OwnAmerica - selling my portfolio to a REIT

[Kenneth LaVoie]

Hi there,

I was approached by a very credible, reasonable sounding young lady who is also a member here. She works for OwnAmerica.com which, if I have this right, is basically a national RE brokerage with a twist: They specialize in selling "stabilized" portfolios of single family homes to steady, known investors, including hedge funds, REITs and other institutional investors. They also do the same with multis though at first glance SFH's are their "forte."

Their commission is 5%, and if I took them on, my portfolio would get listed on MLS singly and connected to the portfolio and would get syndicated to all the "usual" names: Trulia, Zillow, etc. It would also ge advertised in National Individual RE Investors magazine and a bunch of other "neat sounding stuff!" (haha)

I see the only downside is that being on the MLS my tenants might see it and get worried. We have 48 units / 11 buildings here in Central Maine that we've "stabilized the sh*t out of" and are performing really well. My wife and I are only "toying" with selling simply because we'll be travelling at least 2-4 months out of the year soon and might be more comfy with cash in bank vs. lots of pipes, boilers and tenants.

Has anyone heard of them or dealt with them? Or does anyone have an opinion, qualified or not! 

Thanks for all.

[Bill Bodziak]

I would stick with a local realtor who knows the market and will help form an exit strategy. Start advertising the portfolio at local investor association meetings before the properties go the MLS. If the properties are priced well there is good chance another local investor or group will buy the portfolio or knows someone who will....

Good Luck!