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Blanket avoidance of the Texas real estate event circuit is costing operators more than the worst pitch-fest ever did. I know why investors do it, I’ve done it myself, and I still think it’s the wrong call.

The conventional wisdom isn’t wrong about most events. Our industry runs a predictable format: warm up the crowd, hit them with a compelling story, close the room on a $10,000 coaching contract before lunch. If that’s your frame of reference, I understand the hard stop. But applying that same skepticism to every event on the calendar is a different decision, and I’ve watched it leave real skill gaps in operators who should know better.

What the Skeptics Get Right

The tell is simple. Look at whether speakers are there to teach or to sell. If every presenter walks off stage with a stack of order forms and a signature mentorship program to pitch, you’re in an infomercial. Our market has too many of those, and I’ve sat in enough of them to know what they feel like ten minutes in.

I won’t argue with anyone who has learned that lesson the hard way.

Where That Logic Breaks Down

There is a different kind of creative real estate event in Texas. We built one because I couldn’t find one I actually trusted.

The Black Sheep Convention runs September 25-26, 2026, at the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country. Twelve operators. Ten classes. Ten hours of Texas CE credit. Five class periods with two classes running at the same time, so you pick your track.

Our presenters are doing deals right now. When one of them walks through a short sale with a missing owner, a solar lien, and an IRS hold still attached, that’s a transaction from the last few months. We teach the total train wrecks, the deals most Texas agents and investors walk away from, because that’s where I see the biggest skill gap in our market. The operators who can close those files are delivering six-figure debt forgiveness to real people in real trouble. I think that’s one of the most legitimate roles in this industry, and our industry doesn’t talk about it enough.

That’s what we mean when we call ourselves the black sheep of Texas real estate. We say what most people in this market won’t, and we back it with real deals, not theory.

What a Room Actually Gives You

I can find a video about subject-to transactions. You can too. Our market is not short on content about creative finance.

But is that video going to walk you through the specific moment a seller’s existing lender calls, from someone who fielded that exact call last month? Will it give you the operating confidence behind why “there’s no due-on-sale police and no due-on-sale jail” is the working reality behind hundreds of closed Texas deals every year?

The most valuable thing I’ve seen operators walk out with from a single class period is calibration. You sit next to someone who closed forty-plus subject-to transactions last year, and your entire model of what’s “risky” shifts fast. I’ve watched that happen in our rooms. It doesn’t happen on YouTube.

Who Should Actually Come

If you’re a licensed agent who thinks real estate investing is a separate career, our convention is going to reframe that. We’ve always held that the licensing issue is mostly myth. Your license doesn’t limit your investing business. When a cash offer falls through, you can list the property instead of walking away empty-handed. That’s an exit most unlicensed wholesalers don’t have, and it changes how you approach every conversation.

If you’re an active investor grinding through CE requirements like a chore, ten hours of credit taught by operators who are actively closing deals is not what you’ve been dreading.

If you want a mixer with name tags and cocktail shrimp, our event isn’t that. But if you want mechanics you can run on a real deal the following Monday, we designed every class period around exactly that.

The Offer

$399 gets you all-access in person. $99 gets you in live online. Both include the same ten classes and ten CE hours.

September 25-26, 2026. Hilton San Antonio Hill Country, San Antonio, Texas.

Most Texas investors will assume this is like the others and sit it out. I’ve been in this market long enough to know what’s been missing from our training circuit. This room is what I wish had existed when I was figuring out my first few deals. Don’t sit this one out.

Every week I talk to agents and investors who are waiting for rates to come down. Waiting for conditions to “normalize.” Waiting for the market to make sense again.

I talk to a different group too. These people are closing deals right now. Same market. Same rates.

The second group learned creative financing while the first group was reading articles about the Fed.

That gap is widening. I think the next 18 months in Texas are going to make clear, permanently, which side of it you’re on.

The Market You’re Avoiding Is the One That Pays

Here’s what I’ve seen in my own deals: when conventional financing tightens up, motivated sellers get MORE motivated. The buyer pool shrinks. Their holding costs don’t.

