GRP,
I'm always cautious when someone promises up to a 90% return on investment within a year. How can you make those promises?
I have made two investments with Axiom. The first is called Laketown Wharf in Panama City. They did not manage the progress of the project properly. Axiom customers had 50 unit, or so. They were supposed to be put back into the resale pool, with priority for sales. Axiom never followed up on it and now the developer, Jerry Wallace, is trying to make all the Axiom units go to closing. Axiom claimed that they didn’t do anything wrong (but they didn't stay on top of the project and let it come to this). Next they hired a law firm and basically forced all the members of the project to get into a class action lawsuit with them and make us pay half of the legal bills. It is a complete mess. Their attitude is terrible, their communication on this is terrible (quote "don't call us and complain or we'll hang up on you. If you don't hear from us, that's because there is nothing to tell you"). RUN!
Project #2 - This is Marbella at Chapel Harbor in Pittsburgh. I was told my unit would enter the resale pool last October. It still is not. I have called and emailed many times, to many people and NOBODY will respond with and information (Pat Brody, Mike Bishop, Shellie Cline, John Castle - for you who are familiar with Axiom). It smells like Laketown Wharf.
There are two other places I would recommend that you investigate. Bridgepoint Ventures and Canyon Acquisition. Both are much more professional and have a better price structure. Axiom wants an up front fee of 1-2% (of the selling price, which is a lot). The others don't ask for that and have the same split, or better.
If you want any other info, feel free to contact me directly.
Hope Motreuil - any response?????
My experience is exactly the same. NOBODY will return calls or email. I called and left messages and sent email - about 30 or 40. Nobody ever returned and calls. I finally got an email from John Castle (CEO) only after I theatened to call the States Attorney General's Office - that got their attention. They don't have any regard for their customers and only want to push new projects.
Go to another company - BridgePoint Ventures or Canyon Aquasitions.
:badwords:
Regarding Hope's comments above - No way! It is a problem at Axiom, not the developers. Axiom can't give updates because they don't contact the developers - I CALLED THEM!!!
Hope,
One more thing - Marbella is NOT on track. The project was to be completed by September and they just finished the foundation and are just now going vertical - I'd say that is about 6 month behind schedule.
I don't know who is giving you your information, but it sounds like your getting the same "stories" as everyone else.
Hi am very new to the web and am very interested in Bridgepoint Pre- construction. Have talked to one of the investors and given a very detailed aproach of the companies ideas and investment innerworkings. I am still unsure if as an investor if the safe guards are really as in place as they claim. I want to make sure that the property is reassigned and that I am not forced to close on the property. They however seem more highend investments then Axiom which I did contact too. I just dam leary of pledging 100,000,00 in order to join. They also claim in order to join it is by invitition only. Has anyone been involved with this group?
BERNIE
My experience has been the same with Axiom Realty capital. They are teerible in communicating or giving status updates. Moreover, they never return my calls or respond to my emails. I had invested in 2 projects so far with them and both have been nightmares.
One of them was in Park 1000 project in Chicago where the developer the terms & conditions of the deal (this is according to Axiom). I had to wait for 6 months and threaten Axiom with a lawsuit to get my deposit back. Now, I am running into similar issues with another investment in Teton Lodge. I want my money back but they won't respond.
Given my experiences so far, I am totally convinced that Axiom is not an ethical company and something needs to be done about it. I am on board with you guys if you want to pool the resources and do something about it - e.g. file a lawsuit against them.
Rakesh
Funny, i keep getting notices of all of their new projects .. but no contact on the ones they're supposed to be assisting me with ... Perhaps we need more blogs and posts to make sure new unsuspecting buyer are alerted of their tactics... My next step is the Salt Lake City or Utah State better Business Bureau .. has anyone done that yet ??
Hi-
I fully agree with your assessment. I have had the same experience with Axiom. All they care about is promoting the new projects with no follow up whatsoever with regards to old projects. I am also thinking of calling the Utah BBB. We need to put a stop to their fraudlend practices.
Rakesh
Stay away from Axiom Realty Capital. A friend of mine invested with them and this is turning into a horror story. Here is how they presented the deal:
1. You put money down into an escrow account (not sure it is really true, see below)
2. You pay axiom an upfront fee that is ridiculous (like $10k+)
3. You wait for your property to be built
4. You resell before closing
5. You get your money back and you share the profits with axiom.
That was the promise. Now, here is what happens in reality:
1. Once they have received your money, they pretty much disappear. They barely answer to your emails and don't return phone calls.
2. When you finally get a hold of someone there, they tell you that the developer is about to get funded and will start the construction shortly.
3. Then, out of the blue, you are told that the project was canceled because the developer could not get the loan.
4. They refuse to send your money back.
5. They offer to roll over the funds into another project, by giving you a "credit".
6. You need to send them more money to get into the second deal.
7. In the second deal, there is a slight difference that they don't explain notroutline. You will have to take a $250k+ mortgage to fund the development of the unit!! They make it sound like this is a way to make sure there is money to build the property. What they also forget to say is that their projected price you will be able to resell at is totally fictitious.
This looks like a massive real estate fraud and past investors are now talking of a class action law suit.
If I were you, I would stay away from those crooks. Their "deals" have no chance of ever going through. They don't care about having your property built and resold. They are not in the Real Estate business, they are in the business of collecting upfront fees without giving you anything in exchange except lip service (if you can get a hold of somebody that is.)
