Lead investor of apartment complex fraud

[Audrey C.]

We are investors of a five apartment deal in Houston.  We all mostly live in Austin.  The main investor, we suspect, are falsifying the books as although the rental market is hot here in Texas, we get paltry distribution checks.  He complains that the apartment rental market in Houston is very competitive, that tenants are lured away by move in specials, etc.  How can this be as more and more people are moving into the larger cities of TX.

How can we start an investigation?  I think a lot of the investors are older folks and $50,000 does not mean a lot to them and they pretty much wrote it off.  The lead investor says that the apartments are for sale but no one is buying them since two years ago when they were listed.  I think he is riding high on the rents and leading all of us on.

Please help.

[Eric Tait]

The market here in Houston is the best it has EVER been for finding tenants. If you look at historical occupancies vs. current occupancy rates, there has never been a better time to own residential rentals in this market.  

Mismanagement or fraud is the culprit, not the market.