Morris Invest Case Study 3.0

[Gregory Washington]

I was inspired by Tyler jahnke to do an honest case study for evertone about my experience with Morris Invest

[Son D.]

My current PM is oceanpointe. However Clayton Morris just called me today to switch to BlueSky which I post on my own topic. I don't want to keep hijacking other people's case study with my own.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/524145-morris-invest-and-oceanpointe-management-company?page=2#p3345283

[Tyler Jahnke]

@Son D. - Thanks for you sharing your 100% transparent story! It's not easy opening up and being this vulnerable. You and I are both learning the hard way, but I'll say it again, and say it 1,000,000 times...our greatest mistakes create the greatest learning opportunities.

-Tyler

[Todd Burton]

HEADS UP! Just heard yesterday that Oceanpointe is either changing names or adding an alternate management company: URBAN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, INC.

Morris is also promoting his new management company: BLUE SKY PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC

Same people, different names...Why would anything be any different with just a name change?

[Todd Burton]

Originally posted by @Son D.:

If a property management company rents a turnkey out and does not inform the owner of the rent,lease agreement and who it is rented to , would that be illegal? If not,Could'nt property managment companies misuse the trust and rent a place out and not tell the owner ? What type of legal action can be taken against such companies , where to start from?

Hello Son- 

Yes, they have a legal responsibility to account for all of your money, keep accurate records and accounting and make that all available to you. All contracts, documents, tenant correspondence, etc. are transacted on your behalf with your permission via a management agreement. All money collected is yours less any agreed fees, invoices etc. If they are not providing any of these items in a reasonable timeframe (or at all), you should contact the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency and/or the Indiana Attorney General. Here are links to both:

Indiana Professional Licensing Agency

[Son D.]

@Todd Burton I've actually complained earlier this month. It's been more than 2 weeks so I called them and they haven't assigned to anyone yet. Now I'm just waiting for their email telling me what they decide to do.

[Danny G.]

AS OF NOW DO NOT INVEST WITH MORRIS INVEST!!!

MY CURRENT SITUATION WITH MORRIS INVEST....

I closed escrow with Morris Invest on 2/7/18 on a 3/2 900sqft home that was said to make $825/month in rent after the $25k in rehabs that they were to do. I was told that it would take 90 days to rehab the property.

2 months in I asked for an update on the progress, as that's what the welcome email stated I'd get, and i was told that because Morris invest is selling 40 properties a week they can't send someone out to the property to update me.

15 days later I recieve a Notice to Demolish in the mail. Figuring that i recieved this notice because this was a fixer I didn't think much of this notice but decided to call the inspector anyway. He was on vacation but when he returned he called me and asked if I bought this house before or after the fire. WTF?! After further explanation I told him that I didnt know of any fire that occurred. The inspector sent me pictures and sure enough MY HOUSE WAS BURNT DOWN AND LOOKED LIKE IT WAS ABOUT TO COLLAPSE. I immediately contacted Morris Invest and they told me to go through my insurance and file a claim. I asked what would happen if I had to demolish the building and they replied that I'd have to decide whether to rebuild, or sell the vacant land. It was a very nonapologetic answer with zero compassion, not even a "sorry this happened"! I started a claim with my insurance, they needed a fire report from the fire department so that they knew when this fire happened and more details.  ABOUT 5 DAYS LATER I GET THE FIRE REPORT BACK ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT THE HOUSE CAUGHT ON FIRE WHILE I WAS IN ESCROW (before i bought it)!!! 

This is where I stand now, I want to see if Morris Invest will make it right and will update this story once they get back to me....its been 5 days now and they are "trying to make sense of it all". 

Added info: I spoke to a lawyer in Indianapolis today and she stated that she's had a lot of cases involving Ocean Pointe PM and Morris Invest and that Clayton is starting his own PM company called Blue Sky, DO NOT USE THEM! JUST READ THE COMPLAINTS AGAINST OCEAN POINTE AND KNOW THAT ITS THE SAME PEOPLE JUST WITH A NEW NAME AND NOT ENOUGH STAFF TO HANDLE THE CRAZY AMOUNT OF HOMES THAT TRANSFERRED OVER LAST MONTH. 

I will update this when I know more... 

[Account Closed]

I hope this guy goes to jail for a very long time. 

[Todd Burton]

@Danny G.

