All Forum Posts by: Christine Wagner

Living in California we only heard of this chapter 11 last week.  We have been calling our contact and Mack and emailing since last week and naturally we have not gotten through.  Unfortunately we are leaving the country for a month in two days so their is not much we can do,  We have a new section 8 tenant which took possession in Feb however we have received no funds from Mack it is now nearly June.  I know that when we return we will need to address this but we are at a loss as to who and how.  I suppose we need to terminate our agreement with Mack management, and find someone else, but what about getting the ongoing payments?  We have lost thousands on this property and certainly we are going to lose more, but legal action seems remote, as there seems to be huge debt and little asset value, throwing money at lawyers is good after bad.  Thank God that we did not get deeper into Mack or buy more than one.  My heart goes out to all of those who depend on their income from here. The other issue is they keep sending statements where we owe them money for charges they will not explain, and for things that Mack himself said he would take care of.  I think they do that so they have an excuse not to send us rent monies.  We will just have to move forward and hope that the market improves enough to sell it (or give it away) Onward.

Well I am back with an update in the interest of fairness.  Mack did make good on their commitment and put a real live section 8 tenant into the property, who is paying several hundred more than the tenants in the past.  In the past we were getting tenants with a heartbeat a little else.  It is still our intention to sell the property as we move forward.  We have invested for the last six years in trust deeds and find it to be profitable, and much less trouble.  We will never be in anything other than a loss position on the South Holland property, but the bleeding has stopped (we think) and Mack did step up.  Whether the support came as a result of wanting me to stop posting or just because they finally took notice is hard to say.  I think I have said all I have to say on this subject except lesson learned....VET, VET. VET.  My sincere thanks to this site and the people posting, I do think that it has a real impact on the community, and on being noticed.  My best wishes for continued success for each of you. 

Hi all, with the holidays and all they entail I have been remiss in posting the progress on our struggles with the Mack property in South Holland.  Since my last post we have had a couple more conversations with Jim Mack and Adam and we have come to an agreement which while not yet carried out gives us a better opportunity to stop the bleeding, and make the property more attractive to sell.  It has been a bumpy ride.  Will the solution make us whole as far as losses we have already sustained, no.  However we do appreciate finally being noticed, and we do appreciate the measures that Mack is taking to make things better.  As investors we know that there is risk, and that is part of the equation but to risk there should be the possibility of reward.  I think our mistake from the beginning is not shouting loud enough when things did not go as anticipated.  Mack definitely has some internal issues that they are trying I think to address.  To their credit, at least in our case they seem to be making a legitimate effort to make things right.  We will move forward with hope and caution...Have a Merry Christmas all

Well I promised that I would post good or bad after my conversation with Mack Sr.  I spoke to him yesterday at length.  I will say that the conversation was cordial and while no promises were made, I was listened to, and I got to vent so that is good.  Jim asked me what I wanted to fix this and I told him, though I will not share as I don't think that would be right.  He asked me for some time, and I agreed.  Is it fixed...no but it is a step in the right direction.  To Kyle, I must say there is some truth to what you say but I do have some TK investments that  work and have for a number of years.  So it is possible, but thanks for your interest.

Patrick...That is good news.  I am heartened to hear that you have made some progress.  I have been out all day, but when we returned home about four oclock standard pacific time what do you know,  I too had a message from Mack Senior.  It is too late for me to return the call as it is I think seven in Chicago but I will return the call in the morning, and we shall see what he has to say.  I will post after speaking with Jim Mack good or bad.  I would like nothing better than to say that our issues have been resolved, but can't see how that is going to happen.  That said I want to be fair and open minded...I'll let you all know when we hear...

Patrick...I am sadden to hear that yet another "investor" has had the same experience.  My thought has always been that the best tenants go to "Mack owned properties"  leaving the dregs for investors.  That said we are still for sale, no action, and the losses just keep mounting.  The saddest part is that not enough people see this thread or site and more and more people will be badly hurt.

I hope that your experience improves, but I don't think that the property manager change will help much with such a large pool of homes owned by Mack, and managed by them it is hard for anyone else to compete.  Good luck though, we will all need it.

