Van Sturgeon’s Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets Review – 4 Pitfalls of Real Estate Investing + A Digital Alternative

Van Sturgeon’s Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets is an online training program that teaches you how to invest in real estate using the 4-F Framework. The four F’s stand for Find, Fund, Fix, and Flip. You find rental properties, get the funds to purchase and fix them, and then you flip them to make a profit. The course has 8 modules that walk you through the whole process.
Van Sturgeon’s Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets is a well-structured intro to house flipping. It’s beginner-friendly and affordable at $29.99, but the real costs come later with upsells. If you’re looking for a more passive, scalable alternative, I recommend local lead generation instead.
As someone who does digital real estate, my opinion on Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secret’s 4-F Framework is that it’s like trying to break into SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch program as your first engineering project. It has complex systems, massive capital needs, and zero autopilot for beginners. One wrong calculation and the whole mission burns up before orbit. The business model itself is complicated and risky. And if you’re after passive income, it doesn’t provide that either as you’ll always have to find, fund, fix, and flip. You must be very dedicated to succeed.
In this Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets review, I dive into the program’s modules, its pros and cons, and who the creator is. I also show you the pitfalls of real estate investing. I end with a more secure “real estate” business, called digital real estate or local lead generation.

What Are the Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets Pros and Cons?
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| In his over 30 years in real estate, he has accumulated over 1200 multifamily properties and earned over 9-figures in revenue. | Selling physical real estate doesn't let you earn a predictable income and there are many parts to this business that you can't control. |
| 1-on-1 strategy session with Van. | This training is only an intro to the high ticket course Van sells. |
| You learn all the strategies Van has implemented in his business to earn over $100 million with real estate investing. | Managing rental properties is a hassle with all its moving parts, even if you make a smart buy. |
| Price | The Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets costs $29.99. |
|---|---|
| Refund Policy | 30-day money-back guarantee. |
| Training | Introductory course with 8 training modules and 3 bonuses. |
| Reputation | Van Sturgeon has an excellent reputation in the real estate space as he's made over 100 million in revenue. He's been featured in Yahoo Finance, The Los Angeles Tribune, and more. |
What Are the 4 Pitfalls of Real Estate Investing?
- No steady income. When investing in real estate, you cannot expect to make a certain amount of money each month. Real estate investing is not a job, it is a business and you will get out of it what you put into it. But you cannot expect a predictable income each month as you would if you had a job or if you had cash flow with clients who paid you each month. If you want to earn a steady income, you might want to consider buying a property and offering it as short term rentals like Airbnb.
- Expensive to get started. To get started with real estate investing, you have to pay thousands of dollars as a down payment for your first rental property investment. If you do your research, you may find a way to not put any money down. If you are resourceful, you may locate an accredited investor who has the capital to purchase the property for cash or cover the down payment simply, though you will have to share the profit after you eventually sell the property. Regardless of the method you take, real estate investing requires thousands of dollars. Commercial real estate investing is even more expensive. Still, if commercial real estate is your ideal business model, taking a commercial real estate course can help you learn how to manage these expenses. Cashflow to Freedom Academy is one option.
- Tenants can be a headache. When purchasing an investment property, one of the biggest headaches you can have is dealing with tenants. You will deal with late monthly payments, maintenance issues inside of the rentals, and depending on who you approve to rent from you, rowdy tenants. It can happen in any rental property, whether single-family or multifamily real estate. If your tenants have kids who are always running, they may cause issues with other tenants. Tenants will not allow you to earn a passive income because issues will always arrive. The same can be said for commercial real estate tenants. Property management companies deal with these issues all the time.
- Takes time to see a return on investment. Before jumping into real estate investing, you must accept the reality that you will not see a return on investment quickly. It takes time to find a property, get funding to purchase it, fix it and sell it. The entire process of flipping houses or any other property may take months or even years without you getting a penny in return. If you are not patient in the real estate market, as an investor or a real estate agent, this business model will not work for you. Your real estate investment is a long-term play.
What’s Included In Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets?
- Module 1. In the first module, Van talks about how he made his money investing in real estate. He explains why he believes real estate investing is the #1 way to build generational wealth and the 5 risks to real estate you should know before getting started.
- Module 2. In module 2, Van talks about what you can do to make money in real estate this week. He also shares the 3 real estate investing methods you can use in North America and explains how the wealthy leverage real estate to protect their wealth.
- Module 3. Van dives into helping you determine if you’re going to be active or passive with real estate investing. He explains why the best approach to real estate investing is different for everyone and shares 4 ways you can passively get started.
- Module 4. Here, you learn Van’s strategy for growing your portfolio quickly and how you can buy a rental property without putting 20% down or needing financing.
- Module 5. Module 5 is all about how to find “hidden-gem” real estate deals and how to get your feet wet with real estate investing.
- Module 6. Module 6 shows you how to Fix and Flip rental properties successfully while making a great profit.
- Module 7. In module 7, Van explains how it’s possible to own 20, 200, and 2,000 doors. You learn what the BRRRR method is and how it can benefit investors with little capital.
- Module 8. Van again touches on flipping rental properties.
- Bonus #1. The first bonus you get with your purchase of this program is an investment calculator that, according to Van, will help you save on renovations.
- Bonus #2. Bonus 2 is a 15 minutes strategy session with Van.
- Bonus #3. This bonus is simply the downloadable PDF of what the 4-F framework is.
What Do Students Say About Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets?
Students say that Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets helped them. One student thought it took a lot of money to get into rental property investing. When he saw Van’s content on Instagram, he realized that the business model was not so complicated. He took this intro 4-F course and then got into Van’s advanced course. There, he learned how to source deals, learned about financing and partnerships and more. He even used some contracts Van uses in his business as a framework for his own contracts to get his first fourplex. He highly recommends Van’s training.

