"Science of Options" - Anyone heard of them..?

[Harris]

Hi,
This month's API has full page advertisment by a company called "Science of Options" www.sop.com.au .

The ad has been designed to appear as a normal API article and its not till you are half way through it that you realise it actually is a paid advertisement.!

Interested to know if anyone else has researched the organisation or the call option strategy with an option to buy a property with development potential on delayed (up to 3 years) settlemet with a tiny deposit..?

I must have asked too many questions since I was advised to speak directly to the CEO/ seminar presenter.

The advertisement & website talks about acquiring large parcels of land with an option (not an obligation) to settle on the deal with a very small deposit and then following the seminar presenter's magic 5 step process to assess and complete the deal.

The CEO was not very forthcoming with the detailed answers however mentioned that 1) the process works smoothly everytime 2) he personally closed 63 million dollars worth of property in 2006 3) has hundreds of testimonials from his seminar attendees (though all the participant pictures in the website seem to have similar background..! probably taken in the seminar room) 4) he has refined and formalised the entire process with his self developed research tools, software and contracts to complete the process and
5) the 2 day workshop costs $25,000 for 2 days...! Alternatively one can pay $5,000 for the workshop and enter into the contract to share 50% of the profit from the first 5 deals with his entity..!

I am quite interested in attending the workshop however not sure if there really are sellers around (sitting on large parcels of develop-able land who would be happy to enter into an arrangement with a buyer on a miniscule deposit, 12-36 month settlement (conditional on getting DA) and with the buyer carrying an option (not a legal obligation) to settle the deal at the end of the term..?

Has anyone had experience with call option deeds on property.. or attended any seminars promoting these options..?

Thanks,

 

[Ausprop]

why would someone that has settled on $63m of property in 2006 be bothered/have the time to be telling people how to compete with him for the sake of a few grand? if he wanted to be charitable he could just donate to the local hospital or something.

I am also not sure why, as the owner of a property, you would tie up the sale of it for several years whilst some guy that has no ability to settle on it runs around and tries to on sell it with only a few grand deposit down. I am not saying it doesn't happen, but it's certainly hard to envisage someone being that stupid hey?

 

[Peter Parker]

Hi,
This month's API has full page advertisment by a company called "Science of Options" www.sop.com.au .

1, whois.com.au search sop.com.au:

Domain Name: sop.com.au
Last Modified: 09-Oct-2006 06:07:10 UTC
Registrar ID: R00045-AR
Registrar Name: Distribute.IT
Status: OK

Registrant: LANDS.NET.AU PTY LTD
Registrant ID: ABN 85112866341

Eligibility Type: Company

Registrant ROID: C4512693-AR
Registrant Contact Name: Zaffar Iqubal
Registrant Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Tech ID: C4512695-AR
Tech Name: Zaffar Iqubal
Tech Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Name Server: ns25.mdwebhosting.com.au
Name Server IP: 70.85.255.244
Name Server: ns26.mdwebhosting.com.au
Name Server IP: 70.85.255.245

2. whois.com.au search lands.net.au

lands.net.au

Domain Name: lands.net.au
Last Modified: Never Updated
Registrar ID: R00010-AR
Registrar Name: Melbourne IT
Status: OK

Registrant: CITY OF BRISBANE DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD
Registrant ID: ABN 40104698115

Eligibility Type: Company

Registrant ROID: C2422475-AR
Registrant Contact Name: CITY OF BRISBANE DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD
Registrant Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Tech ID: C2422476-AR
Tech Name: zaffar khan
Tech Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Name Server: rns1.melbourneit.com.au
Name Server IP: 203.27.227.123
Name Server: rns2.melbourneit.com.au
Name Server IP: 203.27.227.124

Hmmm - above site doesn't work!

Also need to clarify whether Zaffar Khan & Zaffar Iqubal are in fact different people

3. Google search

Zaffar Iqubal - no results - weird these days

Zaffar Khan - many results - but only one remotely relevant

A Zaffar Khan is a Sydney REA. Need to phone and see if there is any link
http://www.cumberlandrealty.com.au/properties/details_lease.asp?Key=6

4. Search ASIC website

a. 40 104 698 115 A recent resignation/retirement
b. 85112866341 A recent resignation/retirement

5. J****n search

Nothing.

6. Google

Nothing much except for sop site.

Peter

 

[handyandy]

5) the 2 day workshop costs $25,000 for 2 days...! Alternatively one can pay $5,000 for the workshop and enter into the contract to share 50% of the profit from the first 5 deals with his entity..!

Hi Harris

$25k wow that's some fee. A bit reminicent of Henry's courses.

The $5k etc seems somewhat strange. This would indicate that he needs his customers credit rating or some other aspect of their identity to accomplish deals.

