All Forum Posts by: Son D.

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2019/03/26/clayton-morris-and-bert-whalen-partners-finger-pointing/3269815002/

@Steve K. Maybe when Clayton Morris started the company he wanted to be a legit TK company and used Bert Whalen as the on the ground partner. I find it hard to believe that he would start out REI with the intention of building his name only to then scam as many people as he could so he could quit his lucrative, stable TV anchor job. Even OP had some defenders here on BP when the complaints first started coming out. Somewhere along the way Bert probably thought he could make more money being the seller rather than just a contractor. Clayton was content with making $6500 a pop without doing any dirty work. It's like wholesaling but with buyers coming to you instead. Like @Jay Hinrichs have said over and over many times in different threads, it is clear that Clayton knew his business turned ugly years ago but the money was too good to pass up.

CM stopped putting his own name on contracts a long time ago. My contract was signed by Natalie Bastin. If I was to go solely on documents provided by the title company, you wouldn't know who MI was. Natalie was said to be the manager for Oceanpointe who was supposed to provide answers to investors but hid behind the frontline of phone operators. 

You may be right about Bert Whalen as he seems to be like a ghost on paper. The difference is hundreds of investors currently know who Keyser Soze is and what he looks like. He was even shown on a deleted MI youtube video. Lawsuits need to name both MI and OP as defendants as they're both complicit on this fraud.

For those who are following this saga for entertainment here's an update:

"An Ex-Fox News Host Pitched ‘Financial Freedom.’ His Clients Want Their Money Back."https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/sports/fox-news-clayton-morris-indianapolis.html

"An Ex-Fox News Host Pitched ‘Financial Freedom.’ His Clients Want Their Money Back."https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/sports/fox-news-clayton-morris-indianapolis.html

@Charles DeRiso Are you saying that you want to use that 50k to buy a property in cash? If so then I urge you to change your strategy. Those types of properties only work for local investors who know what they're doing and how to deal with it, not OOS investors. I'm speaking from experience. It's better to do what @Tom Ott say and use a loan to get multiple properties in the Midwest. If nothing else, it's having a second set of eyes that do more extensive due diligence than any new investor know how to do. Also you'd need to find someone you trust to manage them.

@Piyush Shourie you should pick a market you like first. There are plenty of turnkeys here on BP and you just met some of them in this thread.

What is up with the recent Morris Invest thread revivals in March? Is it their anniversary or something? Or is this Clayton drumming up interest to sell his house in NJ?

That's quite some psychological analyzation there @Bill F. Probably hit bulls eye on most of your points. I think in much simpler terms. Clayton Morris aim for people who know nothing about Real Estate therefore do not know any better. People who are emotional and willing to pay more. They don't know the steps of due diligence. They wouldn't know if documents or information is missing. They are OOS or OO Country and would not know etc. etc. Basically like first time home owners, except even better. These owners do not see what they've purchased until much too late.

As for why he's still able to chug along like nothing has happened, that I blame the overloaded system. It takes too long from the time you decide to get a lawyer to when you actually go to court. Look at the cases that are there now. He stalls the trial date by constantly filling motions to delay and the court will gladly hand it to him. Criminal cases will also not go forward until they're able to get plenty of evidence to go after him. News reporters will also not do a peace until they have enough. And as someone mentioned in one of the threads long ago. The public at large generally doesn't care about a bunch of landlord investors losing to their money.

This saga will be like the MCU. This is not one year looking back but a decade looking back. We won't see the snowball effects until many years down the road. Right now the needle does not seem to have moved much but I think him selling his house is a clue that all this does affect him. Why would he do this after spending all that time and money to do his youtube set up in his home, even if it's not for monetary reasons? How would you sleep at night if you know that hundreds of people whose life savings you've swindled know where you live? 

So an update on my property. My tenant has been paying in full every month without fail. I've had to pay for repairs and management fees here and there but it's still better than having vacancy on a uninhabitable home. I still feel like I lucked out with having them as tenants from the beginning. They also renewed the lease so I have them for another year. My property remain stable for now.

@Yash Bhatt i dont know which part of REI you're interested in but if you're buyinh rentals then I suggest you hold off. I started with creating an LLC before buying rentals. I ended with only 1 property in that LLC. The next couple I left in my name. First thing you have to remember is that banks dont lend to LLC. Then it is fairly easy to pierce the corporate veil when it comes to lawsuits. Third since you are creating an entity to protect your assets, you need to have a sizable amount of assets worth protecting. When you begin all your properties are heavily mortgaged. Its probably not worth it for lawyers to come after you.

I'd say they would want to tell you first if offer is accepted or countered but nothing is legally binding until they send you a contract to sign. Usually they would do this the same day or next day.

Hey Audrey I'm sorry this happened to you. As you may remember ( you replied in my post) I was involved in a situation like this just over a year ago. Jay actually mentioned about it briefly in this thread as well. I fully understand knowing older people who have sunk their life and retirement savings into the scammer. If you and other members in your group pursue litigation, just be prepared for a long drawn out process. Meanwhile, the scammer will continue trucking along finding new victims for investments elsewhere. 

Despite all this do not be disheartened. In my case, I still have the property and managed to achieve minimal COC return this past year. I see you have plenty of people trying to help you on this thread. You'll do the same and turn your situation around. It will take some time, but time is still on your side.