FAQs

In some ways, yes…it’s at an amazing resort, in a beautiful part of the world, with great food, new friends and lots of fun parties and activities. And you’ll be away from the daily grind, and not having to cook or clean.

But in most ways, not really.

Simply put, this is the preeminent educational event put on by The Real Estate Guys™ each year. And it’s like no conference you’ve ever attended.

A “Summit” is a gathering of elite leaders, industry experts, and like-minded individuals for the purpose of sharing information, discussing ideas, and making strategic connections. It’s a high-level event.

A “vacation” is a bunch of random people who happen to end up at the same place on the same week to eat, drink and sunbathe. There’s nothing strategic, educational, or elite about most vacations.

Meanwhile, most conferences take place in boring hotel meeting rooms, so the obvious focus is the event, not the venue.

For our Summit, think of the resort like the conference center at a hotel. It’s simply the venue. Without the Summit attendees, the resort is just a beautiful property that caters to a bunch of random people on vacation.

Yet for some reason, every year we get a few folks (and only a few), who compare the price of the Summit to the price of a vacation at the resort and wonder why there’s such a big difference. Yet no one would sign up for a conference and expect only to pay for their hotel room. The main value is the conference, not the hotel room.

The Summit is the ENTIRE event… including the resort, the Faculty, the class sessions, the materials, most meals, and so forth.

To keep it simple, we wrap it all up in one price. So please don’t think of the Summit as simply a vacation. It’s a Summit. We just think it’s a lot more fun to have a Summit at an awesome resort where we can all have some fun. And once you’ve been on a Summit, we think you’ll agree!

In a word: PARADISE! The Real Estate Guys™ first discovered Belize more than 15 years ago, and it’s no secret that we have fallen in love with the place. The country is breathtakingly beautiful, the food is totally fresh, organic and delicious, and the people are some of the most authentic and friendly folks you’ll ever meet.

When we made the difficult decision not to spend part of the Summit on a cruise ship in 2021, the first place that popped into our mind that could replicate the fun, the feel and the vibe we usually experience on the Summit was Ambergris Caye. The response was overwhelmingly positive … so much so that we decided to do it again in 2024.

Belize is home to the world’s second largest barrier reef, and draws people from all over the world to experience it’s water-based activities like swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing and boating. But it’s also home to Mayan Ruins, zip-lining, cave tubing, the largest jaguar preserve in the world and probably the coolest zoo you’ve ever experienced.

The weather is great, the official language is English, and the exchange rate is not only simple ($2 Belize = $1 US), but virtually everyone takes US Dollars so there is no need to exchange currency coming or going.

Ambergris Caye is the largest island in Belize and the top tourism destination in the country. The water is turquoise blue and always 80 degrees, and the island enjoys 330 days of sunshine a year.

This is really a two part question.

First ask yourself, “Do I want to bring my children?”

If you decide not to use this as an opportunity to take a break from the kids, then the remaining question is: will the kids enjoy it?

Based on all of our prior Summits, and our dozens and dozens of trips to Belize, the unequivocal answer is: Your children will ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

And since we will have the entire resort to ourselves, there will be lots for your kids – from toddlers to teenagers – to enjoy.

While the rate for kids is far less than the Summiteer rate, it may still seem high, especially for younger kids. But at a high-end resort, everything is typically more.

The children’s rate includes a contribution toward lodging for 8 nights, including a resort fee for the many resort amenities, most meals (at hotel prices), and the popular (some say absolutely essential) Youth Program.

This year our Junior Summiteer Youth Program, for children ages 10-17, will provide supervision and activities for kids during our class days, so you can concentrate on participating in the event. Children under the age of 10 will need a nanny/caretaker to participate in the Youth Program.

While you’re in class, your kids can swim in the pool, head to the private Beach Club, and partake in lots of fun activities, all the time being supervised by trained adults who will be able to reach you if they need to.

Dinner is one of the most impactful parts of the Summit, and we have a special dining program for your kids as well, which is optional but very popular.

We’ll start by saying that if you choose, your kids of any age can sit with you at dinner each night.

However, from our years of experience we’ve discovered that the Summit Kids pretty quickly start hanging out together and really enjoy it. So our Kids Dining Program works likes this…your entire family will be seated together for the first Summiteer Dinner on Wednesday, and if possible you’ll be seated with at least one other family.

For the next 5 nights, we’ll seat all of the kids together at adjacent tables, along with any nannies traveling with families and our Junior Summiteer Youth Program coordinators. You’ll know exactly where they are, and vice versa, so you can be as involved as need be.

On the final Tuesday night, you’ll be back with your family.

And Belize is the perfect place to stay over a few extra days with your family once the Summit is wrapped up…and lots of us will be doing that! So you can enjoy the fun of Belize along with your kids.

Of course, if you have young adult children between 18 and 25 years old, we have a special Young Investor rate for them to strongly ENCOURAGE you to bring them. We think you should probably make them pay for part of the tuition so they’re invested in themselves … but that’s up to you.