Cheers

PS I may go along to the 3 hr session

 

[Ross Sondergeld]

It's not easy --- Pu/Call Options on large sites...

Hi...


If the guy put $63m under option himself in 2006. Then he should just do that for a living... he'll be a very rich bugga very quickly.

It's not easy getting options on developments sites.


You need to remember the competition (to get the option). For example...
#1. Big developers (Stockland, Sunland)
#2. High worth individuals with their own acquistion team
#3. Small developers with capacity to settle
#4. Dreamers and fraudsters... (heaps of them)

How is "Joe Average" going to get a foot in the door. I mean Joe Average has NO capacity to settle a big transaction.


For example... We had a guy recently that tried to buy a $00m site and then tried to inject $00m+ into a JV. The guy spent 00,000 just on legal fees to draft documents... in reality the guy had a nett worth of $10,000 or less and was in fairy land. We just kept telling him NO... his offer would not be considered but he kept going. He tried options, JV, straight offers with rebates... just about everything. The guy was a "dreamer". (Don't forget, I'm the real estate agent in this transaction.)

Then again... it is a vailid approach. But the dreamers stuff it for everyone. On the Gold Coast we get serial pests trying to put everything under option.


- Ross

 

[tubs]

Q) What's wrong with the testimonials?
A) They're all from people talking about the seminar. Not a single testimonial from anyone who's ACTUALLY made money from the system.

Incidentally Harry, for those who take up the $5k down and 50% of first 5 deals option, the company never expects to see any more out of them. They know they wont see the rest of the money, and dont expect it. They're actually happy with the $5k, its still a lot of money.

 

[Harris]

I have asked the people at www.sop.com.au to comment and present their point of view on the forum. Would be interesting to see if any feedback comes about from their side.

 

[Dove1]

Your questions answered

Hello everyone, my name is Daniel D'Avoine.
I have been involved with The Science of Options, now known as The Science of Property Options Pty Ltd (SOP) since I attended the workshop in December 2005. Having spent over 1 year using the system and working closely with Zaffar, you can imagine I have a lot to say. I will do my best to answer the questions now that have popped up on the forum, if anyone has any further questions please feel free to email me at [email protected].

First of all, I would like to give you a quick update of my most recent involvement with SOP. In August last year, Zaffar approached my team to become involved in the education facility. I grabbed the opportunity for two reasons:

1) It gave my team and I an opportunity to work more closely with Zaffar.
2) It was an excelent opportunity to leverage our time and creating more wealth while also feeling the satisfaction of improving our students' lives.

To answer some of your questions:

1) Why would we create competition by teaching this system, we are already doing very well, why charge only $5000 to create competition?

A) There are thousands of properties to source and although my team are very efficient at sourcing, we can only acquire a limited amount of property using our resources. By helping other people acquire property, we are leveraging our time. What would you prefer? 100% of one deal per month or 50% of 100 deals per month?

2) It is very hard to find somebody who will agree to the conditions.

A) A seller will only agree to conditions if they are fair, SOP teaches you how to create a win-win situation.
This is not a "get rich quick" scheme. It takes a lot of consistent effort to achieve great results. A lot of people will attend 4 years of university to learn their profession. SOP guarantees you will succeed in only 12 months provided you make atleast 4 offers per month, if not, you recieve your money back after the 12 months.

3) $25,000 for a two day workshop?

A) This is with no profit sharing. The two day workshop is only the first two days of the next 363 days of your time with SOP (whether you are profit sharing or not). The program includes the required software, 12 months mentoring and coaching, all required legal documentation and many other surprises. While writing this, I just had a phone call from a student who did the November Workshop, she just called to recieve an update to her surprise and was bragging about having unlimited access to RP Data for the past two and a half months!

4) We will not recieve any money from the 50% profit sharing, we rely on students payment.

A) I manage the accounts for SOP and being an investor in the company I keep a close eye on profits. The funds we have recieved from the students to date have not covered our expenses for the marketing and venue hire of the seminars and workshop. We are relying on the success of our students closing profitable deals to cover the remaining overheads of the company. In the mean time, profits from our current developments are footing the cost.

I hope this has answered most of your questions. Any further comments are welcomed and I ask that you send me an email ([email protected]) as I do not check this site regurlarly.

The best way to know the ins and outs of the system is log onto the website at www.sop.com.au or attending one of the 3 hour seminars.

Good Luck with your investing journey for this new year.

Warm Regards,
Daniel.

 

[Peter Parker]

First of all, I would like to give you a quick update of my most recent involvement with SOP. In August last year, Zaffar approached my team to become involved in the education facility.

Which Zaffar?

Peter