Skip to content
×
Pro Members Get
Full Access!
Get off the sidelines and take action in real estate investing with BiggerPockets Pro. Our comprehensive suite of tools and resources minimize mistakes, support informed decisions, and propel you to success.
Advanced networking features
Market and Deal Finder tools
Property analysis calculators
Landlord Command Center
ANNUAL Save 54%
$32.50 /mo
$390 billed annualy
MONTHLY
$69 /mo
billed monthly
7 day free trial. Cancel anytime
Pick markets, find deals, analyze and manage properties. Try BiggerPockets PRO.
x
All Forum Categories
All Forum Categories
Followed Discussions
Followed Categories
Followed People
Followed Locations
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback

All Forum Posts by: Zach Lemaster

Zach Lemaster has started 729 posts and replied 1819 times.

Post: Invested in my first rental property with Rent to Retirement's help

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

@Chris Hampton big congrats on getting your first property under your belt!  I truly believe the first rental property is the most important, less so financially, but most importantly to get you in the investor mindset and make it real!  Thanks for sharing your success story.  Great job!  We are certainly here to help along the way as needed with this property and help you get into the 2nd rental whenever you are ready! 

Post: New Florida purchase

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

Thank you @Christian Mejia! We look forward to helping you continue your REI journey in the future!

Post: Starting on the Rent to Retirement Journey

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

@Michael Calvey thanks for reaching out to remind me to follow up here.

@TJ Dittmar

Thank you for the interest in Rent To Retirement!

I am happy to provide some information about how our platform works. The best thing you can do to fully understand how our business works is to set up a call with one of our investment strategists to provide you more details, answer your questions, and learn about your specific goals to see if our investment model is the right fit for you.

Rent To Retirement is a real estate investment marketplace. We specifically locate ideal investment locations throughout the US that offer the best returns for cash flow, appreciation & equity. Once we identify a location that meets our criteria, we network with builders, property managers, lenders, insurance companies, CPA's, attorney's, etc. that service that area to have the entire team already established you need to be a successful investor regardless of your physical location or experience level. Where we fit into the "turnkey" model is that our marketplace specifically focuses on newly built properties or renovated homes in good markets with property management in place so you are not having to try to self manage from a distance or build a team on your own. This allows you to invest in the locations that offer the best ROI and make the most sense based on your goals where you can be a bit more passive in your investment property. You still need to have oversight on the assets, run through full due diligence and educate yourself on the location, which we assist with. What makes us truly unique is that we spend a considerable amount of time with each investor to help you develop and execute your investment strategy to achieve your goals. If you read any of our hundreds of 5 star reviews on BP or BBB, you will see that our investor community truly values the time we spend with them and the advice we provide to help them learn how to get started investing in RE and how to scale their portfolio over time in the best markets throughout the US. We have a great reputation over the past 10 years we have been on BP with over 270 5 star reviews!

We also have the RTR Academy, which is our online investing education and coaching program for those who want a bit more guidance and structure to help them expedite their goals. You are not required to join the Academy to invest through our platform. The only thing we charge investors for is the Academy, which you do receive reimbursement for as you invest in properties allowing all of your funds to truly go towards building your portfolio. We do not charge investors anything to use our investment marketplace if you simply want to choose properties that fit your goals and acquire them. Builders and sellers pay us to use our marketplace.

To be more specific about the unique investment options we make available like buying homes with 5% down, or possibly 0% down, buying homes with up to 10% cash back, 10% immediate equity on new construction, rates in the low 4s, etc. Because we have a very large community of investors that buy thousands of homes across the country every year, we are able to negotiate better buying opportunities (and loan options) than you would likely find on your own as an individual investor. We make institutional types of buying opportunities available to the individual investor (like wholesale pricing on newly built homes). For example, many regional and national builders (like DR Horton, Lennar, Toll Brothers, etc.) showcase their homes on our website at wholesale pricing where you can get up to 10% discounts on homes, 10% cash back, significant rate buy-downs, etc. that you would not have access to if you were to buy from them directly. This is because our community purchases volumes from these builders and are able to negotiate discounts because of the volume. Economies of scale at its best. We have also negotiated attractive loan structures with many lenders including reduced fees for our community, free refinancing, lower rates, unique portfolio options, etc. For example, there are many local credit unions that offer loans with as little as 5% down on multiple investment properties with no PMI. If you were to use one of these 5% down options and say get 5% or 10% back from the builder through our network, that would allow you to essentially purchase a new construction investment property with 0% down.

