Martel Turnkey Rentals -- Reviews?

Question

Hello everyone,

Has anyone experienced doing business with Martel Turnkey ? If so what's your honest review on them. What's there pros and cons. And would you recommended them ?

Thanks in advance!

Thomas Harari · Answer

@Lynn Milos I made a purchase from Martel Turnkey recently and have had quite a bad experience. Antoine will not respond to my emails. Your response above for Imran looks great, but I am very much not seeing that Martel cares about buyers, working to improve, etc. My current outlook is that Martel does a shotty job on the rehab, does not vet the PM well, and the buyer gets what they get - deal done. My property is on its 7th month and does not cashflow, and that was before the tenant stopped paying rent because of the furnace that was part of the rehab. Are you willing to have a conversation about this?

Imran R. · Answer

I received an email on 10/28 about getting to work with Antoine Martel one-on-one in handpicking properties to build a portfolio to help achieve my goals. I reached out and did a 15 minute video call with him and found him to be curt and quite disinterested in getting to know me and it didn't feel like he was trying to start a long term business relationship with me. I didn't get much of a chance to share my goals, but I did specifically mention Detroit being a market I heard quite a few negative things about. I figured I will give it a go in spite of my initial impression as he seems to have had some success in the turnkey business. He then sent me a purchase contract for a property in Detroit (which tells me he wasn't really listening during our video call when I specifically mentioned my reservations about that market). I had a series of questions, most of which, he answered, but with the same curt tone. For some reason he didn't want to share the name of the property manager and said he would tell me after signing the purchase contract. The numbers weren't amazing in terms of cash flow. I still gave him the benefit of the doubt and went ahead and signed the purchase contract to see if we could begin a long term working relationship. I asked him how to get the home inspection arranged since the property had tenants. His response was that I should coordinate with the property manager. I asked the property manager twice, with Antoine as a CC on both emails, about coordinating the home inspection and they nobody helped with coordinating it. In the meanwhile, I found a home inspector, whose personality was the opposite of Antoine's. The inspector was very thoughtful, accommodating and helpful. He pointed out that freeway noise would be a major concern at this property, which Antoine conveniently didn't mention to me. By Friday afternoon, I had not heard back about coordinating the property inspection. I realized we essentially wasted half of the 10-day due diligence period with zero progress in scheduling the home inspection. It was the last straw for me. It was pretty clear at this point that he wasn't building a long term relationship, but rather he was just trying to make a quick sale as the housing market has slowed down. When I emailed about cancelling the deal he called and I expressed my concerns about the numbers not being great to begin with, about the freeway noise, and the frustration with the property manager not coordinating the home inspection. There was no remorse as he quickly said we'll cancel the deal and hung up. Ironically, he wrote in the email to my lender "sorry for wasting your time" as if to imply that I was the reason for the deal falling through. Good luck to anyone who wants to invest with the company. Do a thorough due diligence, if you are able to.

Lynn Milos · Answer

@Imran R.

The sales team at MartelTurnkey has a very good reputation for taking care of their customers, which is why many investors buy multiple properties from us.  I'm sincerely sorry you had an experience that didn't match your expectations and that was curt. However, I would like to reply to a few things you mentioned: It takes time to get a home inspection set up.  We need to contact the property manager who then needs to contact the tenant.  It takes time. I'm not sure why you didn't get a  reply from the PM company within the timeframe you expected.They are a third party independent company. Also I think your expectation that Antoine tell you there is freeway noise is a bit unrealistic. It certainly wouldn't be top of mind. We are more concerned about the property being rentable, that the main systems are in good working condition, and that it is cash flowing and appreciating.  Otherwise, you would need a checklist of a million things like:  does the neighbor have a dog, are you in the path of air traffic, does the school bus stop in front....Those factors all play into the appraised value and price we set for a property.

It is not just a numbers game for us.  We genuinely care about our buyers.  Of course I want to make a sale and move inventory but recently I declined a buyer because, despite having money, his expectations are unrealistic and I feared he would be super nitpicky and come back to blame me if/when he has a property expense. We don't have crystal balls and despite many eyeballs on a property, things can happen. Owning real estate comes with expenses and they aren't all predictable.

Anyways I'm sorry you had a bad experience and wish you better luck.  We will also take your criticism and continue to work to improve.

Drew Sygit · Answer

@Andy Ramdeen

The biggest challenges with Turnkey providers:

1) Terrible renovation work - we've taken over many properties that investor bought turnkey and they were shocked to learn the true condition of their property from our TakeOver video.
---So, get a GREAT property inspector NOT recommended by the turnkey company to avoid bias.

2) Misrepresenting Property Class - have seen many turnkey providers in Metro Detroit area sell OOS investors Class C properties as Class B. 
---So, learn the neighborhoods where you plan to invest and use Google Streetview to virtually explore them.

3) Poor Tenant Screening - they typically can't sell a property until they place a tenant. So, they have a conflict of interest in waiting for the right tenant.
---So, insist on them providing the rental application and supporting docs for your review. This means YOU need to learn how to evaluate a rental application!

4) Poor Property Management - Where do you think a turnkey provider will put their best staff, on selling properties and making $5k+/transaction or on property management and making $80/month transactions?
---So, ask about their standard operating procedures and make sure your management contract has an easy termination clause.

What are your options if you experience one of the above? Everyone thinks they can sue to solve the problem.

Do you realize how much it will cost to hire an OOS attorney to sue the turnkey company?

Unfortunately, the majority of investors that experience terrible service from turnkey companies, figure out that it's not worth spending tens of thousands of dollars suing their turnkey provider and just move on - which allows the turnkey provider to not change their ways and stay in business:(

You should also check out this BP thread about the topic:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/88/topics/976647-turnkey-company-suggestion?highlight_post=5648876&page=1#p5648876

Aj Parikh · Answer

I purchased a SFH from them back in November 2020 and I have been really happy with the purchase. The process is really easy and the property management is always on top of the property. Definitely recommend them.

Let me know if you want to connect and chat about it.

Drew Sygit · Answer

We can understand both sides of this situation.

You want someone to spend hours listening/understanding to your goals and guiding you through the process.

Martel has their processes set up to run like a machine, because sales is ALWAYS a numbers game. It must be working for them, otherwise they would have more time to spend with you.

There should be a "happy median" to satisfy both sides.

Lynn Milos · Answer

Thank you AJ!

Aj Parikh · Answer

@Patrick Gregory I would love to connect and chat about my experience with Martel and other turnkey companies I interviewed. Just DM me and we can set up a time.

Patrick Gregory · Answer

@Aj Parikh Hi AJ, I live in Springfield VA and would love to meet up and discuss your experience with Martel and REI in general!

Martel Turnkey Rentals -- Reviews?

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