A seller who needs to move right now has limited options. They can sit and wait, or they can get creative on terms. That’s where you come in, if you’ve done the work to learn these structures.

Subject-to is working right now because those 2020 and 2021 loans are worth something. I’ve picked up properties at 3.5% interest I’d never be able to finance at current rates. There’s no due-on-sale police and no due-on-sale jail. The loan transfers with the deed.

Seller finance is working right now because a motivated seller who carries the note is a motivated seller who actually closes. The terms come from the negotiation, not a bank’s rate sheet.

Short sales are working right now because there are properties drowning in liens that most agents refuse to touch. I’m talking about the total train wreck deals: missing owners, IRS holds, solar liens, estate chaos. Done right, you close a transaction that delivers six-figure debt forgiveness to someone in genuine crisis. That’s what our operators are actually doing.

Are you leaving those deals on the table? Because I see Texas agents walking away from them every week.

What Most Real Estate Events Miss

I’ve been to a lot of conferences. I know what a pitch-fest looks like.

A great speaker hits the stage, tells you about deals from five years ago, and somewhere around hour three the “special offer” appears. Fifteen thousand dollars for the real training.

We built Black Sheep Convention specifically as the alternative. No guru pitch-fest. No back-of-the-room close. No five-figure mentorship upsell from the stage.

What we do instead: 12 operators who are active in the Texas market right now, running real sessions on real deal structures. The stuff you can copy the following Monday.

That’s what a creative real estate event in Texas should actually deliver. Working sessions on deal structures that close in the market we’re living in, not the market someone nostalgized about from a stage.

September 25-26, Hilton San Antonio Hill Country

Our next event runs two full days at the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country.

10 classes. 12 operators. 10 hours of Texas CE credit. Five class periods with two sessions running simultaneously, so you’re picking the content that fits where you actually are.

All-access in person: $399. Live online: $99.

I’ll tell you exactly who belongs here. If you’re an agent tired of watching investors close deals you couldn’t figure out how to structure, you’ll find your people. If you’re an investor who’s been sitting on the sidelines because conventional deals stopped penciling, same story. We’re building a Texas market where agents and investors work together instead of treating each other like competition. We really want to bring creative real estate into the mainstream, to show that investors are legitimate and important parts of this market. That’s the whole premise.

The Specific Move While Everyone Else Waits

The operators who spent the last two years learning creative financing are building portfolios. The ones who waited are still waiting. That’s not speculation. I’ve watched it happen.

Stop reading about what the Fed might do. Go sit in a room with people who’ve figured out how to close in this market and ask them exactly how they structured the last deal.

The next creative real estate event in Texas where you’re actually going to learn that is September 25-26 in San Antonio. The people who aren’t waiting will be there.

Tickets are at blacksheepconvention.com.

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Most real estate networking advice in Texas comes down to one word: more. More events. More groups. More faces. More cards.

I tried it. One full year. Forty-something mixers, chamber luncheons, investor meetups, happy hours scattered across San Antonio. I came home with two stacks of business cards and about $200 in dry-cleaning bills. Deals I could trace back to that year: zero.

The year I stopped chasing new rooms and started owning two of them? Completely different story.

Here’s what I actually think is happening when someone follows the “show up everywhere” strategy. They’re confusing activity with trust. Trust is what produces the referral. Trust is what gets you the off-market text at 7 AM before the property ever hits anyone’s list. And trust doesn’t form in a handshake at an event you’ll never attend again. It forms when someone sees my face for the tenth time in the same room, realizes I’m not going anywhere, and decides I’m a safe bet.

Why Volume Is Killing Your Real Estate Network

When you show up once, you’re a stranger. Twice, vaguely familiar. Ten times, you’re the person people come to find. That’s the whole mechanism. It doesn’t scale fast. It won’t fill your Instagram with conference selfies. But it works.

I know an investor who has sat in the same BNI chapter every Tuesday morning for six years. One seat, one room, one consistent presence. He’s the only investor in that chapter — BNI keeps it that way. One seat per industry, and no one else gets that seat while he’s in it. The chapter publicly tracks referrals. Sporadic attendance kills your credibility in the room faster than anything you say. But consistent? Consistent turns you into the only option people know.