Ultimately, we do not tell you what to buy or how to finance it. That is completely up to you. Our goal is to provide you with as much information and resources as possible to start investing in some of the best markets throughout the US, and learn how to scale an investment portfolio over time to achieve your financial goals.

I know I covered a lot in this somewhat lengthy response, but this is about as short as I can make it to cover many of the details about how our platform works. If you are interested to learn more, I highly encourage you to schedule a call with our team to answer all your questions and review your goals. You can do this through our website found in my signature below. We always do our best to provide value to everyone we speak with so you walk away as a more knowledgeable investor.

I hope this was helpful in understanding what we do. Wishing you the best of success in your investing endeavors with whatever path you choose.

Zach - CEO Rent To Retirement

Post: Starting on the Rent to Retirement Journey

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

@Sebastian Bennett We do pay significantly for advertising with BP.  However, these are sincere reviews by actual investors of ours.  We most certainly encourage them to share their experiences, and it would actually be nice to see some support for newer investors who got their first deal done successfully, even if you don't agree with their specific strategy.  The online world has become so negative these days about people complaining, criticizing or putting people down that it becomes very discouraging for a new investor to share their experience.  Personally knowing the founder of BP, Josh Dorkin and the current CEO, Scott Trench, I can tell you that their intent in starting and growing the bigger pockets community is to encourage investors of all experience levels to share their experience and network with like minded individuals.  I'm not sure why you are so bothered by someone sharing their experience online.  If you are bothered by investors sharing a win in their post, I recommend you don't waste your time reading the post.  There are hundreds of posts on the BP forums every day.

However, this does seem a bit more personal as all your recent forum comments are attacking anyone that speaks highly of Rent To Retirement.  So I am glad you mentioned the moderators that you did so they can investigate if you are just a disgruntled person that has a vendetta against RTR, or if you are someone that is spamming all the posts anyone makes about RTR.  Either way, there are forum posting rules about that as you seem to be really spending a lot of time to comment negatively about anything to do with my company. 

Also, I would like to point out that at Rent To Retirement, we work extremely hard to provide a positive experience for investors. We absolutely encourage them to share their experience with their network both online and in person. Yes, that is called word of mouth and it's the best way to bring in new customers, but it only works if a company actually has a good reputation and cares about the success of their client, which we do. I've been in the BP community for over 10 years, I've been featured on the podcast 6 different times, RTR has over 270 5 star reviews, and yes, I've been a long time sponsor of BP as well. When clients share their positive experience online, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'm sure you would be thrilled to support any of the posts on here where people are complaining about a company or their REI experience. I would just encourage you to simply block out content that talks about RTR and spend your time reading things that do apply to you.

Best of luck to you!

Post: Easy Passive Income with Turnkey Property from RentToRetirement

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

@Nicole Jergovic, Wow, great video breakdown of your first hand experience, background and the process you followed!  I wish everyone would document their experience like this!  We are so very pleased to be a part of your journey.  Your insight will be invaluable to many aspiring investors, I'm absolutely sure!  We are always here to assist however we can as you advance your portfolio.  Keep up the great work!!

-Zach

Post: Very pleased with my experience with RTR

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

@Beatrice Ontiti we most certainly agree that adding new construction in a growth market to your portfolio would be a great next step!  We are here to assist whenever you are ready so reach out anytime!

Post: Very pleased with my experience with RTR

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

@Beatrice Ontiti Thank you so much for the very thoughtful review of your experience working with Rent To Retirement !

We are excited to be a part of your investing journey in the beginning and hopefully for many years as you continue to grow.  We are here to help you however we can!

-The Rent To Retirement team!

Post: Rent to Retirement

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

@Benjamin Bieber

Welcome to BP. Very exciting you are looking to get into the RE investing world.

Thanks for the interest in Rent To Retirement. We are not the right choice for everyone, but we do help hundreds of investors every year start and progress their investing goals. We have been around the bigger pockets community for over a decade now and have more 5 star reviews on bigger pockets than any company on this website in any industry (>270 5 Star reviews). We care about our investors' success, but it's ultimately up to each investor to take action to accomplish their goals however they do it!

