Spartan Invest - Birmingham Turnkey Case Study

Spartan Invest - Birmingham Turnkey Case Study

Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes

Hello BP Community!

In efforts to give back to the community, I wanted to document the process of acquiring my first turnkey property through Spartan Invest. I know when I was first researching the forums, case studies like the one I am attempting to do were very helpful and provided me lots of insight into the process of acquiring a turnkey property through a full service turnkey provider. 

Part I - Making contact

I first made contact with Spartan Invest by reaching out to them through a link I found on their website. The response time was great and I heard back from their VP Sales, Maureen within 24 hours. 

Part II - The Discussions

From the time we made contact (almost a month ago) up until now, Maureen has been more than accommodating. Communication has been really good and any questions I had were answered. What I really appreciated about everything is that she was very transparent. There was a slight fall-out in communication a week ago but it was because Spartan Invest is currently growing very rapidly and it seems like their team is overloaded. They are now currently looking to hire new help in order to meet the demands. I just want to note that during the week where they dropped the ball on communication I began to worry and was considering crossing Spartan Invest (SI) of the list. I decided to reach out to the CEO @Clayton Mobley who is very active on the forums to see what was the cause and he was very responsive and explained the situation. Maureen (who spearheads all sales) was on a business trip and was swamped, but when she returned she made sure to reach out to me and explained everything. She was very transparent once again and openly took fault and owned up to the lack of service during that time. Not only did she admit to her lack of service, but also provided a solution to what SI was doing to remedy this. I personally really appreciated this "find solutions, not excuses" approach.

Part III - The Properties

Before being able to start seeing what properties were available, I had to provide pre-approval for a loan. SI recommended a lender that they typically use due to the familiarity the agent (Graham Parham) had with their type of deals. Of course, Maureen ensured that she was willing to work with any lender I chose as long as she was able to vet them before hand. Main reason for this was she wanted to make sure that the lender would be able to close the deal. I decided to go with Graham and up until this point the service and responsiveness from him has been excellent and their rates were what the market commanded as well. 

Once I was pre-approved, I began to receive pro-formas of available properties. One thing I liked about SI was that their pro-formas were very well made and allowed the flexibility for you to change and add your own contingencies when doing financial analysis. 

Part IV: Putting a Property under Contract

Once I found a property I was interested in and committed to get under contract, Maureen passed my off to Scott who would be my personal representative throughout the rest of the process. I want to note that before committing to getting the property under contract, I was provided with Scope of Work being done on the property, the PM agreement, and also a draft of their typical sales contract. As of now I am currently getting a contract underway this property. I shall update as I progress! 

Cheers!

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Chris ClothierBusiness Member
Rental Property Investor · memphis, TN · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
9y

@Jay Hinrichs, the funny thing about monthly calls to a client, the bar is already set so low for out of state investors.  In my experience, most come into an investment expecting the worst and happy if there is any communication at all.  To have a company that says they will call you monthly and actually do it is a HUGE differentiator when it comes to buying Turnkey properties.  It is why we do it, it is why JWB in Jacksonville does it, and it is why Spartan does it.

I actually had a TK company come visit me for advice in our offices who advertised their great customer service and the fact that they called clients monthly.  He was astonished when I introduced him to our seven customer service team members.  He told me they only said that because they saw us saying it.  They didn't actually do it because they didn't believe we actually did it.  It was unbelievable.  So the fact that a TK company provides a monthly call once you own the property should be seen more as a long-term commitment than anything else.  

So, why don't more do it?  It takes that commitment to long-term.  It takes big money, time, team member commitments.  A company has to hire someone full time to handle a position like this.  And then a commitment to hire more team members as you provide service to more investors.  It takes a firm belief that by providing better communication and raising the bar for what investors expect,  you will attract your ideal clients.  Ideal clients are those that are buying not because a piece of paper says they will get a good return, but because the actions of a company and the commitment they show to being great tells an investor that they will be able to sleep well at night.  @Chris A., this fact should provide you with a lot of comfort at this point.

So even if the conversation is nothing more than everything is going great with your property, providing that contact, that monthly check-in, that call each month is a really big deal.  At least it is to the investors that I want to attract...

