So far Kate is the only one I believe. 
Wonder if his company is going to call us now to ask us to take the thread down since we have a dissention. Kate even yelled about how bad he is. The others didn’t use capslock, so I have to go with Kate on this one.
She almost has ex-wife rage…
Maybe she’s “Kate Pinneo”…?
She certainly seems to have a certain conviction in her tone!
Keith
I have heard Greg speak, and he is a very good and solid speaker. He is high on motivation and loves to talk about his airplane and little mercedes he drives. He is in love with a property on the water in Seattle he bought, it is the one mentioned in the article previously posted. For all we know, Kate might have been a resident in that building.
Anyway, I know a person that is one of his “Power Players”. My friend is a solid success in investing. I do not think it is because of the direct teaching of Mr. Pinneo, but if anything the motivation.
Motivation is a powerful thing. Woody Allen said “80% of success is showing up”, well what about the other 20%. You need to actually DO SOMETHING.
While Greg has had some bad deals in his past, he is honest about it. He admits it up front. That is about all you can ask for that someone admits the failings, mistakes, and is forward and honest.
I am not recommending him, nor bashing him. What I am saying is, does it matter what “GURU” you choose, if you choose one at all. JUST GET GOING. Find one that reaches you, and gets you to finally take action!
So Sorry to offend anyone with cap-lock! Thank God-I am not his Ex-Wife, that topic would need another forum.
It’s easy to get overly interested or excited in a person who can deliver a hyped-up, well spoken pitch-
I stick to my post, I just can’t believe that there are more people like him out there that want to line there pocket book the way he does. Good Luck- Listen to your gut, you’ll learn a lot more from that then his program.
I went to the first day of Pinneo’s free seminar yeterday. I agree that he’s a great speaker (which has nothing to do with being a good investor). I think he’s a great storyteller and actor.
I had exactly the same questions as dhmkting and was really fascinated by the story (which was better than many Hollywood movies!), so I did some research.
I found this story in Seattle Times, which reveals nothing more than Pinneo’s account of the story.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2525900&date=19970226&query=pinneo
The judge was a pretty well-known liberal judge.
I couldn’t find any story about the courtroom full of Pinneo’s supporters who wrote 300 or 600 letters to the judge. That would make a great heartbreaking story! (My partner works for a newspaper and I write articles/columns for a few magazines and newspapers–we’d love the story!)
I assume this is the facility he spent 9+ months at and that he was in the min. security camp. So was it really that rough?
http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/she/index.jsp
I think it’s true that he went to the prison, but there’s more to the story on how he ended up there.
I don’t care if his story is true or not–I just find it astonishing (and disgusting) that someone goes to the extent of telling a story like that to sell his course. I used to do seminars (not on REI) myself and if I knew I’d choke with tears if I told the story, I wouldn’t tell the story. And he’s been speaking all over the U.S. and Canada–how many times did he tell the same story with the same slides (of his wife and kids)? Every time does he choke with tears?!
BTW, during his free seminar (which was a great entertainment), he provides very little information of substance (like most other “gurus”). He briefly discusses his marketing letter during the seminar.
He spent a lot of time on substitution of securities. There was a local note guru in the audience and he teaches that technique, too, so I asked him, “What do you think of what he’s saying?” The local guru said there are ugly sides to that technique and that the substitution is not that easy to be accepted. (I’m a noteholder myself and will NEVER go from the 1st position to the 2nd position without appropriate monetary compensation). So maybe he was taking advantage of unsophisticated sellers?
I know Greg, and his family, personally. I worked with Greg when he was just starting out, in Edmonds/Lynnwood, WA. Greg is a very intelligent and calculating “money maker”, and has done well in the real estate world. However, without getting into his personal life, I will just say that he is one of the most untrustworthy people I have ever known. I know some of the people whose lives have been screwed up because of his selfishness, and as a property developer and contractor, the subcontractors he has cheapskated. Also, he would definitely use his “prison” story for marketing. I have no doubt he can help people make money, but one should consider how high of a price they are willing to pay for his advice. Remember, you can only serve one master.
