All Forum Posts by: Brian M.

@Jacob Carlson  This is all such a shame.  I truly hope that all of the players in this mess are held fully accountable.

To your predicament.. what has the PM told you about the area where your property is?  Is it a D or worse area?  Has the PM given you any insight as to what they recommend?  If it's a D or worse area, I would just sell the property, take the loss and move on.  Otherwise, you are just taking on additional risk - i.e. will it sell in a reasonable time after rehab for the price you think?  Look at it as a painful (and costly) learning experience.

If it's a decent area and your property is the only property in bad shape, then you might want to keep it and rehab it.  I would get suggestions from your PM as well as a 2nd opinion from another reputable PM.  You can find a few that have posted about the Morris Invest/Oceanpointe debacle in various forums here on BP.

This is insane.  I almost bought a UH property but the taxes were just prohibitive.  Now they have this goofy, expensive inspection process that makes investing in UH even tougher to make the numbers work.  It's a shame.  They should be encouraging investment in Cleveland but their policies do the opposite.

@Account Closed

You need to do search on BP forums for Morris Invest.  And be sure to read this entire thread:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/562...

@Account Closed's experience, and other buyers of this stuff on BP, is just blatant fraud and misrepresentation.  If you have to pick a side, it's usually best to side with those who aren't breaking the law.

@Jeremy Z. @Jay Hinrichs

I agree with you, Jeremy and Jay.

It's rather comical in a day and age where more than half of all goods in the U.S. were purchased online last year (i.e. sight unseen), that someone is claiming that it's all the buyers fault when a company doesn't follow-through on what they promised.  People are buying everything online now - groceries, household appliances, even cars - without actually inspecting the product before they buy it.

I guess companies should do away with refund policies, satisfaction guaranteed policies, etc.  They aren't needed as long as the buyer is always at-fault when they purchase something that is, in fact, not what they were told it would be.

Truly amazing.

@Account Closed

No, I think most people don't want your opinion - because you sound nonsensical.  

When a seller makes claims and promises about what they sell (no matter what the product is), and it's proven that they have not followed through on their claims/promises, the buyer has rights.  Regardless of the due diligence the buyer performed.  

The buyer can also publicly recount their experience for others as many have done here.  It's helpful to other potential buyers.  What is not helpful is someone like you discouraging others from telling their experiences by making ridiculous claims that it's all the buyers fault.  That doesn't help anyone.

The key to our economy is oil prices.  As long as they are low, then all of the mechanisms that drive our economy can do so with a lot less overhead, so they thrive.  Whether it's transportation, travel, construction - you name it - when oil prices go up, everything costs a lot more to do and the economy slows dramatically.  

Since 2008, we have had a very long period of low oil prices due to the dramatic increase in oil production in the U.S.  This should continue for a few more years.. so our economy should not experience any dramatic crash until then.  When you see oil prices go over $100 and keep climbing, look out.

@Colin Zhu

Colin, if you don't mind disclosing, what were the details of the purchase?  Cost of property, rehab, etc?

@P.J. Bremner

Great info., P.j. Question for you. Did you get individual HELOC's on each of the 3 properties or were you somehow able to combine them into one HELOC?

@Jessica Beard, @Marvin Barrera

Congrats on taking your first leap into REI!

I also have been investing in the Cleveland area over the past year. I have a duplex and 2 SFH's and am continuing to add properties at an average of 2-3 a year. I did it my own way and did not use a TK provider and now feel like I have a solid team on the ground. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

One strategy I used to find a Property Manager that really met my needs is to utilize a different PM with each new property as I acquired it. It gave me some great insights into the differences/nuances between each PM and allowed me to zero in on the PM that I like the most and will utilize for all my properties going forward. There are definitely major differences - PM's that are absolutely focused on communication, are more hands-on, etc. And there are those that are lousy with the needs of out-of-state investors. Your PM is so key with maximizing your ROI.

I also transitioned to a new agent after my initial one.  A good agent that has your best interests in mind is key.  The ones that understand that when they do right by you, they will reap better rewards long-term are actually not as prevalent as you may think.