New Western Acquisitions (Reviews)
When inquiring about a property on craigslist, I spoke with someone from New Western Acquisitions. He wants to meet tomorrow..........Can anyone give me your thoughts if you have experience with them? what do they do? honest ect? do they want money? i have been to their website and know they have some presence here on bigger pockets, but I am looking for comments from 1st hand experience. Thanks for your help.
I work with their Houston location and have bought several properties from them for my rehab projects. Of course, you need to do your own due diligence in reviewing the comps and making sure the deal makes sense but on the whole I am pretty happy with the way things worked out with them.
John Winston,
In the link provided by Steve Babiak, some of the replies mention the company as: NWA.
That post should stop you from meeting with anyone, from that company.
Raymond
thank y'all for commenting and your input. I am new to RE investing. It is in my family, but trying to make my own path . BP has been a wealth of knowledge.
thanks,
Hi John, I'm Joe Huber the Broker and General Manager at New Western Acquisitions Dallas. Thank you for looking into us. We do a very high volume of business and have done over 1000 transactions in the DFW market alone. As I'm sure you can understand, we do have some people that are upset with the amount of business we do and tend to talk a little "smack." We are registered with the BBB and have been for the last 3 years and have never had a complaint. We have success stories everyday and if anyone ever lost money on a New Western deal, it is very unfortunate that the communication lines weren't open as I give my cell number out freely and encourage investors to contact me personally should a problem ever arise. If there is ever a problem, 99.9% of the time it's because we didn't know about it. We assist all of our investors from financing to putting them in touch with a reputal 3rd party contractor. Our business runs on referral and repeat buyers, if you would like me to put you in touch with some investors that have a similar strategy to what you have, I would love to get you several names and numbers of people that have actually done business with us and can share their personal stories. Thanks again and I hope to hear from you soon!
Regards,
Joe Huber
I would like to read reviews on New Western Acquisition. The link above doesn't work.
Does anyone know how the company operates?
You should view deals from them just as you would from any other wholesaler. You need to do your own due diligence and evaluate if the deal is worthwhile. I have received several of their emails, ran my own comps, and not proceeded any further. I have found that their ARVs are unrealistically high, but their repair estimates seem reasonable.
Their business model is identical to another Texas based company, so one of the companies is just copying the other...
Shaun Vembutty definitely bought a good amount of deals from us last year, I know this because he beat out my investors quite a few times!
I couldn't agree more to what Stan Butler said about doing your own due diligence. We are going to give our best opinion on numbers like the ARV and estimated repair costs based on recent comps and our knowledge of the industry. I value the opinion of my investors and am always willing to discuss their evaluation of the deal as long as they can provide comps that paints a different picture.
We are still getting acclimated to the new market here in Atlanta, but I do believe our numbers have been accurate for the majority of our deals. I just closed on a deal in Jefferson Park where the appraisal came back right where we said it would. The rehab is going to start on that one shortly so I will update you guys after it sells.
I have done one deal with NWA.
Their contract addendum contains clauses 5c and 5g that states the buyer waives the right to terminate the contract and get their earnest money refunded.
So basically, the only way you can get out of their contract is if the title does not come clean. Any delay (no matter how long) on their side to get a clean title does not void the contract and your money is blocked all that time.
The addendum allows them to extend the closing date due to such delays at no cost to them. However, if you as a buyer are not able to perform on the said closing date, they will charge you a fee of $200 per day( clause 5j) for every extended day.
Also, clause 4 of the addendum states that you will have to pay the closing costs between Owner of Record and NWA. This is in addition to the closing costs between NWA and you.
As you can see, the contract is not even handed and heavily in their favor even when they cannot perform.
I'd steer clear of any company that drafts contracts of this sort.
Timothy Joost Hey Timothy, thank you for the feedback.