Greg Pinneo (from Edmonds) is the butt of local Real Estate jokes. (Pacific NW)
Convicted felon? Are people really stupid enough to listen to him?
Prison Life?
Can’t believe there is not a long Google track record on him.
:flush
Wow, great posting! Poor Amy, his oldest child!
He did get sentenced to hard time in Oregon for multiple counts of bank fraud and evading the FBI during their search. He’s been very good at hiding his real past and creating a new spin on history. He’s a scam artist, but a smooth talker. Every bone in his body is corrupt and he lives without a conscience.
Buyer be ware!
JL
Wow, the last three posts were new accounts and to date their only posts made on this forum. If nothing else, REIClub should consider a recruitment commission for this guy. :biggrin
Huh?! I made the above post yesterday and came back to check if there were any replies today. But it was buried on the third page. Apparently jackson64 decided to post 50+ messages in front of it. To top it off his/her account was created yesterday! Talk about recruitment! No offense, but either he/she is very enthusiastic about real estate marketing or would like to see this particular thread go away. :anon Greg, is that you?
All I have learned after reading all this garbage is that Greg Pinneo must spend very little time actually investing since he apparently has the time to make up 14 different accounts to promote himelf. Also he apparently is not good at that either as we all now know that he is a self-promoting wierdo and his name is now ruined on the biggest real estate investing site on the web.
Bravo Greg- another brilliant life move
Here are my two cents on Greg Pinneo. He normally travels to a town, contacts the local RE Clubs and asks them to promote his 2 day free event. The club would get a percentage of any of the sales Greg makes from the people the club referred.
The issue is that I have seen him over the past several years. Would you believe that not only does he use the same lame jokes and anecdotes, but the deals he refers to are the SAME. Each year, same 2 day deal same lame deals.
I am sorry, if you are such a great mentor and investor, wouldn’t you do some new deals in the last few years you could share?
This is my knock against many of the gurus. They aren’t still investing. They reference their greatness a few years back. I am happy they were successful then, but there isn’t a person on these boards that actually thinks the market from 2005 and now in 2007 are even remotely the same.
As with any person, ask them for examples of RECENT deals. If they can’t produce HUD closing statements, title company checks etc. all with DATES on them, then move on.
I remember back in college taking PASCAL a computer language. It was outdated at the time, but I had to take it. I have never used it since, and no one will ever use that language. So why would I pay a guru to teach me an outdated technique?
Folks, be your own best weapon. Use the area between your ears, do RESEARCH.
The one thing Greg is good at is motivating, but do you need to pay that much to be motivated or hear how fantastic Greg is? No, you want someone that is actually doing what you want to be doing. I can’t speak of Greg’s deals that he may or may not be doing right now, so if you see him, ASK HIM. Just as you should ask anyone that wants you to pay them money to teach you.
Would you pay someone to teach you how to fly a plane that hasn’t flown any of the new planes but only the old ones with open cockpits and propellers?
:biggrin
I just wanted to post what I know to be the truth. I am seeing a lot of mud fly around and I just want to set the record straight. I felt so strongly about it that I have set up a new account to comment here.
I have known Greg for about 19 years. I met him while I was in my first year of college. I was the very first guy to ever sign up for his class at Seattle Pacific University. I was one of the first 7 guys to work in his Real Estate company. So I think I am qualified. (And no I don’t get paid for this!)
A little about my background before I met Greg; I am a mixed racial individual (black-white-hispanic) from a poor family and a broken home. Greg was kind enough to teach me what he knew about real estate, even though he was already a multi-millionaire and I was kind of a punk kid. However, I wanted to learn and he wanted to teach. I had a rough exterior for Edmonds, WA. I grew up in New York and California. My mother OD’d and died from drugs when I was 7, and my father was in prison, which is how I ended up in Seattle, WA. When I met Greg, I was fresh out of high school and trying to change my life away from the more negative things that I was involved with. Greg gave me a lot of hope and and encouragement to try to reach my potential in business and in life! Meeting this individual has had a profound effect on every area of my life!
