REI Nation Experience

[Kevin Collins]

I know there has been a lot posted about REI or Memphis Invest. I thought I'd post about my experience. I've researched them for years. What I found useful was that they seemed to have a high number of investors that were happy. I went through their "approval" process and in the samples they sent me 3 out of 8 properties achieved a roughly 8.5% cash ROI or better. They seemed really intent on buyers creating a criteria before getting properties sent to them. My criteria was 9% ROI but I'd consider anything above 8%. On their facebook page, they posted in February that they bough 144 properties. I thought I was about to get an influx of properties that met my criteria.

So far 1 month later.....1 property met my criteria. After 3 out of 8 in their "sample" were 8.4% or higher. Only 1 property in 6 weeks was sent to me that was above 8%. I bought it. However, that property under appraised by $10k. I know that it's common with Turnkey companies to overvalue their properties. I agree with another recent poster that their renovation list is a bit vague. Most of the renovations to this property were paint, or "service". I'm fine with that honestly, but when it doesn't appraise, it makes me question the renovations and the value they actually provided. They said they bought 144 properties in February, and I only saw 1 property in March that met the criteria that was prevalent in their samples (that's 0.7% of actual properties vs. 37% in their sample meeting that criteria). And then that 1 property that met the criteria didn't appraise. You have to sign an agreement that you will come up with the cash if the property appraises up to 10k below the purchase price. I signed it and I'm going to honor it. All I will say is I'm very unclear of the value that the buying team provides. It seems like the main value is the property management and not the buy side. I'm hoping that they can rent the property before I close. I'll update in a few months with how it's going. My plan was to buy 5-10 properties this year with REI, but it seems like that's near impossible with the criteria I have (which seemed very reasonable based on their samples).

[Kevin Collins]

Hi @David Boley - I can give an update since my first house. I'm now coming up on about a year with REI and just today closed on my 7th house with them. I also bought a house on my own in one of their areas that they manage, so in total they manage 8 properties for me. Overall, all the houses are performing as expected in the first year. It is as hands off as you can get with rental properties. You get your own dedicated customer service agent and she handles anything I need in a very fast response time.

I have run into a couple issues in the buying/rehab process, but I will say REI has rectified the situation to my satisfaction every time and without major pushback. If I'm reasonable....they are reasonable.

I vetted out a lot of the other turnkey property companies on Bigger Pockets before deciding to go with REI and I feel extremely confident REI is the best. I'm a very happy customer of REI so far.