Mastermind.com Reviews

Fast forward to December 16, 2011, I retired from my full time job as an accountant. As of March 26, 2013, I am now a full time investor having closed 143 transactions. Being a part of the DG family and now the Insider's Edge has been a vital part of my success. There have been so many professional relationships and friendships built that no doubt will last a lifetime! It's a place to go and recharge, plug in, learn, share and give back. No matter what you were going through, what challenge you are facing, you could log in, get questions answered, find the resources that you need or get a "You can do it" from others going through or already experienced what you were facing whenever needed!

Any success that I have earned has come directly from first and foremost God, then driven from hard work, determination, discipline, being teachable, taking action, and strength, knowledge, skills, techniques acquired from Dean Graziosi, his team, DG.com, DGInsiderElite, and mirroring the exact actions and through processes of Dean and his top students. Success always leaves clues! We have to each take responsibility for our own lives. If we aren't were we wanted to be in life, it is up to each of us to change it. No one or nothing will do it for you. If you want something different, we have to decide to do something different. Change is always a bit scary.

But I can tell you this, opportunities present themselves every day. It's up to us to do our own due diligence from facts and actual data, not opinions. Next, make the best choices for us and our families. Then take a chance on yourself! Because we each have to say what is to be is ultimately up to me! Meaning if you are willing to put forth the effort, follow step by step his techniques, you too can afford yourself some different choices, different opportunities and different results. I can say with 100% confidence, you will not find a simpler, easier to follow education system that takes you from start to finish than what Dean provides. He gives us the roadmap, but it's up to each of us whether we put the key in the ignition. I hope today is the day you decide to start your journey to a life that can be anything you want it to be!

Original Review: March 19, 2013

I went to the initial 4-hour intro session. The program sounded attractive enough for me to plunk down $1,997.00 to learn more at a 3-day session. Once at the 3-day session, they showed me a set of tools and services that if taken at face value, would get me stated on my way to creating a real estate investment business for myself. In summary, they presented a suit of advanced training and tools that constituted a "turnkey" real estate investment solution. Here is how it works:

At the 3-day workshops, you are taught some high level techniques for buying properties wholesale to flip, lease options, foreclosures and tax liens. Starting with creating a power team comprised of a mentor, realtor, contractor, CPA, lawyer, etc. and techniques for creating this team. One thing that surprised me is that they spent very little time talking about the risks involved with real estate investing. The implication I assume is that if you use their system, they remove much of the risk. But encouraging people to buy real estate without actually seeing the property (and I don't mean on Google Earth) is a bad idea no matter who you are. Mostly you are shown how difficult it is to learn on your own, but of course they have this suit of training services and tools that you can use to accelerate your ability to make lucrative deals and generate profits/earnings.

They also plug the Las Vegas summit pretty hard, which they run every month for students to come and buy properties that have already been bought at wholesale prices by them, rehabbed (repaired) and are currently rented for at least 8 months and generating ~$600 per month in positive cash flow. They tell you there this is the best time to be in the real estate market and they present the information in a way that leads you to believe that if you join their program, you will significantly increase your odds of success in real estate investing since they have done all the heavy lifting (tools, training, assisting with building your team, and they have already collected the market data) and will hold your hand through the learning process They have several levels of their program ranging from $20K to $40K (yes, that's right. $40,000).

Once I had the chance to listen to 2 days (out of three) of their sales pitch, I was able to break down their business strategy. In a nutshell, this is what they are doing. You decide if this is a scam or not. Let's start with the obvious. Dean and his team are in the real estate investment business. They buy, sell and rent properties, and they invest in tax liens. The real estate market is much like any other market (i.e. the stock market) in that there needs to be buyers and sellers for there to be a market. If you have ever traded stocks, you know that you should never buy thinly traded stocks (stocks that trade fewer than 2-3 million shares per day). The reason you do this is liquidity.

When you decide you want to sell your shares, you want to be sure that there will be buyers for your shares. This is called liquidity because by buying shares that are traded at high volumes, you have a significantly better chance of finding a buyer when you wish to liquidate your position (get back to a cash or liquid position). You want this because the easier it is to liquidate your position to cash, the sooner you can use that cash to get into another position. Stay with me here. This is very relevant to how the Dean Graziosi scheme works. Real estate investment properties are, by their nature, not liquid assets. Real estate investments in general are not good for liquidity, which is a pretty big disadvantage if you need to get cash out quickly.

Now back to Dean and his business model. Dean's business has a great deal of capital (cash) tied up in properties and tax liens. They cast a wide net, buying all kinds of properties, snatching them off the market as quickly as they can in bulk. In doing so, they acquire all kinds of properties and tax liens. Once they have them, they then review them for quality. The very high quality ones they keep. Those that they don't want, they then want to get rid of. The problem is that, as I mentioned like a thinly traded stock in the stock market, these properties and tax liens are hard to liquidate (turn back into cash so they can reinvest again in new properties) without taking a loss.

Pay attention because this is where the Dean Graziosi real estate investing scheme gets very interesting. What they then do is create or generate artificial "buying demand" through their training program. Taking advantage of people who think they are going to learn to invest their savings and retirement money wisely in the real estate market. Dean and his team are not stupid. They understand the current state of our economy (low interest rates, volatile stock market and the general lack of low risk investment vehicles available to people who have money). They also understand the mentality of the people who tend to attend these seminars. Although they do say this is not a get rich quick scheme, they still portray throughout the training class that there is a great deal of money to be made in real estate investing.

