REAL ESTATE INVESTING? Is this a scam? Has anybody ever tried this kind of thing?

Yes it is a scam. The reason it doesn't work is because the information on tax foreclosures is readily available (tax foreclosures are not the type that are in the news every night, those are bank foreclosures, an entirely different breed of animal). The only way John Beck's system would work is if:

A) There were a number of homes in your area going to auction for back taxes (unlikely)

B) You are the only one who shows up to the auction (highly unlikely)

If you do a search for this, you will find detailed information about why this is a big fat waste of money and time.

I know investors who are snapping up cheap REO properties, using them as rentals until the market turns around. You don't need someone's "system" to make money in RE, you just need to be smart with what you do with your money.

Don't fall for those infomercials. The scam is only the number of people who send him money. You can buy real estate yourself. If you are looking for a foreclosure to buy, work with a professional real estate agent who specializes in these. Ask your friends or use your local Yellow Pages. The buyer does not pay the sales commission (at least in California). The seller does. It's not easy sitting on courthouse steps and hoping you win the bids without representation (not to mention tying up your cash). I know the ads sound very convincing. John Beck is the only one getting rich quick. By the way, these types of offers have been around for decades.

Don't ever go with crap you see on tv. It's all a scam. If you want to make money fast in the real estate market, go to realtytrac.com. There are a list of foreclosures and goverment and bank owned properties. If you're lucky, you won't even have to fix them up. ALWAYs remember "Buy low, sell high!!!" Rehabilitation projects are the best way to do this.

If the system worked, John Beck would be doing it and keeping very quiet about how to do it so there won't be any competition.

Since he is selling it, he probably has one or two examples that were a fluke and he portrays them as being the norm.

Is it a scam? Yes and no. No because it is possible to do what he describes. Yes because there are very few such properties available that you end up owning at such low prices. The only one really getting rich is John Beck for selling his book.

A good way to check whether something's legitimate or not is to google the name + SCAM and see what kind of hits you get.

Googling "john beck + scam" gets a lot.

There was an article about this sort of thing in yesterday's New York Times.