Has anyone purchased Greg Pinneo’s program? I’m interested in seeing what his marketing letters are all about – he professes that they are the best! Please share any info.
This may be a late response to your post. But I have heard Greg Pinneo speak and am familiar with his course.
He is a great speaker (probably the best I have ever heard) and motivational level is great. Worth taking time out to see him if he comes to an event near you.
As far as his course- the intial CD course is again very motivational, with many case examples patting Mr. Pinneo on the back for all the great deals he has done. Very interesting stories and some very good ideas you may be able to apply, if you are already in the business. But is very light on content on actually getting those deals done for yourself. Striding in line with many of the courses that you can buy out there for a few hundred bucks. It seems to be leading you up with just enough information to get you to a more expensive week-end boot camp or mentoring program.
PilotBill,
Thanks for responding to my posting. I heard Mr. Pinneo on a teleseminar and found him to be very interesting and impressive. His program was very pricey – unfortunately, so many of these real estate gurus charge more than they give the purchaser. I find that when you’re just starting out, like me, your funds are limited but you need all the valuable information you can get! They keep holding back on valuable pieces of information that’s vital to you grasping a better understaning of the business. They do dangle these bits and pieces of the puzzle as bait for upcoming workshops and boot camps.
Where are you located? Are you interested in selling your program at a “good” price! LOL
Trixie
Greg Pineo is top notch as far as I’m concerned. I know there are different strokes for different folks but Greg is the best speaker / educator that I have seen and I have seen most of the ones on the “circuit”.
He just released a new version of his product and it’s like 60 pages longer than the previous. I think he holds nothing back in this version with more detail, more letter samples etc. This product and his monthly CD subscription, which is the best product in the industry regardless of what your choice of investment is, are must haves for every serious investor. But one of the best things about his products is the professional service of the office staff. If I don’t reach them directly they almost always get back in touch with me within 24 hrs.
In my opinion this is the best money I have spent in Real Estate edcuation. There aren’t any gimmicks here just real information that is up to you to put into action. Since getting his stuff about 2 years ago I’ve bought about 4 million in Real Estate kept 2 million of it and put about 400k in my coffers last year alone.
Sorry, After just reading this over, it sounds like a commercial for Greg Pineo but hey…they’re the best.
TC
TC,
Thanks for the feedback. I was very impressed with Mr. Pinneo’s teleseminar. I ventured out on his website and I plan to purchase his monthly CD program because I feel I will get a lot of value for my money. After rave reviews from you, I am even more excited and eager to take a look at it!!!
What’s your niche? It appears that you have really been moving and shaking – I wish you continued success!!!
Trixie
Automatic red flag…when someones very first post is promoting something or someone. Be leery of this.
mtnwizard agrees with Bobo…it’s a world gone mad!
Date and time noted.
Keith
Update on the great Greg Pinneo. I found this article in the Seattle Weekly:
The Edgar Street massacre
By Eric Scigliano
If Harbor House was last spring’s poster child for housing-crunch horrors, this season’s demonstration case is a small apartment building at 100 E. Edgar Street in Eastlake. KOMO and KING TV had a go at it, and the Post-Intelligencer did a long take-out on Monday. It’s a grim case, but a timely one�arriving just as the Seattle City Council considers ordinances to (slightly) mitigate the ravages on renters of roughshod-landlording and a runaway housing market.
On August 31 Greg Pinneo of Edmonds wrote to the 11 Edgar Street tenants that he’d bought the building, their bargain rents would rise drastically, and they’d also have to pony up new damage deposits and month’s rents in advance. As the law allows, they had 10 days to say if they’d pay or move out. William Smith, a disabled retiree on a ventilator, had paid $465 for a one-bedroom, 499-square-foot flat and parking space. His new rent: $970, plus $75 a month for a storage locker that had been gratis. He must also come up with $1,195 for deposit and last month’s rent that weren’t required in all his 30 years on Edgar Street. But hey, Michele Pasquale’s rent for what she calls “a tiny studio” with parking only went up 83 percent, to $915.
“It’s not a livable city if you can’t afford to live in it,” says Smith, adding that he’ll go look up relatives in Oregon: “I can’t sleep on a park bench. I need electricity for my ventilator.” He adds that “three or four” tenants are stuck, for now, at Edgar Street; the rest are moving out�including one who just had radical surgery.
And that just might be the point, suggests Lisa Herbold, an aide to council member Nick Licata and a former Seattle Tenants’ Union staffer. With its Lake Union views, the run-down Edgar Street property seems ripe for upscaling. The city’s Tenant Relocation Ordinance says an owner who wants to empty and renovate must give current residents 90 days’ notice and $500 assistance. (The city kicks in another $500.) But if they move out “voluntarily,” the landlord neither waits nor pays.
Herbold says that Pinneo “told one tenant that as soon as she moves out, he’s going to put in hardwood floors, proof he plans renovation.” she adds that the biggest single rent increase she’d ever seen before this one came when rents doubled, fees were added, and everyone moved out of a small Queen Anne area building after Pinneo bought it.
