Turnkey vs Syndication

[Lydia Bar]

Hi everyone.  I am new to real estate investing and I have been reading books and following the bigger pockets posts.   I am looking to do my 1st real estate investment.  Currently live in New Jersey so  I will be doing OOS.  I have been looking into turnkey companies and specifically looking at Columbus/Cleveland  However I also  learned recently about real estate syndications, and I am trying to decide between turnkey versus syndication.  I understand that with  Turnkey it is not completely hands off,  while with syndications it is hands off and  majority of the work is up front with vetting the sponsor and etc. 

Does it make sense to start with syndications? or would you first prefer to own your properties and then maybe do syndication as a way of diversifications? Can you actually build wealth and equity the same way with syndications that you would with owning your properties?  do syndications offer tax benefit  like the benefits of owning your property? 

My 2nd question is in regard to Columbus/Cleveland itself.  from my research it is a good investment there for cash flow.  what about appreciation? does BP Community feel that properties there will appreciate more in the future?

Also would be happy to hear recommendations about specific Turnkey companies  in  Columbus

Thanks in advance!

[Zach Lemaster]

@Brandon Sturgill

I've decided not to comment on some of the negative posts you have made since there really isn't a point.  I did see that some of them have been removed which we appreciate.  I will comment on this now to add some insight for you and the community as a whole.  I don't know what prompted you to post multiple times negatively about our company as I've never spoken to you, and you have not invested with us.  I do understand that we are competitors in the industry, but this does seem like a personal attack as you did not bring up any other TK company other than my own on your posts.  We are not active in the Columbus market so you don't need to be concerned with us as a competitor against you.  In fact, we are always looking for top brokers in markets to refer clients to that we do not have inventory in.

I would first like to point out that my company has been in the industry for many years, and has a very positive reputation.  Which is difficult to do in the turnkey space.  If people were not having a good experience investing with us they would be quick to talk about it in these forums, and it would be quite public.  We are not seeing that.  By doing a quick search in the forums one can easily see that we have hundreds of positive reviews that we've worked very hard to achieve.  We always do right by our clients, and that is evident.  I have over 120 positive reviews on my BP account that I am very proud of.  I've worked extremely hard to earn their trust over years of working with them.  Real estate has many obstacles to overcome, and ensuring our clients have a team to support them as they scale their portfolio is of the utmost importance to me!  

To be specific on this particular property you posted, this was sold over a year ago.  I'm not sure where you are finding this listing.  A high scale rehab was done on this property.  The property appraised for the asking price showing that there were viable comps to support the value of $120,000.  Zillow has this property estimated at $139,800 right now.  This property has performed quite well for the investor that purchased it, and the investor has since come back to buy many other rentals with us successfully scaling his rental portfolio.  I do agree with you that this is not B property, and would fall better into a C class.  Your feedback is noted about that, and I will revisit our algorithm on how that was determined.

In general it should be noted that the majority of what we sell is actually brand new construction in A class locations.  This is quite different from the typical TK model of rehabbing C class assets.  To be very specific, we build heavily in SW FL where investors can purchase a brand new 4/2 in an outstanding area with high rental demand for $275k.  Most appraisals we see are in the $310k to $340k range providing the investor with significant equity!  Two weeks ago we saw our highest appraisal for one of these at $375k.  The address for this was 3118 NW 18th Terrace, Cape Coral, FL 33993.  This was even on pre-construction appraisal.  We initially projected rents to be in the $1,850 range, and are now seeing actual rents on completed projects come in around $2,100 to $2,200 outperforming our initial projections!  All of these investors are in an excellent position with cash flow & equity while having the benefits of a newly built home in an upscale area.  My point in providing these details is to show the types of opportunities we typically offer to our clients.  We also try to have a diversity of different investments available to clients based on their own investment criteria & goals.  

Since this thread is about the difference in TK vs syndication (and not meant to focus on RTR) it is important to note that we also offer syndications so we knowledge in both these spaces.  There are most definitely pros and cons of each strategy.  I will be happy to dive into that, but I need to at least set the record straight with the RTR discussion first since this seems to be the direction the post went.

In closing, I encourage everyone to do their own due diligence on any person or company you may consider working with.  The BP forums are a great place to start, and to network with like minded individuals.

@Brandon Sturgill, I'm happy to have a conversation with you if you would like to clear the air on any topics.  As I hope you can see we are well known in the forums and general public with a very positive reputation that we all have worked extremely hard to maintain.  We respect you as a professional in the industry, and we all like to work towards the common goal of helping others to reach their investing goals.  All tides rise together through this community as we educate each other & assist one another on becoming better investors.  We wish everyone the absolute best of success investing & taking action!