Hi All,

I just have to ask the question, why would you use a company's services to purchase a property? Why not just purchase a property yourself using an independant solicitor? At least that way you remove any risk of someone ripping you off. Are they offering property for very litlle or no upfront deposit? If so you would have to question whether you are in a financial position to purchase in the first place.

Thanks SAM for your info about out of State investing. I will take that on board. We have decided to seek more infomation from our accountant at this stage and do some more research on the matter. My meeting was not that productive at all so back to the drawing board. Thanks

Amazing i have had a multiple of calls in relation to this forum. Shame that half the comments have been deleted Mark & Carrol unfortunately you will never understand the amount of people that have issues with the company. I do as a member of quite a large organisation that spans out across Australia i hear it all.

Myself and my wife sat through a very lengthy, in-depth and eye opening meeting with them llast week. After having reservations about having someone do everything for us (because I have been buying property for some years now) I am happy I took the plunge and wish I had done this about 10 yrs ago. The debt reduction side has been a real eye opener for us and the guy from members alliance explained everything so that it made sense. At the end of the day I guess to answer everyones question, they have all the tools that would take me months, even a year to do myself. We have the option to say no at anytime which is great for me. I say check it out but make sure you are 100% happy before you say yes to anything.

Hi Mark and Carolyn,
My husband and I have also sat through a lengthy consultation session with someone from members alliance.  We have agreed to visit a consultant at the gold coast they have paid accomodation and a $100 travel voucher?  We are extremely wary firstly because the questions we wanted answered on our inital meeting were not.  Our main question was how does this company make their money, especially if their services are free?  They gave us a vague answer about long term percentages, however, how do they manage short term?
We have decided to consult with an independant financial planner before making any commitments.
Reading the comments on here have increased our concern, especially the one about West Point in WA, and the article about the plummber who got ripped off.
Ann

Hi Jason, yes I have been using membersalliance mainly for debt reduction on current home and yes trying to now get into another property investment. They did not however just show us property they first showed us how to set up our fianances and then offered option of property. They sorted my insurance to which has been a big savings. So I kind of agree with some but not all your post. Basically they told us to do this and that and go away and come back and review after 4 months.

For anyone who is interested I just did my homework on  Westpoint.
 

West point collapsed due to complications with mezzanine finance relating to the construction of high rise apartments. The business unit that the general manager of members alliance ran was completely unrelated and was involved with the selling of residential property. West point had approximately 120 companies within it's structure.

The genral manager of members alliance resigned when he became aware of what was happening within other areas of the westpoint business.

Bit late for some of you maybe but we came so close to be stung by Westpoint. A few years ago (would have been very close to exactly 6 years I think), after a telemarketer from Westpoint called we agreed to a meeting. Very slick, and although we were interested in investing in local real estate we actually ended up signing up to buy an apartment in melbourne (we're in Perth, never been to melbourne). Luckily after a night of worry, I smelled something iffy and went straight to the internet. I even sent a question to Fair Trading / Consumer Affairs or something similar and was unevquivocably told it was legimate and no one had made any complaints.
More internet searching and it turns out the wonderful location and view from the apartment was a load of crap, there was a huge building immediately in front of the side 'our' apartment was on, the glossy brochure was lovely but it wasnt the same address as the apartment we'd agreed to – the apartments werent even fully built yet, and what was more, the same apartments were on sale on the ordinary market off the plan for half what we had agreed to. Lucky for us I knew there had to be a cooling off period by law (although they didnt tell us that!) so I sent a registered letter to stop the contract. The next week, Westpoint went under. A lucky escape.
Interestingly, Members Alliance just telemarketed me (Im at a different address from where I was back then though) and tried to make an appointment for me to see a financial planner, reduce tax etc. Sounded good, I did and he's supposed to be ringing me to organise a meeting. I asked them on the phone what their general strategy is "property, shares etc" and the bloke on the phone said he wasnt high up enough in the company to know. Now I smelt a rat, so straight back on the internet again. Found this forum. Guess who wont be making an appointment?

I went through a presentation and to me it was really crystal ball stuff. On paper it looks impressive when they say they can have your mortgage paid off in half the time, that we would have $100k in income in retirement and build wealth and so on and so on but it's all pure speculation. There are no guarantees.

What annoyed me was the woman who came and saw myself and my wife was so vague as to what it was all about. They obviously do this on purpose because if they say its about investing in property many people wouldn't agree to come in.

The presentation was soooo bloody long I just wanted to get the hell out of there. When we declined to proceed it became scary. They asked again and again and again then another guy (the boss maybe??) came in and tried to close. We werent interested and besides they really dont offer anything that you cant do yourself.

I can only imagine the commission they make on the property not to mention the standard commissions for doing the home loans.

My suggestion – Be very wary of the figures they throw about to try and impress you. As I said it's all speculation and there are no guarantees as what they predict is 5-10yrs away so if it doesnt eventuate they have well and truly made their money. To me it was like saying if you sign up you wont get cancer, you will win lotto and will be in love forever. Also – the presenters are NOT qualified in any way. I was under the impression they were qualified Financial Planners but they have no qualifications at all. They are just polished slightly aggressive sales peope. BUYER BEWARE!!!

We have also been contacted by members alliance.  Anyone got any other opinions on them.  Have Enjoyed Steve McKnights approach to positively geared property and find a problem create a solution.