See this reply in the discussion

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  • Investor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2017 · 343 posts · 102 votes
    9y

    @Chris A.-  Congratulations ! As long as you are happy I am good. My two cents on few things:

    a) Cost of Premium Services

    Purchase Price -     $34K 

    Rehab Cost -           $21K

    Selling Price -         $82K

    Profit                        $17K

    b) Exit Strategy - None (Try selling to get a feel, I do all the time with my properties although I am buy and hold investor)

    c) Why are you investing in REI ? If things go south what was important.

    Good Luck Investing

    Vivek

  • Clayton MobleyPro Member
    Birmingham, AL · Member since 2014 · 875 posts · 947 votes
    9y

    @Chris A. Thanks for the shout out. @Andrew Frishman to answer your questions:

    1) While appreciation is definitely not the focus of turnkey (cash flow is king!) the Birmingham market has experienced modest but steady growth. In addition, the revamp of our downtown area and influx of millennial entrepreneurs has made the city a bit of a hotspot. The trends we're seeing on the ground bode well for future growth, but of course you can never guarantee appreciation. That's why we never try to use that as a selling point - it's the icing on the cake. However, RE in Bham retains its value over time and typically produces modest appreciation. We've also noticed that the average prices in some of the areas we do the most work in have been going up, possibly as a result of our high-end rehabs pushing up the comps for other properties on the market. We don't have hard data on that yet, but if we get some I'll definitely share.

    2) We track all our performance metrics obsessively and update them daily. For the last several months, our occupancy rate has hovered right around the 96.5% mark for the previous 52-week rolling period, so a vacancy rate of 3.5%. Of course, we know that these things ebb and flow a little bit, so we always use a slightly inflated rate of 4% on our pro formas just to maintain a conservative estimate. However, our minimum lease term is 2 years, but our average is 3, so many of our tenants stay for quite a while. Our thorough rehab work, updated capex items, and sub-24-hour maintenance call out turnaround time keeps good tenants happy, so we don't anticipate our occupancy rate dipping in the foreseeable future.

    The real estate demand in Bham is strong, and our population is getting younger (which bodes well for future growth as the millennial generations settles down and starts families). There is strong demand for both rentals and owner-occupied properties. Turnkey is a long-term investment, but the upside of investing in high quality SFR props in B/B+ areas is that you are more likely to be able to sell to an owner-occupant (who is more likely to pay market or more based on emotional attachment to an area or house). A C/D prop isn't selling to an OO , just other investors (who will always want a deal and haggle, just like you or I would). A props can absolutely sell to OOs, but unless you find an incredible deal, your PITI will eat up your cash flow, which makes it purely an appreciation play for 15-30 years . The B/B+ class is right in the sweet spot of cash flow (as the primary goal), moderate appreciation potential (icing), and exit flexibility (back-up plan), which is where we like to be. While life sometimes happens, people don't (or shouldn't) get into a turnkey investment expecting to pull out a year or two later, that defeats the purpose of this investment type. If you do have to sell early, however, a well maintained, updated property in a family-friendly neighborhood is much more likely than a higher or lower-tier prop to provide consistent, reliable, passive income, and then sell at market price or above.

    Ok that's it from me! Don't want to bogart this thread any longer ;) Thanks, Chris, for keeping such a detailed log of your experience with us. You know where to find us if you need anything!

    All the best,

    Clayton

  • Ridgefield, CT · Member since 2017 · 101 posts · 60 votes
    9y

    Have you had investors properties go threw a full cycle ...buying....cash flowing ...and then selling or Refi or 1031 a property?  Just trying to understand Exit strategy...for long the long term Buy and hold?

    Ever have an investor foreclose? ..

    Just trying to understand my horizon and risk.

    Andy

  • Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes
    9y

    @Clayton Mobley as always, thank you for the quick and very in-depth answer. I am actually considering another property with you guys, but would love to hear a market update on Birmingham and the surrounding areas. The last i've researched and heard were all older articles of news circa 2014-2016. Was hoping to get a market update!

  • Lake Havasu City, AZ · Member since 2017 · 58 posts · 23 votes
    9y

    @Chris A. Any more updates? I have been considering turnkey properties as my market is at 0.5% (price to rent) and dropping.