How much time you spend in classes is entirely up to you. There are no attendance requirements, though most people attend every available session. You paid a lot for the training and networking. But we also understand how tempting the pool and beach can be.

Class days typically start no later than 8:30 am (sometimes earlier) and go as late as 5:30 pm. But we know you’ll also want to enjoy Belize, so we’ll have some time off for fun as well, and some days classes will only be in the morning.

There are also round table discussions, pre- and post-dinner parties, and a few other scheduled group events. There’s never a dull moment and you’ll get the full schedule the first morning together. Please don’t ask for it in advance because we don’t create it until the week before. That’s the only way we can make sure it’s relevant and accurate, as we’re still recruiting faculty; coordinating topics, panels, and excursions; and working out a thousand logistical details right up until we all arrive in Belize.

Absolutely not! There’s not much worse than paying top dollar for an “educational” event, only to get there and find every seminar is really a hyped up tease to up-sell another event … or worse, a hard close on some product or service at “today and today only special pricing.” We HATE that and don’t allow it at our events.

So here’s the deal: You’re paying for education and access to the faculty, and that’s what we deliver. Plus we throw in some parties, entertainment, and many awesome meals. It’s a ridiculous deal. And people LOVE it. Many of them come back year after year after year … and bring their friends and family.

Our faculty are all real life business people. That is, teaching isn’t their main gig. They teach because they like to, they want to give back, and it provides exposure for their businesses. If you get to know them and decide you want to do business with them at some point in the future, that’s up to you. But no one will be pressuring you during the Summit.

We also have a STRICT non-solicitation environment. This means we do NOT tolerate people coming to the Summit and peppering the seats with flyers, putting business cards on the dinner tables (or in the bathrooms…yuck), or badgering people in every conversation with their elevator pitch. That kind of behavior just ruins the experience for everyone, so we police it carefully. Thankfully, we’ve had virtually no issues with this in all our previous Summits.

With all that said, one of the big values of the Summit is the opportunity to build relationships. You may meet another Summiteer and find you have an interest in doing business with them (or vice versa), so you decide to exchange cards. That’s fine. But if someone is pushy, we’ll ask them to tone it down. If they push back, we put them out to sea. Just kidding. But we might move them outside the circle of trust.

Also, there will be some OPTIONAL activities during and following the Summit promoted by The Real Estate Guys™. “Optional” means you don’t have to do it. It also means it’s not included in your tuition, so if you decide you want to attend these optional events, you’ll be offered the opportunity to do so at additional cost.

We make these events optional because not everyone wants to participate. The resort really is beautiful and there are often tempting things to do in Belize, so some folks may take a break from Summiteering and just go full tourist. That’s fine by us.

Sometimes there isn’t always enough room for everyone in every optional event we do. So optional event registrations are offered based on Summit number (the order you registered for the Summit) and accepted on a first come basis.

How much are these optional events? Good question!

We don’t actually know until we get closer to the Summit and have an idea how many people we need to accommodate, and what the costs will be for holding the activity. If you’re interested, just look for the information by e-mail a few weeks before the Summit.

Lastly, because we have several authors on the faculty, we expect to have some of their books available for purchase so you can have them during the Summit to read and get signed by the authors. If so, everything will be at standard retail pricing or below.

But if you want to be SURE to get a specific book signed by your favorite Summit faculty member, play it safe and bring your own book from home. We sell books simply to accommodate our Summiteers and have no issue with you bringing a few of your own.

The bottom line is the Summit is an EDUCATIONAL event, not a selling event, so the presentations are about information, not sales pitch. And we take great care in creating a “no hard sell” environment where you can enjoy learning, sharing, and connecting. You’re going to LOVE it.

This is another question that comes up a lot! While we’d love to print a course catalog months in advance of the event, the fact is: we don’t know what the seminar itinerary is until just a few days before the Summit. But before you get frustrated, let us explain why we do it this way, and why we think it’s better for you.

In the early years of the Summit, we would publish a list of planned classes. But a funny thing would happen on the way to the Summit.

The market would change, or a big event would occur (like a financial collapse or an election…in 2020 it was a pandemic), or a faculty member would have some new epiphany and want to change their assignment.

Sometimes, we’d get a last minute addition to the faculty and have to move things around to accommodate them. In all cases, we’d have a hard time honoring the pre-published class schedule.

The bottom line is we decided to stop promoting specific classes and focus instead on the faculty members themselves.

Each of our faculty members are experts in their field. We trust them to come prepared with current, relevant content and we’ve never been disappointed. And because the Summit isn’t a mega conference with thousands of people, there’s a lot of interaction between faculty and audience. A scripted presentation only gets in the way.

So, to allow for the creative genius of our super-talented faculty, the specific class sessions and schedule won’t be finalized or published until the first morning of the event – and even then, it’s subject to change!

