All Forum Posts by: Zach Lemaster

@Mike D. interesting thoughts. Thanks for sharing. Personally I've found that the majority of my net worth has come from appreciation over time in more expensive markets, but that was not obviously until about 10 years into owning assets across the country. I recommend a diversified approach across multiple markets for this reason. Candidly the tax benefits of REI in ANY location far outweighs returns from both cash flow and appreciation combined (since we accelerate depreciation on everything). Choose an asset class you like and enjoy, as that will keep you in the game longer, which is where the ultimate wins come from!

@Rene Hosman when is Denver????

@Drew Sygit my contact info is in my signature block, just as yours is.  I always make time to collaborate with professionals in any of the markets we operate in.  RTR does significant business across the country and we have partnerships with national and local teams in multiple locations.  I have grown this company significantly over the years because of the collaborative nature I maintain just as @Jay Hinrichs has pointed out.  Anyone who has worked with me will attest to that.

I would also like to point out that you will never see me on BP or any other public forum badmouthing any company or individual, even if I may have a certain opinion about them.  That is simply not good business practices.  That is how professionals operate and that approach is what allows businesses to scale.

RTR drives significant volume of leads and sales and we've helped many local businesses grow dramatically by collaborating with them, which I am always open to do.  However, you don't see those businesses meticulously watching the BP forums daily for any chance they have to take lowball shots at others.  That is a different approach to trying to gain more leads...

@Adam Bartomeo we have made outreach on multiple occasions to every single investor that has participated in these projects.  There is no question about that and we still continue to help these investors as long as they want us involved.  And yes, I have personally spoken to most all of them, which is rare for a CEO at our scale to do.  That is how we do business.  We do not put our head in the sand or ignore situations.  You can see from this thread, and our very positive public reputation we've worked hard to build for over a decade now on BP.

I usually ignore your consistent negative commentary on every RTR thread that comes up, but after you post so many times, I figured I would spend the time to share my insight to clarify for the general audience.

I'm still curious why you don't publicly share the contractors you recommend for the projects if you are truly here to help people.  And I'm not talking about fees you charge the investor for management or anything else, but rather the fees you collect from contractors for referring people to them to complete builds and who those contractors actually are. 

@Adam Bartomeo

I understand that it benefits you to comment on any negative thread you see about my company, Rent To Retirement. If you are "not here to bash anyone" then why are you jumping in to comment on any negative thread about RTR, even when it's not relevant to you. Clearly you have your keyword alerts set up for my company anytime you see something potentially negative, even if it has nothing to do with you or the location you operate in, like this thread. This benefits you because you operate a management company in SWFL and you also benefit from referring clients to builders to finish uncompleted projects, which you are correct, there are many unfortunately. However, everything else you are stating is completely inaccurate, so please get your facts straight and quit disparaging my company in an attempt to send more business to your company.

Yes, RTR is a marketplace for deals that our community has access to. We have over 50 builders that use our marketplace nationwide including the nation's largest builders like DR Horton, LGI, Lennar, Century, Toll Brothers, etc. Investors get access to wholesale pricing on builds that they cannot access on their own due to economies of scale.

It should first be noted that there are many investors that did successfully complete jobs in SWFL that turned out very well for them that did have significant equity. Here is an example of one of those sharing his experience: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/88/topics/1047543-big-p...

Yes, there are many builders in CC that did not complete jobs, which is unfortunate.  Some of these builders have been in business for 20+ years prior to this completing thousands of jobs.  This is not just specific to the builders that marketed on RTR. There are many builders in SWFL that have struggled and went out of business unrelated to RTR. However, there are still many that are completing jobs in a timely manner within budget. We still work with those that are completing jobs that I reference below.

No, you are completely inaccurate that RTR "ghosted" people. We never do that unless the investor cuts off communication for whatever reason. We have significant documentation showing proactive outreach to anyone struggling to complete a build with their current builder to provide them multiple options to build with a more competent builder. The fact is the majority of investors in this situation have already switched and successfully completed their build. The builders we still work with in SWFL are Holliman Construction, SI Homes, Panther, DR Horton, LGI and Christopher Alan. These builders offer options to complete jobs, buy out jobs or trade in partially completed jobs for fully completed homes. Many of these builders have already taken over jobs and completed them. The options to change builders to complete jobs have been presented multiple times for years to anyone who is unsatisfied with their current builder. Of course, it's up to the investor themself to make the change if that is what they want to do.  If the investor waits years to switch builders, even after multiple recommendations from us to switch earlier, that is on them.

It should also be noted that RTR did not receive any compensation from any of these builders that did not finish projects in SWFL. This is true for both the land acquisition and the ground up construction.

Please share publicly which builder you send clients to? What is the fee you earn for referring clients to this builder? There should be no issue stating publicly the builder(s) you recommend.

It's unfortunate you took the approach of trying to jump on the bandwagon anytime anyone posts negatively about RTR. Anyone can see that you are one of the first people to comment on anything negative about RTR, even when it's not relevant to you at all, such as in this case. If you would have simply approached me to see how you could help investors for either property management or solutions to other builders, I would have gladly accepted your assistance and would have been able to send you a hell of a lot more clients than 15...

Peter, the individual posting in this thread, purchased a home from LGI in AL who received a significant discount on his home at time of acquisition. You do not work in AL. This was an already completed home. I don't see how this situation correlates to SWFL at all. Yes, he seems to be experiencing some issues with mngt and he regrets taking the $21K incentive as a price reduction instead of using it to buy down the rate to cash flow more. However, as you, and everyone else can see from this thread, we are working through this with him to see how we can assist, which he is appreciative of. We communicate extensively with every single person in our network and we never leave anyone stranded when they experience issues as long as they communicate with us and they are professional. However, this is real estate, and sometimes people don't always like the options they are presented with, but that is part of the investing game.

@Bukola Oyin thank you very much for sharing your experience!

@Chaim Mal

Rent To Retirement has been recommended on BP for over a decade now and there are thousands of reviews and forum discussions about our company if you search.  Below are some links to threads that can assist you in your research.  Please let us know if you have any questions.  We are happy to help however we can.

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

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/79/topics/1242880-rtr-academy-review-a-game-changer-for-busy-professionals#post_7030766

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/92/topics/1243070-rent-to-retirement-first-deal#post_7031371

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

@Mario Favetta thank you for the detailed feedback about your experience!  We look forward to continuing the journey with you as you scale.  Keep up the excellent progress!

-Zach & the RTR team!

You will be truly missed Scott.  We all truly appreciate your hard work and dedication over the years!

I recommend Peter Conti's book to start.  Just google him and you'll find it.