All Forum Posts by: Alex Craig

@Ryan Haley perfect! See you then.

@Rosaria Pipitone we have been using the same lease for the past 13 years as we simply modify as laws change and learning experience warrant a change.  I know in Tennessee there are standard leases, I could not imagine a Realtor charging you to share that lease with you.  But it may be worth your time to reach out to an real estate attorney and have them give you a lease; it would be a one time investment, but you would have for the foreseeable future.

@Rashaad Baten whether you buy or not from Crestcore's agent, your time there will have been time worth spent.  A lot of knowledge in that office and certainly a leader in our industry.

@Carl Fischer Nashville has gotten so expensive, I can't even afford to pay attention there.  I have been up there for the BP conference and will be there this weekend for the Titans, great city, but not sure there are any deals.

Just take a deep look into neighborhoods. PM me and I can give you the areas to stay away from. PM is really important too. There are several on BP that are good, Douglas Skipworth is on BP and I find his company good and trustworthy. My brother from a different another mother, Derrick Craig has a good reputation too. We have some good shout outs on Management ourselves. There are other good PM's in Memphis, I am simply referring to the ones who are on BP.

@Peter Cung @Warren A.  I do not think Richard ever really gave us a serious look and never reached out to us. I could be wrong, but his details are vague.  Maybe he saw a before picture on our site, who knows, but as you guys know, we take a lot of pride in what we do and stand by our product.  I recently cut a check back to Warren for some maintenance items that came back and out of the 8 to 1o properties he has bought, i have had to pay a couple of mortgage payments because a tenant was not in place 30 days after the sell.  That is the advantage of going with TK companies that truly stand by their product.  We manage the homes for Buy Memphis Now and I know they stand by their product and Mid South has some good programs where they stand by their product too.  Thanks guys for chiming in!

@Richard Smith do you recall which property you looked at? We are excellent record keepers and I do not show a Richard Smith in our CRM. Maybe you came to your conclusions about the rehab without contacting our office. I have always took a lot of pride to do a great renovation to reduce our investors risk by addressing items that cause immediate and deferred maintenance, with the end goal of reducing risk by putting our investors goals in front of ours. This year, our average renovation is $31,000 and while that may not sound like much, considering the leverage of volume we use and what we pay for items, that is a big # and far more then simply lipstick on a pig. About over market, I would say 95% of our properties appraise at or above our sales price, the 5% that do not, we have always had comparable sales from the MLS to justify our sales price. A big misconceptions is that appraising is a science without some sort of bias.

@David Hutson thank you for coming to rescue this thread.  I think we were about 10 post in before anyone attempted to answer Ryan's question. I am pretty sure if someone came on BP to ask where to eat Ribs in Memphis, Koleton would take the opportunity to post about Crestcore, which these post are less looking credible and more like a personal vendetta.  Especially on this post seeing as Crestcore was never mentioned for feedback, nor are they a TK provider. 

Also, to be clear, Koleton's responses about working under different names is not related to my company.  He was off topic of the thread.

@Ryan Haley glad you were able to connect with Andrew. What a TK provider should be doing for its clients is reducing their risk through a thorough renovation that will reduce immediate and deferred maintenance with the first 5 years or so, along with offering great service and management along the way. After 5 years (give or take a year), normal wear and tear maintenance will happen as someone is living in your home, some harder then others. Along with reducing risk, a good TK provider will stand by their product and offer some sort of programs to get you off to a good start. You hear a lot of people on BP ask about reputable TK companies and really, being reputable is easy, just don't cut corners on rehabs, stand by your product, provide good customer service and do what you say you are going to do, certainly not rocket science. I see cutting corners on the rehab is the #1 problem investors come across when going TK. If the renovation is not thorough, then you mind as well attempt the BRRRR strategy as your experience will not be passive at all and that is something else a TK provider should be doing, which is providing a product that allows you to invest passively. If you come to Memphis, please feel free to stop by and see our new office space.

If a tenant is trying to sell themselves to you, then that is your que to deny them. In the future, have universal denial letter stating which part of their file was the reason for denial. Make sure your requirements are posted online, thus you can cite that your rents requirements are advertised online. Accepting anything less puts you at risk for violation of the Fair Housing Act. Think about it, if you deny someone because an eviction and they happen to be a minority, then allow someone else who is a non-minority rent with an eviction, that is grounds for a lawsuit, to which you would lose. Bottom line publish your requirements and stick to them. Cite the Fair Housing Act for anyone pushing back. 

@Rosaria Pipitone glad to help. The tenant is not your friend rather they are just that, a tenant. Keep it all business, friendly of course, but strictly business. If you have to tell someone No, as Michael Corleone said “it’s not personal, it’s business.” The more a prospective tenant talks, the more I thought they were trying to sell me. I don’t need to be sold rather I just need to see the appropriate  information in black-and-white. This biz over a 13 year span along with the management of 800+ homes has led me to be a pessimist about the overall state of humanity, which is not just a terrible quality when placing tenants.