Home Union - homeunion.com reviews

[Bruno Tavares]

Hi folks, just learned about homeunion.com through and ad on BP newsletter.

Their marketing page is very well designed, with explanatory video and all the stuff. I tried the platform too, and it's pretty cool as well.

This all helps but at the end is all about the properties, numbers and quality of property management.

Has anyone heard, used, invested with or have more info or thoughts about it?

[Roderick A. Clemente]

HomeUnion Exceeds My Expectations

My real estate experience started when I purchased a condo in Hoboken, New Jersey, in the early 2000s. I lived there for a while, and then converted it into a rental. Over the years, I was able to weather both the financial crisis and Hurricane Sandy while keeping my rental and generating monthly cash flow.

Now that the local housing market is up in Hobeken, I made the decision that it was time to exit the market, as it’s been extremely unfriendly with rent control laws and taxes. Not to mention, tying up half a million in 1 tiny box is a significant chunk of my net worth.

The Next Steps

Once I decided that I would sell my condo, I had to consider multiple factors:

• 1)Where to invest? I considered a few local New York/New Jersey spots to invest in, but they were too expensive and came with high taxes and home prices.
• 2)How do I invest passively? After self-managing for years and dealing with 2AM phone calls, terrible contractors and the rest of it, I wanted to make enough free cash flow to hire a property manager. This way I could truly be an investor, not a landlord. This was so important to me that I even strongly considered REITs as an alternative!
• 3)What is the most advantageous way for me purchase real estate? When I started to calculate the tax bill, I realized that a 1031 exchange was my best option.

1031 Exchange

A 1031 exchange was the best option for me as I had been depreciating the place as a rental for the past few years, which provided a lovely tax shield. The challenge was that if I sell the property, I would have to pay income tax recapture on top of the capital gains tax - OUCH!

How HomeUnion Helped

Luis from HomeUnion reached out to me around this time, and he informed me that HomeUnion could meet the fairly short timelines required to complete a 1031 exchange transaction. Even better, HomeUnion could help me split proceeds into multiple cash flow-positive homes and secure GSE mortgages to boot. To be honest, it sounded too good to be true. How do I know these are legit? Do I really want to buy homes I've never seen?

I ended up visiting two locations, Chicago and Tampa, to meet HomeUnion’s local region managers and check out a few properties, which included the ones I was bidding on. Both local region managers struck me as knowledgeable, experienced and skilled at what they do. These meetings got me comfortable with HomeUnion as a company and as a partner.

Fast forward a few weeks, and we've just completed the 1031 exchange transaction! I was able to split my Hoboken condo into 6 single-family houses (technically 5 as we added additional funds to purchase the last home) in 5 states using a 1031 exchange.

By diversifying into multiple markets, I feel much safer for the following reasons:

• 1.I'm not as worried about a big storm wiping me out, as I now have additional cash flow-generating properties. This means I'm well covered, even if I have an issue with one of them.
• 2.I don't need to stress about keeping the places 100% occupied, as the cash flow is sufficient to allow for some vacancy.
• 3.Best of all, the cash flow is expected to be enough to cover HomeUnion’s management fees, which reduces my hassle, and I can truly invest passively.

HomeUnion’s Pricing

Some may view their pricing as a premium product - I would agree it is not the cheapest route. I've always been a ‘do-it-yourself’ kind of person like many BiggerPockets members, but after my experience, I would say HomeUnion delivered a lot of value and has been worth every penny spent.

I believe they provided me with a service that went above what I could have handled alone (unless I quit my day job which I enjoy and wish to keep). I feel that I am in a much stronger position, and have advanced my real estate portfolio multiple years ahead by making this move.

Current Status

Three properties are now in rehab with HomeUnion, where they are handling the whole process of repairs/maintenance and working with contractors. I will keep you posted as they progress, but so far they are on track to exceed expectations.

The other three properties have been tenanted and the early outset for HomeUnion’s management team looks good.

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Disclosure: I volunteered to write this because I saw some good posts here, but nothing on this specific topic and not many detailed accounts of HomeUnion from the community. When I mentioned this to HomeUnion, they offered me a free month of asset management as a thank you, but this has not affected my post and I've tried to be as unbiased as is humanly possible. In addition, we are at a stage where we have just completed the transaction: 3 properties are tenanted and 3 need some minor rehab and need to be filled. The early outset for management and rehabbing looks good but I can't vouch for that yet. I will create an update in a few months with my findings.