There are hundreds of discussion threads about our company on BP. Here are some of the more longstanding discussions that may help to answer your questions.

Specifically at Rent To Retirement, we operate a turnkey marketplace that focuses about 90% on A class, new construction properties located in growth markets. We also have many unique buyer incentives where an investor can get up to a 10% price reduction to come into immediate equity, or get that 10% as a cash back at closing to reduce your down payment and increase your ROI, or buy rates down into the low 4s on 30yr loans to maximize cash flow. We also have investor loans that only require 5% down on new construction investment properties. Those are some of the unique things we offer in addition to helping each investor build a strategic investment plan & roadmap to achieve your specific goals. We are certainly available to answer all your questions and assist in any way we can regardless of what direction you decide to embark on with your investing journey.

-To your success, Zach Lemaster, CEO Rent To Retirement

---

https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/page/3497

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/765347-rent-to-retirement-review

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/850/topics/895660-my-first-investment-property-an-out-of-state-deal

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/88/topics/1047543-big-profits-from-new-construction-sfr-build-in-cape-coral-fl

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/983659-first-investment-property-with-rent-to-retirement?

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/1122318-quality-turnkey-companies?highlight_post=6413855&page=1

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/929410-rent-to-retirement-updates?highlight_post=5508807&page=1#p5508807

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/893621-rent-to-retirement-review?highlight_post=5222888&page=1#p5222888

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/915728-experience-with-rent-to-retirement-turnkey?page=1#p5345200

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/808479-rent-to-retirement-experiences

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/518583-feedback-on-renttoretirement-and-zach-lemaster?highlight_post=6192149&page=4&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Transactional:%20topic_notification_V2&utm_channel=28426&utm_content=Marketing

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/952977-turnkey-in-indianapolis-through-rtr-case-study

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/997350-lessons-learned-from-buying-my-first-rental-property?highlight_post=5748036&page=1#p5748036

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/533693-anyone-worked-with-renttoretirement-turnkey

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/581730-rent-to-retirement-zach

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/874096-reviews-on-r2r-and-nch?page=1&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Transactional:%20topic_notification&utm_content=Transactional#p5123754

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/883772-turnkey-investing-renttoretirement-feedback-reviews?highlight_post=5171720&page=1#p5171720

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/950188-rent-to-retirement?page=1&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Transactional:%20topic_notification&utm_content=Transactional#p5535505

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references

Here are my interviews on the BP podcast:

Podcast Episode #847 https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-847

Podcast Episode #994 https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-994

Podcast Episode #626 https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-626

I'll be happy to answer any additional questions you have so reach out at any point in time.

Post: Real Estate for new investor looking for passive involvement

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

@Dennis Silver great question here! First, congrats on your success to achieve the level of income you have! Real estate investing can be a great way to build additional streams of income (that may eventually surpass your active income) when coupled with maximizing tax benefits REI provides, using leverage strategically, investing in good locations that appreciate well and staying consistent to continually build your portfolio for many years. That is exactly how my wife & I replaced our active 6 figure incomes, both as Optometrists. It took many years and dedication to get there, but it's a predictable path to wealth.

I am the founder and CEO of Rent To Retirement. Thank you for your interest in my company. I personally own many investment properties across the country including turnkey SFR/MF, commercial retail centers, midsized MF and high end STRs. As many others have mentioned, if time is a limitation for you, it may be best suited to focus on something like a turnkey asset over a more involved property, like STRs. In my own experience, STRs take that most amount of time and have significant variance in performance with seasonality and YOY performance. Not to mention that regulations are always changing and new taxes on STRs are always being implemented. I like my STRs, but they are certainly not passive and I do believe there is a good level of risk over time due to policy or economic changes market to market. Most newer investors getting into STRs are not aware of those items that can have significant impacts on the future performance of their assets.