I find interesting the post from Alice.  I will just say this, I note that you actually live in Illinois so you have the ability to visit Mack and or your properties anytime.  Who knows you may even know some of the people at Mack.  However I would note that you are the only person posting a positive message.  How fortunate for you.   I would note that we have again lowered our sales price to 15K less than we paid for it at the depths of the recession...We have had a few showings over three months, no offers, and looks as if we will need to lower it another 10K to 20K just to get out.  These properties are so overpriced by Mack  it is ridiculous.  Coming from the Calif. market a price of 167K sounded cheap to us, Our fault we did not do enough homework, but relied on the ethics of Mack, bad, bad decision.  Mack is a scam period.  Oh and the long note from the sales manager; above, nothing but a public relations post to try to offset bad posts.  He nor anyone else from Mack has made any move to call, email or help.  If Mack is such an honest company, who believes in their market we are now priced under what they sold it to us for by thousands, why don't they offer to buy it back?   Do not be taken in by this company, please due lots of due diligence.  I am now retired but I was president and CEO of a company with close to 100 employees, I have a long history in business, and I know a dishonest company when I run into one.

Hello all..I have been traveling and not on the site.  As a reply to Jose...Your posting is interesting.  You have all of my personal information, and the ability to call email, write.. If you had any interest in contacting me or having Mack senior respond.  It would have been easy to do.  Posting to the site is not actually helping a client, and as usual no response actually came to us from Mack. It makes me feel that you are simply using the "we will help you" as a marketing tool to try to offset negative press.  I think people are smarter than you give them credit for  As I said before we are trying to sell the property,,,We have lowered the price and hope that will help.  I also take exception with the description of the South Holland community.  Either Mack is renting to anyone with a heartbeat or the pool of renters is subpar,  We did not have any long term renter or even one that paid rent for a year.  Some being dangerous,  In our dealings with MACK in the beginning we were told of the long lists of qualified renters well vetted.  This is not true.  To Tim...I sure understand your pain and frustration...my advice is to take a hit if necessary  cut your losses and get out, it will not get better. We stuck with it for five years and it only got worse over time.  If you are not getting a check it is probably because your renter is another subpar applicant, not paying, and soon the eviction costs will come.  It is a bit of a scheme I think, rent to a bad renter, then go to court for fees, they keep the fees, and then charge to get it "rent ready" then another sub par applicant, and repeat.  We have spent thousands and we can't even sell it for what we paid for it.  Onward. 

Hi Keith..in answer to your question, the property was/is in South Holland...and while that is certainly not the best neighborhood in Chicago, we were assured that because of their vetting and the "system" they use to qualify renters we would get good working class renters.  Instead we were at one point called by the Police Chief of SH to complain that there were drug dealers, and a convicted felon at our property.  As well as someone who had committed serious crimes.  Mack was contacted but said they were looking into it.  SH police threatened to fine us, etc...Finally they were evicted, and the house sat empty for months...The "refreshes"  generally are screens, doors, some plumbing when necessary, paint, blinds etc.  To make it sale ready we had to replace the carpet. Nothing unusual if the property was leased for a solid year or more, but that seldom happened the renters stayed a few months, quit paying rent, and then had to be evicted.  No communication from Mack..when we didn't get paid we would contact them, and they would give us the same story, the next renter would be better...etc.  To Mark...you must be joking not only did they not offer I wrote a long letter to Mack Sr. since I couldn't get to him by phone or email...It was neither acknowledged or answered, let alone making some kind of offer. 

Haven't posted in awhile, but thought you all might want to know what has happened.  In a word nothing.  After paying the 4+K to make the house market ready, We were put with the sales end of Mack.  We have an agent, and the house is on the market.  Has been on the market at their suggested price for a little over a month...Nothing. No one had contacted us so again we reached out to the agent, who of all the people we have worked with is the most responsive.  That said she said the house had only been shown 3 times in the entire month, and we were priced too high.  (a price they suggested)   We have lowered the price 10K about 15K less than we paid at the bottom of the recession.  at this rate and after commissions and with the vacancies, and issues I am thinking our loss here will be more than 60K but it is too soon to tell.   I guess the only good news is our liability is less, and we will eventually get a tax write off.  Since as an ethical issue we do not believe in short sales we are just going to have to take the hit and move on.  That's ok as investors we have lost money and made money.  A house I just put on the market in Calif, sold in four days multiple offers and over asking.  The issue here for us is how we were taken in by Mack...How poorly we were treated, how inefficient and dishonest they are.  Nothing will make us whole, but I so hope that people will read these forums and not make the same mistake.  Good luck to all