Kris Krohn’s YouTube channel has over a million subscribers. His videos paint a compelling picture — financial freedom through real estate, retiring before 30, owning hundreds of properties while living the good life in Utah with his family.
It’s the kind of content that makes you think: maybe I should be doing this too.
But when you start digging into Kris Krohn’s actual track record — the SEC settlement, the mixed reviews, the premium courses that some students say just repackage his free content — the picture gets more complicated.
I’ve spent 15+ years reviewing online business programs and opportunity sellers. Real estate gurus are their own breed, and Kris Krohn is one of the most visible in the game right now. So let’s break down exactly who he is, what he sells, what went wrong with the SEC, and whether his programs are worth your money.
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Now — the full Kris Krohn breakdown.
Who Is Kris Krohn?
Kris Krohn is a real estate investor, author, and coach based in Utah. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in psychology and human development — an interesting background for someone who would go on to build a career in real estate education.
His story, as he tells it, goes like this: he purchased his first home at 23 while still in college and, through a combination of lease options and strategic purchasing, accumulated 25 properties by the time he graduated at 26. This allowed him to “retire” from traditional employment and pursue real estate full-time.
Since then, his claims have scaled dramatically. According to his website, he has transacted over 6,500 deals, been involved in over a billion dollars in real estate, and helped thousands of students build their own real estate portfolios.
He’s the author of “The Strait Path to Real Estate Wealth” and runs several businesses, including the Real Estate Investors Club and what was previously the Strongbrook Group. His YouTube channel is his primary marketing channel, with slick production and content covering real estate strategies, mindset, and wealth-building principles.
Various sources estimate his net worth at around $65 million, though as with any self-reported figure from a guru selling courses, take that with a healthy dose of scepticism.
What Does Kris Krohn Sell?
Kris Krohn’s business model has several layers:
Free Content (YouTube, Books)
His YouTube channel is genuinely extensive, covering real estate investing basics, lease option strategies, market analysis, and motivational content. It’s well-produced and accessible for beginners. His book is affordable and provides a reasonable introduction to his investment philosophy.
Lease Options Pro ($997)
This is Kris’s signature course, focused on his preferred investment strategy: lease options. A lease option allows you to control a property through a lease agreement with an option to purchase it later. The appeal is that you don’t need traditional financing or large down payments.
The course includes video training, templates, contracts, and access to a community. It comes with a 90-day refund guarantee and provides 1 year of access.
10X Real Estate
A more foundational course covering core real estate investment principles. This is positioned as a stepping stone for beginners who aren’t ready for the lease options strategy.
Partnership Deals
This is where the money gets serious. Kris offers partnership opportunities where investors put in capital — typically $50,000-$70,000 minimum — and Kris’s team handles the property acquisition, management, and operations. He claims 50/50 profit splits and ROIs averaging over 25%.
This is the layer of his business that has attracted the most scrutiny.
Coaching and Mentorship
Higher-tier programs with direct access to Kris and his team, typically involving five-figure investments.
The SEC Settlement (This Matters)
This is the elephant in the room that every Kris Krohn review should address honestly.
In 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought charges against Kris Krohn and associates operating under Alpha Real Estate Holdings. The SEC alleged that between January 2009 and June 2011, they ran four unregistered securities offerings that raised approximately $11.9 million from 169 investors.
The core issue? The SEC found that Krohn and his associates claimed their properties were worth $15 million, when independent valuations ranged from just $2.9 million to $12.2 million. They also failed to disclose that the higher valuation was based on unverified web estimates, while lower professional valuations existed.
The parties settled the complaint in August 2012. The settlement required them to inform investors of the judgment, offer full refunds to investors who wanted out, and pay civil monetary penalties of $75,000 each.
Then in 2023, additional SEC-related issues surfaced, though with less public detail.
Now, an SEC settlement is not the same as a criminal conviction. It’s a civil matter. But it tells you something important: the person you’re considering trusting with your investment capital or education dollars has a documented history of overstating property values to investors. That’s not a trivial concern, especially when his current business model involves accepting $50,000-$70,000 from partners for real estate deals.
