Morris Invest Experience (Yet Another One)

[Colin Zhu]

While I know there has already been a vast amount of virtual ink spilled regarding Morris Invest, I still feel obligated to recount my ongoing experiences in an objective and impartial manner as to help other investors make an informed decision. These are my own experience and I urge everyone to do their own research and due diligence before investing in anything. I apologize in advance for the lengthy post.

Some Backstory

Around this time in 2017, I had two cash-flowing rentals in California and decided it was time to look out-of-state for better returns. Naturally, the first resource I turned to was BP and BP podcasts, where I first heard about Morris Invest.

I was immediately hooked by Clayton's investment philosophy of focusing on the numbers and the ROI instead of the actual real estate itself. After all, it's just "four walls and a roof" as he often says.

He seemed very passionate and genuine on his own podcasts, especially the ones where his wife is on as well. The banter was both entertaining and informative.

Before you know it, I binged through ALL of his podcasts and watched all his videos on YT, as I still do today. I even left a five-star rating.

Around July 2017, I scheduled what would be my first of two calls with MI. I spoke with a gentleman named Dave and discussed their purchase/rehab process and timeline, which I had already become quite familiar with from listening to the podcasts.

The emails came in week after week, each with a not so great looking house but some really appealing numbers. I did not immediately purchase because I was closing on another property at the time and needed the cash.

As 2018 rolled in, along with my New Year resolution of taking more action in real estate investing, I booked my second call with MI and spoke with Glenn. It was the same type of call but this time I was armed with motivated liquidity.

Ongoing Timeline

1/7/2018 - We started reviewing every property as they came in, ran our own pro forma (Google Sheets), neighborhood analysis (Google Maps), and comps (Redfin, Zillow, Trulia). The problem was that by the time we were happy with the numbers, the property was gone like the wind!

1/25/2018 - Decided Indiana was the state to invest in first. Did the paperwork and formed an LLC.

2/6/2018 - After 50 properties or so, we finally found one that fit our budget and investment objectives. I think it was genuine FOMO that made us jump into signing the purchase agreement.

2/7/2018 - Signed the purchase agreement and was informed that the Property Management company will be Boardwalk Property Management. At this time, I still don’t know about Oceanpointe PM and their revoked license.

2/12/2018 - Spoke with Ash to start the insurance setup process.

2/13/2018 - Wired the money to an actual Title company. Still did not do research on MI company on BP though. They looked pretty legit so far.

2/14/2018 - Escrow closed and we became excited owners of our first out-of-state rental property! Honestly, we were quite satisfied with how quickly and smoothly the purchase and closing process went. All parties involved were professional and communicative throughout the entire process. But as many of you know, making the purchase is the easy part.

2/20/2018 - Followed-up with MI operations for a timeline estimate. I was informed that they will typically send me pictures when the rehab is about half complete, at which time, I will be working with the PM company directly. OK, sounds reasonable.

2/21/2018 - Setup and purchased insurance.

3/25/2018 - No communication from MI so far, except the property emails, which we still analyze. Meanwhile, I was preparing cash for the next purchase.

3/26/2018 - Went to my local RE meetup, talked to a few fellow investors and heard some bombs dropped regarding MI. I thought maybe it was #FakeNews at first, so I spent the entire night until 4 am reading through BP forums and finally doing some desperately needed research about MI and Oceanpointe Investments LLC. Needless to say, I'm not sure what is going on at this point. Did they expand too quickly? Do they just need more staffing? Are they really a Ponzi scheme? Am I an idiot?

3/27/2018 - First thing in the morning, emailed all my contacts at MI, except Clayton since I never actually spoke with him. It has been six hours now and still no response yet. Oh wait, I did get another property email though!

If you are still reading this, thank you for your time, truly. You are pretty much all caught up with my experience using MI so far. It is still too early for me to make any definitive conclusions, but things aren't looking great. While I am hopeful that the situation will turn out positively, I am preparing for the worst.

Yes, I know I could’ve avoided all of this by doing some simple research ahead of time (lesson learned). However, that's water under the bridge. The most helpful and useful thing right now would be some good advice on what my next steps should be. I’m all ears!

I will update this thread to the best of my ability as events unfold.

[Todd Burton]

Boardwalk Property Management Group and Oceanpointe Property Management are one and the same. Same address and same registered agent, Steven Rosenbaum (also their Broker) . Just a DBA name change to evade the bad PR heat.