If you want to be a brain surgeon, your educational path is clear-cut. You need to earn a four-year degree from an accredited college or university that offers studies in pre-med. Then you go to medical school where, after two years, you start hands-on experience under practicing physicians; and upon graduation from medical school, you’d be required to complete a six-year residency program. After successfully completing 12 years of education and supervised training, you could be reasonably confident of your ability to find a job and be a brain surgeon.But what if you want to be a real estate investor? The education and time commitment is not what it takes to become a brain surgeon—but how do you get to the point of being a real estate investor? There are no defined programs that take you from A to Z, offering a license or degree for buying investment properties. But there are a seemingly unending number of books, tapes, videos, seminars and coaching programs from countless gurus offering their opinions about real estate investing strategies. Prices range from “free” seminars or downloadable e-newsletters to tens of thousands of dollars for classes.
How do you know where to start and whom to trust? Nouveau Riche’s co-founders, Jim Piccolo, Mary Piccolo and Bob Snyder, endeavored to create a community that would enable entrepreneurs to take back the American dream and regain financial freedom—and they believed real estate was the key to attaining that freedom. Over time, they established a duplicable system that yields proven results. Rather than create more books and tapes, which often left the student wanting more, they looked to the time-tested, foundational principles adhered to by all higher-education institutions—the Instructional System Design (ISD). ISD is renowned as the taxonomy that accelerates learning and maximizes retention. With the help of subject-matter experts, the Nouveau Riche founders built a curriculum of real estate investing courses. The result is a tuition-based, structured classroom experience—a real estate “college.” For those who don’t find the information they need from books or who have been disappointed by seminars, Nouveau Riche offers a real estate education solution that shows students where to begin.
Daniel Torgersen, a real estate investing student, has attended many real estate seminars but says nothing compares to the value of what he learned from instructors at the Nouveau Riche College. “This is the real deal,” he says. Nouveau Riche doesn’t offer the typical real estate information. The instructors tell you not only what to do, but also what not to do. The classes are well worth their weight in gold.” Another student, Jerome D. “JD” South, says the difference is, in part, the instructors’ experience. “They have so much validity and integrity in what they teach that they will back up everything that they do,” he says. “And if we have questions, they’ll bring proof to the table so we know they’re legit.” Compiling the Curriculum Nouveau Riche’s leaders are confident in their college product and give it away—in part. The founders and instructors understand it can be overwhelming to sift through the plethora of resources and authorities on how to “become rich” in real estate. Nouveau Riche offers an entire day—in some cases, two full days—of valuable education and turn it into a super-sized, free preview called The Intensive™.
The Intensive is content-rich in subjects ranging from basic real estate investing terminology to the specific courses, such as IRA and Retirement Plan Investing, Wholesaling and Understanding Mortgages, to name a few. Attendees walk away with knowledge and confidence. Some are so eager to learn more from these top-notch instructors—who are practitioners in their fields—that they purchase tuition to attend the college. The answer to the question, “How do I know this system will really teach me anything?” is provided for most through this initial exposure. Nouveau Riche instructors are experts in their particular field of study.
Knowing that students’ time and financial resources vary, Nouveau Riche has designed the college product with three tuition options: 30 hours, 60 hours and the most-popular 120 hours of classes (known as the Regents package). To add value to an already-solid curriculum, Nouveau Riche allows the tuition purchaser to select a partner who can share the hours or attend classes with the student at no additional charge. Students have one year to use the hours, which can be allocated throughout any of the six-day college sessions and are hosted six times a year. During the one-year redemption period, students can also repeat classes. Additionally, Regents package students—usually, about 99 percent of all students—receive an additional year to repeat classes, within guidelines, for a total of two years of ongoing education. Regents students can begin their educations right away through the online video classroom.
When a student purchases tuition, Nouveau Riche leaders can then answer, “How do you know where to start?” Like the brain surgeon in training, that’s where ISD comes into play. The Nouveau Riche College was designed with specific curriculum paths for students to follow. Students complete a short questionnaire called a Personal Preferences questionnaire before scheduling any classes. Based on the student’s time, money, credit, desire to learn and desired financial outcome, several potential learning paths with specific short- and long-term investment strategies are generated. Each path starts with foundational courses and increases in difficulty to higher-level concepts. While Nouveau Riche does not require students to follow the suggested paths, this ISD-based system follows the same science and logic proven to help brain surgeons achieve their learning objectives and ultimate goal—but in this case, it generates real estate investors.
Students schedule classes online before arriving for a college session so they can show up ready to dive in to learning. The venue is set up much like a traditional college, where multiple classrooms conduct different courses simultaneously—all with an instructor at the front of the room. Technology plays a key role in the functioning of these classes, with bar-coded, photo ID badges scanned to verify each student’s attendance in class, and instructors use PowerPoint presentations and audio/video systems. Each registered student receives a complimentary textbook when they come to class—no stops at the bookstore for expensive textbooks at this college.