I'd like to address each of your points individually:
I. We guarantee clear and marketable title for all properties that we market to our investor base. We do have a special provision added to paragraph 11 of the standard TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale) that states "Seller may extend closing date up to 14 days." This special provision is intended to protect our interest in the deal should there ever be a delay of the original closing date that we set with the original seller of the property. We move quickly; certain sellers do not. This 14-day window allows us a reasonable amount of time to resolve any issues with the seller or title of the property while still maintaining our and our buyer's interest in the transaction.
II. We do not offer an option or inspection period on any properties that we market. The reason for this is that all of our deals are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. Our investors are under no obligation whatsoever until such time that they produce a down payment in certified funds and sign a purchase contract. I tell all of my investors to use the time between when I send them a deal and when they sign a contract and produce a down payment to do whatever research they need to do in order to feel comfortable with the deal.
III. As I have stated previously on Bigger Pockets, the only time we refund a down payment is if we are unable to deliver clear and marketable title to a property within our 14-day window from the closing date set with our investor. We are not in the business of taking investor down payments. That doesn't benefit us nor does it benefit the investor. We do, however, expect that an investor fully understand that they are purchasing properties from us in the same manor that we are purchasing properties from the original seller: as-is. As such, there are inherent risks involved when you purchase distressed single-family real estate in this manor. Yes, there are certain steps that can be taken to help mitigate these risks; visual inspection of the properties by investors before purchasing being one of them. In other words, we don't typically sell properties sight-unseen. I want my investors to understand fully what they are getting themselves into and be comfortable with that decision before purchasing any properties from me.
IV. We never arbitrarily extend closing dates. Quite frankly, our goal is always to close our deals as quickly as possible. Since we actually close and take title to all of the properties we sell, the closing date we set with our investors is always contingent upon the closing date that we set with the original seller. The only time we're ever extending a closing date with our investor is if the original seller isn't ready to close on time. So yes, we do expect our investors to be ready to close on our deals when the closing date that we've set with them rolls around. My investors know that as long as they have their ducks in a row (read: funds available and ready) for closing, they will never be charged a per diem for extending the closing date on their behalf. The reason we do charge a per diem when an investor isn't ready to close on time is because we are charged a per diem by the original seller when we don't close on time. This is intended to be a pass-through expense, not an additional fee.
V. Due to the double close nature of our transactions, yes we do require our investors to pay a closing cost reimbursement for the closing costs that we incur to acquire the property on their behalf. Again, this is a pass-through expense and not an additional fee. We do not make money on closing cost reimbursements. That said, we don't intend to lose money on them either.
VI. In all business transactions, those involving real estate and otherwise, it is always prudent behavior to ensure that the agreed upon terms be in writing and fully documented in order to protect the interests of all parties involved. As I stated above, our investors are under no obligation whatsoever at any point in time until they: I. View a property that we have available for sale; II. Produce a down payment in certified funds; III. Sign a purchase contract. Once an investor does those three things, then yes, we expect them to be working in good faith towards closing the property as that is our ultimate goal.
Feel free to reach out to me directly by phone or PM if there are other issues that you need help resolving. I'm happy to help in any way that I'm able.
J Scott - I'm assuming you're speaking of the contract I sent Todd the other day for him to review.
The 14 days that Lyall is referring to is stated in the special provisions of the standard TREC 1-4 family purchase and sale agreement (or in our case GAR/GREC). It states that "Seller may extend closing date up to 14 days".
The copy you have is a blank one I pulled off an associates desk and sent it to through the scanner to you and didn't realize it was missing the verbiage.
Love me some NWA...
J Scott Hey J., I appreciate your input, but I am actually incredibly well-versed in the language of our addendum and yes, you are correct that the verbatim wording of our Addendum #1 Section 5 Paragraph G reads as follows:
"If in the event conveyance of title to Seller / Assignor is delayed by Owner of Record then Seller / Assignor may reasonably extend closing date of the Purchase and Sale Agreement at its sole discretion."
