Joint Venture Issues with fix and flipper

[Ola Adebayo]

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some insight or a status update from anyone familiar with Bonic Homes LLC or Africa Estrada. I met her and Mary McGinty through a local real estate meetup program earlier this year.

I entered into a Joint Venture (JV) agreement in March 2026 to fund the renovation of 1425 D Street, Sacramento. Per the agreement, I provided $25,000 in capital.

The Issue: Since funding, communication from Africa Estrada/Bonic Homes has ceased. I have not received the monthly reports required by Section 17 of our agreement, and my calls/messages are currently going unanswered.

Has anyone else worked with this team or Mary McGynty recently? I’m trying to determine if the project is still moving forward or if I need to initiate the arbitration process as outlined in our contract. Any information on the current state of 1425 D Street would be greatly appreciated.

[Dan H.]

I am not involved in this effort, but i have been consulted on if there is a viable means of saving this effort.

I believe the following all via hearsay.  I have not heard from all principles.  One principle in particular, I have it heard their side.   So all of this is what I have been told, most I have not verified (but i have seen the current pictures and 3 rehab quotes (calling one of the 3 a quote is being generous but it did have a price)): 

- that effort was in trouble before your investment.  They should not have been bringing in new partners on to the sinking ship.  suspect the they is one particular partner that you can likely guess.

- it appears a partner (I will call partner a, you can likely guess who the principles point to as partner a) has brought in partners beyond what other partners were aware and seems to have ghosted the partners.  At least this is what is stated by some of the principles (partners/lenders).   I have not heard the partner a’s side of the story.

- there are lenders that lent money without any collateral or personnel guarantees.   There is a transitive nature of trust in the lending on this effort.  Lender A trusted lender b who trusted partner a.   These lenders likely are going to lose their investment.  Friendships have been severed.

- One of the unsecured lenders is looking into every option to recover something or at a minimum to make sure that anyone who behaved unethically is going to find it difficult to do so in the future.

- have you seen recent pictures of the property?  Purchase was $350k.   It is virtually demoed (I have seen pictures) and market has fallen a little.   Current property value is far below acquisition costs.   The investor contributions and lender provided money far exceeds this value.   My belief is it likely is 2x this value which would be less troubling if there was a large sum of money sitting somewhere that is still associated with this effort.

- it is delinquent to the primary lender in first position who has started default processing.  I was told when it was first initiated but do not remember the exact date but it was close to when you state you invested.

- I suspect the gps have legal exposure.   It seems like all principles point to the same person as screwing everyone (not including trusting someone that did not thoroughly vest other people).

- are you aware of the rehab initial estimate (that I could tell instantly from the pictures was far too low and that was not even including the historical designation ($40k+ for windows)).  Are you aware of the current rehab estimates?   They varied greatly, the lowest was too low.  The others could be high; some line items seemed high).

- partner a has at least 4 other projects, one of which I have been told is as bad as this one.  I have not been asked to look at it, but I find it difficult to believe another project could be this bad.

Unfortunately, it is my belief your $25k is not worth pursuing.  There are a lot of people losing money on this “deal”.   Some of the partners indicate they do not know about some of the LPs.   Lots of mistakes but what sets this apart is the level of trust without verification of some operators/lenders that should know better but were dealing with “friends” they thought they could trust.  One lender in particular I question if she has ever lent real money without any guarantee prior to this.  I know she will not be doing so in the future.

Sorry about your financial loss.   I am unsure of what vetting you did, but one principle has searchable out of country issues.  Most of the principles seem to be victims (at least from what I was told).

Best wishes