He turns away more referrals than most people in this business ever generate. Six years. One room. That’s it.

Does that sound boring? Good. Boring works. Forty events a year works for nobody except the people selling the event tickets.

Come With a Question, Not a Pitch

Before I walk into any room, my single job is to figure out what I need to know that day. Not what I want to say about my business. Not how many cards I want to hand out. One question I need answered.

Maybe it’s: “Who in this room has actually closed a subject-to deal in Bexar County in the last 90 days?” Maybe it’s: “Who has a relationship with a title company that’ll close a double close without flinching?” Come in with that question. Find the person who has the answer. Have a real conversation. Go home.

That’s real estate networking in Texas, done right. The people working the full room for four hours almost never leave with anything they didn’t already know.

My Actual Best Lead Source (This Will Sound Ridiculous)

I’ll tell you something that sounds like it can’t possibly be a business strategy: some of my best Texas real estate connections came from sitting at a bar, talking to strangers, and writing it off as a business expense.

Not at an industry mixer. At an actual bar. Where nobody’s performing. A contractor venting about a GC. A lender burned by an underwriter on a last-minute deal. A landlord with a problem tenant and a genuine question about their options. Those conversations are honest, and honest conversations turn into honest business.

People who are relaxed tell you the truth. People at networking events tell you their elevator pitch. I’d rather have the truth.

I’m not kidding. Do it. Write it off.

When the Conventional Advice IS Right

I’m not going to tell you every new room is a waste of time. That’s not honest, and I don’t do dishonest.

If you’re entering a market where you have zero contacts, you have to start somewhere. If you need a product you’ve never used and don’t know who does it in Texas, you’ve got to go find people you’ve never met. The first visit to any room is unavoidable.

My point is that the first visit isn’t the strategy. It’s the entry point to something more consistent. Treating every event as a one-time transaction means starting over from zero every single time, and your ROI on time and money is predictably terrible.

Some Rooms Are Worth the One-Time Trip

The Black Sheep Convention on September 25-26 at the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country is one of them. Twelve operators, ten classes, five class periods running two at a time, and ten hours of Texas CE credit.

These aren’t vendors with booths trying to sell you coaching. These are people actively doing deals in Texas. If I want to know what one of those twelve operators is doing in their business right now, I can walk up and ask them. That’s the kind of room I’m describing when I say “one room worth owning.” You won’t get six years of Tuesday mornings out of a two-day event, but you’ll walk out knowing exactly which rooms are worth your next six years.

All-access in person is $399. Live online is $99. Those are the only two prices.

The Only Real Estate Networking Strategy That Works

Pick one room. Commit to it for a full year. Come with a question every single time. Skip the rooms that can’t produce answers.

Deals come from trust. Trust comes from time. Time comes from showing up in the same room until people stop wondering whether you’ll be back.

The Black Sheep Convention is at blacksheepconvention.com. September 25-26. San Antonio. Be there with a question ready.

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I’ve watched a lot of agents waste years doing real estate networking in Texas the wrong way. They hit the local association luncheon every month, collect business cards from other agents, and shake hands with the same 40 people who already can’t send them a deal. Six months of that and they’ve built a social club. Not a pipeline.

Most Texas real estate networking events are full of people who need a referral, not people who give them. Agents chasing the same buyers, the same listings, the same shrinking commission check. Thin deals, low volume, everybody optimistic in October and broke by March.

I’ve been running StepStone for years. I’ve trained hundreds of agents and investors across Texas. The operators who are actually doing volume in this state aren’t spending their Tuesday mornings at chamber of commerce mixers. They’re in rooms where something real is being taught.

Why Real Estate Networking in Texas Goes Wrong

I’ll tell you what I’ve told every agent and investor who’s come through our training at Black Sheep Convention: I’ll send you to a bar, tell you to talk to strangers, and write it off as a business expense. That works. One open house, one phone call, one anything doesn’t.

Volume and consistency win. Every time.

I’ve seen what BNI chapters do for an agent’s business when they actually commit. One seat per industry, referrals rewarded publicly, consistent weekly attendance as the price of entry. Show up every week and you become the first call when a deal breaks. Show up sporadically and you become invisible. I’ve watched this play out over and over, and there are no exceptions to it.

