Ok
I've done the HS course and been working (or trying to) work with options for the last 2 and a bit years. I now no longer have anything to do with Massland or anyone associated with them.
My experience with Massland, including dealing with a number of their former staff members/deal finders leads me to make the following comments/suggestions (and I stipulate with no admission of liability that these are based on personal experience ONLY and are suggestions ONLY. There are no direct accusations or implications intended to arise from my observations. Make your own choices and decisions based on your own research).
1 - The best thing I could suggest you do where Massland or ANY seminar spruiker/presenter is concerned, PRIOR to paying any money or signing JV agreements with them, is conduct Due Dilligence - obtain financial statements via your accountant or solicitor verifying the commercial viability, loans/finance available and current projects that are in their name etc. DD can be performed between your solicitor and accountant and theirs. It's standard practice so they shouldn't have any problem in providing proof of their status. Any legitimate company should have no problem in proving their status to a prospective business partner, which is what a JV partner is, do not be under any illusions about this aspect of it. Do not miss this step.
2 - Confirm in writing the experience of their 'mentors' and 'coaches' - a good question to ask of any seminar provider is have their mentors been successful in their own rights (have they signed up options, been paid out, done deals etc). I would question any organisation where those coaches and/or mentors hadn't done so? How can they teach you if not? I have no idea about the Massland staff, so can't comment either way, but I think it's a good question to ask.
3 - Confirm in writing the 'successful students' and the amounts they've been paid out and if they match what's been said in public. Successful organisations are more often than not able to provide willing references easily and quickly. Talking to them shouldn't be an issue either.
The theory presented on options in the course isn't new. Options have been used by developers for decades and continue to be used today. Can you get land using a DA as a deposit and a $1000 option fee? You can try but only if you like abuse. Industry standard is 1% of the settlement/strike price or less but very few if any land owners will stand there and cop what Mark tells you works day in day out. It is nowhere near as easy as what he purports it to be. This is why that particular course has over an 80% failure rate of people getting out there to do it for any protracted period of time (at least that's what I've heard, I cannot verify that however so apologise if that's inaccurate).
Options are very, very hard work, they rarely come off unless you already have a buyer waiting, and money for an option fee. Trying to make the kind of profits Massland speak of without a DA is nearly impossible, and even then without a buyer, or without people who are willing to deal with you/buy from you, its very hard to achieve. Essentially you need to find a land owner who doesn't know what he's got for it to work.
Consider also if you're new to the game and relying on your JV partner for funds, experience and so on, what then when they turn around to you and say 'you go do it all, find funders, find buyers, do the DA yourself'? I personally would question what the purpose of being in a JV would be at all if this were the case, and i'd be handing over 85% of the profits for what?? Food for thought there. Consider also that developers pay acquisitions people and DA managers (two seperate job descriptions there) over $100K a year to go do that exact same job (find land, negotiate, option it up if possible etc).
There are a number of other development courses out there that deal with options but also give you a good grounding in development as a whole, which in my experience is vital if you're going to use options at all. Carly Crutchfield and Rob Balanda both provide good courses from what I understand.
But again, before handing over a single cent to Massland (or anyone else, I don't discriminate) get written proof of all claims made, something that will hold the seminar provider/company legally accountable if they turn out to be inaccurate, inflated, or just plain false. You can then ask yourself the question - if a group/individual refuses to prove their status/worth/claims that they've made on a stage somewhere...why is this so? That's only a question I personally would ask myself if I encountered something like that.
Good luck with your decision.