Neil Jenman says: DON'T SIGN ANYTHING. (pic by Peter Aranyi)

That’s actually me under the cap  … I got it from Neil Jenman with some other cool stuff when he visited Auckland a few years back to harass the local property spruikers and give some advice to buyers and sellers … I wear it with a chuckle.

It reads DON’T SIGN ANYTHING … with Jenman’s website www.Jenman.com and his tollfree number. (He’s got a book of the same title.)

I have to say, you know, there are times when that seems like pretty good advice. Like for instance, when you’re faced with ‘this deal is too good to last, be quick, don’t miss out, going fast, you’d be crazy not to, this will change your financial future!’ -type persuasive sales talk.

As one unfortunate punter seeking ‘education’ (cough, splutter) from what Jenman calls a ‘selling machine’ learned first hand and reported, considerable pressure (real, implied or imagined) can umm, … well … let’s just say it can occur. i.e. Pressure to ‘proceed to contract’ … i.e ‘sign here, here and here’.

Just as travel can loosen a tourist’s wallet and credit card (we’ve all done it), sometimes the spending/investing decisions made during these types of  ‘research tours’ or ‘educational’ workshops and bus tours are later regretted. Sometimes regretted bitterly, in fact.

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Meanwhile the hyped-up internet-pushed  ‘gold rush’ sales pitch for US rentals continues. Remember the UK-based spruikers hawking Memphis distressed property? Look: Now they’re pitching ‘bargains’ in Buffalo, New York. That rings a bell — wasn’t that one of the areas the Sydney Morning Herald warned against?

Hurry, hurry, hurry! 'Cash only deal'. Oh dear me.

Am I being too cynical? Hmmm.