Memphis Invest changing name to REI Nation: Good or Bad?

[Glenn Gillen]

I've been interested in trying out turnkey real estate investing, and Memphis Invest stood out as one of the top turnkey real estate companies back when I was researching different companies. However, I noticed that the company changed its name to REI Nation to "...more appropriately reflect the expanding reach and immense growth of the company".

Is that statement accurate? Or did they change their name to avoid lawsuits, bankruptcy, negative press, etc? Previous experience with other companies wants me to assume the latter, but I want give the benefit of the doubt.

How does someone find information regarding the company's performance and track record if the company changes its name? How can someone determine if the company's name change is a loophole versus legitimately "...reflecting the expanding reach and immense growth of the company"? 

[Chris Clothier]

@Glenn Gillen

That is a fair question and it shows you are being thoughtful about a very bid decision.  If you are looking to buy passively and certainly if you are buying far from where you live, then you have to ask questions and some of them like this one may seem uncomfortable to ask.  Thanks to @Jay Hinrichs, @Tom Gimer and @Taylor L. for answering so quickly.  I apologize for being a little late to seeing your post.  

We have worked hard to earn our reputation and believe me it was tough to change from the name Memphis Invest when it had such incredible brand exposure.  However, we actually started the process in 2015.

We were moving into our third market, Houston, during that year and looking to expand into Oklahoma and Arkansas.  We incorporated the name and began buying properties under than entity, but still had the forward facing name of Memphis Invest while we debated the strength of the brand and weighed the full name change.  

What we found was there were buyers in the market place that had heard about Memphis Invest and knew it was a strong brand and leader in the industry, but they were not interested in purchasing in Memphis.  We found that there were some competitors, turnkey promoters mostly, who were using our name against us and leading potential buyers away from our brand by focusing on the word Memphis in our name.  

In 2019, we were approaching double-digit market exposure and were purchasing in six different states.  It made sense to make the move to a name that more accurately reflected what we were doing.  Today, we manage properties in 11 different cities and have plans for further expansion across our Southeast footprint.  2021 is the first year we have purchased over 1,000 single-family homes for renovation and eclipsed the 7,000 properties under management mark.  The value of those portfolios for our clients exceeds $1.3 Billion and that is a conservative estimate.  We are also on pace to send our clients just shy of $75 million in net, net rental payments for the year 2021.

So, given our large footprint and continued growth, the name change just reflected that we are not only a great option for investors looking to have one company, one management team and an ability to build a wide and diverse portfolio, we are the only option in the Turnkey space with that type of ability and exposure for investors. That is why we made the name change to REI Nation.