You are also correct in your assertion that this addendum does override the language in the contract itself. In practice, we have always used the 14-day window as our "reasonable" period. Sure, you could argue that we could extend a contract as long as we'd like, but you could also argue that the original contract is void beyond the original 14-day provision. In Texas, contracts are only terminated when a buyer or seller prepare a termination of contract form and a subsequent release of earnest money form is signed by all parties. Since there is no earnest money per se involved in our contract with the investor, there is some gray area.
That said, in the two years that I've been working for New Western, it has always been our position to give the investor a choice after our 14-day window has expired. At that point they can either: A. Wait on us to resolve the title or other issue that's holding up the closing; B. Take their down payment and apply it to another New Western property; or C. Take their down payment and walk away.
As stated at least twice previously on Bigger Pockets, we're not in the business of taking investors down payments.
Our Addendum #1 Section 5 Paragraph C reads as follows:
"Marketable Title Acknowledgement: At the time of the Purchase and Sales Agreement, Seller owns a Contract for Sale and Purchase of the Property ("Seller's Purchase Contract"). Buyer acknowledges that Seller currently does not own title to the Property. This sale is contingent upon Seller obtaining marketable title to the Property under Seller's Purchase Contract. If Seller is unable to obtain marketable title to the Property, then Seller shall return Buyer's down payment, and the Purchase and Sale Agreement is void with no further obligations between parties. Additionally buyer waives all rights to terminate contract and obtain a refund of earnest money granted in section 6B of the Contract for Sale and Purchase. Seller is not required to furnish a commitment for title until the original closing date or a closing date as extended by section 5(g) of this addendum."
Only factual information has been presented in any of my posts regarding this matter. It was and still is only my intent to share our side of the story in regards to Timothy Joost's post from yesterday.
If there is anything that you feel has been left unresolved or needs further discussion, please feel free to post it here or reach out to me directly.
J Scott Not necessarily.
As long as we as New Western Acquisitions are working in good faith towards closing a transaction with an investor, that addendum clause serves to protect our interest in that transaction.
Hello fellow investors and questioners of NWA...I too have my own situation or conflict with NWA here in the Philadelphia market.
I recently met with their office manager, rep in their offices, signed their disclosure document and went through their deal structures just so I could be added to their list and see what they have. I was told they get between 10-20 properties per month under contract so I was intrigued. Well, to be honest with you, leading up to our latest issue, I only received about 2 deals in the past 3-4 weeks from them.
Okay, so the issue stemmed from one of the deals I did receive via email in which after starting my due diligence even before going to see the property, I noticed it was already listed on the MLS at a price even lower than what NWA was offering it to me for. (And all you investors out there, I'm sure will agree, that we would very rarely pay more for a deal at a higher price than what it is listed for on MLS, unless it truly is a great deal).
So all I did was sent an email back to my rep at the Philly office (Jon Voss), and asked him if he knew that the property was listed on MLS at a lower price than what he offered it out to me at. His response is as follows: (copied and pasted from my email) "I told you we purchase our properties from all different avenues. This relationship is not profitable for either one of us. I think it's best we just go separate ways."
And since then, which was Aug 27, 2014, I have been removed from his buyer's list and have not received any further contact from them. So you tell me what that means or says about them as a company and how they conduct business. It looks like they are preying on and making their business on newer investors who don't know better and are willing to pay higher prices for deals.
Any thoughts or comments, feel free to contact me directly at following:
Jason Stackhouse
Stack Investments, LLC
484-467-6288 (cell)
[email protected]
Jason-
My apologies that you had less than perfect communication with one of our agents. We always strive to be great communicators and go above and beyond for our clients. Please allow me to address a few of your above mentioned concerns.
Received few deals- We try and keep our investors in touch with relevant inventory in which they're interested in. We do in fact move 15-20 properties a month and sometimes more (we're currently experiencing a record month) but of those properties we tried to share the ones that met your criteria.
Listed properties- We acquire property from numerous different avenues, the MLS definitely being one of them. On a very rare occasion we will release a property that is priced over list but I do agree that it would have to be truly a GREAT deal. This property just happened to be that one which is why it sold so fast.
