HomeUnion vs RoofStock vs DoorVest

[Shweta Bharti]

Hi Folks

I am a newbie in real estate area and looking for passive income sources from Rental Properties. I currently live in NY so would look for out of state option only. Being a Software Developer by profession, I would definitely need a property manager to take care of the tenants, necessary repairs and the property. While doing my own research on the internet, I came across HomeUnion and RoofStock as well known companies providing help to the rental property investors. From a Facebook ad, I also came across DoorVest but this is pretty new in the market (only 1+ year) so not sure if people on BiggerPockets would have any feedback for DoorVest.

1. RoofStock: They are charging 0.5% on buying cost of the house. And then they will connect me to few Property Mgrs and then it would be between me and the property mgr to deal with his/her service fee.

2. HomeUnion: I liked talking to them. They are charging 3.5% on buying cost of the house, and then fixed fee plans for Property Mgmt, i.e. even if the property is vacant and property manager is still searching for tenant, I would still need to pay the same fee to the Property Mgr.

3. DoorVest: Charging 8% fee on the buuying cost of the house, and then they have their own property managers who would nit charge me if the house is vacant, and will charge 15% a month for each month tenant is staying in the house.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback about any of these companies if anyone here have bought any property from them or have dealt with them in any way? Also, their service fee varies a lot and that confuses me more.

[Jeff Schechter]

I'm co-founder of a successful Turnkey company in Indianapolis.  We were approached by Roofstock, and had no problems meeting their criteria.  And, they were insistent that they didn't want to raise the pricing of our products, but when we looked at the cost of listing with them, we would have had to raise our fees.  This of course, hurts the investor's overall returns.  They also were insistent on exclusivity... meaning if we listed a property with them, we could not even put it on our own website, or market it to our existing investor base.  Obviously, that did not work for us.  So, none of our properties will be available on Roofstock, or the other two you mentioned.

This is not to say you won't find good properties there.  You likely will, as they seem to have a good way to help investors find quality properties, but at the end of the day, all of the operations you mentioned are "marketplaces."  They are just another way for you to buy a property... and that comes with a price tag.

Whether it's us or anyone other Turnkey company, I'd encourage you to dig down two more layers...

- The next layer down are the "promoters" of turnkey, who don't actually buy/rehab the properties...they are merely marketing other's properties.  There are some great promoters out there, and they can help you find a good property, but they also take a cut (nobody wants to work for free).

- The next layer after that are the actual "providers" of turnkey, who take all the risk.  They buy and rehab the properties with their own money.  That's the layer where you're "buying direct," and where you'll likely see the best deals. Further, you'll be working with the team that is ultimately accountable to you directly.

Good luck!