Has anyone ever bought a rental property in Memphis from this person?
He lists MANY properties for sale in the BP "properties" section at what appears to be highly INFLATED prices. Also makes what appears to be unlikely claims of expected cash flow.
I've looked at several of his listings and many are 10k or more over what even Zillow estimates the value to be. And the conventional wisdom seems pretty much to be that the "zestimate" found on Zillow.com is very inflated and to be taken with a grain of salt. Of course, maybe the toilet seats are gold plated, and he puts in marble floors, but....
So, has anyone bought properties from this guy? If so, did you end up overpaying? Did you achieve anything close to the cash flow he claims you can make?
Not trying to be a jerk. But I own propeties in memphis, and this sounds suspicous. My loyalty tend to be with fellow BP investors, not with vendors.
Commercial Loan Officer · Southern Maine, ME · Member since 2009 · 782 posts · 415 votes
15y
I have to ask why do you care what anyone is paying for property that you aren't involved in? It's apparent you have an ax to grind with Chris and Memphis Invest and are using passive aggressive posts to voice your "anti-Chris" message.
What's your goal here? More to the point, who appointed you the babysitter of all real estate transactions in Memphis? What business is out of yours what someone pays for a listing that isn't yours or isn't asking for input on?
These types of posts irk me as there isn't any real benefit to them. The OP often doesn't have a real gripe other than they don't like whom they're posting about and are simply looking to stir the hornets nest by creating negative press.
I'm not really angry. I just don't like being accused of slander for pointing out a vendor who consistently charges too much for properties. You and others seem to agree that is way too much.
Of course you have to do due dilligence. When did I ever say you didn't? Part of that is knowing what is too much, and why.
Here to be fair, I'll point out another vendor. A couple years ago when shopping around, a San Diego based vendor, Meridian Pacific, was trying to pawn off a run of the mill 3/2 on Winterpark Dr (38141) for $100k!!! Market rent was around 1000. Outrageous!
There is a HUGE out of state investor interest in Memphis. Companies are out there to capitalize on it. Fair enough. But I don't get this "Hey your're not buying! Nobody's put a gun to anyone's head! What's you're problem buddy!"...etc. mentality on a RE investor board.
Rental Property Investor · memphis, TN · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
15y
I've watched the thread over the last couple of days and I want to point out something that I say from the stage every time I speak to a group of investors.
My company is not right for everyone and not everyone needs a company like mine. Phillip has a right to his opinion and started the thread with a simple question about my companies performance. I serve 297 investors as of today and most are business professionals that do not spend time on RE boards like BP.
However, If anyone out there has purchased properties from my company please share your experience and if our numbers are accurate. From our own analysis (if you read my blog or articles you'ss see we are fanatical about tracking metrics) on average over a three year period we are historically right on. Some investors properties have absolutely performed worse than the numbers we provide and in those cases it is our responsibility to help cover unexpected costs, reimburse monthly management fees or anything else to help because investors rely on the info. we give them to purchase.
As a last note, there are some great threads on here that are much more interesting! LOL. Phillip has a right to his opinion, but we also carefully price each property and some are better than others and all are perfect for the portfolios of one of our clients. We provide a very valuable service and have a list of clients and new clients that want to invest when the right property is presented.
No more questioning his motive for asking the question. That is what this forum is all about.
Rental Property Investor · memphis, TN · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
15y
Shawn Dandridge -
If you can buy properties in this neighborhood, not just 38116 because there are huge parts of 38116 I will not touch - but this particular area of 38116, then I will gladly purchase those properties from you for a very good wholesale mark up. Remember, my sale price of $70,500 included a $16,000 complete renovation so if you can truly pay $25k to $35k all day long, you have a buyer right here for every one.
We are the largest SFH buyer in West Tennessee buying from 20 - 35 properties each month. So, if you can get those prices, I would love to help you make as much money as you want each month as a wholesaler.
Investor · Riverside, CA · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
14y
I think it should be illegal to leave out the vacancy factor in any property prospectus. I see so many real estate people come through California offering out of state rentals and every time they fail to mention the real costs associated with owning investment property. I run a club here and we have a trash can set up in the back of the room with a sign on it that reads "Out of State Investment Opportunities."
Regardless of whether MemphisInvest is a good source of properties for you or not (and I know it is for many people), I have personally done business with Kent Clothier when I owned the license for 800SellNow for all of southern California. I like Kent. He is a very savvy business person and I very much enjoyed doing business with him. I can only imagine his skill, ethics, and philosophy runs in the family. Maybe an investor has to pay a little more for a property through them. Think about what that investor doesn't have to do; make hundreds of offers, do lots of follow ups, find a competent rehab crew, manage that crew, do a punch list and make sure it gets done, advertise for a tenant, screen the tenant, do the lease up, deal with the tenant issues, collect the rent, do annual inspections, etc.
