Hi guys,
Has anyone bought a place in Atlanta from Bronwyn and Michael at Top Rental Returns (www.toprentalreturnsusa.com) and successfully had a tenant renting the place??
They have clearly sold lots of properties in the 45-60k range….BUT there is a complete lack of data and transparency about the number of succesfully tenanted places and the rent they have actually secured.
I'm tempted to buy, but cannot get any rental stats from them about actual rentals achieved.
i would also be interested in an answer ot the original poster's question.. anybody at all got tenancy vacancy rates success info when using Top Rental Returns?
Hi, I purchased a property in April, renovations were completed around the end of June and I still have no tenant. I too have asked Michael and Bronwyn on several occasions about the success of their rentals and I am assured that the properties are being tenanted. To this, all I can say is that I have been waiting for a tenant for almost 2 months now. Having said that, a colleague of mine purchased one week after me and he has had a tenant in place now for a couple of weeks. The rental that he was told he would achieve was more than he is actually achieving but it didn’t take long for his property to rent at all. I guess there is an element of luck in having your property tenanted but I am constantly staying on their backs and I would also like to hear from anyone who has purchased from them and how their tenancy is going. Cheers.
I bought in April, reno finished around the end of June, so I’ve been waiting around 6 weeks for a tenant. The status updates have said it has been shown to a few prospectives, but I haven’t actually received any applications yet.
my boyfriend bought a property through 888wealth and top rental returns back in February, also completed repairs and still waiting on a tenant….Im wondering if he’s done his dough
I have now purchased 3 properties through Mike and Bron. My first purchase was made late April and the property has been tenanted to a section 8 tenant who moved in several weeks ago. The section 8 process takes longer than the open market tenant. Section 8 is govt assistance (so basically the govt pays the rent). Its great in that I am guaranteed to get my rent paid and on time. The appln process for section 8 can take several weeks as section 8 come out and inspect the property to ensure it complies with all their requirements, they then ask you to make any modifications to meet compliance and then send the appln to their assessment team to assess the rent. I was advised that the property manager physically inspected the home of the prospective tenant and that it was immaculate so I was happy to accept the section 8 appln. The entire appln was handled by Mike and Bron, I did not need to organise anything.
My 2nd and 3rd purchases settled 7th July and have been under renovation. The second property is now complete and has a tenant appln , we are awaiting the lease to be signed and returned and the move in date.
The 3rd property is under renovation and nearing completion.
I travelled to atlanta last month to view the properties. I was very happy with the quality of properties I purchased and the renovation completed. I also had the opportunity to view other properties Mike and Bron had sourced for other clients and the renovations done on those. The renovation teams do a wonderful job and the properties present beautifully for tenancy.
They have also just hired an experienced property manager that will be exclusively sourcing tenants and managing properties for their clients. I believe that them taking control of the management side of things and not relying on local companies to manage the properties allows them to provide a complete service.
I also know of 2 other investors that have purchased through Mike and Bron and have also successfully had tenants placed.
They seem exceptionally slow in answering emails, if you get an answer at all. I like prompt responses; anything else makes me wonder if they are "onto it"…. just an observation.
I have sent them an email with a number of questions, however i got a reply saying to talk to them on skype because it is 'easier' – (and due to time differences we are never on skype the same time)
The questions i asked related to Sheetrock usage in these properties, vacancy rates, property management rates, whether all their properties get sect 8 inspected etcAlso you would think if they are successful they would be quick and want to respond with any concerns you have. I havent seen any properties coming through for a while on their email list so im wondering if they are still conducting this for clients?
hi guys
Have purchased 2 properties in April through 888 in Aus and buyers agent Top Retal Returns in Atlanta. TRR have done a terrible job. Lies, bickering, from all accounts from our new managing agent and the fact that 8 of the 12 things listed as being repaired during the section 8 have had to be repaired again within 1 month of tenant being in house. Emails not returned, reno cost implied to be one figure and invoices add up to half the cost. If I could turn back the clock I would have invested my money elsewhere, These people are unprofessional and are bordering on fraudulant.Sorry
I was venting with my last blogg. Since April x2 properties, 1x still hasn't had tenants. 1x has had tenants for 1.5 months.Thanks for the replies guys. It would seem that at best, the service of Top Rental Returns could be a bit hit and miss. I too have been advised to contact them on Skype. The only times I have seen them online has been in my work time. I have no desire to be having a Skype conversation at work about my personal financial business! In addition, when someone is reluctant to put things in writing eg via email, I start to get pretty nervous. I dont care if it is "easier" for them to just talk – I like having important points and facts recorded in writing. The time for "chats" is after some basic facts are established eg the original poster's request for statistics on rental success.
If there is one thing you need as a long distance investor, it is the reassurance of top notch communication.
All in all, there seems to be a lack of professionalism which is concerning. Am going to look elsewhere and give TRR a miss.
how was your experience with 888 husband? I notice you need to pay a small upfront fee with them before you get sent properties. Vincent seemed a bit more open to information than TRR, however he works from Australia, so maybe he has a good team in USA working for him.