Pinneo himself declines to comment, except to say, “This is taking way too much of my time and emotion. I’ve got to make a living. I don’t care what other people say. I know who I am.” Administrative-law records show that last year the state REVOKED PINNEO’S real estate BROKER’S LICENSE for getting multiple financing on properties without disclosing these to the lenders.
Frankly, Terri – you can save your fax. If you need this guy to tell stories and motivate you, you need more help than I care to give. This guy sounds like a scam artist and not a very nice man.
Da Wiz
That is rather odd huh Keith I think it might Snow where you are and I might get a Rocky Mountain Hurricane!! I better take the day off things are getting odd around here.
Gee and here I was about to fax a total stranger my HUD statements and tax returns because he didn’t believe what I said in Cyberspace.
Everyone’s a critic. Buy his stuff or don’t it makes no difference to me. As for me being a first time poster…this is the kind of gibberish of why I don’t normally post. It’s a bunch of know it all critics. You don’t know the guy and your calling him a scam artist. I don’t know him personally either I just know his stuff is top notch.
Perhaps your right, perhaps he isn’t nice or perhaps he’s one of the most philanthropic people out there I don’t know personally but his stuff is good and likely the truth lies somewhere in the middle as it does for all of us…Although by your account he should buy a rental building and lose money on it because the tenants have a great deal going. He’s a mean guy and scam artist because he raised the rent on tenants in a building he just bought.
For those of you out there thinking about property management…if tenant complaints freak you out or if you’re afraid to raise rents to market levels don’t bother buying rental property, it’s not for you. The reality is that you will often have to raise rents on buildings whereby the sellers have owned them for 25 years and haven’t raised the rents in 10 years and don’t have a mortgage that they need to cover.
Sorry to all the posters that this went down this path. I only wanted to provide some positive feedback for something that really helped me get up and running. I don’t want to be judged by people that don’t know me and make it a habit to make accusations so consider me run off this site.
My apologies and good luck to everyone
TC
Terri,
You are always welcome to post here and the purpose was not to run you off, but to point out that your guru is less than ethical if he lost his brokers license for putting multiple loans on the same property. That is criminal white collar fraud.
Of course you are still welcome to fax your docs and to participate in the various topics. You just have to be careful about whom you praise because this place is populated by curious people. Good luck to you.
Da Wiz
Wiz,
Thank you for toning it down a tad. Just so you know, he doesn’t hide any of the things you just stated. He discloses the Edgar St. story and the losing of his brokerage license at his free seminers. He’s not hiding behind anything. All I’m saying is that the truth always lies in the middle and his character judgement is up the individual not some newspaper ad. After all, when was the last time you got the whole story for any of our news media.
I am not claiming to know Mr. Pinneo. All I am saying is that his materials helped me immensly and before you pass judgement on someone, meet them or at a minimum here them speak. Personally I’ll leave the character judgements to someone a little higher up the food chain than me 
TC
Terri,
Good post. It’s true, one of the most intelligent and sincere people I ever met spent 11 years on Death Row and came within 72 hours of execution. I didn’t meet him there, but after he was released when California abolished the death penalty in the 1970’s, I became his rehab counselor. We became good friends and I loved him like a brother. Since Mr. Pineo didn’t commit murder but only tried to defraud the hated banks, I guess we can cut him some slack. However, I’ve found it’s the white collar criminals who seldom change their stripes because they are seldom made to truly pay for their wrongdoings. Someone’s credentials are important and when a guy who tried to defraud real estate lenders by placing multiple loans on the same property is telling you how to make money legally in real estate I’d be very careful. He obviously DIDN’T and now has to resort to selling information. I’ll guarantee his “free” seminar was not really free.
Da Wiz
I too read the Edgar St. Article after attending the free weekend seminar. First, it’s 8 years old. Secondly, Its no fault of the new owner that the previous owner was ignorant.
During the seminar, Pinneo openly discussed his criminal background. He reluctantly pled guilty to charges for which he served 13 months in a federal facility. I think he said the charges were 6 counts of ‘conspiracy to commit bank fraud.’ During his nearly 1-hour explanation of this isolated incident, he convinced me that the entire ordeal was a matter of poor quality control and compliance as well as poor risk management within his mortgage brokerage. In other words, since he was the licensed broker, he paid the price for some technical oversight by some of his staff. (how noble)
My concern was that in my personal experience involving exaggerated felony charges, there was plenty of room for plea bargaining. AND, there are also built-in safety nets for first-time offenders. 13 months sounds a bit stern for a ‘technical oversight.’
Also, the seminar was actually free. He did take the opportunity to pitch his pricey products, but everyone does. Overall, it was well worth the 12 hours I spent in sessions as well as the 4.5 hr drive each way.
final verdict— a few question marks so I did not purchase anything. More research to do regarding some claims. I will probably acquire some of his materials in the future based on his solid communication skills and motivational techniques.
Unfortunately for him, if someone like me comes out of his next free seminar and googles --“Gregg Pinneo” + “bank fraud”-- there will be at least one result.
I just returned from the first day of a 2-day FREE Greg Pinneo seminar. He told us the Bank Fraud/prison story, too.
Some things that seem wierd to me are:
-
Why would they send a “minimum sentence” white collar convict to a hard-core prison? Why not one of the “country-club” federal prisons?
