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Armando Montelongo Course Review
by IntelliBiz
by IntelliBiz
[All reviews are based primarily on the (6) most important considerations when choosing
a real estate investing course. Sources for reviews include the Better Business Bureau, Attorneys General,
FTC, customer input, and our personal review]
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We had such high hopes for Armando Montelongo whereas he was the (former) "star" of the A&E television show, "Flip This House". But do not let that lull you into a belief that his "course" will make you money, or that the cost will not drain your bank account. As a TV "Reality Show" personality he was pretty good - we enjoyed his show - but let's not forget that in his show he had the deep pockets and marketing of A&E to float him, and now has the resources of the Armando Montelongo companies behind him. As his "student", you will not have the benefit of those. Certainly, he could teach you a lot of things from his "Flip This House" experiences, but his "course" falls far short of teaching all 22 methods of real estate investing. An investor with only one or two strategies is like a carpenter with only one or two tools.
BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU RATING: Armando Montelongo appears to have several businesses listed at the BBB. Armando Montelongo Worldwide Inc currently has a rating of F (was D-). And Armando Montelongo Seminars LLC currently has an "F" rating. [UPDATE - ARMANDO MONTELONGO SCAM?: The BBB has posted online warnings about the "seminars" promoted by Mr. Montelongo.] An interesting note - it appears Mr. Montelongo has formed a new "company" (Armando Montelongo Jr, Ltd) for which we can find no evidence that it conducts any business with any customers, the purpose of which would appear to be to get an A+ rating at the BBB when people check his NAME at the BBB, rather than his businesses. No customers means no complaints. If anyone can provide evidence of having done business with this new "company", please let us know so we can update this page.)
COACHING: According to several sources, coach cost runs anywhere from $1000-$20,000+. Like several other "gurus", coaching cost seems to vary. Some say it appears to be according to what you can afford.
COACH QUALITY: Many of the online complaints and BBB complaints seem to stem from poor quality of coaching, and the large sums his "students" lose to him. If coaching is important to you, only Bill Vaughn's course, "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate" provides the coaching for free, as it is offered by a non-profit and has the highest documented success rate of all the real estate courses.
SUCCESS RATE: No statistics available, as Armando Montelongo does not appear to track successes.
COMMENTS: Many people who have attended his seminars report that he often does not even show up at them, instead having others do the "heavy lifting". If you do due diligence and research Armando Montelongo, you will likely find literally hundreds of people who feel they have been scammed. It is understandable if 5 or 10 people complain about a business - there are some people you just cannot please no matter how hard you try. But when the number of unsatisfied customers is substantial, then you know there is likely to be a real problem at the core. We found dozens upon dozens of separate complaints - we doubt if even CitiBank has that many.
UPDATE: 12/4/2012 - Mr Montelongo attempted to get our webhost to take down this webpage. He did not claim that anything stated here is untrue. If he has an issue with any part of this review, and can show it is not accurate, he is always free to provide evidence of such and we will make any appropriate changes based on current facts. Until then, if Mr Montelongo wishes to avoid negative reviews and complaints, the best way to effect that is to provide products and services of high quality at a reasonable cost.
All in all, Armando Montelongo's course does not meet our minimum standards. But if you want to place your trust - and money - with a TV "reality show" personality, at least you now have your eyes open.
A BETTER, SOUND ALTERNATIVE:
Before risking hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on Montelongo's or any other course, do yourself a favor and check out the most effective real estate investing course available, offered by IntelliBiz - "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate"® the comprehensive, low cost course by reknowned investor Bill Vaughn (Bill developed the "Reverse Mortgage" now used by HUD and helped develop the very flipping strategies used by Armando Montelongo). Offered by a non-profit, it is affordable to all, and includes free lifetime coaching by investors who volunteer their services to assure your success - with NO monthly fees or hidden costs. Real investors, not scripted telephone operators. And it has the highest documented success rate of any real estate course. And you get it all, including free mentoring, for under $50 complete.
If you are truly interested in really learning how to make money in real estate and receive the benefit of free, unlimited coaching, all at a price anyone can afford, "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate"® is worth considering.
| Completeness | Low Coach Cost | Coach Quality | Success Rate | BBB Rating | Low Overall Cost | OVERALL RATING | ||
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A few words about real estate investing in general. Before you invest in ANY
Real Estate program...
We're not going to tell you that you will be a
millionaire in 6 months. After all, we don't know you, or how determined you are. Regardless, you
should understand some very important points:
1) Forget the infomercial promises - real
estate investing is NOT a "get-rich-quick" scheme, but it WILL make you rich, and can put a lot of cash in your pocket in a short time, if you have the right guidance.
But REAL wealth takes a little time
and effort. If you have a tough time getting off the couch, save your money.
2) If the program you are
considering does not provide personal mentoring by
actual practicing investors (the Armando Montelongo program does not) and at a reasonable cost (or free, as
offered by The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate),
it is unlikely you will ever get your investing career off the ground unless you already have some experience. There
are just too many variables in this business, which makes it impossible for
any program to be a "stand-alone" career guide. Without a mentor to help you
get started, these variables will stand as a barrier between you and success.