If you do go the turnkey route, just keep in mind that nothing is 100% passive. Turnkey would be a more passive way to invest in REI though. I highly recommend focusing on new construction properties in good neighborhood locations that have strong population/economic growth that will lead to YOY appreciation in home values and rents. I would avoid the C or D class, cheaper properties that tend to vary significantly in performance and appreciate less. Specifically at Rent To Retirement, we operate a turnkey marketplace that focuses about 90% on A class, new construction properties located in growth markets. We also have many unique buyer incentives where an investor can get up to a 10% price reduction to come into immediate equity, or get that 10% as a cash back at closing to reduce your down payment and increase your ROI, or buy rates down into the low 4s on 30yr loans to maximize cash flow. We also have investor loans that only require 5% down on new construction investment properties. Those are some of the unique things we offer in addition to helping each investor build a strategic investment plan & roadmap to achieve your specific goals. We are certainly available to answer all your questions and assist in any way we can regardless of what direction you decide to embark on with your investing journey.

One thing to maybe think about as well is the STR tax loophole that can allow you to take accelerated (bonus) depreciation against your active income since you are in the highest tax bracket earning high income each year. That would not be passive as you would need to self manage for the 1st year, but we've helped many docs do this with new construction assets saving 6 figures+ each year in taxes. I'm happy to discuss further if you would like.

Sounds like you've already investigated our company, but just to share some additional resources on BP about RTR that might be beneficial. We've been around BP for over a decade now and have hundreds of 5 star reviews on BP, BBB, etc.

Here are some forum posts of people discussing turnkey investing and RTR:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/page/3497

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/765347-rent-to-retirement-review

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/850/topics/895660-my-first-investment-property-an-out-of-state-deal

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/1122318-quality-turnkey-companies?highlight_post=6413855&page=1

Here are my interviews on the BP podcast:

Podcast Episode #847 https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-847

Podcast Episode #994 https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-994

Podcast Episode #626 https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-626

I'll be happy to answer any additional questions you have so reach out at any point in time.

-Zach

Post: Thoughts on RentToRetirement?

Zach Lemaster
#3 Ask About A Real Estate Company Contributor
Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Denver, CO
  • Posts 1,888
  • Votes 3,665

Hi @George Lopez!  Welcome to BP.  Very exciting you are looking to get into the RE investing world.

Thanks for the interest in Rent To Retirement. We are not the right choice for everyone, but we do help hundreds of investors every year start and progress their investing goals. We have been around the bigger pockets community for over a decade now and have more 5 star reviews on bigger pockets than any company on this website in any industry (>270  5 Star reviews). We care about our investors' success, but it's ultimately up to each investor to take action to accomplish their goals however they do it!

There are hundreds of discussion threads about our company on BP. Here are some of the more longstanding discussions that may help to answer your questions. Feel free to reach out at any time with any questions.

-To your success, Zach Lemaster, CEO Rent To Retirement

---

https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/page/3497

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/765347-rent-to-retirement-review

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/1116050-a-huge-win-with-cori-from-rent-to-retirement

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/850/topics/895660-my-first-investment-property-an-out-of-state-deal

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/88/topics/1047543-big-profits-from-new-construction-sfr-build-in-cape-coral-fl

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/983659-first-investment-property-with-rent-to-retirement?

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/1122318-quality-turnkey-companies?highlight_post=6413855&page=1

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/929410-rent-to-retirement-updates?highlight_post=5508807&page=1#p5508807

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/893621-rent-to-retirement-review?highlight_post=5222888&page=1#p5222888

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/915728-experience-with-rent-to-retirement-turnkey?page=1#p5345200

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/808479-rent-to-retirement-experiences

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/518583-feedback-on-renttoretirement-and-zach-lemaster?highlight_post=6192149&page=4&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Transactional:%20topic_notification_V2&utm_channel=28426&utm_content=Marketing

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/952977-turnkey-in-indianapolis-through-rtr-case-study

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/997350-lessons-learned-from-buying-my-first-rental-property?highlight_post=5748036&page=1#p5748036

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/533693-anyone-worked-with-renttoretirement-turnkey

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/581730-rent-to-retirement-zach

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/874096-reviews-on-r2r-and-nch?page=1&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Transactional:%20topic_notification&utm_content=Transactional#p5123754

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/883772-turnkey-investing-renttoretirement-feedback-reviews?highlight_post=5171720&page=1#p5171720

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/950188-rent-to-retirement?page=1&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Transactional:%20topic_notification&utm_content=Transactional#p5535505

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references