Anybody else having issues with Mack Companies in Chicago?

Ask About A Real Estate Company
11yFollow

Anybody else having issues with Mack Companies in Chicago?

Jim Tiernan
Wholesaler · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 126 posts · 39 votes

I have a turn-key rental with Mack Companies in suburban Chicago that has been vacant for FOUR MONTHS!

A small sample of my issues with the management:

Finding out a tenant has moved out weeks after the fact. When the monthly statement came it showed a big fat 0 for rent. No communication. How hard is it to send a one sentence email that the tenant moved out?

Rent lowered by hundreds of dollars on a re-lease without a discussion or heads up.

Two months into vacancy I still don't have a tenant due to things like "it's a busy time of year". Really? You didn't factor in summer as a busy time of year in Chicago? Like this is different than any other summer? 

Two months into vacancy I'm then told the unit needs a refresh. Really? It took two months to figure that out? Shouldn't I have a list of needed repairs within a week of tenant moving out? I'm told the reason for the delay is the property "fell in a crack". In other words mis-managed.

Three months into vacancy I'm told "The timeliness of placing a tenant is affected by the change in market demand compounded with the specific location and property style. Well I'm pretty sure the location and property style hasn't changed.

Getting nowhere with the manager, At 3 1/2 months vacant I ask for a higher up manager who says my unit "has had a series of bad luck and unfortunately that may be the case with some real estate - remember, it is an investment not an annuity." Also he is "hoping to have a solution by Friday." I'm not holding my breath.

6 grand in lost rent and counting....

I've lost all faith in Mack Companies, buyer beware.

5Reply
299 views

Most Popular Reply

Mike H.
Rental Property Investor · Manteno, IL · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
10y

@Account Closed  Did you read the initial post by this investor? I don't understand how anyone would come on to BP and suggest the comments that his PM said to him or the results he got were in the least bit acceptable.  

Bottom line is that in this market there is no way a house should be sitting vacant for four and a half months. If you have 250 employees and can't manage them all, then maybe you should cut back on your employees and find a number that you can manage. 

But suggesting there are a lot of moving parts when a company like yours has over 250 employees is awful. If you don't have something in your system that catches a vacancy before it hits 4 months, then something is wrong with your system.

And your response that you are the biggest company and longest tenured company means NOTHING in terms of whether you're providing good service today or not. Maybe you just happen to have the best sales people.

What in the world does the housing crash have to do with that investor's 4.5 month vacancy? Or lowering the rent without getting his approval? Is that the type of contracts you guys do? You have the ability to change the rent to any amount without an approval and at an time you choose? Jeepers....... Not exactly investor friendly if you do.... 

Ultimately, thats what you should have addressed on your post. Either dispute the claims he made in terms of his results or apologize for your company's awful service.  Don't make lame excuses and tell us how big you are and how many employees you have and how the crash affected people. That has absolutely nothing to do with the service you've been paid to provide.

Maybe you're used to selling sheep the "spiel". But when you come on here, you're going to get called out for nonsense like that.  To me, you shouldn't have said a thing on here unless it was to dispute his initial claims OR to apologize and make it right. But you did neither.  At the end of the day, that is what speaks volumes to me..... 

4Reply
See this reply in the discussion

147 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Jim Tiernan
    OP
    Wholesaler · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 126 posts · 39 votes
    10y

    Yea it was smooth sailing for first 2 years for me, then chaos. Lack of communication is extremely annoying. If lots of clients weren't going to get their deposits, wouldn't you AT LEAST send out a mass email so they didn't bounce mortgage payments? unreal.

    0Reply
  • Jim Tiernan
    OP
    Wholesaler · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 126 posts · 39 votes
    10y

    Understood. But if you had an issue with ALL your ACH's, and was not aware of who was sent payments and who was not, why not send owners an email alerting them of the problem? A quick bit of communication doesn't seem like too much to ask.

    1Reply
  • Scott W.
    Real Estate Investor · chicago, IL · Member since 2012 · 1k+ posts · 231 votes
    10y

    it just seems the lack of communication has happened one too many times in this instance. maybe they are too big to handle it.

    0Reply
  • Account Closed
    Professional · Chicago, IL · Member since 2014 · 22 posts · 6 votes
    10y

    @Scott W. - we pride ourselves on our property management - it's what allows us to retain our tenants for 3.8 years on average, currently run at 96% collection rate and have our evictions below 2%. We are ALWAYS accessible and unlike other operators out there, you only have to deal with one contact as you are assigned an Investor Relations Manager who will answer any of your questions.

    @Jim Tiernan - Our money was held as sent for 72 business hours and with the weekend we were not notified immediately. That said, as soon as we figured it out we advised our clients who had not received their money and new ACH's were sent immediately. That said, I've always advised our investors to keep at least 3 month in reserves - not to cover a missed payment but rather just to avoid the uncontrollable. Unfortunately, if you're running your account with a $0 balance we should probably get on the phone and discuss investment strategies.