-
Why is there no story about this in the Seattle Times archives?
-
Why doesn’t it show up when you “google” him?
ON a different subject - why - if he has 3 kids - does he only talk about Amy?
There’s no doubt that the man is very interesting to listen to - and has some very useful ideas. I’m just not comfortable trusting him - or spending any money on his stuff.
No comments on Pinneo. Although one of my team members flew out to see Pinneo and liked his presentation and bought his package, other than listening to the his intro CD I have not been to his class or personally spoken with him. In general I don’t think anyone can judge someone on problems they’ve encountered without more detailed insights than can be obtained through the media (which is as we know sometimes slanted) or through passive word of mouth, but certainly any info on someone being convicted of a crime is worth consideration in one’s evaluation or investigation of their teachings.
But I’ll share a few thoughts on loans. If you tell the lender you’re bringing money to the table to close a deal, then bring the money. If you have another property with equity maybe you can borrow against that. Maybe you can get an unsecured line of credit somewhere. But bring the money and don’t try to do “silent seconds” or otherwise skirt lender requirements.
If the lender says it has to be cash you have in hand, and you don’t have cash in hand, then if you can’t find a way to do it legit, don’t do the deal. I’ve seen investors selling property get to the last few days, the buyer says they don’t have the money and then the investor starts getting willing to do false gift letters, etc. Don’t do it!
Now, with that said, if you buy a property, do everything legit, and then if your lender doesn’t have stipulations in place that you cannot tap into your equity, then down the road a bit you can go take out an equity line on the property to free up some of your capital.
I nowadays simply do not deal with mortgage brokers as I do like to leverage my money to the extent possible to boost returns, do sometimes tap into property equity to free up capital for the next deal and to keep my equity in play during the growth phase of my investing, and therefore I like to have the ability to sit down face to face with a lender representative KNOWLEDGEABLE about what I can and cannot do. I let them know my intentions and find out what is acceptable and not, and look for a workable way to accomplish my objectives, in the full light of day with full disclosure.
Now, please understand, I am NOT against mortgage brokers and they provide a very valuable service in the industry, esp when an investor is credit challenged and needs to find a lender willing to take a few more risks than the larger banks and smaller local commercial banks. But sometimes you’ll run into a broker who is trying hard to make ends meet and they’ll push the limits, or they may not fully understand all the ins and outs of the lender’s guidelines, or whatever, and you as the investor are the one signing the loan docs so you must make sure you are not doing anything out of line. Worst case, you might want to fully READ all the documents from the lender prior to signing – possibly to the chagrin of the closing attorney who is usually pressed for time – because your violation of legal agreements with the lender can get YOU in trouble.
Remember an old saying, that goes something like this: “The BIG print giveth, the small print taketh away.”
Happy investing!
I have seen many speakers and attended many bootcamps from other trainers. I have gotten something from each one of them. I spent the most money with Robert Allens group $25k for the whole Real Estate Mastery program. The first property I bought and sold because of that program, I put 60k in my pocket.
I saw Greg this past weekend and I found him to be an awesome speaker with some very creative ideas. A breath of fresh air from many of the trainers that are out there. All I need to do is put one of his ideas to use and I will make all of my money back and than some.
There is no magic pill to swallow that is going to get you were you want to go. It is going to take work, dedication, determination, guts, etc. I have seen so many people buy somebodys program and never do anything with it and than blame the trainer. We are all responsible for our own lifes and actions. Don’t blame a trainer if you are not successful, it is your own fault. NO RISK-NO GOODIES.
Good luck to those who are brave enough to step outside the box.
Rotax 21, Florida
The key to any education is that you must put it to work to become successful. It is easy to spend money on education but it is impossible to recoup any of the expense if you do not take steps to put the training into play. When you really start to invest that’s when the real learning starts. Up until that time it’s just education, not applied knowledge.
I too commend and wish great success to all those who are willing to take the risk to step out and take action on what they have learned. Start at a manageable pace, know that there is a lot to learn that won’t be taught in class, and be patient and persistent and eventually, if you stick with it and learn as you grow, you can build a successful wealth portfolio.
GREG PINNEO IS THE BIGGEST LYING THIEF ON THE PLANET. HE WOULD SELL HIS MOTHER TO FEED HIS EGO AND MAKE A NICKEL. IF YOU LIKE DESTROYING OTHER PEOPLES LIVES TO MAKE A BUCK- MAYBE YOU SHOULD LOOK INTO HIS PROGRAM. BETTER YET, MAYBE YOU SHOULD LOOK INTO HIS BACKGROUND. I KNOW HE TALKS ABOUT HIMSELF IN HIS SEMINAR AND COMES CLEAN WITH HIS MISTAKES- HA! THERE IS SOOO MUCH MORE TO THIS COMPLEX, SCREWED-UP INDIVIDUAL THEN YOU’LL KNOW.
Wow. There’s a lot of people creating accounts to talk about this guy. I’m always skeptical, so bet he’s a sham like most gurus who do seminars. I’ve learned everything I needed from actual investors in my local market, this board, and books on Amazon.com.