  • Lake Havasu City, AZ · Member since 2017 · 58 posts · 23 votes
    9y

    @Chris A. Sorry, I was up late and didn't see the other pages to this thread. My bad. Thank you for keeping up on the thread.

  • Clayton MobleyPro Member
    Birmingham, AL · Member since 2014 · 875 posts · 947 votes
    9y

    Hey @Chris A. soooo sorry for the delay in my reply! I was away with the fam for the a bit and I've just been playing catch up ever since. Time to get caught up on the BP front!

    So to answer your question about the market, the answer is yes and no. In some cases, no, there really isn't any more updated 'data' or articles on the current year or even full-year 2016 because it just takes so long for that stuff to get tabulated and checked and published. This is especially true of complex metrics like GDP growth.I often find this very very annoying, but the sources that you can really trust, like the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Stats etc, have a lot of data to work through so it takes a while. 

    However, some of the more straightforward metrics like Unemployment Rate are kept more up-to-date. As you can see in this link to the BLS, the unemployment rate in Bham has been declining steadily in 2017:

    https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.al_birmingham_msa.htm

    And a breakdown of their data in many charts and delightful tables with historical data showing the long-term decline in unemployment:

    https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LAUMT0113820000000...

    In the BLS' current summary for Bham, you can see that our rate is actually lower than the national average:

    https://www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/summary/blss...

    This summary also shows you that Birminghams cost of living remains lower than average, while our average wages/salaries have been increasing a faster clip than the rest of the nation.

    This is a report on business leader confidence showing that the forecast for Q3 2017 and beyond is optimistic:

    http://cber.cba.ua.edu/news.html

    This is a the Birmingham Business Alliance's 2017 economic outlook report. Some of the data is still only up to 2015, but some includes FY 2016 data, plus it's a good indication of how business leaders are feeling about the future of the city and it gives great info on what types of capital investments are in the works:

    http://birminghambusinessalliance.com/wp-content/u...

    And here's an article from May with some good solid data that ties in with the BBAs report:

    http://hooversun.com/businesses/birmingham-hoover-...

    While some of the data is now a bit outdated, we do also have a report including some more of the nitty-gritty data compiled relatively recently (Dec 2016)  by one of our team members for Keith over at Get Rich Education to accompany a podcast that Maureen did a little while back. She absolutely scoured all the reputable sources looking for good hard data to compare Bham to other popular turnkey markets. There were census spreadsheets, there was math. It was...an undertaking. While the numbers are still talking about 2015 and some 2016 stuff, there are hyperlinks to all her sources, so you can click and go to the site referenced, which may now provide updated data. Plus, it gives a good rundown of why Birmingham is on the rise and what makes it such a great place to live - which are the same things that make it a great place to invest!

    **I don't think I can link to that here without being accused of advertising, so if you haven't seen it already I'd be happy to shoot it over to you (or anyone else) in a PM. I'd also recommend that people listen to Maureen's podcast interview for her take on the Bham market.**

    Which leads me to the other half of my answer: when it comes to current trends, you're not always going to see them online or in papers, because data is historical. The only way to know exactly what's happening in a market right now is to live and work there. So, while I do feel that the numbers in the market report and the links above show part of the story, we've seen a continuation of those trends on the ground that hasn't yet completely made it into the interweb-hivemind. There's more to market trends than the unemployments rate, and it's sometimes hard to piece that together as it's happening without being in the market.

    In particular, I think the declining average age of our population is the result of  Birmingham becoming more of a hotspot - people, young people with degrees and entrepreneurial ambitions - are moving here. Millennials are waiting longer to start families, so when they move somewhere in their 20's and early 30s to start a business, they bring with them an increase in spending, culture, and rental demand. Then, as they settle down, they start families - and they tend to wait until they are more financially stable to do so - and put down roots, they start wanting to own instead of rent (hello long-term exist strategies!). We're seeing this movement first-hand as our business continues to grow at a brisk clip. Investors have really started taking note of what was once a hidden gem, a city on the verge of renewal. Well, that renewal is in full swing now. Most of our properties are leased before closing and our average tenancy length has actually increased to 37 months, so people are staying even longer.

    I won't ramble on any longer, but my point is that there are some market forces that you can't see reflected in numbers because we can't quantify them until later. Data is retrospective, so you have to be able to see what's happening on the ground to know where a market is really going. Just one of many, many, reason you have to do serious homework when you invest OOS.

