the previous DFWREIN owner. I’m sure she is working on plans to do something with the domain name, but, for now, those plans remain unspecified. If you would like to discuss Cliff, the club or any other subject related to real estate investing, feel free to post a comment.
Hi. Please keep me informed. I paid for a life-time membership to DFWREIN. Also, Mr. Cliff Robertson has a pending contract with me. Thanks.
What kind of a contract do you have with Cliff?
Hi. This sort of adds up for me. Last June I paid $1000 in good faith for a year’s coaching by the previous owner. Within 2 weeks, ownership changed and I was told the previous owner would “honor” her obligations. I got nothing. No replies to emails, etc…Cliff washed his hands completely of my loss, stating my contract was with old management. There was another coaching company associated with Cliff who invited me aboard. It was offered implicitly through DWREIN. My new fee? $6500 for a year, less the $1000 I paid the old owner for a “special” rate of $5500. While some effort was made to honor that commitment one on one, I soon learned that my trainer was cutting off ties with DFREIN and there would be no classes, no group training of any kind. I was basically left to learn on my own again. I am now launching a home improvement company which is doing well, but I would still like to find a legitimate and trustworthy coach who would make a real effort help me realize my real estate dream. At this point I’ll trade energy, hard work and enthusiasm, but sorry, no more money will be paid for any more training. The lessons I learned were way too expensive.
Phil@thousandhillsproperties.com
Phil,
I’m sorry, I thought I had answered this one, but …
Cathy had a stroke just after she sold DFWREIN. You may have tried emailing her while she was recuperating in the hospital. She is about to launch a new business. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for details.
I don’t think she ever intended to sell the coaching part of the business. When I contemplated buying the club in 2007 I stopped everything because she had a very hard time describing what was and what was not part of the club.
Hi Phil,
I believe the trainer you are referring to is me:-) As you know, I was working for Cliff for a while and as I started seeing the writing on the wall about where things were going and activities that I suspected were going on, I made the decision (a wise decision I might add) to completely distance myself from Cliff. Unfortunately the money you paid was to Cliff’s coaching company. As you may know, my current company doesn’t offer coaching, we have no plans to go that direction and it would be impossible for me to fulfill all of the obligations that Cliff has signed up for (nor do I feel obligated). But I would be happy to help you in any way I can on a personal level. You are a great guy with much enthusiasm and intelligence and I know you will be successful given the proper direction. Please contact me and we can discuss ways that I can help (no charge obviously).
Johnny
Johnny,
I want to post through this stream that I never held you personally responsible for my financial loss through DFWREIN nor from my ties with Cliff. I don’t care to be updated on his status or anything like that. I would however like to remain in contact with you. Recently I did some major home improvement brokering with a local contractor and he coincidentally knows you. He had great things to say about you as a person and businessman, which simply raised my impression levels and confirmed what I already felt.
I hope everything is going well for you these days. I would love to plug in to your world a little more. I sense you have great things going.
with much to share,
Phil
Thanks you for the info. Good there is a legal way to stop those who rip others off at their will
I really wish more people would use our small claims courts. It’s not exactly like Judge Judy, but it is entertaining and it teaches all parties how to safeguard against risky behavior, like oral contracts. It also adds a written record to events which might otherwise go unrecorded.
As a landlord I would like to know about every eviction and every money judgment a prospect has on record. If more landlords would pursue deadbeats in court, we would have lower vacancy rates and people who do pay on time might be treated better.
The libertarian in me blames the law. In an effort to protect consumers from fraud and other nasty consequences, we have established laws which make it unnecessary for us to learn how to negotiate, to read contracts or to seek restitution.
Never having learned those basic market skills on the little things, we do not possess the building blocks to learn them on the large ticket items, like real estate, education and cars.So, we have to pass more laws to protect us from the consequences of the first set of laws.
Just my 2 pennies,
Cliff Robertson has a new blog. Why not go over there and say hello?
Looked at his new blog. Noticed he’s not signing his name to his articles but instead using the pen name of cwr466. Guess that helps him hide from the people he screwed. He should use “419″ instead of 466 as his pen name since 419 is used to describe Nigerian money scams. That seems a more applicable title.
