Have some friends of friends who recently purchased a property through Members Alliance. I had never heard of them until they mentioned it. I decided to do some research and after a few minutes came across this thread and many other sites with what would you say, negative press!
Would be interested to see the finance structure as well as valuation of the property they bought. I am curious if they would have received a copy of the valuation?
Colin Rice | CDR Finance
http://cdrfinance.com.au/
Email Me | Phone MePerth Based Mortgage Broker - Investment Property Finance Specialist | E: [email protected]
Companies like this which are just "property spruikers" and are not reputable or licensed finance planners state they look after there client interests but there clients are the property developers they sell on behalf of – not the person who buys an over priced property in a second rate location 900 miles away . I have been to a MA meeting and another company to get a feel for how stuff works with property investment and tax etc etc – i admit i was naive and my eyes wide open and it is the same all around and I could see the risks and declined to do anything .
People just have to stop and think and to be frank not to be so naive and silly and think "what is in it for them who are selling this deal" – no one does anything for free and after they sell you a property under the pretense of " financial advise" and make 30-60 k for a two hour meeting and some paper work they could not care less about you….
For any financial advise use reputable licensed planners and stay away from anyone selling property interstate as a way to retire early or pay your loans off in 6 years !
Members Alliance, Investment Property Group, have a reputation of moving stock that is predominately over priced in QLD, NSW or Vic. I've worked for a building company that supplies some of these companies, cant believe they're still out there.
More interested in the commissions paid than looking after their clients, typical commissions paid would be 5% – 8% of total value – $400k purchase = $20k commission minimum. If they call you for some BS presentation run forrest run!
Hi – had a call from Members Alliance on Monday – pretty much asking the same questions as previous comments and insisted that I texted my wife to confirm she would be at our appointment on Friday (tomorrow). I asked if they could tell me who was coming to visit. The senior person on the phone said he couldn't, but when QC (quality control) called later that day – that person would be able to let me know. When the QC lady called later on Monday, she said she didn't know which consultant we would be allocated to us and to ensure my wife would be in attendance. This afternoon I received a call telling me that Nick Stephens would be coming around and to ensure my wife would be at the meeting. When I asked what qualifications Nick Stephens had in order to offer financial advice – Dan the man said that he was highly qualified and experienced. When I pursued what exactly was Nick Stephens qualifications Dan said he didn't know and went on to talk over me when I asked him what professional associations was Nick Stephens accredited to. Again, Dan said he did not know. I told Dan that I was cancelling the appointment.
I have no knowledge of how qualified Nick Stephens is or is not and nor it seems do his colleagues.
WIFE – why was it so important for the wife to be present – it is an old time share trick in order to gain commitment from both parties there and then.
Suggest everyone gives this bunch a wide berth!
Unfortunately my husband & I fell for their lengthy presentation. We did say we wanted to discuss the matter with our accountant ( who was on leave at the time) they asked the name of our accountant & when told said he was one of their preferred accountants & dealt with him. So we signed up only to find out later when discussing it with our accountant that he would not have recommended that we sign with them.
Investors beware of members alliance and PPI real estate in Queensland who are affiliated with them. So far it has been nothing but stressful.Hi Dawn
We have just tentatively signed with Members Alliance and doing some research before the cooling off period expires and was wondering how your experience has gone since you made your post?
And anyone who can offer any feedback on their dealings with Members Alliance?!?
Thanks!
Danielle
We have just received a valuation back for a forum member who was going thru MA. It came in 65k under the purchase price.
I think that tells you the sort if stock they sell….. Overpriced.
Cheers
Yours in Finance
Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Hi,
As someone has made reference to PPI Real Estate,I would just like to clarify that this is a completely different business that is in no way affiliated with PPI Property & Investment Advice (Formerly Portfolio Property Investments.
Many thanks
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This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by
Kylie Walsh.
Kylie Walsh | PPI Investment Advice
http://ppiinvestmentadvice.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeLicensed Property Financial Advisors who provide Tailored Property Advice and Solutions
Hi,
We also (unfortunately) invested with Members Alliance. Great service initially when they had something to sell – which evaporated as soon as we completed the purchase. We also now sit with a property in Queensland which is valued about $80k under what we paid for it.
After the completion of the rental it was rented out via PPI Rentals. We had nothing but bad service from these guys. Our last tenant moved out being 2 months in arrears with damage to the property as well. After that it took more than a month for them to get new tenants in – they lost a great applicant due to them being slow in processing the application and doing the required checks – even though we asked that they take the applicant.
