Equity Build Finance, LLC

[George Lekas]

I was just wondering if anyone has had any dealings with this company?  They promise 12-15% returns, depending on how much you invest with them.  They always seem to be offering properties in bad neighborhoods, mostly in Chicago, and claim to have never had a foreclosure or default in over 600 transactions.  When I asked about specifics on one of their offerings in December, I got an e-mail saying that their "finance guy" would get back to me with details.  I still haven't heard from him.

[Gregory Vallenari]

Yes, I have two investments with them that are both nail biters.   

My opinions only:   

My gut feel is that they're above board and not a scam.   But operationally they seem to have some challenges.    Communication is less than desired as projects progress and especially when they get into trouble.   While it does seem like they're working on that aspect, I don't feel that they understand what good communication to their investors should look like.   The folks they put in place to communicate to investors are fairly new and don't know a lot of what's going on.   

One equity investment i have with them in Chicago has taken some bad turns and I may or may not see all my principal back.    They had a conference call to explain what had happened and what the plan was.   The explanations seemed reasonable but no communication for a couple of months after the call.   Then i pushed for a status and found out that plans laid out in the conference call had fallen apart - yet with no investor update.     Ongoing communication (where we are, what's next and what are the milestones) is lacking and only comes partially when i really push for details.

Another lending investment i have with them in Puerto Rico is supposed to complete in few months but has already been delayed twice.    The explanations seem reasonable but communication has not been good, though they did finally have a conference call recently.

I understand from the Equity Build Finance (frequent) sales emails that none of their deals have ever lost money but i am obviously a little skeptical (but hopeful).    

I would love to hear of other's experiences - successful or otherwise.