Wow! The depths of their deceit never ceases to amaze me. If they used a standard Indiana Association of Realtors Purchase Agreement, which I've seen on all the other purchases that have been presented to us, then check Section "H2" & "H3". "H3"; Casualty Loss; "Risk or loss by damage or destruction to the property prior to the closing shall be borne by seller,...

This is their responsibility by contract. You should be able to force them to refund your money. I would immediately contact the 

[Scott Steffek]

Danny G,

You have my sympathies. What a mess! Just so you know next time, I've never heard of a $25k rehab job taking 90 days. My contractor does them in less than 30 days, unless there is some major work, that will take a lot of time. But when I saw 90 days, that raised a huge red flag to me. I hope things work out for you and I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Scott Steffek:

Danny G,

You have my sympathies. What a mess! Just so you know next time, I've never heard of a $25k rehab job taking 90 days. My contractor does them in less than 30 days, unless there is some major work, that will take a lot of time. But when I saw 90 days, that raised a huge red flag to me. I hope things work out for you and I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune.

I ended up with one burn out in Indy.. they have negative value.. if this person has a burn out and no insurance and MOrris wont make right its a complete loss .. also they may get city fines on top of it.. which as long as they don't own other properties in the area probably won't mean much..  Morris model of NON transparency IE you cant see the houses we are too busy .. you can't inspect them we are too busy.. just played into this massive loss of investor capital.. 

[Cole A.]

Originally posted by @Danny G.:

AS OF NOW DO NOT INVEST WITH MORRIS INVEST!!!

MY CURRENT SITUATION WITH MORRIS INVEST....

I closed escrow with Morris Invest on 2/7/18 on a 3/2 900sqft home that was said to make $825/month in rent after the $25k in rehabs that they were to do. I was told that it would take 90 days to rehab the property.

2 months in I asked for an update on the progress, as that's what the welcome email stated I'd get, and i was told that because Morris invest is selling 40 properties a week they can't send someone out to the property to update me.

15 days later I recieve a Notice to Demolish in the mail. Figuring that i recieved this notice because this was a fixer I didn't think much of this notice but decided to call the inspector anyway. He was on vacation but when he returned he called me and asked if I bought this house before or after the fire. WTF?! After further explanation I told him that I didnt know of any fire that occurred. The inspector sent me pictures and sure enough MY HOUSE WAS BURNT DOWN AND LOOKED LIKE IT WAS ABOUT TO COLLAPSE. I immediately contacted Morris Invest and they told me to go through my insurance and file a claim. I asked what would happen if I had to demolish the building and they replied that I'd have to decide whether to rebuild, or sell the vacant land. It was a very nonapologetic answer with zero compassion, not even a "sorry this happened"! I started a claim with my insurance, they needed a fire report from the fire department so that they knew when this fire happened and more details.  ABOUT 5 DAYS LATER I GET THE FIRE REPORT BACK ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT THE HOUSE CAUGHT ON FIRE WHILE I WAS IN ESCROW (before i bought it)!!! 

This is where I stand now, I want to see if Morris Invest will make it right and will update this story once they get back to me....its been 5 days now and they are "trying to make sense of it all". 

Added info: I spoke to a lawyer in Indianapolis today and she stated that she's had a lot of cases involving Ocean Pointe PM and Morris Invest and that Clayton is starting his own PM company called Blue Sky, DO NOT USE THEM! JUST READ THE COMPLAINTS AGAINST OCEAN POINTE AND KNOW THAT ITS THE SAME PEOPLE JUST WITH A NEW NAME AND NOT ENOUGH STAFF TO HANDLE THE CRAZY AMOUNT OF HOMES THAT TRANSFERRED OVER LAST MONTH. 

I will update this when I know more... 

 Do you have an update on this?

[Danny G.]

My attorney sent a demand letter hoping to settle it outside of court but got no response so now we're taking them to court.  I will update when I know more but it might be a long process but that's ok.  My goal is that no one gets taken advantage of as my family did

[Ned J.]

I'm still getting the email from Morris Invest....so apparently this guy is still chugging away with his marketing machine

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Danny G.:

My attorney sent a demand letter hoping to settle it outside of court but got no response so now we're taking them to court.  I will update when I know more but it might be a long process but that's ok.  My goal is that no one gets taken advantage of as my family did

best of luck with this.. its the only way to get them to the table..  

[Andrey Y.]