The pattern I keep seeing among the people in Texas real estate who are actually building deal flow: the best connections don’t form in rooms where everyone showed up to network. They form in rooms where everyone showed up to learn something they can go execute Monday morning.

When I’m in a room with investors who are actively buying, I don’t need a mixer format. I need 30 seconds of conversation about what they’re looking for. That’s worth more than 50 business cards from people who are also trying to find buyers.

The Pitch-Fest Problem

A lot of events in this space are structured to get you excited and send you home with nothing executable. Three hours of “here’s how rich I got,” then somebody from the back of the room offers you the real information for $15,000.

Sales funnels wearing hotel ballrooms. Most Texas real estate convention organizers won’t say that out loud. I will.

I built Black Sheep Convention to be the opposite. Twelve operators. Ten classes. Ten hours of Texas CE. Two tracks running simultaneously so you’re never stuck in a session that doesn’t match your strategy. September 25-26, 2026, Hilton San Antonio Hill Country.

All access in person is $399. Live online is $99.

Our instructors are in the trenches on real deals. Our attendees are agents and investors who want to execute, not collect notes on theory they’ll never apply. I didn’t design it as a networking event. But I watch some of the best deal-making conversations in Texas happen between our sessions, at lunch, and in the parking lot after. Serious people in a serious room find each other. I count on it now.

Come With a Question, Not a Stack of Cards

If you’re showing up to any event with a pocketful of cards and no agenda, I’d say you’re doing it wrong.

Come with a question you actually need answered. What deal are you stuck on? What’s the gap in your business you haven’t been able to close? Walk into a room of operators who are actively transacting and ask it. You’ll leave with a contact who can actually move it forward.

I’ve seen this happen at our own events. An agent walks in with a specific creative financing situation they’ve been wrestling with, mentions it between sessions, and leaves with a relationship with an investor who’d been looking for exactly that structure. Our community works because our people show up with real problems, not elevator pitches.

Real estate networking in Texas doesn’t need a mixer format. It needs the right rooms, consistent attendance, and a purpose. The operators I know who’ve built real deal flow do all of it: the training, the bar after, the BNI chapter on Tuesday. They show up consistently enough that when a deal comes loose, they’re already the first call.

One polished appearance at a fancy event gets you a LinkedIn connection. Showing up every week in a room full of people who actually transact builds a business.

Find Your People in San Antonio

Most agents in Texas are networking their way to average. The operators building real portfolios are in rooms where the conversation is about how deals actually work.

If you want to find those people, come to San Antonio, September 25-26. In person or online. Your seat is at blacksheepconvention.com.

You want to dive into creative real estate investing in Texas? Fantastic! But where do you start? Let’s cut through the fluff and get down to brass tacks. I’m talking real numbers, real techniques, and a real shot at success. Here’s your step-by-step guide to thriving in Texas real estate.

1. Budget Your Entry: $399 for All-Access

First up, you need to plan your budget. The Black Sheep Convention, happening September 25-26, 2026, at the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country, costs $399 for all-access in person. Why this matters? You’re not just paying for a ticket; you’re investing in knowledge from 12 operators who are doing the real deal.

Why settle for outdated theories when you can learn from those who’ve navigated the trenches? This is where your journey begins.

2. Time Commitment: 10 Hours of CE

Next, let’s talk about the time commitment. You’ll gain 10 hours of Texas CE credit over the two-day event. That’s a significant chunk of knowledge to absorb!

Here’s the kicker: many people underestimate the time it takes to apply what they learn. Expect to spend a few hours post-event reviewing your notes and implementing new strategies. That initial investment of time will pay off in spades when you start closing deals.

3. Choose Your Classes Wisely: 10 Classes Offered

At the convention, you’ll have 10 classes to choose from, running concurrently throughout the event. Pick wisely! Classes that cover topics like creative financing and wholesaling will be invaluable.

Don’t just attend; engage! Ask questions, network with fellow attendees, and find a mentor in the crowd. This is your chance to learn from those who are already crushing it in the field. The mistake? Skipping classes because you think you know it all.

