SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA -- October 1, 2007 -- In an innovative response to the credit crunch, real estate attorney/investor Jeffrey Lerman and nationally-syndicated TV/radio personality and investor Robert Helms are conducting an American Idol-type search for the real estate deal most deserving of their $100,000.  “This is probably the best buyer’s market in 20 years, but cash-poor investors think they can’t buy.  We’re going to change that.  We’re going to help one lucky investor take a big step to make their real estate dreams come true,” Lerman said.  Helms adds, “This isn’t a gift.  We’ll be investing our hard-earned money in somebody’s deal.  They get to stay in the deal and so do we.  If we all do our job right, everybody wins.”

In order to get a shot at the full $100,000, Lerman and Helms are requiring people to attend their Ultimate O.P.M. (“Other People’s Money”) Bootcamp (www.ultimateopmbootcamp.com ) the weekend of November 9-11, 2007 in South San Francisco.  During that weekend, attendees will be taught a system to buy real estate with other people’s money.  Graduates of the event will then be set loose and given sixty days to apply what they’ve learned to find what they hope will be the winning deal, structure it to make it the most attractive investment and then present it in a follow-up competition before Lerman and Helms.

Lerman, who is also the President of the Marin County Bar Association, and Helms have developed a scoring system they will use to judge all entries.  They guarantee the highest-scoring entry will receive at least a $10,000 investment from them and, if it scores high enough, up to the full $100,000.  “We’re looking for the best deal, period.  If it’s a great deal, we’d love to put in the full $100,000.  We’d be crazy not to,” said Lerman.

The winner will also appear on Helms’ nationally-broadcast TV and radio programs, both called “The Real Estate Guys”.

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