    Hope that helps!

  • Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes
    9y

    Surprise Update!

    Just received this in the mail from the Spartan Team. Was not expecting this at all, but this is a very nice touch and really shows me that they believe in building relationships with their clients and are not just out there to sell homes and make profits. Again my relationship with Spartan thus far has been nothing but professional and very pleasant and warming. My PM manager Stephanie Devine has been extremely kind and is a pleasure to work with. It is a very nice gesture and only confirms my belief in their company vision. Cheers!

  • VA · Member since 2016 · 35 posts · 24 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Chris A.:

    Surprise Update!

    Just received this in the mail from the Spartan Team. Was not expecting this at all, but this is a very nice touch and really shows me that they believe in building relationships with their clients and are not just out there to sell homes and make profits. Again my relationship with Spartan thus far has been nothing but professional and very pleasant and warming. My PM manager Stephanie Devine has been extremely kind and is a pleasure to work with. It is a very nice gesture and only confirms my belief in their company vision. Cheers!

     Nice!

  • Denver, CO · Member since 2017 · 542 posts · 27 votes
    9y

    Time will tell, so since it's been a few months, can we get an update on this?

  • Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes
    9y

    Update - August Rent Collected!

    $795 Rent collected

    ($71.55) Management Fee (9%)

    No Maintenance costs (:

    Will update again next month! Cheers!

    @Mirasol Aninon its actually been only a month since my last update. Will update again in a month.

  • Denver, CO · Member since 2017 · 542 posts · 27 votes
    9y

    Thanks Chris!

  • Denver, CO · Member since 2017 · 542 posts · 27 votes
    9y

    @Chris A. Also, what is your plan moving forward?  Do you plan to purchase more turnkeys?

  • Birmingham, AL · Member since 2017 · 6 posts · 0 votes
    9y

    @Chris A. I reached out to you via PM about a month ago. Not sure if you received it, I would like to connect with you since I am working with Spartan for the first time.

  • Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes
    9y

    Update - September Rent Collected!

    $795 Rent collected

    ($71.55) Management Fee (9%)

    No Maintenance costs (:

    Will update again next month! Cheers!

  • Rental Property Investor · New York, NY · Member since 2016 · 45 posts · 44 votes
    9y

    I am so thankful for @Clayton Mobley weighing in on this thread. I have been chatting with Maureen and am on the waiting list to purchase in the middle of October. I can't wait to pull the trigger on 1 or 2 of these in the next couple of weeks! It shows a lot of integrity and honesty when the CEO comments on the threads. Much respect to Clayton and can't wait to join you @Chris A. in your investment goals!

    Quick question, I am planning on pulling the trigger on a property Spartan will send to me in the 100k range. My HOPE is that buying in a higher price bracket will solidify the solid neighborhood but also maintain as close to 300/month CF as possible. Thoughts? Again, looking forward to moving forward!

  • Clayton MobleyPro Member
    Birmingham, AL · Member since 2014 · 875 posts · 947 votes
    9y

    @Blake La Grange thanks for the shout-out, and we can't wait to get you officially on the Spartan team! I try not to poke my nose into these types of threads too often, because it can end up looking a bit Big Brother-y when an investment provider constantly comments on every little thing said about their company - we want investors to have a place to discuss things with each other without oversight. That being said, sometimes there's info that the average investor won't have access to, or people just want me to give my opinion, which means I occasionally get to pipe in :)

    Obviously you're already in the best possible hands with Maureen, so I won't wax on too long. But you're correct, by going into the more B+ range of $100k or so, you're getting a property in the higher end of our range. Of course, we only do B/B+ because we focus on cash flow, but a B+ property is going to share more in common with A properties, but without sacrificing CF. With a higher tier prop, you get more desirable areas, better schools, and better exit strategies in terms of selling to owner occupants down the road. If you want the best possible re-sale and appreciation potential, of course, you'll find it in A areas. BUT the prices in those areas mean you'll see virtually no cash flow, and since appreciation is never guaranteed, it can be a risky move to take on so much debt (or lock in so much capital) in hopes of cashing in on a sale in 10+ years. On the other end of the scale, C/D areas are 100% CF plays, since your exit strategies are essentially limited to other investors (who will always want to pay below-market) and those areas have almost no appreciation potential, but the increased vacancy, deferred maintenance, and Section 8 red tape mean the actual CF in those areas isn't anything like what you see on paper. 