Originally posted by @Ned J.:

I'm still getting the email from Morris Invest....so apparently this guy is still chugging away with his marketing machine

 Same. Daily emails about videos, webinars, tips, and tactics. Seems like Morris hasn't missed a beat. All about building his legacy while screwing other families out of theirs. I would think eventually some justice would come out of this.

[Brian Freeman]

Originally posted by @Danny G.:

My attorney sent a demand letter hoping to settle it outside of court but got no response so now we're taking them to court.  I will update when I know more but it might be a long process but that's ok.  My goal is that no one gets taken advantage of as my family did

 Danny who did you hire? What state will the lawsuit be filed in?

I am a California attorney and intend to sue Clayton Morris and Oceanpointe Investments very soon for their fraud.  I lost my family's savings of 45k to a scam.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Brian Freeman:

Originally posted by @Danny G.:

My attorney sent a demand letter hoping to settle it outside of court but got no response so now we're taking them to court.  I will update when I know more but it might be a long process but that's ok.  My goal is that no one gets taken advantage of as my family did

 Danny who did you hire? What state will the lawsuit be filed in?

I am a California attorney and intend to sue Clayton Morris and Oceanpointe Investments very soon for their fraud.  I lost my family's savings of 45k to a scam.

 this is clearly a RICO act type case in my mind.. multiple entities and interstate .. Lots of bad actors.. its what that statue was created for and in addition its garden variety wire fraud..  disimination of false information.. IE his pod cast describing these as safe secure investments.. etc.. not to mention the out and out theft of rehab money fake tenants … has anyone even stopped to check if he is a licensed agent or broker in that state and If he was using one those folks have E and O.. its the worst of the worst with this guy. and the same play happened in Jacksonville then they moved to Detroit.. which sounds like that ground partner was a little more ethical but still same asset class.. which is unsustainable over the long haul.

[Danny G.]

@Brian Freeman, I am using Jynell Berkshire out of Indiana Indianapolis.  So far she has done a good job for me.  Sorry to hear about you losing your family's savings, I basically did also.  I don't know if your case is similar to mine but Clayton signed my purchase contract and never assigned it to anyone else which you would do as a "middle man" which he claims to be. Complete fraud.

Hopefully if enough of us take him to court we can stop this crap.  Good luck!

[Greg Washington]

Wow guys! A lot has taken place! I initially only wanted to use this case study as honest feedback of my experience with MI. Everything you’ve all said has been completely true. Anyone who has bought from MI has been bamboozled!!! I have finally decided to sell the house in Jacksonville. The rent checks stopped in march and word from HOMe River group is that there is someone living there paying Oceanpointe cash still! I am fed up with this and now looking for buyers. 

I also bought my 2nd property in Indy 2 months ago through a group of wholesalers who hooked me up with a trusted local PM. Ive learned so much in this year! Never doin TK again! My guy get deals every other day! I’m open to other wholesalers as well.

STEER CLEAR FROM MI GUYS! I’m sorry it took this long but better late than never. BTW I will be in INDY in 3 weeks. Would love to meet some new peeps

[Gregory Washington]

The last post was from another account apparently

Wow guys! A lot has taken place! I initially only wanted to use this case study as honest feedback of my experience with MI. Everything you’ve all said has been completely true. Anyone who has bought from MI has been bamboozled!!! I have finally decided to sell the house in Jacksonville. The rent checks stopped in march and word from HOMe River group is that there is someone living there paying Oceanpointe cash still! I am fed up with this and now looking for buyers.

I also bought my 2nd property in Indy 2 months ago through a group of wholesalers who hooked me up with a trusted local PM. Ive learned so much in this year! Never doin TK again! My guy get deals every other day! I’m open to other wholesalers as well.

STEER CLEAR FROM MI GUYS! I’m sorry it took this long but better late than never. BTW I will be in INDY in 3 weeks. Would love to meet some new peeps

[Nicole Hoss]

@Gregory Washington While you're in Indy, find some REPUTABLE turnkey companies to meet with. Not all turnkey companies are alike. I will now (I used to have a couple OceanPoint properties, but not through MI) only invest in POST rehabbed, inspected, and tenanted turnkey companies in Indy because I am OOS and can't property manage a rehab on my own from far away. It's completely doable to SAFELY invest TK OOS! PM me if you want to chat about my lackluster and also POSITIVE experiences.

[Gregory Washington]

@Nicole Hoss Thanks for that info. I agree with you that not all TKs are the same. There’s are definitely some good ones out there. I have checked out your company as well in the past and regarded it as one of the good ones.