What His Strategy Actually Involves
Kris Krohn’s core teaching centres on lease options — sometimes called “sandwich lease options.” Here’s the simplified version:
- Find a motivated seller who wants to move but can’t easily sell their property
- Negotiate a lease option: you lease the property from the seller with the right (but not obligation) to buy it at a set price in the future
- Find a tenant-buyer: someone who rents the property from you with their own option to buy
- Collect the spread: you pay the seller one monthly amount and charge the tenant-buyer a higher amount, pocketing the difference
- If the tenant-buyer exercises their option, you buy from the seller at the lower price and sell at the higher price, keeping the profit
On paper, it’s elegant. In practice, it’s significantly more complex:
- Finding motivated sellers requires significant outreach (cold calling, direct mail, online marketing)
- Tenant-buyers often don’t exercise their options, requiring you to find new tenants repeatedly
- Legal complexities vary dramatically by state — some states have strict regulations around lease options
- Property maintenance, tenant issues, and market fluctuations all create risk
- The “no money down” marketing doesn’t account for the marketing costs, legal fees, and time investment required
The strategy is real and legitimate. People do make money with lease options. But Kris’s marketing makes it sound far simpler and more accessible than it actually is for the average person starting from zero.
What Kris Doesn’t Emphasise in His Marketing
Cold calling volume. Former students report needing to make 100-200+ cold calls per week to find motivated sellers willing to do lease option deals. That’s hours of rejection before you even find a lead worth pursuing.
Legal complexity. Lease option laws vary dramatically by state. Some states (like Texas) have strict regulations that make sandwich lease options effectively impossible for individuals. If you don’t know your state’s laws, you can get into legal trouble.
Tenant-buyer challenges. Finding tenant-buyers who qualify and actually exercise their purchase option is harder than the training suggests. Many tenant-buyers can’t secure financing when the option period ends, which means you’re back to square one.
Market dependency. Lease options work best in flat or appreciating markets. In declining markets, you can end up locked into a purchase option at a price above current market value.
The “no money down” myth. While lease options technically don’t require a traditional down payment, you still need money for marketing costs, legal fees, potential repairs, and living expenses while you build the business. Starting with zero capital and zero experience is a recipe for failure.
Real Estate Investing in 2026: The Bigger Picture
Kris Krohn’s core premise — that real estate builds wealth — is correct. Real estate has created more millionaires than probably any other asset class. But the environment in 2026 is different from when Kris started:
Interest rates remain elevated compared to the pandemic-era lows. Property prices in many markets haven’t corrected as much as some predicted, creating a challenging entry point for new investors. Insurance costs have skyrocketed in many states. And institutional investors (hedge funds, REITs) are competing with individual investors for the same properties.
None of this means real estate is dead. But it does mean that the “just follow these steps and you’ll be financially free” narrative that Kris sells is further from reality than ever.
What Students Say
Reviews for Kris Krohn are genuinely split:
Positive reviews praise his teaching style, the quality of his YouTube content, and the effectiveness of his strategies when implemented properly. Some partnership investors report good returns. Students who had prior real estate knowledge or experience seem to get the most value.
Negative reviews are more pointed. Common complaints include the course content being largely a paid version of his free YouTube material, aggressive upselling toward partnership deals, difficulties getting refunds, and underperformance of partnership investments compared to projections.
On Trustpilot, Kris Krohn has a 3.2/5 rating. On Glassdoor (reflecting employee/contractor experiences), he has a 1/5. On Indeed, 3.1/5. The spread between these ratings suggests a company that markets well but doesn’t always deliver on its internal operations.
BiggerPockets — the largest real estate investing forum — has threads where experienced investors generally advise caution about Kris Krohn and real estate gurus in general, suggesting that the best education comes from doing actual deals rather than paying for courses.
Is Kris Krohn Legit?
Kris Krohn is a real person with genuine real estate experience. He’s not running an outright scam. But “legit” and “recommended” aren’t the same thing.