Hi
I am considering investing in Atlanta and would be interested in others experiences in regards to vacancies and tenancy,Property Management issues etc. PM me if you prefer.
thanks and kind regards
Jo
Hi Everyone
888 Us Real Estate Pty Ltd is no longer contracting Top Rental Returns to buy property for clients in Atlanta. We now have other US Real Estate Buyers agents working with us there as well as Phoenix, Orlando and Kansas City. Of the 17 properties originally contracted by 888 through Top Rental Returns only 3 are vacant. We have engaged Real Property Management in Atlanta to facilitate management of our properties and are working with all of our clients to ensure that tenants are placed in reasonable time frames. We apologise to any of our clients who experienced delays in tenanting by Top Rental Returns. As you know, we are still working with every one of you to resolve any outstanding issues and have intervened on your behalf to create solutions.
We are now offering already renovated and tenanted properties in Atlanta, to ensure that there is lower risk of theft or damage while vacant. We have a network of US investors selling private stock at great market prices with reliable tenants on board and net returns between 15-20%. We also have renovated and tenanted properties in Kansas City, Orlando and Phoenix, as well as fix and flip opportunities, multi family and wholesale discounted real estate as well.
Please do not be discouraged by the results demonstrated here as there are plenty of sound investment reasons to buy in the USA. Vacancy remains as one of the major risks to the US real estate experience and caution is needed to ensure every measure is taken to alleviate this risk. Selection is the most important factor and competitive pricing and rental incentives are vital to the success of property investment in the USA.
888 US Real Estate operates with complete transparency for all our investors. We do not load the property price with hidden commissions or take any profit from third parties. We want you to know about the risks of your investment and help you to mitigate them in all ways possible. Some risks are acceptable and lead to higher reward, but you also need a strong, experienced team to ensure you have the risks covered. The biggest risk with investment in the US is dealing with the wrong people.
I invite anyone who would like a frank and open discussion of the rental market conditions in the US with me to give me a call at my office in Australia, details below.
Many thanks
Vincent Selleck
888 US Real Estate P/L
Ph 02 66857888 Mbl 0403 255510
[email protected]
http://www.888wealthcreation.comHi Guys,
I am a Property investor from the UK. I have never met Mike and Bronwyn, however after reading their Blog some Months ago I joined there mailing list, some weeks later I purchased a Property using Top Rental Returns. I purchased the Property for $45,000 and spent $10,000 on refurbishments, the Property was then let within weeks for $1050 a month netting me an impressive 17% return. If you would like to research the Property I purchased the address is 4892 Windsor Downs Drive Atlanta.
I believe they may be a victim of their own success, and may be too busy to communicate as well as they did. It is incredible what they have achieved in such a short space of time, within a year they have gone from starting a blog "thinking of buying in the states anyone want to join me" to buying, renovating and selling dozens of Properties.
My only critiscm is that they now sell their Properties to quickly, I sent a contract back today within an hour but was to late, three people had beaten me to it, I have decided to spend a couple of weeks there at the end of this Month to buy a couple more Properties.
I have also purchased three Properties in Florida, but the returns are less than I am receiving from the above.
I am sorry to here some people have not been as lucky as me to rent so quickly, but I have to give credit where credit is due.
Gary
Hi Bronwyn here from Top Rental returns.
Tenancy is an extremely important component of investing in the US as with all property investment. We get a lot of inquiries from people like yourselves who wish to know about vacancy, the rental market demand and the difference between leasing property in the States as opposed to Australia. A vacant property yields no return and becomes a liability.
We have purchased over 65 properties for clients and besides the properties under current renovation have only 3 which are presently vacant for more than a few weeks. One is in Cascade place and we have an approved application for a tenant to move in shortly. The second is in Avon Ave and we are certain to obtain a tenant in the coming weeks and the third is not managed by us so we have no control over the tenancy of this property.
This situation occurred initially as we were using external property management companies in Atlanta to lease and manage our properties after they had finished being renovated but we found that we were not getting the desired results in terms of showings and successful leases and therefore listed all properties ourselves. Since we have done this we had had strong enquiry and converted most of these to signed leases.
We took it upon ourselves to solve this issue and have set up our own property management arm of the company and have employed a full time property manager so we now handle all property management functions in house. This was the best way to obtain a true understanding on tenant demands in the rental market and the associated issues.
Kimberly is our new property manager and has been with us now for 2 months, she has over 14 years of property management experience in Atlanta. We now personally list all our clients’ properties on the broker access sites which enable all agents in Georgia to show the property to their potential tenants. We also list on major websites such as Trulia, Hotpads, etc. Kimberly also conducts showings of all properties to our individual inquiries – her phone doesn’t stop ringing.
We are quite aggressive with our marketing and try in a competitive market to offer a well presented property with good street appeal and location to the tenancy market without over capitalising on renovations.
We also get great feedback from tenants how helpful we are and will try to direct tenants to look at multiple properties we have for rent not just the property they have inquired about.