    FYI - I am the Vice President of Sales & Acquisitions for MACK Companies

    0Reply
  • Jim Tiernan
    OP
    Wholesaler · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 126 posts · 39 votes
    10y

    Yes, I normally do keep 3-6 in reserves on my properties, but in the case of these two properties I am still catching up from months of vacancies and paying almost $9000 in tenant damages.

    2Reply
  • Christine Wagner
    Investor · Canyon Country, CA · Member since 2016 · 15 posts · 18 votes
    10y

    I too am a Mack investor, and we have had many of the same issues. Started well with great press. Then  lack of communication, long vacancies one for several months. Drops in new rent without notification.  Long "refresh" times etc.   We have had the police from the city our house is in call and write to us to say that it was being used as a "drug" house and we would be held responsible and fined, that Mack had been contacted but had done nothing to evict.  We couldn't even get someone from Mack to call us back.  The one person we could talk to  has left within the last month, and no one it seems is covering their email or phone calls.  Finally after several tries I got the name of his replacement and I am trying to reach out to him.  Over six weeks ago we told them we wanted to sell not to put a new tenant in.  No paper work, we have no idea what shape the house is in.   We are now seniors on a fixed income and are losing a few thousand each year on the "great investment opportunity"  We drank the Kool aid.  This is not our only investment property but thank goodness the only one with Mack,  we had considered buy others at the time, but so glad we waited. Reading others posts is looks as if we are in the weeds here.  Oh and I'll add here I wrote a letter to Mack Sr. last year over all of the issues.  No answer, no phone call just silence.

    2Reply
  • Matt R.
    Sherman Oaks, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y

    I don't know jack about Mack. I have researched  a couple TK operators  and LA promoters in Chicago's Southside and it was down right scary for some of the locations. Abandon and vacant properties nearby were common place. Failed non local landlords were likely some of the suckers. I am sure the locals find decent stuff everyday but what I found being offered to out of state folks was insane. I would check the exact locations as best you can imo. To represent these as safe cash flow plays for an out of state investor is a gross misrepresentation for some locations. Honestly idk if you could find a riskier investment in RE. Good luck non local investors!

    1Reply
  • Christine Wagner
    Investor · Canyon Country, CA · Member since 2016 · 15 posts · 18 votes
    10y

    In general I agree with Matt, but we did this about five years ago...Actually visited the area, the house was already rehabbed and the property backed up to a private Catholic school.  We even checked out whether the neighborhood residents brought in their trash cans...Spoke to the neighbors etc.  Mack assured us they vetted each tenant.  The first year was good Mack had exceptional press...and then ...well you read the post.  Yes it was a lower income working class neighborhood, but not abandon or vacant... We are not unseasoned investors, I am not even sure it is a bad investment in general, but the direct result of mismanagement by a company we trusted. We have other investments, in Tenn. Indianapolis, and Calif all are doing well...But one should be careful.

    1Reply
  • Matt R.
    Sherman Oaks, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Christine Wagner:

    In general I agree with Matt, but we did this about five years ago...Actually visited the area, the house was already rehabbed and the property backed up to a private Catholic school.  We even checked out whether the neighborhood residents brought in their trash cans...Spoke to the neighbors etc.  Mack assured us they vetted each tenant.  The first year was good Mack had exceptional press...and then ...well you read the post.  Yes it was a lower income working class neighborhood, but not abandon or vacant... We are not unseasoned investors, I am not even sure it is a bad investment in general, but the direct result of mismanagement by a company we trusted. We have other investments, in Tenn. Indianapolis, and Calif all are doing well...But one should be careful.

    Understood. The ones I researched were in very high average vacancy rate areas. ( high teens) Even being yards from a police station made little difference from what I could tell. Shootings and murders were on top FBI lists routinely in the area. Management for these is likely biggest challenge no doubt. The only folks I could see living here were section 8ers, and I think they generally have much better options short and long term in Chitown. 

    0Reply
  • Charles Worth
    Investor · New York City, NY · Member since 2015 · 808 posts · 417 votes
    10y

    @Matt R.

    Would be curious which companies you looked into?

    1Reply
  • Kevin McCann
    Rental Property Investor · Frankfort, IL · Member since 2014 · 24 posts · 3 votes
    10y

    I don't know much about Mach but I did a turnkey investment with @Mike Fisher at CAB properties and am very happy with my service and ROI.

    0Reply
  • Matt R.
    Sherman Oaks, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Charles Worth:

    @Matt R.

    Would be curious which companies you looked into?

     Right on. I can PM you. Some of these critical rental stats can be found on rentfaxpro dot com as well. 

    0Reply
  • Justin Ericsson
    Professional · Glenview, IL · Member since 2015 · 114 posts · 65 votes
    10y

    I just heard from an ex-Mack employee that Mack Companies was raided by the police recently all of their computers and files removed for an investigation ... Anyone heard the same news? I also heard they just setup a new company called Mack Services which tells me they are getting shut down. Hopefully someone on BP has first hand knowledge as a lot of my clients have properties with Mack so I'm naturally concerned. 

    1Reply
  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    10y

    @Justin Ericsson  Well that would be interesting..

    what happens to most companies like this ( and again no way of knowing if this is whats up just pure speculation).. usually involves trust account funds.. IE  rental funds and deposits.

    and then in Most states this is handled by the real estate commission or bureau or whatever it is you call it in IL...