They routinely show examples of $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 being made on a single deal. They show ideal scenarios and they do not discuss risk much if at all. Throughout the seminar they try to identify those people with cash assets (IRAs, 401K, credit cards with high limits, etc). They do a great job of laying out a scenario where they are there to help you succeed if you pay a substantial fee. But the clincher, the thing that they drive pretty hard is the Vegas summit which they tout as offering virtually free money since they have done all the hard work for you and all you have to do is go there and buy properties and tax liens off their list (which they supposedly have vetted already). These properties they say are at wholesale prices and can easily be sold within 120 days for $30K profit all day long.

With this kind of support, how can you lose? This is the hook that catches the 99% of the people in these classes because they want to believe that this program can make them huge profits quickly. In reality, what the Vegas summit is and why they run these every month is because they buy properties and liens in bulk. As a result, they need to drive as many new students to the Vegas summit to purchase their unwanted properties and tax liens (after they have identified the ones they want to hold and mark up the ones they want to unload). This is how they are literally creating liquidity for their real estate properties and tax liens holdings that otherwise they would have to hold the risk on themselves.

By the way, they also pay the airfare and hotel (for 2 nights) for the student and his/her guest. If you do the math, this pays for itself if they get 300 or 400 people to attend the event each month and they buy on average 2 or 3 properties or tax liens each. Anyway, this is what I determined is the business strategy of Dean Graziosi and his organization. It's quite a scheme and at its core it depends on the fact that people in general are looking for easy money systems. So scam or no scam? In my opinion, this program on the surface appears to be reaching out a helpful expert hand to their customers to help them become savvy real estate investors. Unfortunately though, the other hand is reaching for your wallet. Beware.

While this long delayed process was taking place, we were still having to pay the interest to Insider's Cash and had not received a single rent check. When the home was finally ours, we had to fight to get two months of back owed rent. One would think that this would have been simple. Of course it was not. Instead, we were told we would only be getting less than half the rent owed to us for those couple of months. When we challenged this, we were told the other portion would be kept by Property Direct. After a lot of phone calls and being bumped from one person to the next, it was finally settled and we did get our money.

The most frustrating thing is no one mentions that it is more difficult for Canadians to get a loan at any of the seminars being held in Canada. It wasn't until we were in Las Vegas that this became apparent. I now understand why no one hands out business cards or provides an actual physical location of any of these businesses. Today, March 18, 2013, we called the help hotline to discuss this problem and the individual practically just said, "Yeah, we know. But I'm just a realtor." He then proceeded to say that there was an individual that was present at one of the summits that represented a Bank in Arizona that would be able to finance Canadians. We said we know because we were the individuals who found him! Please read below for what has happened.

The individual who was invited to the seminar was a representative from a US Bank and was there to help Canadians get financing through them. We were very excited to learn that it was a success and he would be able to help Canadians who were at this particular summit, one would think. Instead every obstacle has been placed by both Property Direct and Insider's Cash to divert Canadians from using him. The reason! They wanted to increase the interest rate so they could get a piece of the pie. This was what we wanted to avoid as it would bring us right back to another high interest Insider's Cash, which is what we did not want to have to happen.

What I do not understand as both an investor and a Canadian is this: if during a buying summit a total of 10 homes were purchased by Canadians from Property Direct and Property Direct makes x amount of profit, would they not rather be able to sell 20-40 houses if Canadians had financing available to them? Instead, barriers have been put up as a result of a bank not wanting to increase their rate to give a piece to whomever it goes too because get this... They wanted and are able to help Canadians! Profit would still be made on the volume of homes that would be sold to Canadians because financing would be available. I find this very disheartening that something so good would be rejected because of greed!

I sadly do not expect a response from anyone as when I have tried to reach out in the past, nothing happened. I also tried to make an appointment with Mr. Graziosi while in Arizona. I tried the phone number that was listed on his page and it is diverted to the helpline. I honestly wish all those who are representatives and speakers at these summits would extend their enthusiasm to "us" after the summit ends.

Original Review: March 12, 2013

I have been with Dean's program now for 11 months. I have been to the two introductory seminars and to Las Vegas for the Edge event last September. My partner and I have put hundreds of hours into trying to flip properties in Florida without any success! We are in Canada and totally reliant on agents and contractors to do all our footwork.

We were told this can be done with no money from us and that Insiders Cash would lend us whatever we needed to do the deals. This is not true! In order to place a property under contract, it requires escrow money, usually $1,000.00, and it has to be wired to a holding company, which can cost up to an additional $60. The only deals that Insiders Cash will cover 100% have to be double closed in a three-day period. They will only pay 50% on Buy / Fix / Flip, and Buy / Hold/ Rent, and this where the best chance to make money is! Don't believe me? Look what Dean and Matt Larson are doing all the time... Buy / Fix / Rent! It is next to impossible to flip houses with no money from Canada!

I am broke as a result of believing what Dean says! I paid $2,000 for the three-day seminar, then $550 to set up an LLC, and then was pressured to pay another $12,000 to get in to the training program. But it doesn't end there! The research that Dean has done on how to extract money from trusting people must be extensive. In Vegas he brought in the big guns, or big name speakers, who excel at motivating consumers! We were led to believe that investing with Dean’s affiliates was a sound business move. I can only speak for myself here, and this is what happened to me.

