All Forum Posts by: Kang-Li Cheng

 I'd consider them for my next investment, yes

 I'm pleased to say things have turned around. A new tenant was placed and things have been going better. The new customer service rep is more responsive and more responsible, which makes a big difference.

 I can also attest to this. I understand the processor bankruptcy caused a big disruption but it also seems like FTF (Upright) was overly leveraged because they've proceeded mass sell their loan book, which means if you held one of the loans that will be sold you will receive no interest until due diligence is completed and possibly a hit to principal depending on the final price the buyer pays. 

For loans that aren't being sold, interest is being waived since borrowers cannot receive draws. Finally, not sure if this is just a coincidence but default and delinquency rates have shot up since May. FTF gives borrowers a lot of leeway in making the repayment. 

TLDR: The first lien position sounds nice in theory. In practice, legal proceedings are very costly and time consuming (from a few months up to 2-3 years). The delays can be a significant opportunity cost too. LTV estimates are sometimes overly optimistic, so many loans that don't get paid off by the borrower become worth very little.

 At least they're still working on recovering the funds for the Newark one and looks like investors won't be suffering a complete loss of principal. 

I am a current customer. I would avoid, suffered huge losses due to 6+ month vacancies between tenants and very expensive turn repairs (~4k after only 1 year).

I will update this post if my experience changes for the better 

Avoid them. Or don't and suffer huge losses due to subpar leasing and property management operations. I have one property with them and I regret it almost every day.

I've invested in a over a dozen loans with FundThatFlip (now rebranded to Upright). Currently 25% of my investments (dollar value) are in distress, some borrowers have gone bankrupt, others simply stopped paying interest and are not paying the principal back despite the loan being due 3 months ago. 

Right now, things are even worse because of the Synapse payment processor issue. Upright is trying to liquidate as many loans to maintain liquidity. I am very worried many of those loans will be sold at low values.

As others have pointed out, communication is not their strong suit and neither apparently is transparency. They make efforts here and there to keep you informed but it is not systematic. The bigger issue is just poor performance.

@Caroline Gerardo Good suggestions. I meant take over the mortgage as in "pay it for your parents" not actually assume the mortgage. Maybe from a lender's perspective that's not a good idea but if it's in the family then I feel more ok with it.

I have been in a similar situation before. Personally I think it's a terrible idea to try to manage your parents' finances IF thats' going to lead to a lot of strain in the relationship. If your relationship with them is good and you can discuss options with them then I'd suggest a couple of things...

1) Get new quotes from contractors on the renovations, maybe that's something you should get involved in (or not!). ~600k on renovations is insane. Sorry but that's my instinctive response. Talk to your parents about paring down the wishlist while you're at it. Also where are your parents going to live while that much work is going on? 

2) You and your sister should offer a lump sum first. Then take over the mortgage, rent out the house. Room by room if you need to get higher cash flow and have time to manage. It's actually not that hard to do room by room if you screened well and look for the right kind of persons. Or just regular LTR. Send your parents the profits and then some per month. 

It's an unfortunate situation for the kids. Looks like your parents essentially planned their retirement around selling the family home, so this sounds like a tough situation on many levels, not just financially. But if you really want to save the house, appeal to their sense of nostalgia and see if they will work with you on this. Best of luck.