Guess he’s trying to screw people on a national level now.
I was watching Daily Show the other day and Jon did a skit on some sports figure who made a lot of money investing until the crash. His advice at the time included not reading books. He didn’t like to read and since he was an investment guru, what he said was followed by others.
I am not convinced that Cliff is a crook. I suspect he may be one of those really bad investors who made money despite his bad investments due to a bubble. Anything he did, whether it was stupid or not, made money and then bam! Overnight nothing worked.
Put yourself in his position: One day you are on top of the hill. The next day there is no hill and you are in quicksand. Every move you make you sink deeper. Every person who said you were the man is gone and everyone wants your head. Everything you have ever believed turns out to be false.
I’m not defending Cliff. I’m certainly not his friend. He found himself in a very tough situation and he chose to run instead of facing the music. As a younger man I made mistakes which resulted in me hiding rather than facing the music. Nothing nearly as bad as what Cliff did, but my integrity and my reputation suffered.
It’s only now that I see that staying and making things right is the better choice. Perhaps wisdom does come with age or perhaps I made enough of those smaller mistakes for that lesson to finally sink in.
That may have been how Cliff started out but his robbing peter to pay paul became a way of life until he started opening lines of credit in other peoples names.
You’re probably be right. Cathy sent me this article this morning:
Investment advisor arrested for ID theft, fraud along with his mug shot.
I invested with Cliff 3 months ago. I’ve had a couple conversations with him. Do you know how to contact him? His numbers and emails are not working anymore.
I have a cell number: 214 684-6288. I don’t know if it is good.
HTH,
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I appreciate common sense articles on real estate investing and not to go somewhere to learn something only to learn that I’m being sold something. My biggest wakeup call, to date, was the ‘new members’ seminar of Lifestyles Unlimited, taught by their CEO, Dell Walmsley. The seminar cost me $500, which I thought was just the cost of doing business in learning to be an investor. Then, at the end of the second day, he told the crowd that the basic membership we had bought really only got our questions answered by someone in their office. To really get the benefits of their expertise we needed to give them (him) $10,000! I’ve heard of “no free lunch” but this is ridiculous and an insult.
I am a retired pilot with a shrinking retirement fund. I would love to find a person, or group, who would just point me in the right direction. I have a new real estate sales license, a great attitude and no experience. Thank you.
Bob,
In response to your comment regarding common sense articles… I want to offer a link to the page on my website where I have posted all of my real estate investing articles that I have written. I try to write about real-life experiences and relay how this business is really not like the TV Guru’s want people to believe. Here is the link:
http://dfwmentor.com/jim_watkins__articles
Also, I would be happy to help you out by answering some questions if I can. If I can’t answer or help with what you are interested in, I will try to get you in touch with someone who likely can.
-Jim Watkins
thedfwmentor@aol.com
Jim,
How about updating your blog with your articles?
Then I could add your RSS feed to this site.
Thank you for responding to my blog. As I mentioned to Carol Johnson, I have to get my shoulder repaired and will be sort of stuck as a lefty for awhile, but I would love to look into some real help (as opposed to the “bait and switch” variety)
Thanks again, Bob Luke
Bob,
I’d love to help, I have been licensed since 1995 and I only do investment real estate. I sponsor very few agents as there are very few that understand this world. Call me and I’ve love to help you get started.
Thank for replying, and I apologize for not finding your blog until today. I would love to talk more with you, but it may be a little while. In a couple of days I have to get long overdue shoulder surgery. It’s a long story but when I get back not having to navigate the keyboard as a lefty I will get back to you.
Thanks again for offering help,
Bob
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Cheers,
Darren
Always investigate everyone who offers investment advice. Darren is the author of the story he links to and I suspect that, as a Financial Consultant, he makes a commission on the investment he’s pushing.
That’s not to say that Darren is unscrupulous, but you need to know where your advisers are making their money. One reason people were willing to invest with Cliff was that they were not used to checking out the people they dealt with.
Personally, I blame big government (at least partially) for “dumbing down” consumers. There is no need to fear a 10 page contract with an insurer or a stock broker because big government gives the illusion that it is regulating those contracts and protecting those consumers.