All Forum Posts by: Emmanuel Depas

Just experienced, what I feel has had to be the most disrespectful and unprofessional identity verification by a company. My wife and I bought an investment property in Florida. Closed Dec 17th. Super excited. Decided to manage and market it ourselves. Mind you this is not our first purchase. We uploaded through couple of sites and verified with no problem. My wife and I understand security measures and have no issues with providing documents for verification purposes.

(PAY ATTENTION TO #1) 

I heard of AVAIL through the biggerpocket podcast commercial and decided why don't we try it. Signed her up, got posted and then received this email: 

Action Required

Your Avail account has been temporarily suspended.

Hi there,

Our risk department needs a bit more information from you to verify your Avail account. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this process.

To reinstate your account access and any listings you may have published, please reply to this email and attach all of the following items:

1. A photo of you holding your government-issued ID along with a piece of paper with today’s date and “AVAIL” handwritten on it.

2. A clear photo of the same ID you are holding in the above photo.

3. Documentation that reflects both the property address AND your name or the property owner's name. Sufficient documents include:

• A recent utility bill
• A mortgage statement
• An insurance policy

Once reviewed and approved, we will then lift the hold and restore full access to your Avail account.

We strive to ensure that all of our customers love using Avail. Therefore we want to maintain the integrity of the landlords on our platform by taking preventative measures against the fraud that is prevalent in rental listings and payments. We hope you understand the importance of this process.

Thanks,

Avail Team

Out of all the means to do an identity verification. They Seriously want someone to stand there and take A MUG SHOT… 

They should really reconsider revisit their public relation tactics and take out number 1. 

I also underlined "and attach all of the following items:" to show that MUG SHOT is must according to them. 

Let me know your thoughts!

@Javontai Shamburger I would look at hiring a GC who has done this kind of full gut rehab and learn from them. It’s not a matter of scared of a big Job but more so of knowing you may be over head with this project. Bring someone that you learn from. If not it can cost you more then you are trying to save by GC it yourself. Good luck.

@Mary Baccellieri out of state investing is not as difficult as it sounds. Homework on the location, be comfortable with the location, numbers must make sense and yes as you said foot on the ground is good to have but major necessity All depends. You can reach out for more info, if you need. I live in NY and currently invest out of state. Not claiming to be an expert but So far so good.

@Kevin Wareham Would not be my ideal home to buy for the exact reasons you mentioned. If you can see/smell/hear the noise so will your potential tenants... be absolute sure of the rents # in area. I m not an expert; just my thoughts. Hope it all works out great for you.

@Antonio Cucciniello I m a realtor In NY. I have a 2 family listing in queens with finish basement that would be perfect for house hack. Walking distance from LIRR into the city. Priced. Right/negotiable. DM Me.

@Graham Lucas reach out to Shawn Washington. Best realtor in Philly hands down. I live in Queens NY. Shawn is my realtor.

@Jeremy Janszen your tenant should consider getting another source of income to pay his rent while his dojo is out of commission.

@Michael Godio hi Michael how can I contact you re: REI in Philadelphia?

@Shawn Washington how can I contact you ?

@Zachary Paul I am also interested. How can I reach you?