The speakers were praising Tax Liens, as well as notes, and rental properties. I could not afford the rental properties or notes so I opted for the least expensive item tax liens. We were told how safe these are, especially buying from Sean Walker's company SKW Prep, LLC. They supposedly researched the liens to ensure a safe purchase.

I bought two liens for $7,137.78 on houses in Dayton, Ohio. Turns out the owners of these properties were not intending to pay the taxes now owed to me. I talked with Guardian Law and was advised to have an agent do a quick appraisal on these properties, which I did. My agent had trouble finding the first house because it had been condemned by the city and torn down! Guardian told me I would have no recourse against the city, and that lien was now worthless. My agent then reported on the second property, a multi-unit house. I thought this has got to be worth some money! Wrong again, the place was a wreck, with doors and windows missing, mold, and just in a terrible state of repair. It was also in a bad half empty neighborhood. He estimated the value at $5,000. The legal fees to foreclose are $5,000, in other words this lien was also worthless!

I am now at risk of losing my home! The last thing I needed was $21,687.78 more debt, especially since the reason I joined Dean's team was to make money!

I did my research that same day both on the computer and talking to people I know who are very successful in real estate. I called 2 days later to cancel and get my refund. I purchased 2 packages: real estate ($1997) and tax liens ($997). I was told that they would refund me both programs minus $500 each until they get all the materials back. I sent everything back to them the next day via FedEx 2-day air and they received it two Mondays ago, Feb 18th. This is now almost three weeks later and I have yet to see a refund for that $1,000 that they are holding and now I will have to pay interest charges on that $1,000 to the credit card company, because they didn't credit it back on time.

I called last week and was told that it usually takes 5-7 days for that refund but they do see that they received the items. Today, I called again and this time, they told me that they don't see the items returned and that she will need to check with the financing dept and get back to me, but that they legally have 30 days to refund it. No one called me back. On the back of the receipt, it states that a refund will be issued within 1-3 business days from the time they receive the materials back. I called the Dept of Consumer Affairs to inquire about that refund policy and they told me that the company has to follow whatever limit they put into their terms and conditions, so legally they don't have 30 days.

I called Dean's customer service # again to let them know this and the representative was challenging me on that fact until I actually had to read to her the line that clearly stated the 1-3 business day policy, only then did she apologize and see the urgency in getting me my refund (3 weeks late). The Dept of Consumer Affairs also gave me the number of complaints just in this state alone and let me know that they have actions against them for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that they are not licensed in the state of California to do this. I urge everyone who is thinking about shelling out thousands of dollars for this education to do your research and call your state's Dept of Consumer Affairs and the Utah Dept of Commerce, consumer protection dept at (801) 530-6601.

If it hadn’t been for Dean, Matt, and coaches, I would not be here. Wish I could have sugar coated this and said you could have sat at home and got a check. But since I was willing to be taught, I have never lost on a deal. They just promise to teach me how to buy a house. If you chose to pay the money, but refuse to become teachable, look in the mirror and see the real problem.

Insider Elite is the most recent program Dean's team has to offer. It is the best program they have put together thus far because it includes most of his past programs, books, and automated systems but also provides daily, weekly, and monthly updates from the top students along with Dean himself. There are tons of other members doing deals that use IE, so it makes networking very easy. The live events such as The EDGE are by far the most valuable thing Dean's team has to offer. Last year, I walked away from The EDGE wishing there was one more day left because I was constantly surrounded by like-minded people who all have very similar goals. The amount of knowledge, motivation, and networking capabilities at each event is indescribable. You have to be there to understand the amount of energy in that room.

Dean also offers something they call The Success Academy. This academy gave us the confidence and step-by-step guidance to get our business started. We were able to call them multiple times a day with any on-the-spot question we had. Without going through The Success Academy we wouldn't be where we are today. Whenever I need to talk with Dean's customer support, it is always a very pleasant experience. They are most concerned about the experience and education of their students. To top it off, Dean backs up all of his products/events with a money back guarantee if you aren't completely satisfied. I've never had to exercise the option to get my money back because Dean never releases a product or hosts an event that isn't amazing.

Now, this is my first time admitting this, but after I enrolled in Dean’s course, I went on and enrolled with other real estate guru and did a one-on-one with them, which was a lot more money than becoming a DG student. I trained with Kent ** and Dave **. I’m speaking from my experience. These two real estate coaches/guru have nothing compared to what Dean teaches. As a matter of fact, I would have never been able to coach with Kent or Dave if it wasn't for Dean Graziosi teaching me how to make money every single month with Dean’s courses. On top of that, Dean showed me how to start my business without wasting a lot of money. The other coaches were telling me I need to waste over $1,000 a month for marketing. I waste $70 a month on marketing, and I sell a few homes a month all thanks to Dean Graziosi.

Coaching is very important to be really successful, a coach gets you to where you need to be and want to be faster than if you do it alone. So, if you’re looking for real education that really works, and I am living proof along with a bunch of Dean’s other students, then go enroll with Dean Graziosi. Heck, you can even join his website for free and get so much information from his successful students. And did I mention it's free and full of techniques to make money now?

