I have had a lot about flipping in the States, I am amazed that the government still lets it happen, due to the way the Property market is at the moment. 

Boy, the nightmare is just getting worse…

I just submitted a complaint about Andrew Allan and My USA Property to FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection in the States. It will be interesting to see what happens, I focused on Orlando, Florida as that is where they are located. If you know of any other consumer affair watchdogs that deal with property complaints in Florida let me know. I want to focus on Florida, rather than Detroit and Youngstown as that is where the company is based.
By the way this is what I wrote to them too below; I will keep on updating the past two and a half years with this so called 'expert' Mr. Allan in the upcoming week but not now as I spent the past the last three hours writing this silly complaint.
In December 2009 I bought two US properties through the company My USA property. The $40,000 for Detroit, Michigan included the purchase of the property and also renovation costs, and fees for sourcing a property manager while the $25,000 for the Youngstown, Ohio property also included the renovations and fees for sourcing a property manager. It was made clear to me that Andrew Allan was a legitimate real estate agent.
Due to the fact that I did not have a US bank account at that time I transferred some of the money directly into CEO’s account, Andrew Allan in quantities of between $8,000 and $10,000 installments. Obviously this appeared to be a risky proposition however I had been recommended through a friend of mine, that Andrew was competent.
Through paying for these properties I was guaranteed by Andrew Allan that both properties, would be renovated and rented out within approximately three months, and that he would organize the renovations, property manager and help me open a US bank account. Please note that such guarantees were also promised on his company’s website.
However the company has not done as they said they would, consequently this has put me in a dire financial situation.
The purchases occurred were two and a half years ago and my Youngstown property has not been renovated, let alone rented out. I am currently paying additional money for the renovations, as the money I gave Andrew Allan for these renovations never occurred. Consequently it appears that he has <moderator: delete>, as over $8000 of the money I paid him for the Youngstown Property were supposed to go into renovations, to make the property rentable.
Regarding the Detroit property, My US property recommended and endorsed Ronnie Williams a property manager who they selected on my behalf to represent me when I purchased the property through the company. They obviously did not put enough research into finding a quality property manager, because as Andrew let me know via email, nearly a year later the guy ran off with six months of my rental income, and the property has since been damaged by tenants who were not paying rent. Clearly Andrew did not do his homework regarding finding a legitimate property manager and he is to blame for this as I paid him a fee to find such a person. Since that time I have had to find my own property manager and pay additional money to board up the Detroit place as well as pay for damages to the place that occurred when it wasn't being managed.
Andrew Allan comes from Melbourne, Australia and posed as a real estate property expert and agent when I bought the properties, and by the looks of his company's website he is now working under a broker as his website seems to imply. However I bought a property through a man who was pretending to be a buyers agent – not a wholesaler, not a flipper – he made it clear to me that he was an agent – which is a clear misrepresentation of his expertise.
I strongly encourage you to follow this link and watch this piece on him by Australia's National Current Affairs Show 730 Report that screened on 24/4/12:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3488301.htm

'It is titled US Property market offers promises and pitfalls'

Regarding answering the questions above; the estimated rental income I will have to check, I will be away from home for the next five days, so won't be able to disclose this until next week.  Yes the Youngstown Property was a four unit apartment.  Detroit was a house. 

Off the top of my head the estimated rental income was along the lines of $600 a month, as it was part of My USA Property's marketing pitch.  The Detroit one was around $400 a month.  I will confirm this next week though, once I look at the documentation Andrew gave me upon our intial meeting.  Rental guarantee was within three months for the renovations to be finished and the places rented out.

The $13,000 fee was basically for them, in hindsight, searching on the internet and quickly getting a property manager and renovators with obviously little time spent on research.  I did see photos outside the property, but not inside, although I was aware both properties needed restorations.

To add to this though, what My USA Property and Andrew Allan didn't tell me though was that my Detroit property would take around six months to renovate and that the property manager Andrew Allan found; Ronnie Williams, ran off with six months of my rent.  Later on, by all accounts, people were living in that property for free until a couple of months ago and then left it in a shambles.  Since then I paid for a property agent, who I found through absolutely no help from Andrew, to take picture and board up the place after seeing all the damage that had been done by these tenants. So now I am back to square one. I also have to pay an additonal $250 to Michigan Tax Assessors as the title was never actually transferred into my name.

