Morris Invest Case Study
I want to apologize ahead of time for the long post but there are a lot of members asking questions about @Clayton Morris , with Morris Invest ( morrisinvest.com ) and not much information out there. I wanted to provide a case study on my time with the company and hopefully provide an unbiased “face based” documentation of my dealings with the organization.
In early July 2016 I heard about Clayton Morris, through his BiggerPockets Interview, which led me to the Morris Invest Podcast. I had bought a duplex a few months before and while it was a positive experience, traditional bank financing took forever so I decided to use cash for my next purchase. I spent a few weeks on vacation, listening to every Morris Invest podcast and over 30 of the BiggerPockets podcasts and decided I was going to buy another rental house.
When I got home from my vacation I looked on the Morris Invest website and couldn't find an available phone interview with Clayton for almost 3 months. I looked again a few days later and low and behold, a spot had opened up the next day. I immediately schedule the phone consult and impatiently waited.
I didn't end up talking to Clayton but I did get to talk to Dave (Client Specialist). He was courteous and intelligent and walked me through the process. I didn't get pressured to do anything and after our conversation I felt comfortable moving forward. Dave explained that he would send me details on a property and the first to claim the property would have the right to purchase.
The next day,I received a picture of a house in Indianapolis, with a sale price of $20k, projected renovations of $20k and projected rental price of $700 per month. I spent 24 hours trying to conduct my due diligence but by the time I was done, the property had already been sold to someone else. Two days later I received an email for a a $30k duplex with $30k projected rehab cost and projected rents of $1,300. I jumped on this deal and immediately go the house under contract.
The purchase only took a few days and by July 17, the house was mine. I was immediately handed over to Nicole, the Operations Manager, to start the rehab. She explained that 50% of the rehab was due up front, 25% after the crew was complete with half of the rehab, and the final 25% once it was complete. At first, email contact with Nicole happened very quickly, but as the renovations started it took longer and longer to receive a reply. I was able to get a scope of work (after a few requests), paid 50% of the rehab cost and everything seems to be going smoothly.
Aug 19 - I received my first set of pictures of the rehab and things look good. They crew built new kitchens, bathrooms, electrical, and replaced the flooring and new interior paint. I still haven't receive my deed or any official documentation that shows that I own the house other than a contract and purchase agreement. I also payed another 25% to continue the rehab.
Sep 24 - Received my second set of pictures showing the new plumbing and more of the interior. Everything looks good so I ask for some exterior photos and more information on the status of my deed and paperwork and am told the house should be ready in the next few days.
Sep 30 - have still not heard back from Nicole with the final pics of the rehab, status of the paperwork, and if we are ready for tenants.
So far, we have had a few hiccups and communication is getting slower and slower. We are over two months in and I do not know if the house is ready for tenants and I only have email contact information so I am in “wait mode”.
I will keep this forum up to date as I continue through the process so people can use it as a case study for Morris Invest. Please let me know if you have any questions.
@Jay Hinrichs I think that Natalie Bastin is the rep at the property management company. They do this so that the LLC is harder to trace back to you if someone is looking to sue you. You own it but it has her name on the documents. I talked to them about a year ago and they mentioned doing this. I could be wrong but I think that is what is going on here.
"I feel like there are many investors in the same boat as me and there is no way we are all just screwed out of our time and money.. at least I would hope not."
@Jacob Carlson do not underestimate how deep this rabbit hole goes. We've been finding out a lot more than what's been posted on forums and still it gets deeper.
Looks like BlueSky is no longer able to take incoming clients.
Blue Sky is shutting down and transferring clients to HomeRiver Group.
@Aram V. to answer your question, yes it is in Indiana. Sorry for the late response. I have received picture confirmation that next to nothing has been done on my house after waiting over five months.
I thought I would add a few things I have found while putting together a video on Clayton and Morris Invest. Clayton was on my podcast in early 2018 and that was the only podcast I ever removed after I had a lot people emailing me about him. I stumbled on the threads here and recently saw the news about the lawsuits. I then got into a spat on Instagram with Clayton.
I decided it was time to make my own video and during that process discovered some very interesting things. AS many of you know Clayton claims he had nothing to do with these properties after they were sold to investors and he is completely innocent, blah blah blah.
After reading articles I saw his sister mentioned a few times by investors. I also saw Nichole Meckley's name mentioned over and over again. I did some research and yes Nicole Meckley is Clayton's sister. Many people here assumed she worked for Ocean Pointe since she was the contact person for contracts, leases, photos, repairs etc. I assumed that as well in my video. (Ironically Clayton mentions on his website that is his sister also lost money in this deal. I guess she conned herself)
Nicole just messaged me on Facebook not too happy with my video. She said something really interesting. She said she never worked for Ocean Pointe. I checked into a few more things and she still lists her occupation as working with Morris Invest on LinkedIn. In fact, it shows she has worked for Morris Invest since 2016 on LinkedIn. So that entire time she was contacting investors when Clayton claims he had nothing to do with the houses, she was working for Morris Invest.