Your attitude is a very big part of your success; this is very important. Following step by step what you learn through Dean's strategies is a gold mine, but most importantly, the support and the care that Dean put's into helping his students is the most amazing part about being part of the DG family. I would stand and always know that Dean definitely changed my life and set up the path to a successful future for me and my family. It is not Dean's strategies that do not work; it is our attitude and how we take action that does not work.

I am now retired (Yipee!), and I can visit my kids/grandkids on my schedule. As I write this, I am looking for my next house deal that will bring me income that I can use for enjoyment of my old age. My wife and I have gone from deep concern about our financial future to control of it. Happy times are here again. All you old folks (okay, and everyone else) like me need to take a serious look at and signing up for this more than worthwhile course. And what a fantastic coach we had during the course. She became our friend. Hi, Karen.

People crawled over other people to be the first in line to get one of these guaranties and hand over $2,000. I was approached by a sales guy at break and asked if I want to stay on the losing side and asked me, "Why did you come?" I about punched this guy in the face. He was such a jerk. When I repeated his comment to another sales person there, he told me, "Well, why did you come then, if you're not willing to do the right thing?" When I asked about our free cameras, he said, "Well, we ran out so here is a voucher." Yeah right. These guys take your $2,000 and get you to drive to a 3-day hard-core sales pitch for their real hard-core get together that only cost an additional $15,000-$35,000. There was never any nugget of information and the 3-day course is a waste of time. It should be criminal to sucker so many people out of their hard-earned money.

Anyway, in the seminar, they used some crazy tactics to steal your money. They explained that great credit is useful to real estate investing, so they actually took a 15-minute break where you were told to call your credit card company to ask for a credit line increase! I am not kidding! They did that so you would have more credit to buy their ** packages, which cost upwards of 50 thousand dollars. I kid you not. They also asked the audience, “Who has $80k at their disposal right now?” Then they made note of that and were very aggressive trying to sell their packages to those people. Not a single thing was taught about real estate. The guy speaking was a motivational speaker, not a real estate expert. His name was Deno **. I looked his name up during the seminar and he works for a company, which books gigs for their motivational speakers.

When I was fed up with the **, I went to the attendant and said, “I am leaving, I want my money back.” He turned into a complete **, disrespecting me and making fun of me saying, "I am not the one who needs real estate help." There are many stories of people being thrown out immediately if they are thought to be against buying packages. They told everyone not to exchange phone numbers or network because it can "lead to problems." Lol. What problems? They did this so that people don't start a class action lawsuit against this ** scam! I am telling you people, this is a scam through and through. I disputed the charge on my credit card and got my $1,900 back. This Graziosi guy is using a scam, and a great way to swindle people by standing behind a false facade by using the description or word "seminar" or "class." This was not a class; it was a sales pitch to buy their packages, which do not work! Email me if you want more info or want to start a movement against this guy.

Then they talked about their strategy to "sell in 21 days." What? Many of the distressed short sale properties for sale are not actually owned by the bank - they just service the debt. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own most of these, and their current policy is "After a 30-day period, and until 90 days from the date of the deed, the buyer is prohibited from selling the property for a sales price greater than 120% of the short sale price." So it's not a 21-day sale, it's a 91-day sale. Just tons of outdated, bad, irrelevant information. I do not recommend working with this group. They really don't know real estate or the local market.

Also, I noticed that Dean himself looks like he is on some type of narcotics. His eyes look dilated all of the time and have a glazed appearance. He looks more muscular as if he is on steroids. I am disappointed with this company. I know that at times, people obtain their wealth through the misfortune of others (foreclosures, liens, etc). However, there are opportunities in real estate where people do not have to gain using those methods. It would not surprise me if Dean and Armando are being used by higher levels of government. Who knows.

Original Review: Jan. 3, 2013

The information in the infomercial was deeper than the actual 3-day seminar. I wanted to learn just enough to do something this year in real estate. I had a goal of creating some cash flow, learning how to find and close deals in real estate in my local market and a 3-year goal of owning some rental properties. I have gone to a few of our local real estate clubs introduction sales discussions for various systems. Dean Groziosi's was not much different but it was handled by a lot more people which I thought showed some depth. $2,000 is a lot of money right now for my family but I want to learn and get involved in real estate as the economy and real estate rebounds.

The big pitch, “You go to our seminar and we will put enough point-by-point activity and understanding that you will do a real estate deal within 3 months and turn a profit, and if you do that, you get your $2,000 back.” The premise being that the real problem is people being afraid to act, and that resonated with me and I signed up. I remember feeling a little bit ashamed because I am an educated, and by most standards, a successful person. A big reason for this is I am curious and take risks sometimes that put me outside my comfort zone. I think a lot of people feel this way. So I signed on and showed up and told the first guy I met that I was anxious because I wanted to learn something.

I wanted to do my first deal and although I need from investigating on the web that there was a strong upsell for additional programs that I understood the business model but was not going to be interested in anything else until I did my first deal. The guy said that I should just keep my mind open and please don't sour anyone else on your fears. And I didn't. Three days I was in the seminar. The instruction was really light, very general and not very applicable. It became very obvious that the whole weekend was about getting elderly and other people worried about their financial future to use their retirement funds to go to a Las Vegas convention where people buy and sell properties. It was very expensive and there were people that upgraded.

