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...

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  • Irvine, CA · Member since 2017 · 45 posts · 4 votes
    7y

    @Chris A. No maintenance issues or costs during those 2 years?

  • Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes
    7y

    @Kevin Yi no maintenance issues or costs to date. It was a complete rehab so I dont expect any major capex for at least 5 years

  • Investor · Fontana, CA · Member since 2017 · 95 posts · 59 votes
    7y

    Thanks for this @Chris A.! I'm looking to do a 1031 exchange and have been thinking of buying in BHam, ala.

  • Los Angeles, Cali · Member since 2017 · 53 posts · 54 votes
    7y

    Hey BP Community!

    Just an update - been collecting rent smoothly, however today marks my first maintenance bill! $75 to repair the porch. 

    Other than that - all is normal.

    Cheers!

  • Sacramento, CA · Member since 2017 · 20 posts · 28 votes
    7y

    @Chris A. thanks for these updates. Now that you are about two years into ownership can you give us details on your actual profit/cash flow after all the fees with PM, tenant renewal, maintenance?  Are you buying another property with spartan invest?

  • Mooresville, NC · Member since 2019 · 20 posts · 14 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Jon Zhou:

    @Chris A. thanks for these updates. Now that you are about two years into ownership can you give us details on your actual profit/cash flow after all the fees with PM, tenant renewal, maintenance?  Are you buying another property with spartan invest?

    I second this. I would like to see real numbers from a real customer. In addition I would like to know approximate market value verses cost. 

  • Birmingham, AL · Member since 2017 · 6 posts · 0 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Chris A.:

    Hey BP Community!

    Just an update - been collecting rent smoothly, however today marks my first maintenance bill! $75 to repair the porch. 

    Other than that - all is normal.

    Cheers!

    That's very interesting, I got my first maintenance bill last week as well. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Greenville County SC / Atlanta, GA · Member since 2017 · 403 posts · 120 votes
    6y

    @Angela Collins check out the before & after pictures

  • Rental Property Investor · Greenville County SC / Atlanta, GA · Member since 2017 · 403 posts · 120 votes
    6y

    @Chris A. Thanks so much for this thread.

    This is a great review for anyone thinking about investing with spartan invest .

    I’m in Atlanta and I’m considering myself , I stacking up capital at the moment for reserves when I do decide to invest oos , i heard someone say something about a waiting list , how long usually does the waiting list be to invest with spartan @Clayton Mobley ?

    I found you guys from watching a @James Wise YouTube so far it seem like both companies are some of the best TK’s around! I plan on investing with both in the near future .

  • Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2019 · 28 posts · 10 votes
    6y

    Recent Review for Spartan Invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

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