Anyone worked with New Western Denver?

Question

Hey, I’m new to the BP forums and to real estate investing. I was curious if anyone in Colorado has worked with New Western?

Aaron Lam · Answer

Thank you Steve for the reply! Definitely have to do some more research before purchasing my first deal from them.

Steve K. · Answer

Hi Aaron, welcome to BP! You've come to the right place.

Regarding NWA, I have spoken to some of their reps (they approached me on here, at one point they were all over BP trying to lure people in and defend their business practices from negative reviews). You can use the search feature (the magnifying glass icon on the top right side of the page) to conduct a search and pull up many old reviews on them, or simply click on these links for some similar thread titles to this one:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/523...

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/7598...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/759...

My personal experience dealing with them was limited, and everyone I dealt with was friendly and seemed very nice, however I gave them specific buying criteria and they sent me stuff that was nowhere close to meeting what I was looking for, so it ended up being a total waste of my time. The properties I was sent not only didn't meet my criteria, but I found out they were actually recently expired MLS listings that had been marked up ~$15k from their previous list price that they failed to sell for, and the comps they sent were not even close to being accurate, so it all seemed very shady actually.

On top of that, they asked for a $5k NON-REFUNDABLE deposit before they even "release" all the property info, which they explain is to weed out "tire kickers" and "protect our interests" (mind you this is not earnest money that can be recovered with contingencies such as inspection, appraisal, financing etc., this is 100% non-refundable money that New Western keeps if you choose not to or can't move forward with the deal for whatever reason).

As if all this isn't bad enough, they don't work with conventional financing and steer customers towards using their own internal lender, which charges exorbitant rates.

My red flags were waving frantically and alarm bells were sounding at a deafening volume with just a small amount of research into these guys. Maybe later on in this thread we'll get to hear from some satisfied investors that have had good experiences with them, and it's probable that some of their employees will come on this thread to explain why they do things the way they do, but to me it seems like their business structure is set up to take advantage of new investors who don't know any better, and NWA seems to make more money on $5k non-refundable down payments and predatory lending practices than they make on conducting win-win transactions.

Keep in mind I did not go past the initial stages of working for them as they did not pass my sniff test, so do your own due diligence on them as you would with any partner. You should never trust anyone else's ARV, projected rent, CMA's, or thoughts on the condition of a property other than your own inspector.

Since they have multiple branches and do a high volume of business (according to them), I'm sure the customer experience varies, however the $5k non-refundable down payment alone is a deal breaker for me. I'd never want that much skin in the game before even seeing the property. Maybe I'm a tire kicker, I do like to kick a lot of tires, but only because I prefer to put money down on deals that are good investments. Good luck!

Matt M. · Answer

There is a revolving line of new agents that join them and networth (at one point the same company), which speaks alot about the leadership, etc with the office here in Denver.  I won't do business with them or even allow them in my listings.

My best advice is to run your OWN numbers and DO NOT make investment decisions solely based on numbers these companies provide.