I made my intentions known very clear about what I wanted from the weekend and I held to my end of the bargain and was upbeat and positive to everyone. I never questioned the tactics or ethics of the strong sales pitch that was being exerted. My "mentor" kept asking me, "Are you interested in getting to the next level," which was an obvious presupposition buying into the $40,000 convention weekend but was supposed to be heard as "Do you want to be successful?" I said no and they gave me a packet of information and asked me to leave, saying I would get nothing else from the seminar because the rest was really an orientation for the people who were going to the convention. I actually got pulled from the seminar out in the hall 3 times because someone had asked me what I did and we were all on the honor code not to "network" during the seminar.

I did not and they also went so far as to ask that no business cards be exchanged because they have had problems in the past. My "mentor" who told me I was a loser or I would not be a guy with the education I have thinking that 3 days and $2,000 was going to teach me how to make money in Real Estate. If I wanted to learn, I needed mentors and needed to get to the convention in Vegas. Really… so I asked for his phone number and his email. He told me that he had a no compete with Dean and that he was not allowed to speak with students outside of the seminar. It was at this point that I realized that I was not even privy to any of the real names of all the people in the seminar. It was odd and enlightening at the same time.

I was really embarrassed about being taken and it is a shame that the people that were at this seminar were put in the position to extract money rather than create real value for the people in attendance. I don't even think it was intended to be this way. I listened to all the information they gave us and read the books that Graziosi put in the intro package and it was light but it was useful and got me hopeful that the 3 days would be valuable. The people who delivered the seminar were not. Deanno, the guy who gave the presentation was going through the script that he was told to deliver and you could see there was a lot of incongruence in his delivery. He was not there to teach people what he knew so they could apply it in a simple manner to get going in Real Estate investing, he was there to get people signed up for the convention in Las Vegas.

The most predatory thing they did was use some NLP-type exercises to find out what people’s core values and key words were and it became apparent that they did this not to help people discover their deep values but to leverage this intimate information in their sales push to create pain and fear, that if they do not go to the convention in Vegas that these intimate feelings, values and beliefs could not be achieved. I am committed to correcting the shame I felt from investing in the weekend by reading other books and taking a strong action plan to do my first deal within that 3 month period. I really don't think this company will give me back my tuition if I do, but if I do get a positive Real Estate transaction done within this time frame, I will make a bad feeling turned to positive conclusion.

You will never get those 3 days back. You will not get any value that comes close to the $2,000 investment and you feel some shame for being taken advantage. So if you read this prior to getting caught up in the sign up seminar, let it go. And if you are reading it after they got your $2,000, don't sweat it. Read everything, go through the motions, do not get bullied into signing your retirement on for the 3 day Vegas convention and feel good about your attempts to learn new things and make your life better, because those are your choices, and your conclusions and no one can take anything away from your positive journey when your intentions are in the right place. As for the snake oil salesmen and their intentions, well, Karma will get them.

Original Review: Oct. 17, 2012

I went to the free workshop of buying real estate. They said they had an expanded workshop for $2,000 but that if you did a deal within a certain period, you could get your $2,000 back. We went to that seminar, and all they did was try to sell you on the $16,000 to $35,000 seminars they have. They did teach you a little in the 2-day course, and we tried to apply their tactics. You bid on a house at half of the asking price, and if it's bank owned, bid 1/4 the price. We've bid on many homes, and you cannot bid under the asking price. We have even bid $20,000 over the asking price. It seems that they come into a good market and buy up all there is. And when it's sucked dry, then they do these seminars and say how wonderful the market is. They had someone call to come and personally help us buy a house, but we can't even afford the $2,000 that we lost - never mind whatever tens of thousands I have to give to someone to help me buy a house. Do it on your own! Don't waste money!

PMI told me that after my 5th deal, I would get my money back. I did 8. Then I had a stroke. That was last year. I have been trying for over a year to get my money back from these guys with no luck. I can't get the physical therapy I need because these guys still have my money. I have asked for my refund over and over again. While I've been trying to get my money back, I started to do some investigating. I was surprised to find out that PMI is under instigation by the Federal Trade Commission and the California Attorney General's office.

I have come across numerous articles now I am going through this. This one in particular. It describes the tactics. Does any of it sound familiar? It looks like these guys got me good. Now, as a senior citizen and disabled person, I am too weak to fight. So I have no choice but to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, the California and Colorado Attorney General's office and now the Better Business Bureau. I'm upset because due to my health situation when I need the money most, I can't get it back. This is ridiculous. I hope you never have to go what I have gone through. Be careful.

If you hear from their speakers to get 2 credit cards from one bank, we already know where this is going to. If you think straight, would you do such a thing? Concealing your identity until you sold the property definitely is quite intriguing. I am no expert in real estate, but doing what they are currently suggesting will make me a lawbreaker. That is definitely a no-no. I would rather work harder for clean money rather than break the law that may send me to jail. That I will avoid. So as to you, Mr. Real Deal Dean Graziosi, get a life! Don't go robbing in broad daylight. Don't waste your name on crimes like this. Karma nowadays is digital. It reflects back really quick. Don't tell me I didn't warn you.

I made $10,000 and I didn't use any of my own money or my own property. I couldn't believe it, but I did it, Thanks to Dean Graziosi. I have no idea how to thank Dean for the way he has helped to transform my empty wallet to a filled one. However, all I have to say is buying the book will not help you alone. You must read it, understand it and put it into practice to gain dividends from it because it sure does.

