All Forum Posts by: Greg Shell

@Elisha Salgado

@Will Gaston has the right answer. The best thing you can do is work on your screening process.

My experience with Turn-Key has been nothing but negative, but it has more to do with the company than the actual business model. Usually you will be paying top dollar or even more than the property is worth at the time of purchase. So there will be no equity forced or built-in at the time of acquisition. You make your money when you buy.

To learn more on this, I would buy David Greene's book called Long-Distance Real Estate Investing and jump to chapter 8 before making a final decision on purchasing a turn-key property. I am reading the book now and it's really good.

I too bought my turn-key properties early in my investing career and thought it would be a good idea to get my feet a little wetter. Looking back, that was the wrong decision in my case. For one, you have more control and the ability to be more agile by not going the turn-key route. All though, if you're a high earner it may be a good way to be completely hands-off, and you will at least get the benefits of the tax write off when they are negative cash flow. I still think there are better options though.

Kyle, 

In short, just overall poor management. An eviction that took almost an entire year is a big part of it. Repairs, both significant and insignificant. Unstable tenants. Lack of communication. I had to get involved with that eviction from 800 miles away to actually find out what was going on because I was not getting truthful answers from PM. It wasn't until then that the eviction actually moved forward. 

That's all I will post here, I will be more than happy to give you more info in a private message.

@Brian Fang

What method are you using to find properties? It's a tough area to find a SFR property that will cashflow right now. What other areas are you looking in?

@Ali Boone

All that you mentioned and just overall poor management. One property has never had a stable tenant the entire time I’ve owned it. The first tenant placed only paid two months rent and never paid again. The eviction took the better part of a year to complete with excuses from Spartan that “it wasn’t their fault...” so I got on the phone and called the courthouse and found out that what they were telling me wasn’t true at all. There is more to it but my point being as an owner from 800 miles away I shouldn’t have to be the person to figure it out and bring it to their attention.

I operate my own portfolio in Florida so I know the challenges in the business but what is going on there with Spartan is unacceptable. I’ve been speaking with other PM’s and brokers in Birmingham and am hearing that there are know problems going on at Spartan.

@Eric E. No, I didn’t find enough info to determine if that is something that would work for my business. Do you use them?

@Abhijit Trivedi

I can certainly share in your frustration. I bought two Spartan properties over 3 years ago and I’m

-$20K in the hole at the moment. Those are my only two losing properties in my entire portfolio. I was actually looking for new property management at the time I saw your post on BP. Very poor management on their part. Very disappointing.

@Ali Boone

I second that. My Spartan properties have been an epic fail. Overpriced and a -$20K net profit after 4 years. Happened to be looking for new property management when I saw this.

Offerai.com is a free platform where agents can act as the intermediary for soliciting ibuyer offers. Wondering if any BP members have ever used the service on either side, buying or selling? The platform is free to use, they supposedly make their money buy selling marketing services to agents and brokers.

Looking for input.....

Thanks

Be very careful who you pay for coaching. I have had a few coaches, some that I paid an absurd amount of money for and they were terrible. My best coaching has come from building personal relationships and didn't cost me a dime. Find someone who is actually doing deals like you want to do and find a way to be of value to them in their business.