    Cops raiding the place does not usually happen in a RE venture gone bad..   more detail should be gotten to make sure that reality matchs rumors..

    I have no affiliation with these folks and have never met them or done business with them.. just basing my comments on my 40 years of investing and lending on RE 

    Podcast Guest on Show #222
    JLH Capital Partners51 Review
    WebsiteView Page
    1Reply
  • Jim Tiernan
    OP
    Wholesaler · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 126 posts · 39 votes
    10y

    @Justin Ericsson any more word on this?

    @Account Closed is this true?

    0Reply
  • Jim Mack
    Tinley Park, IL · Member since 2016 · 7 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    To whom it may concern,


    My name is Jim Mack, owner of Mack Companies and I am reaching out to clear up any disinformation regarding any investigation regarding Mack Companies. The issue being referred to stems from homeowners exemptions on rental properties from 2009-20012. The Cook County Assessor’s office opened a department approximately one year ago to claw back any "erroneous" homeowners expeditions granted during this time period. This was aimed towards any individuals claiming homeowners exemptions on more than one property. This is a Countywide investigation and includes hundreds of thousands of residents and landlords.

    To be clear, it was well within our rights under the rules to file for homeowners exemptions during this time period as the tenants had a leasehold interest in the property and the vast majority of tenants had options to purchase as well. We have aggressively asserted our right to qualify for these exemptions and that is crux of the issue, nothing more.

    This issue is relegated to a number of Mack properties from the years aforementioned and we expect to prevail on this matter. As always, we stand behind over 20 years of service to our investors, residents, and communities and thank you for your understanding in this matter.

    Sincerely,

    Jim Mack

    1Reply
  • Jim Tiernan
    OP
    Wholesaler · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 126 posts · 39 votes
    10y

    Thanks @Jim Mack

    0Reply
  • Jim Mack
    Tinley Park, IL · Member since 2016 · 7 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    @Jim Tiernan and the others you are welcome and I am happy to clear anything else up as well.

    1Reply
  • Travis BovyPro Member
    Jesup, IA · Member since 2016 · 12 posts · 3 votes
    10y

    @Keith Anderson

    Since it has been about 10 months since you closed your two properties, do you have any feedback on the process thus far?  It seems like most of the complaints with Mack has been their poor communication with the investor and being able to keep properties rented?  I know it may be a little early since you are still within the first 12 months of ownership, but have you experienced any of those things yet?

    0Reply
  • Jim Tiernan
    OP
    Wholesaler · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 126 posts · 39 votes
    10y

    @Travis Bovy I have owned the two properties since 2013. Still pursuing 2 former tenants for almost $9000. And both my current tenants are also behind. I found out again when my statement was short.  When I stated "That doesn’t sound like a great system, where the owner is unaware of delinquencies and evictions."   I was told "we are just not setup for micromanagement of our step by step management". 

    0Reply
  • Travis BovyPro Member
    Jesup, IA · Member since 2016 · 12 posts · 3 votes
    10y

    @Jim Tiernan

    Thank for the update, Jim.  Do you have plans to get out of those two properties?

    0Reply
  • Keith Anderson
    Investor · Cambridge, MA · Member since 2014 · 92 posts · 87 votes
    10y
    Travis Bovy Jim Tiernan It's too early for me to comment; I'm still in the guarantee period and not enough time has passed for me to share my personal experience. I do have some unanswered questions and concerns, which I've shared with Mack. But I'm trying to reserve judgement for now.
    0Reply
  • Travis BovyPro Member
    Jesup, IA · Member since 2016 · 12 posts · 3 votes
    10y

    @Keith Anderson

    That makes sense.  Any information you could pass along once you get far enough outside the guarantee period would be much appreciated.  Thanks, Keith.

    1Reply
  • Jim Tiernan
    OP
    Wholesaler · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 126 posts · 39 votes
    10y

    @Travis Bovy I am going to evaluate what to do with these two properties in the spring. Although I don't know if I could sell them for what I paid in 2013.

    0Reply
  • Ryan Duffy
    Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2008 · 8 posts · 1 vote
    10y

    Unfortunately, I must agree with most of the reviewers here... I would not recommend doing business with Mack Properties at this point. We bought a place from them in 2012 and things seemed great. The 2 employees we worked through were extremely communicative and trustworthy, but they left (along with many others) and things are much different now. When the house is actually rented, cash flow is strong - about $1500/month for a $115k house (although it's probably only worth about $85k today). However, Mack's service is very poor. It takes them 2-3 weeks to respond to a simple email, on average. Also, they directly employ their maintenance/construction crews so refresh fees seem much higher than industry averages. All of that plus their tenant replacement fees and monthly management costs eat into profits. We've been in the red the majority of the year. When we originally entered into this partnership, we were very optimistic with hopes of buying a bunch of properties from Mack, but they appear to have too many operational issues so our money has gone elsewhere. If there are any current or prospective Mack clients with a different opinion and you are interested in adding a new home to your portfolio (currently rented), contact me! Thanks, -Ryan

    0Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free