Regarding Youngstown, the renovations have never happened and none of the units have ever been rented out.  Despite Andrew guaranteeing it would be done in a very short period of time.  Once again, I hired a property manager for this place too to take photos and the renovations will cost around $10,000.  Consequently the apparent renovations which was part of the package in My USA Property was never done.

All this will be spelled out in a bit more depth in the weeks ahead but I will be away over from the computer over the next five days. 

I have found ALL the feedback so far to be constructive.  Kind regards to all.

Anyway to continue from the last post: Over a year later I began to seek compensation for Andrew Allan's and My USA Property's lack of adequate action. 

By this stage Malcolm Reid, my mentor who had recommended Andrew, was assisting me in writing the emails, like the one below.  Malcolm himself had made an offer with My USA Property for a block of units down in Florida and wanted to buy them for around $110,000 US.  He actually put in a 10% deposit, but never heard anything about whether sellers were willing to sell the property. or not.  After waiting for nearly a year he contacted Andrew to get his deposit back, which he eventually did.  In short, Malcolm was able to get out unscathed.
Anyway below is the email I wrote below over a year later seeking compensation.  I have deleted some paragraphs with money amounts in order to save space. 
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 23:33:55 +1100

Subject: My US properties

Hello Andrew,

I am seeking reimbursement due to loss of rental income.  The fact that I have purchased two properties in different locations in the US and have had many difficulties is not misfortune but simply poor management by My US property.  I was given your word when I purchased the Detroit property that I would be able to renovate it and sell it in a matter of months.  However, due to problems regarding renovations, I was then advised by you to keep this property and sell the Youngstown property.  The fact that the Youngstown property is still under renovation and has been under threat from being condemned is simply not good enough, considering that I purchased the property 15 months ago.  The property has still not been rented and that is at least 12 months  worth of rent I was relying on which has not been paid.
     Regarding the (renovated) Detroit property, it was My US property who recommended and endorsed (property manager) Ronni Williams when I purchased the property through the company.  You obviously did not put enough research into finding a quality property manager, as over the last year my property simply has not been managed.  Despite my constant efforts at communicating with the US, I was not able to find out what was going on with my property, where Ronnie Williams was, or why I was not receiving rent. Consequently your company has been entirely for this, as you recommended the property to me, as well as the services of Ronnie Williams.  I paid My US property to find a reliable property manager, which was part of the service your company was supposed to provide, and I was let down. 
       As a result of the lack of rental income that I was guaranteed to get from the two properties 12 months ago, I am seeking compensation for the lost income.  Because I have been unable to sell either of the US properties due to poor management, I now have to seek other avenues for cash flow.  I am planning to sell my St. Albans property which I am very unhappy about doing.   However, due to the lack of cash flow from these US properties this appears to be the only alternative, although at this point in time I am finding it very hard to sell.  Consequently I have been forced into a corner. 
      I went into these investments based on your guarantee that I would receive immediate rental income and be able to sell the Detroit property at a good profit in a matter of months.  I was also encouraged by a character reference given to me by Malcolm Reid. 
        You have been extremely difficult to communicate with as you never seem to be in Melbourne.  I insist that we meet  face to face as soon as you are back from overseas to sort this fiasco out, as I feel you have misrepresented yourself and this is totally contrary to the claims you make on your website.   Be aware that this problem will not go away, and if I don't receive compensation, I will be looking to take the matter further.

Regards,   

Gavin Hicks

Thankfully there is only one Andrew Allan of My USA Property. Lol

Unfortunately when someone calls themselves ‘expert’ and say they have great contacts that can be misleading, especially when selling properties in Detroit. In hindsight one would say it was simply marketing jargon with no substance. Research was obviously needed rather than trust, especially with someone like Andrew who scarily thinks he is competent at what he does which is clearly not the case…..

Interesting to see what My USA Property has now put on the website:

http://myusaproperty.com.au/company.php

Well after a lot of mucking around it looks like I have both properties now under my name, rather than the LLC’s. I actually was made aware by a creditable US property expert that my Detroit property was NOT under my name. It looks like perhaps that the purchase was done under an LLC. Well after hassling Andrew about this, the property has now mysteriously been transferred into my name. Mind you Andrew still can’t get in touch with the Property Managers he was supposed have set up for these two properties, which is very frustrating as this was part of the service my $12,000 service fee was supposed to cover.

The least this guy could have done was call the Title company to see what was going on.

Richard

Thanks for the advice, yes I should have done more research but basically because the company is poorly run is the main reason I am in this situation. Taking a working holiday is looking more like a viable option now.