All Forum Posts by: Laramy Gregory

Search this forum for Morris Invest. Let our mistakes be your education and stay away from him. 

Chris, that article is excellent! I think AirBnB has increased a little in popularity since 2016, but that format was incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for sharing that! 

Great discussion so far! Thank you for the heads up on Booking.com, that is so informative! We get mainly families and older couples renting ours in Cocoa from VRBO. We also get a ton from Canada and Europe on VRBO. I think it is the demographic that make the difference. The area we are looking for in the Gulf is a big Spring/Fall Break market and from the looks of it, last minute 3-4 day rentals. That makes sense why AirBnB is a popular driver to that market. I am thankful for your comments about the booking/payment process with them. It looks like we will open a listing with them when we assume ownership. Thanks all! 

My wife and I have owned a condo in Cocoa Beach for 2 years. We rent it through Flip Key and VRBO. We have had about a 50/50 split on where traffic comes from. Some people like the direct insurance option through Flip Key while others want to pay and get back the damage deposit from VRBO. 

We have located 2 properties in Destin that are considerable smaller than our Cocoa Beach condo, but they perform very well. While looking over the financials, I noticed more revenue from Booking.com and AirBnB. My question is what site do you see driving more traffic to your short term rentals? For those that have properties in several areas, do you see geography making a difference as to which site people choose?  We are very familiar with the booking process of the ones we are using, but will obviously take on a new site since they are performing well there already. 

I am just curious about the trends anyone is noticing with short term rental sites. 

Hey John! My wife and I bought a condo in Cocoa Beach in Dec 2015. We gutted it and renovated it for weekly rentals. It is on the beach, a 1 off unit that is in a great complex. My advice to you in that area is to check and make sure you can advertise weekly rental in your complex. This was a huge factor in where we bought. We are in a complex that is allowed to do so and it attracts weekly Summer rentals as well as weekly Spring/Fall Break rentals AND Winter snowbirds for Jan-March. We love that area and have had great success advertising on VRBO and FLIPKEY. Happy to discuss further if needed. Feel free to inbox me.

I wanted to him in and briefly share my experience. First off, thank you to those of you on this website who have provided assistance to those of us who have been caught up in Morris Invest. I was able to connect with several on here to try and understand what exactly has happened. I am now connected with a local PM who is going above and beyond to help me try to iron things outs. 

My wife and I have 3 properties (duplex, single family, and a vacation condo) and with some excess funds Dec 2017 decided to invest in one of Clayton's turnkey homes in Indy. I binged on his podcast and took the bait. Throughout the initial consultation, I was led to believe that Clayton had crews on the ground in Indy doing these rehabs, then we would be placed with OP, a local PM group after the rehab. 

After closing I received a phone call from someone with Clayton's group asking about feedback from the purchase around late Jan/Feb was told I would receive pics halfway through the rehab. By March, the projected finish date, I have not received any updates. I checked in with MI asking about the status and was told they had a rough Winter and the crews were running behind and they would check with one of the supervisors/managers on the project and get back to me. Weeks of unanswered emails eventually led me to here where I now see the fallout and what has occurred. 

After connecting to a PM in the area, the property appears to not have been renovated, but a tenant was placed in it March 1st. He has a one page contract with "Ocean Point" for $100 less than the projected rent when I purchased the property. I have never been notified about the status of the rehab, never been contacted about the tenant, and have no idea if any of the repairs and upgrades on the deal sheet were completed. 

My new PM has moved quickly to change the locks, address an electrical issue for the tenant, and haul away a pile of debris that was left in the back yard. Basically anything we can do to demonstrate to this gentleman that Ocean Point has no control of the property.  I have it much better than most who have been effected, but man o' man what a damaging and expensive lesson this has been. This experience has provided a new outlook on the depravity of man.