Armando Montelongo and most other gurus charge from $2,000 - $45,000 for coaching, and THEIR coaches are not investors.
Again, with "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate" the mentoring is always free, easy to use
and our mentors are practicing investors, not telephone operators or
"couch investors". Your mentor will be there every step of the way, holding your hand, so to speak.
3) Real
Estate investing is not for everyone. Success in this field, as with any
other, requires effort, and can be frustrating at times, and can take
an emotional toll. But the rewards are wealth, the freedom that wealth brings and
a 4 hour work-week, for starters...in short, there are three things you need to succeed in real estate:
If you can provide the last one, "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate" can provide the rest and your success is assured.
NOTE: Many of the infomercial gurus do not provide in-house mentoring by
qualified investors. Instead, most of them "farm out" the mentoring to disreputable companies
such as Mentoring of America etc. Before buying into a mentor program, you would be wise
to ask the company EXACTLY who provides the mentoring. Ask if the mentors are actual, practicing
investors and if the mentoring is provided in-house,
or if it is provided by a third party.
Most programs are not complete or self-explanatory, with the logic being that the customer would then need to buy into
their expensive mentoring, which is what they are really selling.
But if the coaching is free, as it is with "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate", you can rest assured that
the program, itself, is complete, finely detailed, and easy to understand. Again the logic is simple - the more complete the program, the less need you will have of a coach.
And when coaches are free, it is important to keep the "need" to a minimum, so we provide the most detailed course possible.
Whichever course you may purchase, we do wish you the best. And if you have questions, feel free to ask. We are here to help.
From Martin: "I receieved my packet from Armando Montelongo 2 weeks ago and was too busy at the time to review
all of its contents. Until yesterday when i received a call from one of their "mentors". He proceeded
to say he had to qualify me many times during the call. I was very blunt with my replies, expecting
for him, at some point, to disqualify me, but he didn't. In fact he was more impressed with each
response I gave him.
"About 30 minutes into the call he finally started to talk about the required education I needed. I
asked him what is missing from the kit that I already bought that I needed to pay for? He said it was his
experience that it was the only way to keep me from making costly mistakes. So I asked him how much I
needed to invest in this education and he said there were three levels (ranges), between $8k-12k,
$13k-16k, $17k-20k. He asked me to choose, so I said the middle one to keep the discussion going.
He wanted me to make a decision right then and was ready for me to commit. Naturally I thought of an
excuse, saying I had no money and I had to borrow it from someone else. This bought me time and I
needed to make sure I had the money ready for when his "director" called me back the next day. When
he realized I was not ready to spend he had nothing else to talk about except to set up a follow up
call.
"So again, after he found out I had no money he said he would have the first guy call me back and
set up a plan to gather the funds I needed. I am still waiting for the call back.
"The Armando Montelongo scam is good at this, so beware not to get charmed into this. All the comments written above,
combined with my own experience leads me to believe that I would have lost everything."
From Joe Covert: "I have some info on Armando Montelongo. His hard money lender foreclosed on 27 houses
he owned in April 2007. Also, he overpays for his houses. One time he was competing against me for a
repo I tried buying. Instead of bidding low, he offered full price, which made no sense to me. Later
this house was one of the 27 he was not able to sell, I assume because he paid too much for it and
tried selling it for quite a bit more than retail. I've been flipping in San Antonio for ten+ years
and he never seemed genuine to me. Rather he seems like someone who attended a real estate seminar
and upon graduation became an "expert"."
All brand or product names mentioned in this Web site are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective owners. This website is not associated in any way with John Beck, Russ Dalbey, Carleton Sheets, Russ Whitney, John Alexander, Donald Trump,
Robert Allen, Wade Cook, Lou Vukas, Ron Legrand, Robert Kyosaki, Larry Goins or Dave Lindahl, or any company or
business associated with them. Site presented by IntelliBiz.
A letter from Dorothy Drake about Armando Montelongo: "HE SENT PEOPLE TO BUY MY HOUSE WHEN MY HUSBAND DIED. IT WAS VALUED AT
142000 BUT NEED REPAIRS. WE SAT AND FIGURED OUT WHAT IT WOULD COST TO REPAIR THE HOUSE WHICH WAS
AROUND 25000. TAXES WERE 1100 SO WE SETTLED ON A PRICE OF 125000. WHILE I WAS A CLOSING WHICH TOOK
OVER 6 MONTHS AND KNOWING I ONLY WAS RECEIVING 500 A MONTH TO LIVE ON. HE EMPTIED OUT MY HOUSE OF
ALL TV'S CLOTHING AND ANYTHING OF VALUE EVEN THO THE CONTRACT SAID IT WOULD BE REMOVED AFTER CLOSING.
I ONLY RECEIVED 38000 FOR THE HOUSE.