Verdict

What the academy is

Wheelbarrow Profits is a multifamily investing education and mentorship community built on the Buy Right, Finance Right, Manage Right framework that Jake and Gino introduced in their 2015 book of the same name. Under its current owner, the academy describes its focus as building multiple income streams through both apartment investing and small business ownership.

Members get coaching calls, a private community, training resources and in-person bootcamps. The website lists three bootcamps, one for each pillar of the framework, including property tours and deal analysis practice. The full mentorship program is joined by application and a call with the team, not by direct purchase.

The ownership change

According to the academy’s own timeline, Jake and Gino met in 2009, closed their first 25-unit deal in 2011 and formally launched the education platform in 2015. By 2018 their portfolio had passed 1,000 units.

Vince Gethings joined the community as a student in 2018 while serving on active duty in the Air Force. By 2020 he had closed five multifamily deals and joined the coaching team, mentoring more than 50 students. He left active duty in 2021, and in 2025 took over the academy as owner and CEO.

Outside the academy, Vince co-founded Tri-City Equity Group, which buys 50 to 250 unit apartment communities in Dallas-Fort Worth, and owns BlackSand Property Management. He also runs a Koala Insulation franchise and a flooring business in Michigan.

Gino Barbaro remains involved and is listed as a coach. Jake Stenziano is not listed on the current team page. We could not find any public explanation of why the founders sold, or the terms of the sale.

Pricing

The academy now publishes prices for a ladder of smaller products on its mentorship page. The full Wheelbarrow Profits Academy mentorship price is not published.

For the full academy, the only figures available are older forum posts. One BiggerPockets member put the coaching program at $10,000, and another, around five years ago, said the academy cost $20,000. Current pricing may differ.

Who coaches

The website lists four coaches:

• Vince Gethings, CEO. Air Force veteran who started with a single VA-loan property.
• Gino Barbaro, co-founder of the original Jake & Gino program and co-creator of the framework.
• Mike Taravella, a CPA and former Ernst & Young employee who handles underwriting, investor relations and asset management at Rand Partners.
• Darren Light, an operator with experience across more than 700 multifamily and RV/campground units, with three properties taken full cycle.

Gino’s continued involvement is a meaningful positive for buyers worried about losing the founders’ knowledge. How much time each coach spends with members is not stated.

Marketing claims checked

We compared numbers across the academy’s homepage, About page, media kit and Vince’s LinkedIn profile. Several key figures do not match each other.

Vince Gethings’ portfolio

The same About page gives two different portfolio values, $150 million and $40 million. These may measure different things, such as total deal value versus Vince’s personal share, but the site does not explain the difference.

Student numbers and results

Capital raised by students is shown as higher in the 2022 milestone than on today’s homepage. Student results in real estate education are almost always self-reported, and the academy does not say how these figures are counted or verified.

“Guarantees” versus the disclaimer

The homepage heading for the framework reads “Our Proven System Guarantess Success” (typo as published). The academy’s own earnings disclaimer says the opposite: it makes no promise of results, describes success stories as not typical, and warns that members may earn nothing at all. The disclaimer is the legally meaningful statement, and it is the one prospective members should rely on.

None of these inconsistencies proves the claims are false. They do mean a prospective member should ask for documentation rather than relying on website figures.

What members say

We searched Trustpilot, the Better Business Bureau, Quora, Reddit, BiggerPockets, podcast review pages and independent blogs. There are no Wheelbarrow Profits listings on Trustpilot or the BBB, and no substantive discussion on Quora or Reddit. Almost all public feedback is on BiggerPockets and podcast review pages, and nearly all of it dates from the Jake and Gino era.

Strengths and risks

Strengths

• A framework refined over about a decade and taught through books, podcasts and bootcamps.
• A paid community that members repeatedly describe as the most valuable part, including access to vetted service providers.
• A co-founder, Gino Barbaro, still coaching.
• An owner who came up through the program as a student and coach, not an outside buyer.
• Low-cost entry points from $30 to $197 for people who want to test the material first.
• No complaints, lawsuits or regulatory actions found.

Risks

• No independent reviews from members who joined after the 2025 ownership change.
• Owner portfolio figures and student result figures that do not match across the academy’s own pages.
• No published price or refund terms for the full academy.
• An owner who also runs a syndication firm, a property management company, a franchise and a flooring business.
• Strategies taught during the low-rate years may need adjusting after the 2023 to 2025 rate environment, which hurt many multifamily syndicators.

Questions to ask before joining

1. What does the full academy cost today, what is included, and what is the refund policy? Get the answer in writing.
2. How much time do Gino Barbaro and the other coaches spend with academy members each month? Is Jake Stenziano still involved?
3. Can you document the 9 full-cycle deals, including property, purchase and sale dates, and returns to investors?
4. Why does the About page show both $150 million and $40 million for the owner’s portfolio?
5. How are the student results on the homepage counted and verified?
6. Can I speak with three members who joined in 2025 or later?

A program confident in its results should be able to answer all six. If you are still deciding, the $197 Gateway course is a low-risk way to judge the teaching quality before committing to the full academy.

Sources

• Wheelbarrow Profits homepage (October 2026)
• About page and company timeline
• Mentorship page, coaches and published prices
• Media kit
• Earnings disclaimer
• Vince Gethings on LinkedIn
• Discovering Multifamily podcast, episode 183 (Vince Gethings bio, around 2021)
• BiggerPockets: Jake & Gino Wheelbarrow Profits
• BiggerPockets: Wheelbarrow Profits Academy with Jake and Gino
• RETipster: A candid review of Wheelbarrow Profits
• Myers Methods: Jake and Gino review