    Since we're CF-focused, but prioritize consistent, reliable income and solid exit strategies, we focus on the sweet spot where you get a healthy combination of appreciation potential/exit strategy AND cash flow. 

    Of course, your CF is going to be determined in part by your financing - the higher the PITI, the lower the CF, all other things being equal (which is why A props rarely cash flow well), BUT tenants are paying off your mortgage for you. If you buy in cash, you get a ton of CF, but your ROI is much lower because you're not taking advantage of tenant pay-down. There's a balance to be struck between current CF and the long-term value of having tenants basically buy you 75-80% of a house, and it all depends on what your goals are. Of course, Maureen will be able to talk with you about the best option for your specific goals with regard to current CF, ROI, and financing. We want long-term client relationships - even putting personal ethics aside, it's just a better business model- so we work hard to put you into the investment that best suits your short and long-term goals. 

    Ok that's enough from me, and clearly I lied about the length of this post lol You're already in the best possible hands with Maureen, and I know she'll work hard to find you the best option for your needs.

    Thanks again for the kind words!

    All the best,

    Clayton

  • Investor · Temple City, CA · Member since 2016 · 47 posts · 11 votes
    9y

    Anyone purchase a property from Spartan in the last few months?

    I put a property under contract on 7/12, with estimated renovation date of 8/31. 

    I asked for an update on 8/25 and they said usually if they finish on time, it takes about 2 weeks to go through all the inspections so a closing date of late September would be best.

    I asked for an update on 9/10 with no reply. I emailed again with 9/12 for an update and got a reply the next day stating they've inspected the property and gave a final to-do list to the contractor and they should be finished any day. 

    I asked for an update on 10/2 and no reply yet...

  • Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes
    9y

    @Albert L. kind of alarming to hear such terrible communication on Spartan's end. I would suggest calling one of the team members directly. Also @Clayton Mobley (CEO of spartan) is very active on BP so I would shoot him a DM as well. Sorry to hear you are going through some bad communication patches.

  • Ridgefield, CT · Member since 2017 · 101 posts · 60 votes
    9y

    I did not invest yet.... but had a similar breakdown in communication in my initial interactions with this group...

  • CA · Member since 2017 · 153 posts · 74 votes
    9y

    I think Chris A. had special attention for starting this thread.  @Andrew Frishman, maybe you should start Spartan Invest Case Study 2.0.

  • Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes
    9y

    I did have some problems with communication, but nothing unreasonable like what @Albert L. has been experiencing. At the end of the day you need to really push the team to follow up with you. Send follow-up emails, call if you have to. I know this past year they have been going through major expansion and have been experiencing a huge influx of new clients. Hopefully they are able to grow their team to meet demand and still maintain their quality. 

    Would love to read about a Spartan 2.0 experience. Been looking around the markets and deciding between going with another property with spartan or try somewhere else. 

  • Investor · Temple City, CA · Member since 2016 · 47 posts · 11 votes
    9y

    It does seem that Spartan really exploded in popularity the last few months so that may be a possible reason as their staff and contractors may be overwhelmed. I was exploring the possibility of another property concurrently and was informed they have a waiting list and new investors are told to expect the whole process to take 4 months as a rough estimate.

    They did email me back with some updates so I'll wait patiently. 

  • Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes
    9y

    @Albert L. Wow! 4 month waiting list! Thats amazing...they really did take off! Back when i was getting my house under contract, they had plenty of inventory. Glad to see their taking off but hopefully they can maintain the quality!

  • Investor · Temple City, CA · Member since 2016 · 47 posts · 11 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Chris A.:

    @Albert L. Wow! 4 month waiting list! Thats amazing...they really did take off! Back when i was getting my house under contract, they had plenty of inventory. Glad to see their taking off but hopefully they can maintain the quality!

    No, not 4 month waiting list. The time for a property to be complete is roughly 4 months as estimate, but it's a rough estimate that could be longer or shorter. I don't know how long the waiting list it. 

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