We have now cut all ties with both companies – I would recommend to everyone to stay clear of them. Bad news, bad service, empty promises and cost us a lot of money.
Regards
Sometimes these companies can provide a great service to those who lack the ability to find the right debt structure and investment avenue.
However, I think it is important with any of these companies to check the following:
1. Where the company is receiving their income (is it the finance, the property, the land… etc.) – Ask for this information up front.
2. Ask to see a list of related entities/companies that may also be receiving income from your investment/debt consolidation. This may be a way the company is receiving income from you without having to disclose this to you.
3. Get your own independent property valuation. This may cost $200 but worth it if you are making a $400k investment.
4. Visit the area you are investing in. If it is an obscure area you don’t know much about, jump on a flight or take the weekend to go see the area and talk to locals. (again this may cost $500+ but well worth it to educate yourself on the area).
– Sadly this is (but not always) a 101 trick from ‘property spruikers’ selling your overpriced property in an area you are unfamiliar with.5. Ring the local council and ask questions about whats happening in the area. Bureaucrats love to speak sh#7 about their area, but at the same time will also give you the truth about “proposed developments” and “growth”.
6. Realestate dot com can be a powerful tool to keep ‘spruikers’ honest. If you find that you are not give the actual address of the property you are buying until relatively late in the discussion, then this could be because they dont want you doing your research.
if your property is 8 Great street… google 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 on Great street and google map the suburb and check surrounding subburbs. Onthehouse.com.au provide great info on sale history and valuations.Can anyone add anything else to this to ensure your investment stacks up?
All the best!
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This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Jimmy86. Reason: spelling
Jimmy86 | Future Assist SMSF Specialists - Bris | Melb | Syd
http://www.futureassist.com.au/setupansmsf
Phone MeSelf-managed super specialist administrators and advisers
Here’s some handy insider info –
FACT: PPI is OWNED by Members Alliance
FACT: Image building company is OWNED by Members Alliance
FACT: Has an extremely low staff retention rate due to severe and intimidating micro-management under the auspices of authority
AFFILIATIONS: Macquarie (Financial Planning) note: this may have been severed when Macquarie removed themselves from the program to purchase property via SMSF – this was due to Members Alliance not being considered at “arms length” in each stage of the investment process
TIP: Steer clear of property located in Lowood, QLD (due to tenanting issues…unfortunately, other suburbs that have low valuations are too numerous to list)
TIP: They will tell you absolutely anything to get you to sign on the day. Witnessed someone being sold a property as new and after settlement, discovered it was 5+ years old (this affects tax depreciation schedules).
TIP: If you want to piss off Members Alliance, turn up to the in office appointment without your significant other…they can’t sign you up if only one income is present and under no circumstances will you be permitted to take the contracts with you. Officially known as a 1-legger, no sale.After your property settles, NO ONE cares about issues you come up against during the build or tenanting stage. Why? Every person you have come in contact with up and until that point has now received their commission and are busy with newer clients.
Q: Why would a company that “seems” reputable need to use deceit rather than honesty in their day to day business dealings?
A: The service they are providing is something that you can do yourself, from start to finish, with less headache and more control.I hope this ruffles the necessary feathers and serves as a warning to potential clients – do your research and if on the first page of googling a company name, you see the word “SCAM” anywhere, RUN!
Hi
My husband and I signed up with Members Alliance in July this year with Sydney Office. First up they are a charming bunch of people. Sales had come to our house many times to insure we understood the process. Once construction began we were in contact with Qld office, very helpfull with photos and updates. But at times we were lied to as were the property was up to. We have a close friend living directly behind our investment which we found out half way through construction. And with the information received from her we had a spy on the side. Later I found that the builders were also known to my brother as he is in the same building industry.Many times I caught Members Alliance out with lies and detailed information and none of them would take my complaints seriously.
I received a call from Qld MA to tell me that handover would be set for mid Dec and to sign Building Insurance and Landlord insurance paperwork, as the builders were finished. I called an independent Builders Inspection to be carried out as I didn’t want to use the company that MA recommended. Yet again property not finished. The inspector did say that the quality of the build is of high standard, with minor rectifications to be made. Which is common. with less than 2 weeks to go for handover we have no tenant list and a property sitting dormant, again MA told me that advertising has commence about a month ago for tenants.But alas no adverts done. Luckily we have a 12month rental agreement drawn up by MA.But this is through PPI and will only be honoured if we use them. So looks like MA still get our commitment for another 12 months. Long and short, if we knew that this would become more of a headache we would NOT have gone through MA, it has stressed us out beyond believe. Their Moto is they are with us all the way, to hold our hand to Financal Freedom. Think they should sign up with a Stress Management company too,Now that they have lined their pockets we have been left to chase everything as it seems to be all to much for them to follow any queries we have. MY ADVICE. Don’t USE MEMBERS ALLIANCE they will put you into an early grave through stress.I challenge anyone from Member Alliance to respond to my blog. After all you dont respond to text messages or return phone calls. It’s been 3weeks now since handover, and no tenants nor is the house finished. I went through Sydney Office so won’t be hard to find me or get my number.
