The Whitener & Flynn Hostage Crisis – Day 19 – Who is Gateway Select Properties?

I’m sure it is obvious by now that I haven’t gotten any money yet from my former property management company, Whitener & Flynn Properties LLC. Now 19 days since I should have gotten the money, I continue to learn new things from the others suffering a similar fate. Today, I’d like to share with everyone an email sent by Amber Flynn to the employees of Whitener & Flynn and others.

Click the image below to enlarge.

It seems that back in early June, 2007, everything at the company was going quite well. So well, in fact, that they were planning on opening a new, larger office in July.

On July 5, 2007, a letter was sent to the owners who hired Whitener & Flynn saying that they had to close down.
On July 20, 2007, Amber Flynn wrote a message on this blog to the owners and stated the following:

There are many past clients that owe Whitener & Flynn Properties money – tens of thousands of dollars. These negative invoices have been accumulating over the course of 3 plus years.

So after reviewing the company’s financials, speaking with an attorney and doing much research, Travis Whitener and I voted to close Whitener & Flynn Properties on July the 3rd. So that the company did not accrue anymore owed balances, we closed as soon as possible, to stop collecting the rent and paying out expenses. Once we explained our situation to our attorney, that is what we were advised. Since the 4th of July was a holiday, letters went out on July 5th. We understand that this was extremely short notice, but the other alternative was to keep collecting rent that we may or may not have been able to pay out. On July 10th, we laid off all our employees, sent all licenses back to the Real Estate Commission and ceased all property management/real estate activities.

Is is possible that somehow these guys discovered all of a sudden that they were bleeding money? It is.

A new company founded by one of the employees of Whitener & Flynn – Amy Jones – called Gateway Select Properties, is now residing at the very address given to everyone in the email sent by Amber back on June 11.

Somehow, in the timespan of less than a month, the company went from being profitable enough to move up to bigger and better digs to having to shut their doors without notice. In addition, according to Amber:

Travis and I are very remorseful for what has happened. He and I have nothing. Our personal rental buildings have been foreclosed on, we are months behind on our bills (and could be losing our personal homes/cars/etc). We have already consulted with a Bankruptcy attorney, but honestly, don’t have the money to file. We’ve cashed out our personal savings, 401K, etc to pay out everything that we could.

What is more interesting is that despite several promises that payment was on the way, I and many other owners have not seen even a penny of our money.

If you know any more about what has occurred, I encourage you to go to the authorities. There are many people who are still owed many tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars by Whitener & Flynn. To quote a fellow owner in a similar position as I am in, “Our money, by Missouri Statutes, is to be held in a non-interest bearing escrow account. That money was for the sole purpose for each of our own properties, individually. Our money is, by law, to be held solely for the purpose of each of our own interests. My money was not there to pay for some bum landlord’s foreclosure, and Amber was solely responsible to protect this.”

For more information and to discuss the company, its closure, and any other related matters, visit: Whitener & Flynn Properties LLC Management Discussion Forum

Guess When I’ll Get My Money Contest
So far, only 4 people have taken a guess when I will get any of my money. I am giving out a free BiggerPockets t-shirt to the first person who gets it right. Again – you’ve got nothing to lose . . . . and, if this keeps up – nothing to gain either!

Related posts:

1. The Whitener & Flynn Properties Management Saga Continues
2. Whitener & Flynn Properties LLC Management Shutdown – New Discussion Forum for Former Clients
3. A Rental Property Management SNAFU Story – Part II
4. A Rental Property Management SNAFU Story
5. Advantages of Buying REO Properties – Real Estate Owned Properties -

Article Author: Joshua Dorkin

Joshua has written 570 articles for us.
Visit Joshua's Website: http://www.biggerpockets.com/

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Joshua Dorkin (@jrdorkin) is the founder and CEO of BiggerPockets.Mr. Dorkin's vision for BiggerPockets has helped to propel it into becoming one of the top real estate destinations online. His vision for the site and its future has brought national press attention to both Mr. Dorkin and to BiggerPockets.