All Forum Posts by: Jay Bhatt

@Allen Fletcher somehow my last post failed to tag you.

@Chris Clothier Thank you. I am not done with my research yet. It will be at least a month before I pull the trigger since I am evaluating few other turnkey providers. 

 @Allen Fletcher @Raheel Chohan, @Prolet Miteva the company's name is Mack Investments. It is a division of Mack Companies.  

However, they haven't earned a complete endorsement from me as I discovered through different BP forums about the complaints against Mack.

Issues with Mack Investments

Troubles and Issues with Mack

Tenant reviews of Mack on Yelp

Now  some of the questions, concerns and allegations are answered in those threads but not all of them.

Personally, I am immensely satisfied with the tour and have received a list of people for reference check from Mack.  I am going to check with Mack personnel about these allegations.

I hope to keep everyone posted here.

Raheel,  there are other operators in Chicago market as well in case you are specifically looking into Chicago area. GC Realty, Elite Invest and Profit from rentals are mentioned on BP as well as on turnkey-reviews.com. My partner visited a week earlier and had a tour with Elite. The demography and area of target are completely opposite for Mack vs Elite. Personally, we feel we are more comfortable with neighborhoods chosen by Mack vs Elite. You can research and choose your own preference.

@Allen Fletcher I did ask those questions and got the satisfactory answer. They provided property management agreement without asking for it. Their tenant screening process is very robust as well. Not only they do criminal and background check, they ask for past two years of employment, references from their previous landlords and any eviction record.

They don't charge any fee for changing property management. Although you can only switch it after 1st year as for the first year they provide maintenance guarantee and hence their property management has to be in place.

Thank you for providing me additional ammo, it was very useful.

@Chris Clothier They have been in business for 20 years and manage 2000 properties.$ 300 is maintenance threshold.  They assign a point person to a client for all their portfolio related questions. For maintenance, they have in house contractors and I am free to use my contractors if need be.  24 hours is the time period for answering maintenance query and based on the urgency, the repair work will be addressed. 

Your suggestion to ask occupancy and vacancy was a great one. I did employ that technique and their response matched their previous claim. Their claim is 4 to 5% vacancy rate but we are going to keep our number to 8% for our cashflow calculation.

Thank you for taking time to provide these questions. I had earlier pulled out a list of questions that you provided to use to vet turnkey providers.

Sure. Thank you @Allen Fletcher.

Hi BP community,

I am in Chicago to take a tour of a turnkey rental operations. Although it is kind of last minute, I thought I would run by BP community list of questions I am going to ask or notes I am going to make. Please provide your review and add anything to the list of questions. We have asked them more than 30 questions about their operations and  property  management.  I will summarize that details here for everyone.

Neighborhood class :B

Property Type: SFR

Property Management Fee: $95 per month regardless the price of the property

Property Management: In House

Market: Suburb Chicago

Average occupancy: 3 to 4 year

Tenant Type: Blue Collar workers with families

Renovations: All the big ticketed items + cosmetics

Cash on Cash Return: Using BP calculator with very conservative number - 8% Vacancy, 10% Cap EX and 10% Maintenance, we know we can get a property from their portfolio which will generate double digit returns.

Finance: leverage with 20% down

Properties to property manager ratio is also impressive.

They do have eviction experience. They also have online portal for owners and renters.

Now, they offer properties in various suburbs of Chicago and if anyone can chime in with recommendations of suburb that is upcoming market, it will be a great help. Some of the areas I am listing below might be B+ or A class neighborhood since they offer properties in those areas as well but our focus is B class.

South Holland, Matteson, Blue Island, Bellwood, Richton Park, Lansing, Bollingbrook, Lock Port, Homer Glen, Crestwood, Alsip, Oak Lawn, Evergreen Park are to name a few where they invest.

1. How do you select the property?
2. What is the exit strategy? ( if there is any)
3. Where do you see expanding in upcoming years?
4. How do you see rental markets in your area for five years?
5. Who are the biggest employers in this area?
6. Do you offer any special programs for loyal investors?
7. How many properties are own by an average investor?
8. When do you see this market entering saturation? or What will you consider as a sign for saturation?

Thank you in advance for your help. I understand it is kind of last minute since I will be on tour for next 3 or 4 hours. I should have thought about this before but better late than never. I will keep checking the replies on the post.

@Will G. That's good to know.

@Curt Davis  Thank you for heads up. I was wondering the same since most of the turnkey properties that have turned up during my last couple of months search has been at least 50 to 70K with reputed names behind.

@Jay Hinrichs I want to say your book on turnkey investing provided me my first introduction on what to watch out for while buying one and your website has been a great resource for me to contact and review different turnkey providers. It is humbling to know that a veteran like you have been consistent contributor to BP community and provided a newbie like me months/years worth of education.

@Barb Hart I would love to know the name of your provider. Is it fshouses or someone else? Will appreciate your help. Thanks.

@Rob Terpilowski I am in the same boat. My partner and I are researching different markets in Midwest and south (Chicago, Indy, Birmingham, Memphis) since it is impossible to get deals in local market. We are going to look in Central NJ as well. Good Luck with your search.

@Alex S.  This is a great information. I was looking only at turnkey but seems like what you are suggesting is an alternative to turnkey and get more skin in terms of equity in the property. I am definitely interested to learn more. Is it ok if I reach out to you via PM?

@JR Hinds I want to say thank you since through one of your earlier post in different forum we came to know about Elite invest. My partner is visiting them today and will  checkout their property tours. Great to see you still excited abut investing with Elite. Give a newbie like me more confidence for possible partnership with Elite and Alex.

@Steven Bond  I looked at your website briefly. It seems a bigger bite to chew for a first time investor like me. Let me know what your client base is and does it include first time RE investor. I am always willing to learn  and challenge my own comfort zone.

@Anton Ivanov I am going to check out your app. Thanks.

@Steve Olson Didn't know about turnkey opportunities in Utah market. I will definitely likely to know more. Will it be ok if I send you a colleague request?

@Omar Merced, this is a great forum post. I am new and looking for my first deal into Real estate world. The post is one of the example for me to learn what is possible and to look beyond one's surroundings for the opportunities. Wish you much success.