The SEC settlement is a serious black mark that shouldn’t be dismissed. When someone has been formally charged with overstating property values to investors and is now asking new investors for $50,000-$70,000 for partnership deals, you should be extraordinarily cautious.
His courses teach real strategies. Lease options work. But the gap between what his marketing promises and what the average student actually experiences is significant. Most people who buy a $997 course on lease options don’t go on to build real estate empires. They learn some theory, make some cold calls, get discouraged by the complexity and rejection rate, and eventually move on.
| Factor | Rating |
|---|---|
| Free content quality | 7/10 |
| Course quality (Lease Options Pro) | 5/10 |
| Value for money | 4/10 |
| Beginner friendliness | 5/10 |
| Partnership deals (risk level) | HIGH RISK |
| Trustpilot rating | 3.2/5 |
| SEC history | Concerning |
The Bigger Problem With Real Estate Gurus
The real estate guru space has a fundamental tension that applies to Kris Krohn and virtually every other real estate educator:
If their strategies work so well, why spend time selling courses?
The standard answer is that they want to help people and they’ve already made their money. The more cynical — and often more accurate — answer is that selling courses and collecting partnership capital is more predictable and scalable than the actual real estate investing they teach.
Consider the math. If Kris Krohn can collect $50,000-$70,000 from hundreds of partnership investors, he’s generating millions in deployable capital regardless of how those specific investments perform. Add in course sales, speaking fees, and YouTube ad revenue, and you have a business model where the guru makes money whether or not the students do.
This doesn’t make him a scammer. It makes him a salesman whose financial incentives don’t perfectly align with yours.
Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Consider Kris Krohn’s Programs
Might work for you if:
- You have prior real estate experience or knowledge
- You have significant capital to invest ($50K+ for partnerships)
- You understand the risks and have done independent due diligence
- You treat the course as supplementary education, not a magic formula
Skip this if:
- You’re a complete beginner with no real estate background
- You can’t afford to lose your investment
- You’re looking for passive income without significant time and capital commitment
- The SEC settlement concerns you (which it probably should)
My Verdict
Kris Krohn is a skilled marketer and a knowledgeable real estate investor. His free YouTube content is worth watching if you’re interested in real estate. But his paid programs — especially the partnership deals — come with real risks that his marketing doesn’t adequately address.
The SEC settlement isn’t ancient history. It reflects a pattern of presenting investments in an overly optimistic light. When combined with the mixed reviews from students and partners, the picture that emerges is of someone who’s better at selling the dream of real estate wealth than at consistently delivering it.
Real estate investing can absolutely build wealth. But it requires significant capital, ongoing time investment, legal knowledge, and risk tolerance. For most people reading this — especially those who are trying to build their first meaningful income online — there are paths with lower barriers to entry, less capital risk, and more predictable returns.
After 15+ years of testing everything from real estate to e-commerce to affiliate marketing, the model I keep recommending is the one that combines low startup costs with recurring income from digital assets you actually own.
Frequently Asked Questions About Kris Krohn
Is Kris Krohn legit?
Kris Krohn is a real person with genuine real estate experience. He’s transacted thousands of deals and built a substantial portfolio. However, his SEC settlement for overstating property values to investors is a significant concern, and his paid programs receive mixed reviews. He’s not running an outright scam, but caution is warranted — especially with partnership deals involving large sums of money.
What happened with Kris Krohn and the SEC?
In 2012, the SEC charged Kris Krohn and associates under Alpha Real Estate Holdings for running unregistered securities offerings that raised $11.9 million from 169 investors. The SEC found they overstated property values (claiming $15 million when valuations ranged from $2.9 million to $12.2 million). They settled by offering investor refunds and paying $75,000 penalties each.
How much does Kris Krohn’s course cost?
Lease Options Pro costs $997 for one year of access. The 10X Real Estate course is priced lower. Partnership investment opportunities require a minimum of $50,000-$70,000. Coaching and mentorship programs involve higher five-figure investments.
What is a lease option in real estate?
