Best Turnkey Rental Companies?

Question

Hey guys,

Now as I am preparing to make my first REI in the next few years I am evaluating all options including their associated risk/reward and what best fits my lifestyle. I am by no means opposed to putting in the work of finding good deals through direct mail and networking, or negotiating and vetting contractors for rehabs; but I gotta say that these turnkey companies make it look too good to be true. Now I've read that you have to be careful because of the horror stories of bad property management companies and tenants they may put in place, but its hard to convince myself why I should do anything besides turnkey if I want to build long term wealth with my worst headaches being possibly replacing tenants or a PM company given they can provide proof of major repairs and rehabs already having been done. With that being said, I haven't been able to find many reviews or success stories on turnkeys companies. Can anyone please make some recommendations or share their experiences with specific ones? I know this has probably been asked before but any feedback would be great.

Ali Boone · Answer

Hey Bill! I live in LA and have only bought turnkeys and now work with turnkey buyers (basically everyone who asks the same question you do). Happy to connect anytime and give you thoughts.

As far as why there are so few reviews on turnkey companies available, in my experience as soon as an investor buys their first turnkey, they really don't get back on BP or other sites. Reason being is a site like this is for people wanting to learn and network and all that. Once a turnkey buyer closes, they've found their route, there's nothing too much more intensive to need/want to learn if they plan to just keep going the turnkey route, and there's not a major need for networking. Of everyone I've worked with, I can almost not think of a single happy buyer who ever really posted a review. Occasionally crazy things happen in the turnkey world (if only turnkeys were too good to be true!) and someone will post a bad review, but otherwise there's not much on there.

James Wise · Answer

Tons of turnkey markets out there. Many are well represented by sellers & turnkey operators here on BiggerPockets. The most popular markets are

• Cleveland
• Toledo
• Memphis
• Birmingham
• KC
• Indy
• Detroit

Each of these markets is popular with turnkey investors because of the low barrier to entry, high rental demand & high rent to price ratio. I recommend setting up keyword alerts for each area as they are discussed in the forums daily with advertisements posted in the BiggerPockets marketplace hourly.

One thing to note when looking at the individual markets, you can make or loose money in any market. Don't think that one particular out of state market will shoot you to success or abject failure. It's not really that complicated to buy out of state. It only becomes complicated when investors try to over complicate or over think everything. Whenever you are buying a property out of state you should do a few things to ensure it's as smooth as possible.

• Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core. Pick a solid B-Class suburban area. Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.
• Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home. The reports are 40-90 pages long and go through the entire house in great detail.
• Get an appraisal. If your using financing the bank requires this. This is good. The bank isn't going to let you blow their money. They have more skin in the game then you do.
• Make sure you get clear title. If using a lender this is a non issue. They will make you do this. It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.
• Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.
• Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it. If you are risk adverse real estate, (especially out of state) is not for you.

Tom Ott · Answer

There are good Turnkey companies all over the U.S. I always say just make sure they are a TRUE Turnkey Company. They should own the property first, renovated all in-house, place a tenant, sell it to you, AND offer management. All of this should be done in-house. The only third party should be your inspector. Never buy a vacant property from a Turnkey Provider, that's not a Turnkey.

Anton Ivanov · Answer

@Bill Goodland

You can make arguments for and against turnkey investing, but overall I think it is a good way to get started, especially if you don't have a lot of time to spend on real estate and really want to buy out of state. You will sacrifice some ROI because you will be buying at market value (with no discount), but you can potentially reduce the amount of work it will take to acquire a property, compared to traditional investing.

In my experience, buying turnkey still requires market, neighborhood and property research. There are bad rental markets, bad neighborhoods and bad turnkey properties. If you just blindly pick the first home available, it's very likely you'll end up with a poor investment.

But if you spend the time to first pick a good rental market, then research reputable local turnkey providers and finally carefully analyze each potential rental and pick the best one, you'll have much more chances at being successful.

So with that in mind, I think that instead of focusing on "which turnkey company is a good one", you should focus on determining your real estate goals and picking a rental market that will fit those goals. Once you have 1-2 that you like, then you can start researching local turnkey providers.

Perhaps not the answer you were looking for, but that's my take on it.

David Frost · Answer

I would be very interested in any turnkey companies for the OKC market, if anyone has any recommendations.

Kreg Thornley · Answer

Not much luck so far.

Veera Vala · Answer

@KC T. Did you find any good turnkey companies in GA? It will be really helpful if you can recommend me some. Thank you for your help in advance.

Ali Boone · Answer

There's not really much left in Atlanta for turnkeys these days.

Kreg Thornley · Answer

Interested in a list of good turnkey companies in ATL or GA area if anyone has any.

Alyssa Dyer · Answer

Or, just connect you with some reviews

Best Turnkey Rental Companies?

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