Soli is another one of Van’s students who found value in the Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets training program. Before joining Van’s program, Soli wasn’t comfortable negotiating on bids. After implementing his advice and training, she felt much more confident when going into negotiations. On one particular deal, Van’s advice helped her save $10,000 on a bid by simply asking. Soli shared that she feels as though Van cares about her business and recommends that everyone take the chance to work with him.

Who Is Van Sturgeon?

Van Sturgeon is a millionaire real estate investor from Chicago, Illinois. His parents didn’t have enough money growing up, and they struggled to survive. The apartment building they lived in was for sale and was 60% vacant. His family purchased the building and began doing renovations themselves, since they couldn’t hire anyone. Van attended University and was accepted to several law schools. Though his parents wanted him to become a lawyer, he didn’t. Therefore, he started his own general contracting business in Chicago while flipping properties.
In the past 30 years, Van has created many businesses in real estate and is on a mission to help one million people become millionaires through real estate investing by 2030.
On his TikTok account, he has over 21,000 followers and often post content sharing his real estate investing secrets.

On the Van Sturgeon YouTube channel, he only has over 40 subscribers and does not post any new content.
What Is Van Sturgeon’s Net Worth?
Van Sturgeon’s net worth is estimated between $50 million and $100 million when you consider that he’s generated over 9-figures in revenue as a successful real estate investor and coach.
What Are Alternatives to Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets?

SEO for Real Estate Investors is an online program by Jerryll Noorden that teaches you how to generate highly motivated seller leads by leveraging search engine optimization strategies. Along with your investment, Jerryll will mentor you and check your work as you go through the course. There are 15 training modules and the entire training is hosted on the Monday.com app. You are also given access to their private Facebook group for added support.
Price: SEO for Real Estate Investors costs $25,800.
More Info: SEO for Real Estate Investors Review

Generate Agent Leads by Prab Mangat offers the R.E.M.C. certification program to help real estate professionals start and scale a real estate marketing consultancy. This course shows you how to make money in real estate without having to do any of the fixing and flipping yourself. Prab shows you the steps to landing your first 10 clients in only a few weeks and how to automate and scale your process. With this program, you get direct coaching from Prab, training videos, scripts, SOPs and live coaching calls every week. You also get access to their private Slack chat for support.
Price: Generate Agent Leads costs between $5K and $15K with financing options available.
More Info: Generate Agent Leads Review

The Virtual Group by Tiffany and Josh High is an online program that shows you how to scale your real estate business by improving your marketing, systems, acquisitions, and dispositions. This is a 4-week live training that starts on the first Tuesday of every month. With your investment, you get access to their scripts, onboarding schedule, and SMS outreach templates. You are also invited into their private Facebook group and you get training on how to hire a team to help you scale your business faster.
Price: The Virtual Group costs $997.
More Info: The Virtual Group Review