No further contact- We strive to have the best investment inventory in town and provide the most lucrative deals in our market. We conduct business as a licensed real estate brokerage with the utmost ethical standards. If you're interested in talking further on how we can have a profitable business relationship with adequate communication, please feel free to contact me directly. I'm more than happy address any further concerns you may have and even provide you with a different agent to work with.
I very much appreciate your feedback and look forward to hearing from you.
Anthony Gonzales
Broker/General Manager
610-466-5446 (cell)
I met with New Western at their offices today and am interested to see where our relationship goes from here. I'm not a newbie so maybe I won't be a good fit for them. Anthony and Nathan seemed nice enough. Time will tell if the words are backed by action and integrity. Thankfully I have a shark of a lawyer on my team if any shenanigans should arise. Anyone... feel free to message me in the future and I'll let you know how it goes.
It was great meeting with you today Sal and we look forward to a very profitable relationship. We've completed over 4000 successful wholesale transactions and our clients keep coming back for more. Feel free to check out some of the many testimonials on our website and stay tuned for the best investment deals this market has to offer.
I will give you updates as we just closed on a house last night with New Western. So far I can say we are completely dissatisfied.
Mind you this before looking at the numbers below. They tout themselves as saying "their numbers are always conservative."
They called the being valued at $150K appraisal comes back at $143K.
Rehab work with foundation they called it at $21K it came back at $23.6K.
With the financing we stand to make if the house was sold at $143K and the rehab being $23.6K and selling it within 3 months $5k when in the beginning it was looking like $14K.
I am doing this deal with my mom and I told her to lets walk away at closing and she didnt want to cause she didnt want me to loose my $5,999. I told her I didnt care about it. So this is what I am doing for the sake of my mom. If we loose any money. All of my money stands to loose first.
We were also told that all we needed to bring to closing the day of closing was $19K and at closing it was over $26K.
My advice so far is stay away from New Western. Even if we make the $5K this will be the last deal we do with them. I am currently studying for my RE license and I will find my own deals from here on out.
Matthew,
Matt
I am Michael Valerio, the broker of the Fort Worth office. I understand your frustration with this transaction. Purchasing your first investment property can be very stressful and tense. While the subject-to appraisal may have come in a bit light, it only reflects the suggested repairs that you provided to the appraiser. As we reviewed, there are several comps that sold for more than $150,000.00 in your same subdivision within the past 6 months. As a matter of fact, I remember there being a comp near $170k. Having the repairs off by $2.6k is still within reason of being a profitable deal. When we spoke yesterday I assured you that we would help you find another contractor if you aren't satisfied with your current GC. Your associate is committed to your investment being a success and will continue to help you throughout this process.
You purchased a property in one of the most active areas of Fort Worth. At any given time there are plenty of actives, pendings, and sold comps. We will do our best to advise you throughout the rehab to ensure that your finish out matches those of the comparables that sold around or higher than the ARV you are trying to aim for.
Again, I completely understand how stressful your first deal can be, but relax. When this is all over and you've made a decent profit, it will be worth it.
Do not hesitate to call me directly on my cell phone. Your agent will be able to provide you with it.
Matt,
I recently purchased an investment property from NWA, and currently assessing the projected results to actual results. I recently accepted an offer which was below the expected ARV of $114K. The projected ARV was $115K, so I can't complain with the estimate, however after reviewing the original comps from NWA it was clear the actual ARV were more in the range from $103K to $111K. Since there was a tight profit margin as it was, this left little room for any negative variations. As far as the 'out of pocket' cost estimates go, I absolutely agree they do vastly underestimate these funds which consequently leads to severe anxiety issues just days before closing! Almost felt mislead in this regard, It would be in NWA best interest to simply be upfront about these costs, it definitely caught me off guard.