I have truly thanked God for meeting Greg. Who knows how I would have ended up if I had not met him? I bought my first real estate investment with Greg as my partner. Again, he was already rich and I was not. I am now a Principal of an Investment Banking firm. Lately, Real Estate has been how our firm generates cash, as discounted REO and mortgage paper are the only things we can move in the markets. These days, I use the lessons I learned from Greg daily. Not just technical Real Estate, but also philosophical. So many of my colleagues are underwater or out of business. We are coming off our worst quarter ever and about to rebound with our best. If “waking up early and staying late” (shades of Greg if you know him) are bad qualities then I am guilty. I know this is not a complicted thing to realize, but who actually does it?
I was there the day the FBI came around, it was too bad how that happened. I knew the Agent (we will call him MN) in our office who caused the incident. He was a good friend of mine as we were the 2 youngest guys in the office. I can honestly say that the main reason Greg got into hot water was he tried to go to bat for MN, who had really lied to the bank! Had Greg just sold the kid down the river, Greg would have walked. Instead he tried to do what Greg does; he did the brave thing as opposed to the easy thing. He would not leave his friend out to twist. Greg was doing such an excellent job defending that case that 2 years into the deal the Govt. got frustrated. They approached MN and got him to testify against Greg; in New York we call them RATS! Hard to believe, but I saw it with my own two eyes. There really were alot of people who wrote letters on behalf of Greg at sentencing. I was one of them. A sad day indeed.
We used to always tease Greg about becomming a seminar guy. However, I think anyone who has ever worked with Greg would agree that he does have some things worth teaching. It has been my experience that people hold Greg to this weird standard. Like he is supposed to be perfect. At the end of the day, he is only a man. We all make mistakes and have our shortcomings. Greg is a fierce competitor and he wins at the things he does more often then he loses. Its like watching a sports figure who finally loses. As much as they have their fans they also have their critics. When they finally lose, the critics finally have their 2 cents to pitch in. No one wins 100% of the time. What we appreciate (or despise) about people like this is that they have mastered something. In my mind it does not matter if it is boxing or basket weaving, but to watch people who are talented and to give them thier recognition is a refleciton of who we are. I have watched Greg change lives; mine especially. I have also watched people learn Greg’s material and then spit venom at the guy. They are entitled to their opinion. NO ONE who really knows the guy can disagree with this: there is something different about Greg. Something special. There is a talent there that cannot be denied.
When it comes to making money in real estate, he is very real. He can show you HUD-1’s and drive you around property after property where he made money. Alot of the stuff that he did in downtown Edmonds, WA he built. Up at 4 AM on the jobsite, leaves at midnite. There is the real secret, hard work and dedication. That is unrealistic for alot of people. I am glad I learned this from him, as I do business all over the world now and the time difference is 8 hours in China and 11 in Dubai. I wake up at 3 AM to take phone calls and have no problem with it. I realize I am lucky enough to be employed at this point, doing something that I love!
What I have usually found in the people who spit venom at Greg is that they either have had a bad experience with real estate “Guru’s” which I can agree, most of these guys are full of BS! I had listened to alot of these guys as a teenager and was pretty disillusioned by the time I met Greg. (Does anyone remember Tom Vu on his rented yacht and model girls?) Another group are insecure and hate to see someone do what they cannot. They despise others because it reminds them of thier own shortcomings in some way. The worst critics of Greg are those that competed against Greg and probably lost. Again, no one wins them all, but champions have a high win:loss ratio. Greg is a champion in alot of ways. Maybe there are some other categories I did not mention, but that covers most of them.
Personally, I hope he quits teaching Real Estate. It creates alot more competition for me! I know he makes plenty of money as an investor and could probably make more if he did not take the time to try to teach turkeys to fly! I deal with fund managers at name brand hedge funds and PE funds, Wall Street guys, etc. Most of them cannot hold a candle to Greg in critical investment decision making or work ethic. The nice thing about Greg is that he has found his niche and refuses to deviate. He could be doing the big commercial deals, in towns all over the country, but is happy to do 1-4 units in good locations around Seattle. I would say he has mastered that technique. It is a true pleasure to watch a master operate and if you are ever lucky enough to see Greg or buy his material I highly recommend it.