When you attend the Summit, our faculty will share topics they think are important for investors at the time of the Summit. You won’t get some canned speech they’ve given at 20 different conferences. You’ll get whatever the current state of their thoughts are, based on their personal experiences, what’s going on in the world at the time, and whatever magic synergy happens when we get them all together at the Summit.

One thing we always have is panel discussions. It’s amazing to watch these big brains talk to each other about a specific topic. They each have their own knowledge, wisdom, opinions, and insights. And when they start going deep into an important topic, we’re thrilled to eavesdrop. Of course, the audience often gets in on the conversation too!

Right now, we don’t know where the economy, real estate, international relations, COVID-19, interest rates, or government policy will take us. But when you’re on the Summit with our all-star faculty, you’ll be able to ask questions, hear what they think is important for investors to know (and do!), what other investors think about what’s being discussed … and you’ll have plenty of time to contemplate it all before returning home to put your education into effective action.

In all these years, we’ve never had anyone complain there wasn’t enough education. It’s possible it will happen this time, but we doubt it!

Do yourself (and us) a huge favor and PLEASE don’t wait until the last minute! Here are some reasons why you want to sign up right away:

• Meeting space at the resort is limited and therefore so is our enrollment. Once we sell out, it isn’t possible to expand. If you want to go, make sure you reserve your spot right away.
• Summit numbers (our priority rankings) are assigned in the order registrations are received. Attendees with low Summit numbers are given priority access to exclusive, limited space optional events and opportunities. If at all possible, you want the lowest Summit number you can get.
• The Summit almost always sells out many weeks, if not months, before the event. Once it’s full, it’s full, So again, if you want to be on the Summit, sign up as soon as you can! Click here to schedule a consultation with a Summit registration specialist.
  

The Real Estate Guys™ have blocked the entire resort including all meeting, dining and activity spaces for the week of the Summit, and control all of the sleeping room inventory. Your Summit tuition includes your accommodations, and the resort fee that covers all of the resort amenities and activities, so you must stay at the host hotel in order to use the facilities.

Additionally, our size limit in attendance is based on the capacity of the meeting rooms, so there is only enough classroom space for Summiteers staying at the resort.

Unfortunately not. The Summit is a complete buy-out of the property for a private event, and as such does not qualify for earning or redemption of Hilton Honors points.

If you plan to stay a few days after the Summit, it may be possible to book those additional days using your HH points. You will need to discuss that with a Summit Specialist, subject to availability.

Not this year. When part of the Summit takes place on a cruise ship, it’s really expensive to have your own cabin. So for many years we’ve had a Guaranteed Share Program where single Summiteers can pay a small premium and we assure them we’ll find them a same sex roommate. If we can’t, they get the cabin to themselves.

But the resort does not have the same single traveler premium that the cruise ships have, so it’s not much more to get your own room.

Now if you want to shave a little cost off your tuition, you can recruit your own roommate and share a Lower Keeping Suite unit with two beds. Most of the rooms at the resort have King Beds, which makes it challenging for strangers to share, and there are a limited number of rooms with multiple beds. If you do plan to find your own Summit companion, you’ll want to do so sooner rather than later.

Advance registration deposits of $2000 per adult will secure your spot (and pricing) until advance registration closes. Then all registrations must be accompanied by payment in full. Folks in the Young Investor Program pay $500 as a deposit, and there is no deposit required for children under 18 traveling with their parents.

The balance of your tuition will be due mid-March 2024.

Payments can be made by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express; check or money order. You can also wire transfer or deliver a small suitcase full of cash or a few ounces of gold bullion. Not really. Well, we would take it … but a wire is better.

You can elect to pay your entire tuition in advance by check or wire, in which case you’ll receive a $100 Resort Credit per full fare adult.

That would be SO sad.

But we know sometimes life happens and gets in the way of the best laid plans. However, we have costs that we need to cover in the event of a cancellation, so there’s a graduated cancellation fee schedule as you’ll see on the bottom of the Registration Form.

If you think there’s a chance you may need to cancel, Shangri-La Travel (our travel agent) offers optional insurance.

Both the cancellation fee schedule and the optional trip insurance is described in the registration packet. If you need help figuring out the travel insurance, just contact Shangri-La Travel at 1-817-421-7447.

You’re responsible for making appropriate travel arrangements to arrive at the Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport (BZE) in Belize the day before the event begins. From there, we’ll make your arrangement to get to Ambergris Caye and to the resort.

Your Summit registration includes your hotel room (the night before the Summit begins, as we want you there ready to go first thing in the morning!) through the end of the event. Additional discounted nights are available for folks who want to extend their time in beautiful Belize, subject to availability.

There are a host of logistical details we’ll provide to you between your registration and the Summit itself. Among these are hotel details, packing recommendations, and how to notify the resort of any special needs (diet, medicines, allergies, accessibility, etc.).

Please note that all persons arriving in Belize, including children, MUST have a valid passport. These can sometimes take a few weeks to get, so make sure you plan ahead! There is no way the airline will let anyone on board without a valid passport. And make sure your expiration date is at least six months after the return date. We’d hate to have you stranded at home.