To be quite honest, I will only make a minimal profit which appears to be a trending issue with most of deals provided by NWA. Most deals appear to be better rental property scenarios, and should be advertised as such. I was really pulling for this company as a reliable source for investment properties to begin my business, and even went on to tell my fellow co workers about them. So jury is still out for me, and may purchase another property and try and sell during a better buying season of the year.
I have purchased 2 deals from NW. If your expecting a zero out of pocket deal it's probably not going to happen. I will say the second deal I bought came in as a slow under hand pitch and the bases were loaded. I hit it out of the park and it still hasn't landed. Thanks. NW! Because I was able to rehab the property at a higher level for far less my only OOP was the $5k down payment. Going to into 3rd yr as rental with almost $500 mcf.
With that said, You yourself absolutely must do your own research, verify all the info, history, know the comps (real MLS comps), DOM, etcetera. Have exits a,b,c,d. For the property.
Most of the wholesale brokerages in Houston have in house financing and brother in law general contractors available. I don't use in house financing for automobiles and the same goes for real estate. Don't give someone all the shells to move around. When you bring your own financing and have your own rehab team it at least gets other sets of eyes to look at the deal. Knowing first hand how appraisers values can vary greatly I project low end ARVs to stay safe. If that still works then I'm in.
I will use them again when.
this is my experience with new western. I'm a new investor. I was sold a propert for $220000. Was told the ARV would be $350000 on the conservative side. House appraised for $300000. Hard money lender wouldn't do deal because of the lvr. Nw a wouldn't let me out of contract. They assured me the appraisal was wrong and that "in a couple of months i would make a TON of money." I used my IRA to go through with the deal so I wouldn't lose my earnest money, hoping that NWA was right. I figured if this was what they were in the biz of doing they knew what they were saying. I spent close to $50k rebab bing the house. Listed house for$339 originally. In 4 months I've reduced price several times, now at $279k. Still can't get it sold even though the house is beautiful because market says it is still overpriced. Broker Soo Choo isn't even returning my calls now. These are very bad people...
Originally posted by @A Banks:
this is my experience with new western. I'm a new investor. I was sold a propert for $220000. Was told the ARV would be $350000 on the conservative side. House appraised for $300000. Hard money lender wouldn't do deal because of the lvr. Nw a wouldn't let me out of contract. They assured me the appraisal was wrong and that "in a couple of months i would make a TON of money." I used my IRA to go through with the deal so I wouldn't lose my earnest money, hoping that NWA was right. I figured if this was what they were in the biz of doing they knew what they were saying. I spent close to $50k rebab bing the house. Listed house for$339 originally. In 4 months I've reduced price several times, now at $279k. Still can't get it sold even though the house is beautiful because market says it is still overpriced. Broker Soo Choo isn't even returning my calls now. These are very bad people...
Angie,
I am sorry that you have had a bad experience with one of our deals here at New Western Atlanta. Our office prides ourselves on getting quality deals out to investors on a daily basis. Out of the hundreds of deals that our acquisitions associates looks on a weekly basis, we only select 12-15 properties a month to send out to investors. These are usually deals that our investors flip or rent out to make a nice return on. We had plenty of investors on our data base that loves the process and have made tons of money buying our deals. Either way, the fact is that your property is still not sold for whatever reason, and I want to do everything that I can to help you out. I am sure you can agree with some of pre/post closing services listed below that we have performed for you on this deal.
- gave you close to a 8k price break that we got from the original seller to make your margins as big as possible when you initially bought the house.
- help list the property on MLS for free to help you sell the house.
- had many phone conversations/emails with myself and my associate to try to figure out a solution to the problem.
At the end of the day, all of our efforts still does not help you sell the deal. Unfortunately, we cannot determine the future market conditions for any particular pocket in the city of Atlanta. We can make a educated guess but that is all we can do. I apologize for not returning your phone call yesterday when you called the office. No excuse on that. I tried to return all calls within couple hours but I was just super swamped yesterday. I hope that the conversation that we just over the phone will help you put you at ease. Let's get this deal listed again and get it sold!!!
Soo Cho
GM/Broker Atlanta New Western