Again, it’s nothing that Google couldn't provide me. The course itself is ridiculous and mind-numbing. It’s monotone and dull. It’s long and then you have to take a quiz. Again, it’s nothing that Google couldn't provide for me. On July 4th, I wrote an email to rehelp@pmidirect.com, ** and info@deanenterprisesllc.com asking for a refund and referring to "profit from real estate right now” (page 26) where their student Matt ** claims that he sent in a check and then asked for a refund wherein PMI told him to try it for another 30 days and if he was still not happy with the academy, they will refund him his entire investment. I received no email back. A week later, I spoke with Thayne ** after spending an hour on the phone being transferred from one customer service to the next and Thayne ** told me that only 5% of the people who enroll in the coaching program ever make it through and receive their money back.

He told me that he would send me an email with a breakdown of what they could refund me along with a money-back guarantee. I received his email on July 11, 2012 and the following is what they offered to refund me for two weeks of this crap course. Investment ($12,740), 30 real estate online lessons and 12 strategy sessions with your coach ($3595) with 45% accessed is equal to a refund of $1976 (charge of $1617). Tax lien sessions online ($995) with 0% accessed is equal to a refund of $995 (no charge). Asset protection kit ($2995) with 20% restocking fee is equal to a refund of $2396 with a charge of $599 (these are two books and few CDs that are definitely not worth $2396 and I wouldn't pay more than $15 for this). FSBO Home Bargains software for $695 with 20% restocking fee: the refund is $556 (there’s a charge of $139 for a restocking fee, but this is spam mail and sends "possible" FSBO listings off of Craigslist.com - how is there a restocking fee? Take my name off your spam list!).

Investor pipeline program for $1995 with 20% restocking fee: the refund is $1598 and a charge of $399 (this is a program, how do they have a restocking fee? And why are they refusing to refund my money?). Real Estate Toolbar for $395: there’s no refund for this (can keep because it's worthless). PropTrend licensed software for $1995 and there’s no refund (can keep; I don't even know what this is). Shipping is for $75 for 2 books and some CDs? Really? Start-up cost and commissions: $1911. The total charge is $7130 and the refund is $5610! That’s for two weeks of this scam. Dean Graziosi's real estate academy and PMI are a scam. Don’t do it. Read all of the complaints against them. They have scammed and conned thousands of people out of their money! When I went to post my complaint on DeanGraziosi.com, I was immediately directed to a page that said:

“Dean Graziosi.com Offline. Your posting on Real Estate Investing Center from ** has been automatically flagged by our spam filters - but don't worry, our spam filter is in training right now and learning what is and isn't spam. So this doesn't mean it was spam or even rejected, just that we are going to personally review it (usually within minutes of your post during business hours). If your content wasn't spam, your message is in our review system and will be marked as real content. Each time we review the post and tell the system it isn't spam, the system is trained and becomes more accurate. That way, legitimate posts get through in the future and real spam doesn't. At Real Estate Investing Center, we work very hard behind the scenes to keep our web pages free of spam and sometimes we accidentally block legitimate content - it is just the nature of spam prevention and doesn't mean you've done anything wrong or even that the system is broken. You can also help us to improve our spam filters by providing feedback about your experience with the spam filter.”

For program no. 2, there was an additional fee besides paid package for access to their website for $99/month, for life time it was for $24/month. I had access problems. I couldn't log in. I called customer support. I was unable to reach them. I left message 6 times. I called back 2 days later. By that time, 4 days had passed, my return allowance time (3 days) was expired! It may be that too many users access into it at same time. It runs very slow, or was frozen which made it not accessible at all.

For program no. 3, they have local training sections. They promised to offer 1 week after I paid but all of the training was far away, at least 3 hours driving distance. Since I have a medical health problem, I was unable to drive more than 1 hour.

Program no. 4 was customer support. I called during the business hours, all the time, holding for more than 20 minutes. Finally, I had to leave messages. I left messages at least 6 times. They returned my calls 2 times 2 days later. At the seminar, they claimed before my purchasing, the person, who answered the phone, said it's Tax Lien export. As I finally reached them, they couldn't give me the right answer. She either said this was not their field to cover or she have very shallow knowledge to handle the question. She was not helpful at all.

I have experienced their bad services for 2 weeks now. I called them, holding for 1.5 hours, asking for a refund. They refused my request. Can anyone help me about this matter?

I informed him that we were told the deadline for purchasing the program ended yesterday and we have already made plans to fly to another seminar to purchase it at the discounted price. He told me that was impossible because he was putting my name in the system so that I would not be able to get it at the discounted price of $1,497. Then he called back to say that he talked to his boss and his boss told him to make sure to put me in their system because if I didn't buy it by May 29th, the price would be changing as of June 1st and they were going up on the cost an additional $200. I believe this was a threat or an attempt to scare me into purchasing their program by May 29th.

What an idiot, both him and his boss. They are not interested in selling this program. They are interested in ripping people off of their money. What a bunch of sore losers and then again just losers. Don’t purchase their programs unless you want to be ripped off! While he may be upfront and above board, the idiots he has working for him are not.

But later, I called to cancel, and this individual called back and said I could keep the tax lien stuff and he would send a three-day DVD to us along with the ability to still use online help. Just like others, tax liens and deeds, not all states do online sales, as I have looked them up and you have to join their sites and pay more money. Dean was not at this seminar either. Does this person even exist? We are told that he only goes to these high-end classes. Why? Isn't everyone important?