A lease option lets you control a property through a lease agreement with the right to purchase it at a predetermined price in the future. You can then find a tenant-buyer who rents from you and has their own option to buy. The strategy allows you to profit from the spread without traditional financing, but it’s legally complex and not suitable for every market.
Does Kris Krohn’s lease option strategy actually work?
Lease options are a legitimate real estate strategy that some investors use successfully. However, they require significant effort (cold calling, deal sourcing), legal knowledge (laws vary by state), and market awareness. Kris’s marketing makes the strategy sound simpler and more passive than it actually is. Most students don’t achieve the results shown in testimonials.
What is Kris Krohn’s net worth?
Various sources estimate Kris Krohn’s net worth at approximately $65 million, primarily from real estate holdings, course sales, partnership fees, and business operations. This figure is self-reported and not independently verified.
Should I invest in a Kris Krohn partnership deal?
Given the SEC settlement history involving overstated property values, any partnership investment with Kris Krohn should be approached with extreme caution. If you’re considering a $50,000-$70,000 investment, you should conduct independent due diligence, consult with a financial advisor, verify all property valuations independently, and understand that past SEC issues involved exactly this type of arrangement.
Are there better ways to invest in real estate?
For most beginners, REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) offer exposure to real estate returns without the complexity of direct property investment. If you want direct investment, starting with a single rental property using traditional financing is generally lower risk than jumping into lease options or guru-managed partnerships. Education from free resources like BiggerPockets provides comparable learning to paid courses.
How Kris Krohn Compares to Other Real Estate Gurus
The real estate guru space is crowded. Understanding how Kris Krohn fits in the landscape helps you evaluate whether his specific approach is right for you.
| Guru | Primary Strategy | Price Range | Controversy Level | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kris Krohn | Lease options, partnerships | $197-$70,000+ | High (SEC settlement) | Intermediate investors with capital |
| Pace Morby | Creative financing, sub-to | $5,000-$25,000+ | Moderate | Active deal makers |
| Grant Cardone | Multifamily syndication | $5,000-$50,000+ | Moderate-High | Passive investors with large capital |
| Brandon Turner (BiggerPockets) | Rental properties, BRRRR | Free-$497 | Low | Beginners (education-focused) |
| Dean Graziosi | Wholesale, flipping | $997-$25,000+ | Moderate | Motivated but inexperienced |
Each of these figures teaches a different sub-strategy within real estate. The right choice depends on your capital, risk tolerance, market, and how much time you’re willing to invest.
But notice something they all have in common: substantial capital requirements. Whether it’s $997 for a course plus thousands for marketing (Kris Krohn), $50,000+ for a syndication investment (Grant Cardone), or $20,000+ for a creative financing deal (Pace Morby), real estate isn’t a “start from zero” business. If you don’t have significant capital to deploy, you’re probably better served by a business model with lower barriers to entry.
The Core Question: Is Real Estate the Right Path for You?
Before evaluating any specific guru, it’s worth asking whether real estate investing is actually the right move for your situation.
Real estate makes sense if you:
- Have $20,000+ in deployable capital (minimum)
- Are willing to learn local market dynamics, legal requirements, and property management
- Have a long time horizon (real estate wealth building typically takes 5-15+ years)
- Are comfortable with illiquid assets (you can’t easily sell a property in a week)
- Have stable income from another source to weather vacancies and repairs
Real estate probably doesn’t make sense if you:
- Are looking for your first source of income
- Have limited capital (under $10,000)
- Need flexible, location-independent work
- Want monthly recurring income without large upfront investment
- Prefer businesses you can start and scale quickly
For the majority of people exploring “how to make money” — which is the audience most real estate gurus are actually targeting — a lower-capital, digital-first business model is a more practical starting point. You can always add real estate to your portfolio later, once you have consistent income and savings to deploy.
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Mark is the founder of MarksInsights and has spent 15+ years testing online business programs and tools. He focuses on honest, experience-based reviews that help people avoid scams and find real, sustainable ways to make money online.