4. Network Like a Pro: Build Relationships

Networking is crucial. You’ll meet other investors and agents who are just as eager to learn and grow. Forge relationships that can lead to partnerships on deals. Remember, real estate is a team sport.

How do you network effectively? Set a goal to connect with at least 5 new people each day. Exchange contact info and follow up. You never know who might become your next business partner or mentor.

5. Implement What You Learn: Copy and Execute

Here’s the deal: it’s not enough to just learn. You have to implement immediately. You’ll leave the convention with actionable steps and strategies you can apply on Monday morning.

Let’s say you learned about wholesaling. Spend your first week identifying potential properties and making offers. The sooner you act, the sooner you’ll see results. The biggest mistake is waiting too long to put your knowledge into action.

6. Track Your Progress: Measure Success

Finally, measure your progress. Keep a log of every deal you pursue, the costs involved, and the outcomes. This will help you adjust your strategies and improve over time.

Aim to close at least 1-2 deals within the first three months of applying your new skills. That’s a realistic target for a dedicated investor who’s willing to hustle!

Conclusion: You’re Ready to Be a Black Sheep

There you have it — your roadmap to success in creative real estate investing in Texas. The Black Sheep Convention is your ticket to actionable education, invaluable networking, and the skills you need to thrive.

Are you ready to stand out and start making serious moves in the Texas real estate market? Grab your ticket now!

Let’s cut to the chase: attending the right real estate convention can change your financial trajectory. If you’re serious about leveling up your game, the Black Sheep Convention in Texas is where you need to be. We’re not talking fluff or sales pitches. We’re talking real operators sharing real strategies that WORK. Here’s how you can capitalize on this unique opportunity.

1. Register for the Convention: $399 All Access

First things first, you need to secure your spot. The cost is just $399 for full in-person access (or $99 for live online attendance) to all classes, workshops, and networking events. Why pay this? Because the knowledge and connections you’ll gain are worth every penny. You’ll walk away with skills you can apply Monday morning, not just a notebook full of ideas.

2. Choose Your Classes Wisely: 10 Class Options

At the convention, you’ll have 10 classes to choose from, each led by seasoned operators who are actively in the trenches of real estate investing. You need to pick classes that align with your goals. Want to learn about wholesaling? Great! Interested in creative financing? Perfect! Each class is designed to give you actionable insights.

Here’s a pro tip: Choose at least 2 classes that challenge your current way of thinking. This is where the real learning happens!

3. Network Like a Pro: Connect with 12 Experts

This isn’t just about classes; it’s about who you meet. With 12 expert operators attending, you’re looking at a goldmine of networking opportunities. Make it a goal to connect with at least 5 new people during the event. Share ideas, discuss deals, and build relationships. You never know who might become your next partner in crime (or cash!).

4. Utilize the Hands-On Training: 10 Hours of CE

You’ll earn 10 hours of Texas CE credits by attending the convention, but more importantly, you’ll engage in hands-on training. Forget passive learning; we’re about doing! By the end of the convention, you should have a clear plan on how to implement what you’ve learned.

Mistake to avoid: Don’t just sit back and absorb information. Actively participate in discussions and ask questions.

5. Implement What You’ve Learned: Real Deals Await

The real magic happens after the event. You’ll leave with actionable strategies and a network to support your journey. Aim to implement at least one new tactic within the first month. Whether it’s a creative financing deal or a new wholesaling strategy, take immediate action.

What’s at stake? The longer you wait, the more you risk losing momentum and motivation.

Wrap Up: Why You Can’t Afford to Miss This

The Black Sheep Convention isn’t just another industry event. It’s a gathering of doers, not talkers. If you’re looking for a place to learn how to actually make money in real estate, this is it.

Mark your calendars: September 25-26, 2026, at the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country. Don’t wait! Spots will fill up, and your competition is already gearing up to be there.

Transform your approach to real estate investing. Register now for the Black Sheep Convention and start your journey to becoming the operator you were meant to be!

Three agents had already toured the property and passed. One left a note on the kitchen counter: “Good luck.”