Original Review: May 10, 2012

After reading his book, and out of work, I decided to try his course. $2,500 is what I paid. Unfortunately, the housing bubble had just burst and his methods (which perhaps were viable previous to the bust), were not working for me. I spent 60 days full time trying his methods, particularly contacting the "For Sale By Owner." Most all of the FSBO were now investors who where trying to get rid of their leveraged properties and wanted cash only. The whole market was saturated with investors who were trying to dump their properties, knowing that the banks would no longer loan, and notes were coming due. I feel cheated and could say much more, however, that's it for now!

They claimed there was a full tuition guarantee and that you would have a property in 30-60 days if you signed up for a $1,997 seminar. The speaker, Miller, claimed that the real estate training and insider resources were the best in the business. Miller said that the program was so good and successful that over the years, he had never had a single person contact him to complain. Miller said that for years, he'd been giving out his email address to every group that he spoke to. When someone asked what his email was, Miller promised to give it to us at the end. Then Miller left during the break without giving us his email address. At the back, no one from the company had any idea what Miller's email address was including his wife! He introduced his wife who was sitting at the back table, another Dean Graziosi employee and showed their wedding pictures during the slideshow! They said that we would get Miller's email address "later" from customer service.

During the presentation, I noticed two women in their late 30's with dark hair. They were very vocal and active in responding to what Miller said. When he solicited interest in topics, they provided excited input. And they would say the services were worth thousands of dollars or the one-day financing should be worth 20% or 50% of the deal instead of just 2%. When Miller gave an incentive for the first 9 who signed up, they were among the first to rush to the back table. In fact, the ladies practically knocked over their chairs and hit the people around them because they were in such a rush. After the break, the speaker, Leland, talked about tax liens. I happened to know some things about tax lien certificates and deeds. I knew enough to know that Leland was understating the costs and risks and overstating the opportunities. There are a lot of junk tax lien properties which will never give a return. I also had a friend who did their program, who claimed it was a scam. I wanted to hear what Graziosi's guys had to say about tax liens so I could better judge what they said about real estate.

Although Leland claimed that they provided access to buy tax liens online for all the 50 states, that is not true. I know that many states do not have online systems. Further, some of the junk online is whatever is left over after the smart-money buyers dominate the auction. Leland didn't mention that at the auction, the rate of return is typically "bid down" from the high rates he quoted. When I tried to ask a question to point that out, Leland wouldn't allow any questions and said I would have to talk to him privately at the end. I said it was a group question, but he would still would not let me ask. That amazed me. The group had thinned to half of its size during the real estate presentation, but they still wouldn't allow a single question!

Leland said that Graziosi saves his best deals for last and that tax liens are the best deals. That statement alone worried me. The cost of the tax lien product from Graziosi and Sean Keegan Walker was $997-$1,497, plus a monthly fee to buy from Walker's stock which he bought in bulk at discount and marked up. They also claimed there was a tuition guarantee. After the presentation, I noticed that the two ladies were no longer animated, but were just slouched in their chairs not even talking to anyone. They had a bag with the real estate packet. I asked what kind of properties they wanted to buy. They said they didn't know. I asked if they had properties now. They said no. It seemed odd that now they exhibited no excitement, interest or knowledge in real estate. I asked if they received the mailing about the pre-auction. They said no.

When I said that I thought it seemed like a bait and switch that there was no auction, and that I thought Leland over-represented the tax liens, in the middle of my sentence, one of the ladies walked to the back. She seemed to know the guy running the seminar admin. Then the guy walked up to me and asked me to leave immediately for criticizing the program. I looked at the two ladies and they gave me fake smiles. Then a guy escorted me out of the hotel. It was a public place! Wow! I thought there was something strange about those two ladies. I hadn't guessed that Graziosi had planted fake audience members for positive audience participation, crowd control and to create herd mentality to make people think everyone was rushing to sign up.

The speakers would not allow questions, would ignore the audience participation that contradicted their message and play up the fake messages. They even had a system to squelch criticism. They completely controlled and manipulated everything in the room! From what I read, it is lucky for me that Graziosi's guys decided to kick me out for being too inquisitive and critical! I never thought a business could be so fake and manipulative!

Once they found out you aren't interested in buying their additional workshops, you are pretty much treated like a leper. When they finally get down to giving us some of the information that was promised for our $1997, they went through it quickly and overwhelmed you to make you feel like you were an ** and really couldn't do anything on your own without again, paying an additional $18K-36K for their additional help. There were quite a few people who jumped up to pay them these exorbitant fees. I felt so sorry for them, but couldn't say much as we were warned at the beginning of the class that if we say anything negative not just during the class, but in the bathroom or at break times to others, we would get kicked out. Most of the time, you are not allowed to ask questions even. Whatever you do, don't get talked into this class! It's a huge waste of $2000! What a bunch of scammers, they should feel ashamed!

The district attorney's office in New York and The New York City Department of Consumers Affairs were notified as of 4/4/12. I notified my bank to cancel payment and I emailed twice to the Dean Grazio enterprise on 4/2/12, 2 business days prior to 3 business days after transaction was made on 3/31/12 that I am cancelling my payment of $1497. I will return items to this company (DVDs) in resale condition, as per return policy located on the back of the transaction receipt.