If I had a full time J.O.B. and wanted to invest in real estate for the many benefits it offers without the headaches, I would very much appreciate a service like MemphisInvest. There is a market for it and obviously people are very happy with it because they sell hundreds of properties every year.
Just because YOU don't like fruit cake Phillip, doesn't mean you have to complain about it to everyone that will listen.
Real Estate Investor · Somerdale, NJ · Member since 2008 · 42 posts · 30 votes
14y
Phillip-
I've got no dog in this fight either way. Personally, after conversing with Chris and some of his staff at MemphisInvest, I think they offer a valuable service for their niche, which Chris has already explained, and it seems everyone on this discussion is familiar with.
Their prices are too high FOR YOU-ok, we get that. That just means exactly that, their prices are too high FOR YOU. For others, their prices are just right. Obviously so, if they're selling 20-30 houses a month in Memphis, right?
There will always be companies that charge less, and companies that charge more, but when you're making a comparison, it makes sense to compare the whole picture, does it not?
Because as I happened to browse bigger pockets, I found the following post from you:
I am an out of state investor who fell for the marketing hype put out by a Mempis wholesaler about what a great place Memphis was for rental cash flow. Anyway, I’m going through an eviction of tenant in a nicer area of SE Memphis right now. I’ve had to take this tenant to eviction court in January. On the court date (start of the following month), they showed up and paid the rent and the eviction was dropped. Decided to give them another chance. But my radar was up! Then they paid the rent late in April and we started eviction again. The end of the month came by and still no rent. Got an eviction judgement last Friday.
Incredibly, the property manager tried to talk me out of evicting them so long as they paid up. Even after two trips in 4 months to eviction court. However, I wanted nothing to do with them. The property manager just couldn’t believe I wanted them out, and said complacently that who cares so long as they pay up after each trip to eviction court.
Then I found out the wife (who works for the IRS!) had a horrible rental history. She was taken to eviction court in 2008 five times! And guess what? The property manager didn’t even put her on the lease!! He put only the husand on the lease (had no hits on his rental history). I canned the property manager for letting the deadbeat wife fly under his radar.
Now I have to get them out with a new property manager. Old pm is mad that I fired him and has admitted to no wrong doing.
I can see now why screening tenants is so important!
What you described above is the very reason people are willing to pay a premium price to buy Memphis Invest properties, or any turnkey properties for that matter. Why not ask Chris what his company does to mitigate that risk for their clients, or to handle situations like this for their clients?
I've never purchased a home from them, but I've spoken to a number of their customers in doing my own due diligence about my own business model, and the words that I heard from each of them was "superior customer service."
That's worth a premium to many people, clearly not to you, but price is not a major concern for every investor. For some, value is the most important factor, and from what I've seen, Memphis Invest does provide value for the prices they charge.
So at the end of the day, buy houses from them, or don't buy houses from them. You're entitled to your opinion of them, for sure. But basing your whole argument on the fact that "other companies charge less so that means they charge too much" is incomplete, at best.
You've never spoken with Chris to determine how much time and effort they put into educating their investors before they buy, have you? You can't tell anyone on this forum what the process from non-investor to Memphis Invest investor looks like, can you?
To people looking for value, those things probably matter more than price.
Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
14y
The whole thing here is PRICE and CONTROL.
Since real estate is what I do for a living I want to wring every last cent out of it and get the best margins and lowest price I can.I also want to manage and control my deal and invest locally where I live.
Other investors might not live locally where they can invest and get the returns they want or they work a full time job and want to allocate some investment to real estate.These types of investors usually have many different types of investments in their portfolios (stocks,CD's,etc.)
They want the balance of a decent return but not a big headache.So one investor might say I want 11 CAP and do it myself.Another might say I am happy with 7 CAP and being less hands on.
It depends on your age and where you are in the investing cycle as well.Are you going for aggressive growth or have you accumulated a bunch of wealth already and just want decent returns above yearly inflation??
I can see Chris being a right fit for someone but not everyone.It takes a lot to do property management correctly and handle a big headache for a little return.To run a company like that you have a bunch of expenses.
At the end of the day an investor can look at both points and say "I want to do it myself and buy cheaper" OR "I will let them handle it and paying extra money on the sales price is worth it".
I can tell you from experience that information can be found for FREE out there on almost anything YET a majority buy information presented in a nice package.
I can tell people how to do something themselves all day long and some will but many will just say "It is too much work and just call me when you get a deal".
