Frequently Asked Questions

How is your Wicked Smart® Academy different from all of the other courses out there?

First off, the Academy is a wide-ranging collection of courses, live trainings, and event recordings. This isn't just 10 videos that some “educator” produced a decade ago and have let collect dust as profit continues to roll in. There's simply no other course or team like ours in the country.

Our family business, support system, and Wicked Smart® Community is really what sets us apart from every other business in this niche of real estate. The modules are updated continuously, we offer free support, our team is in the trenches doing deals, and — most important — you'll find that we focus on win-win-win solutions.

What does it mean to become an Associate?

As you launch your real estate investment business, we’ll be assisting you in buying and selling these properties with little to no cash investment. We’ll advise you deal-by-deal, situation-by-situation, critique your sales calls, and have a weekly coaching session with you — sharing all of our strategies, techniques, and secrets along the way to help you be able to do the exact same thing over time. In addition to the weekly calls, we match effort-for-effort and end up speaking with many of our Associates and/or their buyers & sellers quite regularly.

Do I need a real estate license to be able to buy and sell property on terms?

The short answer is “no, you do not need a license.” You're acting in these deals as an investor, not an agent. Now, of course, there are pros and cons to having your real estate license — but none of our family team members are REALTORS® anymore. We do have students currently working as agents and doing their own deals, though; it's a personal choice. If you decide to come into the Wicked Smart® Community, you'll be able to speak with other students as well about how to operate in the conventional real estate space most effectively.

Starting out, if someone questions my credibility, can I use your name in my marketing?

Should you decide to become an Associate, you can refer to us as your Senior Associates. We'll jump on phone calls with both you and your sellers, providing all the credibility that you desire.

Though, if you're an Academy student and we don't have a coaching relationship, you should instead rely on projecting confidence with what you've learned from our seller scripts.

How long will it take me to get a deal?

The one thing that we always say when asked these types of questions is, “How could we tell you that? We don't know you yet.” Some students have gotten deals in as quickly as 30 days while others took upwards of 6 months. Though, what we can tell you is this — if you commit to learning, implementing, and refining this business over the next 36 months, you're going to be better off than 95% of all other real estate investors operating today. That's a fact.

What type of support can I get with my real estate deals?

As an Associate in our Wicked Smart® Community, we'll help you from beginning-to-end on each and every one of your deals. But, the support isn't limited to just our coaching student. Your membership in the Wicked Smart® Academy comes with email support at no additional charge. Anyone can also join us with FREE access EVERY SINGLE WEEK on our Wicked Smart® Sit Down. These live trainings are held Thursdays on Zoom at 4pm EST. You can register to attend by CLICKING HERE.

If the market declines, how will this affect buying and selling on terms?

As you probably know, we can't predict what the market is going to do long-term. Though, the funny thing is that when people talk about the “market,” they don't take into consideration that it is made up of thousands of small markets spread all across the country. All of those markets will be affected individually and at different times for different reasons.

Our Founder & CEO, Chris Prefontaine, designed and built this business after the 2008 crash to weather all markets. That's the beauty of it. These terms deals will protect you in what many would call a “down market.” The techniques that we teach can also be used in traditionally “hot markets” as well. We suggest buying property with the longest term possible, structuring deals to produce the most principal pay down, never signing personally, and not using your own cash, credit, or bank loans.

How often do banks or lenders challenge these types of deals?

In our combined decades of doing these types of real estate deals, we have never had this happen to us — but it does not mean that it's impossible. We feel that you shouldn't let it concern you all that much though because banks are in the business of collecting interest not properties. Our experience has been that as long as you're paying the mortgage, they're not going to bug you. If you are truly concerned, please ask your attorney if buying it on a contract for deed would make more sense.

Can I come and learn from you in person?

While, no, we don't currently offer in-person coaching, you're more than welcome to attend our virtual gatherings and workshops like In The Trenches Bootcamp, where you can interact directly with us. For up-to-date information on these training sessions, just visit: smartrealestatecoach.com/events.

Each Fall, we also host our QLS Live event in Boston, Mass. You can learn more at QLSLive.com.

If I don’t have any money to invest in courses or coaching, how do I get started?

The good news is that so many of our stepping-stones are absolutely free. Listed below are three ZERO-COST ways that can help you start creating 3 Paydays® without using your own cash or credit:

  1. Access our Wicked Smart® Toolkit. This introductory course provides you with live training sessions, scripts, call recordings, lead generation tools, and digital copies of our best-selling books.
  2. Register for our Master’s Class. In this one-hour presentation, led by Chris Prefontaine, we'll show you how to generate the leads you need to buy properties on terms, review REAL live deals, and set you on the path to creating the life of your dreams by buying and selling real estate creatively.
  3. Schedule a 15-Minute Strategy Call. There's no hard sales pitch; just a strategy session where you’ll have an honest conversation with our team about where you are, where you want to go, and what's standing in the way. You'll walk away from this call knowing that it was time very well spent.

Have more questions that weren't answered here?

Schedule a FREE 15-minute strategy call and we can cover any topic you like!


Please note that Wicked Smart®, LLC dba SmartRealEstateCoach.com earnings are in no way average and that any examples provided should not be considered typical as your results will vary on many factors. Our team has been working in this niche for many years. If you think you can get rich by simply clicking a button or allowing others to do all the work, then we recommend you do not invest your money in any educational program or business tools as it will not be a good investment. Our team is here to support you and we hope that you make buying decisions because you are also dedicated to success.

From time to time, we send emails promoting other company’s products or services and may earn commission for doing so. It is important to realize that while we only send products that we believe will help your business, we do not recommend investing into anything without doing you own due diligence. Like with anything in life, in order to succeed, you will need to put forth effort and be persistent. And finally, any information provided is education and cannot be taken as legal or financial advice.

We are not attorneys. Laws change in every State from time to time. Always check with your attorney before buying and/or selling real estate for the applicable laws in your area. These laws may or may not affect some of the techniques we teach. There are no laws to our knowledge that can STOP you from profiting in real estate, but you’ll need to seek a qualified local real estate attorney.

As of the posting of this disclosure, we are aware of laws in the following areas that are different from the other States. This is not all inclusive and only those that we are aware of:

  • Texas: Lease/purchase restrictions unless you comply with local changes.
  • Maryland: Foreclosure laws within 20 days of foreclosure. We don’t teach foreclosure. Some restrictions buying subject to existing mortgages.
  • North Carolina: Comply with 3-day right of rescission as well as recording agreements when doing lease/purchase.
  • California: Foreclosure property laws. We don’t teach foreclosure.