There are some properties that tenant before renovations have completed and others that take a little longer – this is no different to investing in properties in Australia. We have developed a very clear understanding of the types of properties that tenants are after and actively target those for our clients.
Our builders are often approached by people in the area whilst the properties are being renovated and graciously shown prospective tenants through and taken their contact details. We have leased a few properties this way. We often receive comments that these are the best presented houses prospective tenants have seen so we know we are orientating these renovations perfectly to prospective tenants.
There are two types of tenants “Open Market” and “Section 8”. Section 8 is a government Housing program where the majority if not all the rent (depending on the tenants circumstances) is paid direct to the landlord or their agent. Our company is registered with all 7 Atlanta Housing Authorities to be able to process Section 8 tenancy applications.
A positive benefit is that this is a secure income stream as the rent is paid monthly by the federal government which some landlords prefer. All our open market tenants do need to supply proof of income and we conduct credit and criminal checks on every applicant.
We also engage leasing agents that solely source tenants. One of our agents puts up signs in major intersections and we receive a lot of inquiry from him.
Example 1. – One of our tenants who is a bus driver for the MARTA public transport system was swerving to miss a pedestrian that ran out in front of her and ran into a pole that had a “house for rent” sign on there and called as she thought this was a sign.
She was only moving as the current landlord she had refused to maintain the property. She loves the house and gave me a big hug when we signed the lease with her and her husband who runs a landscaping company. They should stay in the property for a very long time. We achieved the full rent asked of $900 per month.
Example 2. – Another family moved into one of our properties which they lived across the road from straight after renovation. Their property was going into foreclosure and they were forced to move. We achieved the full asking price of $850 per month.
Example 3. – We just received an open market application for a property in Jonesboro for $1250 per month. We initially quoted the client $1,100 per month.
Example 4. – One home in Alder Ln in the West End just had a Police Officer move in. Her mother lives over the road and wanted her close by. Unfortunately public Service wages are low in comparison to Australia and as a single mother her wage could only support $850 not the $900 we were asking. Her references were brilliant and we thought the quality of the tenant was worth reducing the rent by $50 per month – $12.50 per week.
Example 5. – Section 8 rents vary depending on multiple factors. 1185 Lakewood was tenanted for $1151 per month we quoted our client $1,000. It was held up through the section 8 process but we pushed it through to achieve a positive end result.
Example 6. – Other section 8 rents have come slightly below our rental comparisons but the owner has the option of declining this and looking for an open market tenant or accepting with a guaranteed monthly rent. E.g. Mayflower Avenue we listed for $1000 per month and the Atlanta Housing Authority offered $944.
We chose Atlanta for the population growth it has achieved and the predicted property growth and diversity of economy along with the mildness of climate and depressed property prices. If anyone is considering investing in the States or wants some tips on research I am happy as always to chat about property.
US property investment along with Australian property investment does carry risk of vacancy. This is actually the main risk of property investment however we do try to mitigate this as much as possible through strategic purchasing, correct property presentation, accurate pricing, active marketing and following up with good property management.
We are more than happy to discuss the property management process with anyone interested even if you are looking to invest in other states in the U.S. I recently had a discussion with one lady who was struggling to rent her property in Ohio and was advised to move the tenant in before approval of the Section 8 paperwork which has in turn caused a few issues. We are always here to help.
We have a list of every property and rents achieved on each but i don’t feel this forum is the place to display such information so i may post it on our website over the next few days. Reply to us if you wish for any assistance or if you have further questions.
Ripeka,
It is sometimes difficult to know what form of communication each client is looking for. We do try to have a informative conversation with each new inquiry as there is so much info to go through.
LLCs, Bank Accounts, the process, tenancy issues, foreign exchange accounts, how we select properties, etc. the list goes on..
We do ask for peoples phone numbers when they initially email us as we do like to deal with people personally. We run a very strong business and like to be able to communicate openly which can be sometimes difficult on email. We are always free to speak on the phone but will admit we are often out in the field and not in front of our computers as much as we would like to be. Such is the nature of sourcing properties for people. We inspect over 100 properties per week plus all our properties under renovation and this takes almost every sunlit hour.
We often end up spending an hour or so on the phone to each client initially answering questions and we do apologise if skype was not the best form of communication for you personally. Most new clients do prefer to chat with us either on the phone or over the internet and as you may appreciate many people prefer to speak with us personally rather than back and forward on email. We do work very hard and are often up to 1 or 2 am in an attempt to fit in with Australian times.
We have become very busy and do have many very happy clients – despite "husband's" comments. We now have a full time assistant who answers most of our 1-150 daily emails especially as we work an 8-10 hour day looking at real estate and then come home to our computer work each evening.
If anyone has any questions, i am in Sydney for a few weeks and am more than happy to speak with you. Drop me an email or we may communicate by phone if preferable.
Mike
I'd like to buy in Atlanta, how's it looking there now?
Not so good huh?
Given the lack of rental data I suggest people continue to share their experiences and results in this forum.
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