Nouveau Riche College Course Curriculum
Adhering to the ISD learning system, classes are designed to measure and enhance retention.
100 Level Courses
Bookkeeping
Building Your Team
Buy & Hold I
Buyer Beware
Establishing Your
Business Vision
Real Estate 101
200 Level Courses
Business Financial
Management
Buy & Hold II/Landlording
Computer Property Analysis
Creative Acquisition Strategies
Creative Financing
Fix & Flip
Foreclosures
IRA & Retirement Plan
Investing I
Legal Strategies
Managing Property Managers
Market Analysis
Mechanic’s Liens
and Bankruptcies
Negotiations for Real Estate
Pre-Foreclosures
Tax Lien Certificates
Tax Strategies
Understanding Mortgages
300 Level Courses
Advanced Legal Strategies
Advanced Tax Strategies
Building an RME Portfolio
Business Financial
Management II
Introduction to
Land Development
IRA & Retirement Plan
Investing II
Lease Options
Master Leases
Probate Purchases
Subject-To Purchases
Wholesaling
400 Level Courses
Multi-Family Dwellings
Multi-Family
Property Management
Rehabbing
Seller-Financed Notes
Short Sales
*Nouveau Riche™ (NR) offers an educational system for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs. NR is the exclusive distributor of the materials, content, presentation design and format, which are proprietary products of Nouveau Riche Academy™ (NRA). Neither NR nor NRA is a degree-granting or vocational program, and neither is accredited with any academic or standards governing board. As with any College, courses and instructors may be added, changed, or removed from time-to-time. NR and/or NRA reserves the right to make replacements or substitutions to the curriculum, its content, presentation design and format, as it deems necessary to ensure the quality and effectiveness of its Colleges.
Nouveau Riche real estate investing student students are given a pre-assessment to evaluate their understanding of the subject matter. Within minutes, the instructor can see the results and use the information to determine which areas need particular
focus. At the end of the class, the students take post-assessments to measure their comprehension of the material. By comparing the pre and post-assessments, it’s easy to determine how well the instructors did their job. Students can also evaluate their retention by viewing their testing results online through a student Web portal.
Students also evaluate the instructors. These evaluations play an important role in keeping instructors on their toes. Nouveau Riche prides itself on the uniqueness of its instructors, who consistently receive high approval ratings—95 percent or higher, according to recent numbers—from discerning students. Nouveau Riche instructors are experts in their particular fields of study—not hired speakers or even teachers by trade. Practicing CPAs who are also real estate investors teach tax and bookkeeping strategies; real estate attorneys teach legal strategies; and investors with experience in a particular investment strategy—such as buy-and hold, rehabbing or short sales—teach those strategies. They bring real-life experience to the classroom and couple that knowledge with a rigorous curriculum.
Nouveau Riche students praise the college and its instructors for the practical and applicable education they receive. Student Mary Hamblin says, “The knowledge you can get from even one class can save you so much money and teach you incredible opportunities.” Wrapping It Up Nouveau Riche goes to great lengths to ensure the success of its students. As an aspiring—or accomplished—investor, it’s important to stay connected, to stay on top of the latest industry information and to run investment endeavors like a business. To support the network of investors and investors-in-training, Nouveau Riche maintains partnerships with companies that can help new and experienced investors. These Benefit Companies aid in obtaining investment properties, securing financing, establishing business entities, advising on tax matters and filing taxes, and accessing free, weekly, national teleconference real estate coaching. The group was the brainchild of CEO Jim Piccolo, who recognized that tools and ongoing support are essential to success. This practical assistance reduces failure and often eliminates remaining fears about investing in real estate.
Nouveau Riche student Robin Tedesco says the combination of education and ongoing support has been helpful. “We never thought we’d be at a college taking real estate classes,” she says. “The thought of doing it alone was what was holding us back, but this has been a phenomenal experience.” The package of services and training offered through Nouveau Riche sets the college apart in the industry. “With Nouveau Riche, a person can take what he learns from the class—even one class—and go out and apply it,” student Daniel Torgersen says. “The education is all about the application.” Some traditional colleges and universities measure success by the job placement percentages of their graduates. Nouveau Riche measures success by the actions of its students. Do students apply the knowledge learned in the classroom and purchase investment properties? Do they have the confidence to delve into strategies that they never knew existed? Are their lives changed? Ask any Nouveau Riche instructor or the three founders, and they’d give a resounding yes!
*This article is referenced from the magazine “Success From Home” written by Emily Robinson and the article is titled in SFH as “The College of Success” – The road to becoming a real estate investor is only a classroom away.