A San Antonio-area house, 3/2, solid neighborhood, ARV around $265,000. But the title work looked like a ransom note. Delinquent property taxes: $9,200. An IRS lien from the deceased owner’s back taxes: $14,500. A mortgage at $178,000, eighteen months behind, six months from foreclosure. The heirs, two adult siblings who’d spent three years paying their father’s nursing home bills, had zero cash and an inheritance that technically owed more than it was worth on a conventional spreadsheet.

Every agent who looked at it ran the same numbers: $178k + $9.2k + $14.5k = $201.7k in hard obligations. Add a commission and closing costs, and you need a buyer near $215,000 just to break even on a house headed for the courthouse steps in six months. “No equity deal” is the shorthand. Most practitioners stop there.

Two skills closed this thing. Neither appears on the licensing exam.

The IRS Lien Isn’t a Stop Sign

Federal tax liens on estates look fatal. They are not. The IRS has a formal lien subordination process under IRC Section 6325(d) that allows a transaction to close as long as their lien is secured by proceeds. On unsatisfied estate tax debts, an Offer in Compromise through the estate can negotiate the payoff down substantially.

In this scenario, the estate’s OIC process brought the $14,500 IRS obligation down to $6,000. That’s not a loophole or a rare carve-out. The IRS is trying to collect from an estate that has no liquid assets. When you show them a path to partial collection versus zero collection in a foreclosure, they generally move. The skill is knowing the process exists and knowing how to frame the argument.

Most agents who see “IRS lien” in a title search close the file. That’s the gap.

A 4.25% Mortgage Is an Asset, Not a Liability

The existing mortgage was a 2019 origination at 4.25%. That rate sits significantly below current conventional financing. A buyer financing the same house at today’s rates carries a payment several hundred dollars higher every month than the payment on this existing note.

Subject-to means an investor takes title while the mortgage stays in the seller’s name on the debt side. The lender keeps getting paid, so they generally don’t call the note. There’s no due-on-sale police. There’s no due-on-sale jail. The bank’s only concern is whether the check shows up, and an investor who just assumed a 4.25% note in a high-rate environment is highly motivated to make that check show up every month.

What looked like no equity on a traditional listing becomes a deal with a below-market debt stack that a buyer will pay for.

How the Numbers Actually Landed

The investor paid both obligations directly at closing: $9,200 in delinquent taxes, $6,000 to settle the negotiated IRS payoff. The heirs walked with $22,000 in cash they didn’t have the morning we called. Total investor basis going in: roughly $215,000 for a property worth $265,000 with $18,000 in cosmetic work needed.

As a buy-fix-hold at a locked 4.25%, the cash flow is real. As a flip, there’s margin. The heirs got out of a six-month countdown to foreclosure with money in their hands and no courthouse record following them.

One of the agents who’d passed called back and asked how it closed.

What to Pull From This Monday

The IRS process is learnable. Lien subordination requests and estate Offers in Compromise are documented procedures, not one-off favors. The competency is knowing what to ask for and how to frame the case for partial collection over zero collection. That’s a trainable skill set.

Subject-to deal structure is learnable. The concept that a below-market interest rate is a transferable asset worth structuring around takes about thirty minutes to internalize. The documentation and title transfer mechanics take longer, but they’re not exotic. The people doing these deals in Texas are not operating from secret knowledge. They just spent time in the right rooms.

Neither shows up in a standard pre-license course or most CE class catalogs. They’re built from working the deals, and they’re teachable when the person standing up front has actually closed them.

Where This Gets Taught

Black Sheep Convention runs September 25-26, 2026 at the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country. Twelve operators. Ten classes. Ten hours of Texas CE credit. Each period runs two classes simultaneously, so you pick the room that matches the problem sitting on your desk.

No keynote speaker selling a mentorship program. No back-of-the-room close. No five-figure upsell from the stage. The people teaching are in the business, and the room is built for practitioners who want to actually do the deals.

All-access in-person: $399. Live online: $99.

Texas real estate agents who’ve handed “problem property” files back to sellers because the title looked too messy will find something for that situation. Investors who’ve been walking past train-wreck deals because they didn’t know how to navigate federal liens or assume existing debt will find something for that too.

