SubTo Alternatives: Cheaper Ways to Learn Before You Spend $9,800

By Mike Calloway · Last Updated: November 12, 2026 (Price & Content Verified)

You’ve looked at SubTo. You’ve seen the $9,800 price.

And now you’re wondering if there’s a cheaper way in.

There is. Several, actually.

The funny part? The cheapest SubTo alternatives come from Pace Morby himself.

Here’s my list of SubTo alternatives, from free to “fine, I’ll pay,” and then one alternative that isn’t about houses at all.

Why Most Real Estate Courses Suck

Why look for a SubTo alternative?

Quick recap of what SubTo is and costs, so we’re comparing apples to apples.

SubTo is Pace Morby’s paid community for subject-to and seller finance. The official checkout page lists it at $9,800, or four payments of $2,450. (buy.subto.com)

There’s no public module list. The checkout terms say all sales are final. And SubTo’s own how it works page admits “No money down doesn’t mean no money,” listing earnest money, entity setup, closing costs and the due-on-sale risk on top.

None of that makes SubTo bad. It’s a real community. But it’s a lot to spend before you know whether you even like this kind of investing. Full breakdown in my SubTo review.

Here’s how the options stack up.

Free and cheap SubTo alternatives

1. Read Pace’s own book for $26.99

Pace Morby wrote a book called Wealth Without Cash: Supercharge Your Real Estate Investing with Subject-To, Seller Financing, and Other Creative Deals.

It’s a 248-page hardcover from BiggerPockets Publishing. It’s $26.99 at the BiggerPockets store.

That’s 0.28% of the SubTo price. It’s the same guy, explaining the same strategies.

Will it give you coaching and deal reviews? No. Will it tell you whether subject-to is for you before you spend ten grand? Very possibly.

If you read the book and feel nothing, you just saved $9,773. If you read it and you’re fired up, you’re walking in with your eyes open. My take is in the Wealth Without Cash review.

2. Join his free Facebook group

Pace runs a free Facebook group called Creative Finance with Pace Morby.

It’s a good way to see the culture before you pay. Watch what people post. Notice who’s actually doing deals and who’s mostly asking how to start.

Fair warning: free groups are usually the top of a funnel. You’ll be invited to apply for something eventually. Like the free sample guy at Costco, he’s nice, but he’d love it if you bought the whole box.

3. Read the BiggerPockets forums

BiggerPockets is the same company that publishes Pace’s book, and its forums have open threads about SubTo.

Start with “Is the Pace Morby SubTo program worth $10,000?” It has 51 replies, and they’re mixed. That’s useful. Mixed is honest.

I rounded up the rest, plus the Reddit threads, on my Pace Morby Reddit page.

4. Go to a local real estate investor association

Lots of areas have a real estate investor association, usually called a REIA, where local investors meet up.

You get something SubTo’s homepage promises, people “in your market,” except you can shake their hands. You may meet agents, lenders and investors who’ve done deals in your actual zip code.

Prices and formats vary by group, so check yours. Bring business cards. Skip the guy who brings a pitch deck to the snack table.

5. Pay a real estate attorney for an hour

This is the most underrated alternative on the list.

Before you buy any course, book an hour with a real estate attorney in your state. Ask them one question: “What happens to me if I take over someone’s mortgage subject-to and the lender calls the loan?”

Here’s why that matters. The seller’s loan very likely has a due-on-sale clause, and federal law, the Garn-St Germain Act, lets lenders enforce it. A sale to an unrelated investor isn’t one of the exemptions. Subject-to is legal, but the lender may call the loan.

One hour of a lawyer’s time will teach you more about that than a month of motivational clips. The background is in the due-on-sale clause, explained and subject-to risks.

I’m not a lawyer, and this isn’t legal advice. Talk to a real estate attorney in your state before you sign anything.

Paid SubTo alternatives

If you’ve done the free stuff and still want a paid program, here’s the one I can actually speak to with real numbers.

AstroFlipping (Jamil Damji)

Jamil Damji co-hosted A&E’s Triple Digit Flip with Pace. He co-founded KeyGlee, a wholesaling company, and teaches wholesaling through AstroFlipping.

The astroflipping.com homepage shows a $997 price point. That’s about a tenth of the SubTo price.

But it’s a different strategy. It’s wholesaling, not subject-to, so the pitch isn’t about taking over anyone’s mortgage.

Reddit and BiggerPockets have some “be wary” threads about AstroFlipping too, so do your homework the same way. Also worth knowing: Pace’s SubTo Fund SEC filing lists AstroFlipping and KeyGlee as related names, so this isn’t exactly leaving the family. Full comparison on SubTo vs AstroFlipping.

What about Pace’s other programs?

They’re not really alternatives. They’re more like other rooms in the same house.

Gator Method reportedly runs about $3,000, according to a BiggerPockets post, and it’s reportedly about making small short-term loans to other investors (per OfferMarket). Top Tier TC trains transaction coordinators and doesn’t list a price. I cover both in the Gator Method review and the Top Tier TC review.

I’m not listing other paid programs here because I couldn’t verify their prices or details well enough to put them in front of you. That’s on purpose.

The real alternative: a different kind of real estate

Here’s the thing every option above has in common.

They all end with you buying a house. Or helping someone buy a house. Which means a seller, a lender, a title company, a tenant and, eventually, a roof.

And with subject-to specifically, a mortgage with somebody else’s name on it.

I did the houses thing for years. Rentals, flips, the 2am phone call about the water heater. It works, but it’s heavy.

The real estate I like best now is a website.

It ranks on Google for a local service, and a local business rents it because it makes their phone ring. There’s no mortgage, so there’s no due-on-sale clause. There’s no tenant, so there’s no water heater.

You found this page on Google. That’s the proof the idea works. I’ll show you the rest in the video.

What I'd Do Instead of SubTo