We are currently going through such a stressting time with Members Alliance, who promised that our investment property in the Parkes NSW will be built in 6 months. Turned out that after 14 months, IT STILL HAS NOT BEEN BUILT. All this time we have been paying for the loan and missing out on any tax benefit. This company is a JOKE, stay well clear. We are trying to find other people who might be under the similar circumstances with MA, so that we can fight together. Email us if you are one of them and we shall sort them out.
Hello there,
Hope you get the Justice your asking for. Our IP is in Millmerran( 80ks West of Toowoomba). It was built within 2 months. Our main problem with Members Alliance WAS and still IS the lack of communication and the lies( Refer to my first Blog). The only time they were quick to respond was due to my last Blog, and under no uncertain terms they made me aware that they didn’t like BAD PRESS, at least they responded.But now i get the impression now that its almost done and dusted we are in the NO CARE FACTOR.
We now have an over due rent issue with them now,as we had a 12 month Rental Agreement drawn up to take effect at Handover which was 22/12/2014. Tenants moved in 12/2/2015 so therefor 2 months in arrears with rent which Members Alliance have yet to pay. Our loan is Interest Only so therefor more CASH FLOW but with no rent in our account equals more interest paid.
I can only say that some of the Staff are very nice,I guess they need to make a living at out expense and Stress somehow!
If I can help in any way let me know, I feel let down in the lack of professionalism and still a lot of confusion on how all this is supposed to work.Hi
All I can say is Don’t let these people force u into signing something on the day !!! Tell them to bugger off anyone offering to make u quick rich is a scammer. carnt believe people still fall for it. HONESTLY People yes use your damm brains. I went to there so called financial advise and freedom meeting ( yes I got suckered in to a meeting) and could see right through it it and told them to get stuffed especially when they expected me to sign up to over a half a million dollar loan ON MY EQUITY after only just hearing three hours OF dire tribe crap they spit out and then they got shitty when I said no and I said I will take there proposal to MY OWN ACCOUNTANT FOR ADVISE FIRST AND GET BACK TO THEM.
In summary
– Have no morals will take ur money from u and your kids your family home if need be
– slick sales spiel to make it sound iron proof -to good to be true… Which is true !!
– make it sound hard to do your own IP acquisition when truth is it is not if u do a bit of work up front.
– most likely sell u and overpriced dudd property 1000 miles from where u live and don’t give a shit once they get the commission.If I were u maybe go to ASIC to complain.
We recently met with Members Alliance sales consultants in our home. They originally sold this meeting as a first step to working out your goals and seeing whether they can help. The meeting was basically a sales spiel and they asked questions, which I thought was unnecessary such as how many holidays we wanted to take and schools we wanted to send our child to. I asked why it needed to be so specific. Why can’t they just ask how much we wanted to spend on holidays and education? I reckon they collect this information so at the next meeting they can bring this up again and worm you into signing one of their deals.
They also mentioned how they could save us a lot in tax deductions. I said that we claim deductions as we’re entitled to and asked how they were going to get us more? They promise they can get you a bigger deduction (thousands of dollars) and create wealth? So how are they going to do this? Of course they don’t answer this. Though they make you attend a meeting at their office threatening to deduct $200 from your credit card if you do not, we managed to cancel this meeting by calling them after to say we’re not interested. I spoke to CAV and if you sign up for any offer that is unsolicited, you are entitled to a ten-day cooling period. So don’t go. Call and cancel!
OMG I feel sick!! I feel so silly and that I may have just signed my home away after my meeting today. I told the consultants on numerous occasions that I felt nervous and not entirely comfortable however they kept insisting I had NOTHING to lose and my home is completely safe…I fell for it and I cant believe I have signed a contract.
I understand I have a cooling off period so I will send an email right now. Ive tried to check online if I need to hand deliver anything but cant find much information. Im also unsure if I am bound by SA law or QLD although appears very similar.
I really hope its not too late!!
Teena
Speak with fair Trading straight away and see what your rights are. You should have a cooling off period..
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This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by
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