Anyone worked with Profit From Rentals?
Investor · Littleton , CO · Member since 2014 · 30 posts · 10 votes
Anyone worked with Profit From Rentals?
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Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes@Miriam Nalumansi @Brie Schmidt @Engelo Rumora
First off
Brie is correct I do have experience with this company and I have a lot of experience in the space having funded over 2,000 rehabs in a 20 year career in 21 different states. And as such I consider this company a top Tier TK company and have invested with them.
I suspect I have quite a bit more experience than you have Miriam. To that point.
As Brie noted on a trip to Chicago when Brie and I got together for a nice dinner and to talk shop the purpose of the trip was to do deep due diligence on PPR and Alex the owner. I also met with Engelo and his partner on that trip...
I spent 4 days there going through the as is middle of construction and finished product
I met with their staff their rehab superintendent along with Closing attorney REaltors etc etc. The kind of deep due diligence one cannot get from a cab ride and talking to a know it all cabbie.. your feed back is not credible in my mind. And to sway others is a disservice to the community.
While your correct non inhabitable units will sell for 40 to 50k AS IS these units require 80 to 120k in rehab to get to the point that Alex's company then sells them..
Alex's rehabs are top notch from my due diligence and experience.. homes are taken to the stud's new plumbing new electrical new windows all new kitchens with slab granite under mount sinks bathrooms completely redone in tile.. ( heck they are as nice as my new construction here in Oregon).
I just wanted to clear the air here since on BP anyone can take pot shots, and as we know there are a lot of newbies on this site that really have no clue as to what they are doing.
109 Replies
Justin, I'm well aware of who you are and no I'm not mistaken. You were the first person I spoke to when I was considering those Chicago investments. You were the sales guy and Alex was taking care of the rehabs. You made promises you didn't deliver on and shortly after you and Alex parted ways and Alex bought you out & kept the name Elite. I decided to continue business with Alex which was also a big mistake. You had promised to refinish the basement on one of the properties after closing so you can put in one of your workers at discounted rent but that never happened. Alex said that you were making promises that no way could happen so he did the project at cost. I found out recently those two I bought when you were there along with the subsequent ones I bought were done WITHOUT permits. Although you are no longer partners you cannot disassociate and deny what was promised during the transaction during that time. I don't forget especially when the experiences are poor.
- Professional · Glenview, IL · Member since 2015 · 114 posts · 65 votes7y
Sara ... I’m sorry to report you are still mistaken. You are confusing me with Alex. The public records clearly show you bought buildings from EliteIvest well after alex and I split ways (1 to 2 years later). I have never had any interest, operated, or anything to do with eliteinvest. You may have called my company prior to buying your buildings but you never purchased from my team. I can clearly see you are bitter so why don’t you call me directly and I will see if I can help you fix your problems.
Also ... i don’t operate in the areas you purchase in fact I moved out of the south side of chicago back in 2014 and 2015 which appears to be before you bought your buildings. Alex and EliteInvest operate in the south side of chicago and continue to do so. Furthermore I pull permits for every house I buy. Im more than willing to show documentation verifyint this if you like. I operate in the south suburbs and you can’t sell houses without a transfer stamp which requires permits every time. Sorry to disappoint you on that front. You only need to go my website and look at my houses for sale to verify all these facts.
Again you are confusing me with Alex. Alex is in lots of legal trouble for not pulling permits. I hear he is working very hard to resolve that issue with the city of chicago legal department and these lack of permit issues spans a lot of his clients. I’m sorry you got caught up in that mess however I think it’s unfair to blame honest ethical people that had nothing to do with your issue. Wish you the best!
-Justin
- Wholesaler · Nationwide · Member since 2011 · 6 posts · 4 votes7y
I have been working on and off with Justin and Profit from Rentals for many years as a Broker. I know in the past 4 years he has been worked exclusively in the suburban markets of Chicago doing single family homes in very nice rental neighborhoods. He runs a tight ship including an A to Z win-win turnkey operation and I can speak from personal experience that Justin is very much appreciated and respected by his clients. I hate to see anyone tarnish his good name so I’m posting my experience with ProfitFromRentals and the owner Justin Ericsson.
- Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2016 · 515 posts · 247 votes7y
Originally posted by @Dawn Anastasi:
Originally posted by @Miriam Nalumansi:
This would have been my first investment so I'm no expert but the quality of the homes was not what I expected. The area was worse than I expected with many boarded up homes on the block. For fun, my boyfriend and I asked the cab driver who dropped us off at the property what he thought a home in the area would go for...he said $30K-$40K max. The property was being sold to us at $170K. Worst of all, the inspector I dealt with (a local company with very strong yelp reviews) told me the company does very poor quality rehabs.
Overall I do believe the owner is sincere and also that I probably could have made money (at least in the short term). The rehabs *Look* great relative to what is available in the area so they are able to rent them out easily. But I had concerns about longer term liability with the homes. I wasn't comfortable with this being my first deal but will keep an eye on them as I'm curious about how they will do. Apparently there is a huge development project in the area that should be great for property values.
So they are trying to sell something worth maybe $40k for $170k and the condition of the properties are sub-par, and the neighborhoods are dangerous?
And this type of investment is acceptable to out of state/country investors???
Since when are cab drivers experts at gauging the value of a property?
Justin, again I am NOT mistaken. I don't do business with many people and I don't EVER forget my interactions especially when they are not positive. You cannot deny you were partners when I closed on Elizabeth and MLK PRIOR to you guys parting ways. Attached is your email to me regarding the two I bought from you and Alex. Lucky or unlucky for you I don't delete my emails. As you can see it's dated 5/23/13. Mark from Maverick referred me to you and that's when we spoke. You handled everything up until I closed and a few weeks later was when Alex told me he bought you out of Elite. You kept PFR and he kept Elite.
I even received emails from you after you parted ways with Alex advertisting your rehabs. I'm also receiving messages from people that have bought from you and have had issues.
BTW: I'm not in the business to tarnish anyone's name but I tell it like it is and I always have evidence to back up my claims. He promised to finish the basement for free after we close and put in his worker at reduced rent. Here's another image of an email I sent to Justin after we closed on the property . I never received a response from him... I'm not the only one that has had bad experiences with PFR. I've received two private messages from people that have experienced issues with their purchases from PFR as well. The most recent one was just last week.
- Professional · Glenview, IL · Member since 2015 · 114 posts · 65 votes7y
Sarah.... i don't think it's worth the effort to get into a BP thread back and forth over your issues from what appear to be nearly 6 years ago so this will be my last post (see last paragraph below). First i kindly ask that you email this contract stating we agreed to finish this basement for whatever house you have this grief. If you had a contract for the basement then i'm sure Alex would have fixed your basement. I can't say what Alex or Elite promised you along the way but you clearly showed no emails with me agreeing to do what you are stating. Anyone can send an email out requesting something ridiculous but that doesn't make it true or even contractually required. You obviously continued to buy houses from Alex so your issues couldn't have been that bad. Alex is the one in trouble right now for not pulling permits and well over 100 lawsuits (note Alex is working hard to resolve all of his legal troubles and has been doing so for several years now) and my record is super clean with zero lawsuits for good reason! Every one of my houses in my inventory has permits and i have a stellar reputation in the communities i operate not to mention the nationwide hundreds of clients and vendors i have worked with for nearly 15 years. You don't operate that long with this much success without maintaining a super clean record.
Furthermore I disagree with your reputation comment. You ARE out to hurt my reputation over an issue that you never even once tried to resolve with me directly. How can i help you if i don't know the issue exists? Could it be because you worked with Alex on your issues and not me? I think the BP community can read between the lines here.
Lastly for what it's worth i have sold hundreds of houses to hundreds of happy clients all around the world (not to mention provided beautiful affordable housing to thousands of families living in our rentals). A couple complaints out of hundreds is what many people would call a near perfect online reputation. Unfortunately the happy clients don't come to sites like BP and post positive things about every good vendor they interact with (who has the time right?).
I kindly ask that you just call me if you want to try and work out your issues as i have said on nearly every BP response to you. I will happily get Alex and his team involved and we will see where the chips fall. I think you will find a very different story evolves in the end. Take care!
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