Springboard to Wealth by Thach Nguyen, Stephanie Owens, and Marc Erickson is a comprehensive real estate mentorship program that teaches aspiring and seasoned real estate investors how to find and develop the right properties and nurture a competitive mindset. With this course, you will get step-by-step videos and guides, live coaching calls and meetups, access to their Facebook groups, and a $2,000 credit to acquire your LLC and set up your business.
Price: Springboard to Wealth costs $6,000, according to various online sources.
More Info: Springboard to Wealth Review
Should You Take Real Estate Investing Courses?
You should take real estate investing courses if you are ready to dedicate yourself to the business model. The course should also provide you with all the knowledge and strategies you need to own, operate, and even flip properties successfully.
What Is the Best Way to Learn About Real Estate Investing?
The best way to learn about real estate investing is by:
- Listening to podcasts
- Reading Blogs
- Chatting on forums
- Watching YouTube videos
- Attending Seminars
Is Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets Worth It?
Ultimate Real Estate Investing Secrets is worth it if you’re ready to take on the risks, challenges, and dedication to real estate flipping. If so, the program’s low fee of $29.99 will already get you started with someone who has had massive success in the world of real estate. Just be prepared to be sold on Van’s higher ticket program that costs thousands of dollars. If you don’t want to pay for this intro course, you can find out what the 4-F Framework is and how to take advantage of it by searching for other successful real estate moguls.
However, real estate investing takes patience and the willingness to borrow and spend money upfront before seeing any return. The problem is that the level of control you have on your business is limited. You get to choose which property to buy, but you can’t control how fast a contractor is going to finish the renovations. You can’t control exactly when you’re going to sell your property or when you’ll get paid. Many other things are out of your control, such as deals not happening for reasons such as buyers failing to get mortgage approval or outstanding liens on the property.
If you want a “real estate investing” business where you’re in full control, I recommend digital real estate, specifically local lead generation. This is the business model I work with, and I can personally say it’s not risky at all and comes with full passive income once everything is set up.
Why Local Lead Generation Is More Secure Than Real Estate Investing?
Local lead generation is more secure than real estate investing because you have control over all aspects of your business. With this business model, you invest in service websites and rank them through local SEO. Once the site gets traffic, you rent it out or sell the leads to a local business in the area. You get to decide:
- Which niche you enter (plumbing, roofing, towing, tree removal, etc.)
- What city you rank in
- Who you rent the leads to
- How much you charge
- Whether you scale it, flip it, or let it run passively
Unlike a physical property, your lead gen site doesn’t require a mortgage, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, or tenants. If your client stops paying, you can redirect the leads to their competitor within 24 hours. Try evicting a tenant that fast in a real estate deal. And because your “renters” (business owners) only pay when they get calls or leads, it’s an easy close. It’s far easier than convincing someone to buy a $500,000 duplex in a volatile market.
Even in worst-case scenarios, like a Google update or a site dropping in rankings, you’re not losing physical equity or dealing with massive liabilities. You can rebuild, reoptimize, and re-rank.
In my opinion, real estate investing is like buying a Sunseeker Predator 65 yacht. It’s flashy, long-term, and expensive if something breaks. Local lead generation, on the other hand, is owning a fleet of Ubers. It’s flexible, scalable, and brings constant cash flow, without the insurance premiums or maintenance nightmares.
Local Lead Generation is My #1 Digital Real Estate Business

Local lead generation is my #1 digital real estate business because it generates true passive income. Without touching any of my websites after they’ve ranked, I make $52,000 per month. Plus, I only spent 15 to 25 hours for each website. So not long at all. For my roofing website, Elgin Elite Roofing, 649 Tollgate Road, Elgin, IL 60123, 847-925-7339, elgineliteroofing.com, I ask for a 5% commission. So if my roofing client makes $35,000 that month from my site leads, I make $1,750. As you can see, you can earn a decent amount even with just one website.
If you’re interested in local lead generation, the first thing you need to learn is SEO. I created a local lead gen course that focuses on this business model + SEO. It’s one of the only courses that will give you all the steps on how to rank quickly, as well as how to run the business. You can even use your knowledge to build and rank websites for my roofing client for a 1% to 5% commission. This way, you won’t have to do the sales talk yourself.

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Ippei Kanehara
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$52K per month providing lead generation services to small businesses
Ippei.com is for digital hustlers, industry leaders and online business owners.
His #1 online business recommendation in 2024, is to build your own lead generation business.