A majority of time during the 3-day workshop was spent trying to get us to buy advanced boot camps, ranging in price from $50,000 Diamond to $6,997 Bronze level. We were again told to use other people's money and charge it. Isn't this the reason the economy is depressed? People are spending what is not theirs! We were told to find a house for $30,000, fix it up and resell it for $150,000. Yes, I know that it is possible, but substantial legal and banking knowledge is required. Practiced salesmanship skills are needed. Most people do not give their homes away. As you know, many people that attend Dream Seminars have personal emotional, physical challenges and/or family members that demand of their time and attention. Many variables are in place before a serious change of commitment and lifestyle can be pursued.

We were surprised Sunday afternoon, the last few hours of the workshop, when we approached one of the attendants and were denied the refund. The attendant said that we would have to call the Insiders Edge office (the Insiders Financial Institute). Monday morning, I called **. Laura answered and said that I would need to call PM Marketing Institute for a refund (877) 234-8394. Jessica, at **, also said to contact PM Marketing Institute. Hillary, of PM Marketing Institute, answered and said to call your office, (888) 251-1116 x 3485. No one answered and I left a detailed phone message. Darrin ** (Caller ID **) called me Tuesday and said that the Insiders Financial Institute was mistaken, and that he'd have someone else call me back. Wednesday, I missed a call from Mr. Thayne **, as shown on caller ID. I called him back Thursday. No one answered and again, I left a detailed phone message. No one has called since. All materials from the seminar and workshop have been returned.

However a couple of weeks went by, I got a phone call from a guy who was claiming to be from the coaches dept. They call themselves PMI. He made things sound like everything was going to be awesome. He wanted around 3,500 dollars for the course. I decided this was too much for the course and told him no at first. He made comments like: do you have retirement; do you like your job? I said no and he goes on to say then fire them.

I caved in and gave this guy my credit card, biggest mistake of my 39 year old life. I then have some doubts about what I had done. I thought on several occasions calling back in and telling them I am not interested I would like a refund. I get another call from a PMI employee. I wish I had the names and dates to be exact, but he told me that I could refund the money from the course off of my taxes if I went with the tax club. I then said well does the tax club charge a fee and then he said yes, they charge a fee as well. I wait for the tax club and they tell me that I can get a refund on their fees as well they cost about 3,000+ dollars as well. I can write all this off on my taxes. This doesn't sound too bad. The tax club tells me that they have assessment calls, they give me dates and times. They are very precise on when they call and they do they are always on time.

I wait for the calls to come in and the first call is about they want to be my personal accountant. They have two packages and one is around 600.00 give or take a few hundred and another is around 1,300.00. I kindly decline having my personal accountant. I thought to myself that would be pretty dumb paying for an accountant and no customers. I get a second phone call that states that I need corporate credit; it is only 2,900.00 and 50 dollars a month. He told me that I would wish that I would get corporate credit and I might need it someday. I kindly said I was told I was getting my money back on my taxes and that I would not need that credit. I was paying the tax club 50 dollars a month for whatever reason in the 1st place. The 50 dollars a month was non refundable. I accepted this as I was trying something new and then I get this call of wanting 50 dollars a month on top of the 2,900 dollars.

I'm starting to become fishy of the tax club. I'm saying to myself the whole time, why would a person get messed up with the tax club if they didn't have any customers and they seem to be like money grabbers to me. I call these people, PMI and the tax club, people that use crimes of persuasion to get what they want. I then get a third call from the tax club about promoting my business on the website and yes, this time, there is another huge fee. I did make in effort to get out of this the best possible way that I knew how. I went to a real estate club and talked to some investors and they said there is not much happening right now. They didn't seem to be very interested in what I was trying to do. It came tax time and I asked the tax club about my refund and they said they would have an accountant to call me. I waited for them to call and they were very on time, as usual.

I then talked to the tax club people and they told me did I make any money and they told me that I could not get a refund for anything because I did not make any money. I really wasn't surprised by this. I called the tax club demanding a refund and they told me that they would send out a form. I was to get back around $800.00. I then called back a few days later and told them I wanted a refund on the entire money that I had spent. They told me that was impossible. I told them before I handed my credit card information over, I told the rep that I was on the phone with I get this all back and he said absolutely. “Was the conversation recorded,” I had asked. Their response was, “yes all of our conversations are recorded,” and my response was, “great I want to listen to it.”

They told me that they couldn't do it just yet they would contact me in two to three days. I have never heard from this tax club people since about January 20th. I then contacted PMI and told them I wanted a refund for the entire course. I was told by PMI that if I went with the tax club that I would get my money back and they responded by saying you have been in the course too long for a refund. I always respond back by saying, “you are not listening to what I am saying that you all told me I would get my money back on my taxes this is why I was in the course for as long as I was.”

I never could get it through their thick skulls to why I continued the course for as long as I did. He also responded by saying that I haven’t contacted them since June of 09. This is not true. I contacted them several occasions. I always ask for Drew which was supposed to be my coach. I then would get we can take your call it doesn't have to be your coach. I was then told to call the tax club and they don't know much about taxes. Why would they tell me to go with the tax club and that I could get my money back if they don't know much about taxes? I hope the information about the company is correct. I got it off the Better Business Bureau website where he hold a famous F rating, imagine that.