Now, the "offer" to roll over your funds into another deal with a mortgage attached that YOU the investor have to take in your name looks like mortgage fraud to a lot of people.
Hello,
I am investor as well in Axiom. Specifically in the Teton Lodge units. For the person who referenced that, I can share with you that I contacted the title company directly. They told me that to have your reservation deposit released to you from escrow, you will need to put your request in writing and contact Trinette at Axiom to obtain the required form and submit both together. The rep from the title co told me they already received a letter from the seller, so once you submit your request the process will not take long and you can request reimbursement by wire transfer or check.
While it's unfortuntate that the developer did not yet get his funding on Teton Lodge, that was the risk we take as buyers into the project. The positive note is that since the project did not get the funding they anticipated, you do not lose your money. You were informed in the beginning that the origination fee can be used as an in house credit towards another project if that one did not succeed. There is risk with every investment but at least there is some structure and mitigated risk to this one.
As for their other projects, you are not forced to opt into the project requiring a mortgage up front, that is only an option. If that one doesn't appeal to you, just wait until one you do like comes along. Every few weeks there seems to be a new one introduced.
As far as up front fees, that is common amongst all businesses for putting a deal together. Even Bridgetpoint. And by the way, Bridgepoint's joint venture split is 50-50%, so if there's no orig fee on the front end, the back end split is worse. AND Bridgetpoint asks you to commit to $100k up front. Furthermore, not all Axiom's projects have origination fees, not all are joint ventures and some joint ventures are even a 70-30 split (70% net profits to the buyer).
Lastly, I belive you're wrong in saying they don't care if their deals ever go through. Most of the money they anticipate to make on these deals is on the back end with the Investor (thus the Joint Venture agreement). Their up front fees do not cover much of their costs. So, if a project fails it impacts their bottom line as well.
I was told they hired an in-house attorney to handle challenges differently moving forward. I agree that customer service could be better, but they just placed Trent in charge of that dept. so hopefully that will soon improve.
In all, if you compare this to pre-construction real estate investing on your own you will find that much of the risk has been shifted from the buyer to the seller. There is no guaranteed outcome on any investment opportunity, but this is why they have structured agreemtns and third party escrows are mostly used to enforce protection if there are defaults on the agreements.
Project #2 - This is Marbella at Chapel Harbor in Pittsburgh. I was told my unit would enter the resale pool last October. It still is not. I have called and emailed many times, to many people and NOBODY will respond with and information (Pat Brody, Mike Bishop, Shellie Cline, John Castle - for you who are familiar with Axiom). It smells like Laketown Wharf.
There are two other places I would recommend that you investigate. Bridgepoint Ventures and Canyon Acquisition. Both are much more professional and have a better price structure. Axiom wants an up front fee of 1-2% (of the selling price, which is a lot). The others don't ask for that and have the same split, or better.
If you want any other info, feel free to contact me directly.
Hope Motreuil - any response?????
I would like more information with respect to Canyon Acquisitions. Have you invested with them? What do you think of this company? If you have no investments with them, would you?
gmt,
I have had one transaction with Canyon. It was well structured. Unfortunatly, the developer coun not get the financing they needed and the deal fell apart. I felt that their level of business professionalism was excellent and, yes, I would do business with them again. The only reason I haven't done one since the first, is that the projects have been in foreign countries, and I am just a little leary about that (like the US housing market is great, lol). Anyway, yes, they seem to be a good company.
Nobs,
Either you have not had enough experience with Axiom to know what everyone is talking about, or you are associated with Axiom.
How can you dismiss the the postings of the above who have had many problems??? How can you excuse the fact that Axiom has the resources to send info on new project all the time, but never return phone calls or emails?
Once Axiom gets their upfront fee of 1%, it dillutes the need to follow the project as they should.
Wake up and smell the coffee before you get taken, too.
I can see I am in the minority with this group, however my investment experience with them is real. I opted to get out of the Teton lodge project because the developer didn't get the funding in the time alloted in the contract and my $ was released from escrow. The orig fee paid is considered an in house credit, however that was listed in the JV agreement for the project so I was aware of that from the beginning.
Whoever said Atlanta is the second worst market in the US is incorrect.
Roaring River looks like a good buy-and-hold opportunity. There's about 30% equity in the lots and another retail price increase planned soon. A reputable developer. Nothing fishy about that one.
Nobs
Thou doest protest too much.......
Flipper,
Yes, we are talking about Axiom in Utah
Axiom has just rolled out two new offerings to potential investors. One is located in Costa Rica and the other is a fractional deal in Teton Valley outside of Driggs Idaho. If you put any money into origination fees you will NEVER see it again. The owners of the company are Patrick Brody and Mike Bishop. The whole idea is to get as much money in origination fees as possible to keep running the company and for them to pull out and use for trips, lavish lifestyles, rings, gambling etc. Google them and you will see past issues with the SEC and IRS. The company is on the verge of going out of business and giving them any further money is like flushing your money down the toilet. Unfortunately we as investors are going to have to deal directly with the developers on these projects and hopefully someday these units will get built. Unfortunately the developers are not much better than these thugs.......
Wish there were a way to get back the money that they have ponzied but doubt it.
FYI. More info on Axiom:
http://www.topix.com/forum/news/prweb/T7RIJL3DDLLBNB836
SEC investigates Pat Brody:
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/complr17316.htm