So it is really amazing that 98% of the folks at the Trump pony show said they were satisfied.
I am very skeptical of the statistic, it is trumped up by Trump's people, I think. In any event if only one person was defrauded it is still a fraud.
The 3 day money back guarantee was also standard so if you didn't like what you heard, take your money and go home
As I understand the factual allegations, the initial weekend affair was really only an infomercial designed to pressure the "low info" attendees into springing for the next more expensive lecture.
As one with some experience in property myself, the first reality to be faced is that these homes were foreclosed upon usually because there are problems with the property. Rare is the example when the problem is with the owner of the property. That is because in a mortgage foreclosure the bank will take it by bidding in its balance so that leaves, normally, tax sales. It leaves tax sales also because that is where the property is available for a very cheap price. But there is a reason for that. Usually the property is undesirable in both location and condition.
The free market bids the price of these properties up to a point where very experienced experts whose sole occupation is to invest in these properties for a living know when the lines cross when it does not pay to buy them and improve them or even buy them and hold them. It is not a question of someone without experience walking into a tax sale in the courthouse and picking low hanging fruit.
Because the properties are not contiguous, it is more expensive to improve and maintain them, moreover, the entrepreneur finds that he does not have the economies of scale that lead to a profit.
As you point out, he is ignorant of the law, ignorant of real estate values, ignorant of tax and mortgage procedures and foreclosures, incompetent to fix and repair, often finding many obstacles to success even if he learned all there was to learn from Donald Trump. Trump, by the way, probably knows very little about this business because it has nothing whatever to do with golf courses or Taj Mahals. (Which, as it turns out, he didn't know very much about either.)
Even a witchhunt can be true. Ask Richard Nixon, ask Bill Clinton, and we will soon see with Hillary.
And in response to your very long message
Yes the average Jo or someone with no experience can’t make money on tax liens fire laurel and flips
And that Is why so MANY get rich on real estate companies other than Trump sell their seminars and packaged lectures on how to do it
They have services that cull properties to avoid the problems you mention
That is why you pay $2,000 or so for the course
Of course you have to be smart aggressively follow their protocol and never get greedy which is where many folks probably fail
“ but the tax assessor says this house that I got for a $600 unpaid tax lien is worth $200k and I ain’t gonna sell it to a lowball investor for $30k cash in 2 days! “
Btw I got a degree in English from a major university and never got a job as an English teacher or in publishing .... Waaaa!
Call me a defrauded consumer, get me a lawyer and lets go file a class action suit