It has been my pleasure to be counted as one of Greg’s friends. It was definitely a defining moment in my life to become acquainted with him. I am sorry if that has not been your experience with him; you are missing out on something special. At the very least he is one of the funniest guys I have ever met. He sees the world in a very peculiar way and if you get a chance to learn about this different way of seeing things, I recommend it. If you never buy any real estate, the different way of seeing the world is worth the money in and of itself. You may find mastery and excellence in other areas of life as a result of meeting this guy. If you are unhappy with your situation in life, like I was as a teenager, meeting someone who has really been there and done it is always helpful. It gives you a glimpse into what is possible if you just allow yourself to stop being cynical and beleive in your own hopes. Isn’t there some guy about to be President with that message, despite the obvious obstacles? What is that worth? For me it has meant a career with millions of dollars attached. It has meant a life that is designed and not lived by default. I have had my own ups and downs, but because what I was taught, I always have a way to make it back up.
I wish good fortune to all who read this. I am really hoping you find in your life whatever brought you to this site. Maybe you think I am some nut job, but I just wanted to post my thoughts on the truth. If Greg was not a good guy, I would have wrote that too. Trust me!
Cheers,
Asa
Who’s Greg Pinneo? He’s not one of those “guru’s” is he? :flush
Greg Pinneo is not a man I would ever do business with. While claiming to be a REI ‘guru’ this man engaged himself in the petty theft of my property. To the tune of a measly $250… Stay far away. I know him personally.
Talk about a bump! :biggrin
Why am I replying to such an old post? Because I feel strongly that people need to be aware of who Greg Pinneo is if he ever tries to make a comeback.
I’ve been a student of Greg’s, he was my mentor and I trusted him. I also made the poor decision to invest with him. People … don’t get sucked in by someone with a slick story, a professional salesmen. I admit I learned a lot from Greg, but what I have also learned by being in his personal world here in Seattle is he doesn’t practice what he preaches. He is the first one to gloss up a bad situation and make it someone else’s problem.
He has been under investigation for a while for securities violations: http://www.dfi.wa.gov/sd/orders/orders2011.htm - search for his name and read the public statement of charges. While this isn’t the outcome of the case, I can tell you, because I am a member of one of the LLC mentioned, this stuff is true. Whether or not he comes to some settlement with DFI is unknown yet. Because I’ve been interviewed by the DFI in preperation for this case, I know how disgusted they are with him. DO YOUR HOMEWORK PLEASE!
He raised a lot of money from people like me here in Seattle buy selling us WAY overpriced buildings, and being dishonest about the potential and the current income. He told me that the buildings were already fixed up, the only thing needed was new garage doors. In fact, since then we have had many many many problem from bad windows, roof, old plumbing breaking, fuse boxes going out, the list goes on and on. He was supposed to be the manager, but was doing such a poor job that all the buildings were loosing much money every month and we were having vacancy issues…in one of the best neighborhoods in Seattle! You should never have a vacancy problem in this neighborhood unless your building is poorly maintained or overpriced. There is inherit risk in any investment, but he grossly misrepresented the opportunity.
The worst part, when the investors have been asked to make contributions so the buildings can pay their bills, he is one of the investors that has declined to pay his share. This is one of the reasons they are so behind, years behind in property taxes and have been in default of their mortgages. Partly because Greg will not pay his share, all while collecting 7% of the rents each month for his management fee.
All in all, I’m happy with the lessons learned from this man, good and bad, because it’s made me a much wiser investor. But I will never ever ever spend another dollar with this man, or even be in the same room with him. I seriously doubt he can do business with investors in Seattle anymore, so if he is in your area … selling his seminars or opportunities… ask yourself if he is there because he has burned all his bridges back home??