The difference between the agent who left that note on the kitchen counter and the operator who closed that deal isn’t talent. It’s a skill set that a real estate bootcamp in Texas either teaches or it doesn’t.

Most Texas real estate bootcamps don’t cost $399. They cost $399 plus the $15,000 to $30,000 “mastermind” or coaching program someone closes you on by Saturday afternoon.

The format has been the same for twenty years: bring in a crowd with a low-priced ticket, run three speakers per time slot, make sure each one ends with a pitch, let the back-of-the-room table do the real work. You leave with a binder, a recording you’ll never finish, and a charge on a credit card you’re already second-guessing.

That model is not a bootcamp. It’s a funnel wearing a lanyard.

What an Actual Real Estate Bootcamp in Texas Looks Like

Strip out the pitch structure and a real estate bootcamp Texas-style looks like this: you’re in a room with operators who are actively doing deals. Not someone who did deals in 2009 and has been teaching about them since. Operators. People who closed a subject-to last month, or negotiated a short sale on an estate property with a solar lien and an IRS hold, or bought a house where no one could identify the owner of record.

The work is the training. You sit in a class period, you get the mechanics, you get the real numbers from a real closed transaction, and you leave with something you can use Monday morning.

At the Black Sheep Convention (September 25-26, 2026, Hilton San Antonio Hill Country), 12 operators run 10 classes across 5 class periods, with 2 classes running simultaneously so you pick the track that fits where your business actually is. Ten of those hours count as Texas CE credit. The ticket is $399 for full in-person access, or $99 if you’re watching live online.

That’s the whole number. No back-of-the-room table, no stage close, no five-figure upsell waiting for you at a folding table near the exit.

When the Conventional Advice Is Right

The pitch model works on a specific type of attendee: someone who wants permission more than skill. If you’ve been “learning” for two years without closing a deal, paying $20,000 for accountability coaching might be the thing that finally unsticks you.

If that’s your situation, this is not the right room. You’ll collect 10 hours of CE and a lot of tactical information you won’t use if the mindset problem isn’t solved first. There are other rooms for that.

But if you’ve done a deal or two, or you’re an active agent who wants to add investor-side skills without starting over from scratch, the pitch model actively costs you money. You’re paying to be sold to, and the curriculum is whatever moves product from the back table.

Why Texas Specifically Is a Pitch-Event Trap

Texas has one of the highest concentrations of active real estate licensees in the country, plus a mandatory CE renewal cycle that keeps agents looking for approved hours. The bootcamp-pitch hybrid is perfectly engineered for this market: run it as a CE event, stack the speaker slots with product sellers, let agents count the hours while the presenters work their funnels.

A TREC CE approval number is not proof of substance. TREC approves the format; it does not audit whether the class taught you anything you didn’t already know.

Ten CE hours at Black Sheep means 10 hours of class instruction that counts toward your renewal because the event is the education, not the wrapping paper around a pitch.

The Deals Nobody Else Bothers Teaching

The brand of investing Black Sheep covers is what most Texas agents and investors actively avoid: the “total train wreck” transactions. Missing owners. Solar liens. IRS holds. Estate chaos with no clear title path. The transactions where the first three agents who saw it closed their MLS tab and moved on.

The operators who work these deals know that a short sale done correctly can deliver six-figure debt forgiveness to someone in a genuine crisis and close a transaction everyone else declared dead. That’s a real, specific outcome, not a marketing angle.

Subject-to deals get the same no-asterisks treatment. There’s no due-on-sale police and no due-on-sale jail, and you’ll hear exactly how to structure the deal and why it closes, not a cautionary tale designed to steer you toward a $20,000 program.

This is also why the licensing question matters. A license doesn’t hurt your investing business. When a cash offer doesn’t work, you can list the property instead of walking away. That’s a second close that most investors are leaving on the table because they were told a license was a liability.

Who This Is For

Agents who want to do real investing. Investors who want to understand what a license actually opens up. Anyone in Texas real estate who has decided that standard commission income is not the whole game.

September 25-26, 2026. Hilton San Antonio Hill Country. $399 in person, $99 online. Nothing sold from the stage.