HomeUnionReviews of homeunion.com

I learned about Homeunion in the New York Times. It specifically discussed how millennials (which I am) are delaying purchasing a home to live in because they are pushing back marriage, delaying having children, and cannot afford a home yet. As a result of this apparent new social order millennials are potentially forgoing future wealth by not purchasing a home as soon as the earlier generations. The article cited a 20 something year old purchasing an investment property through Homeunion. He liked his experience and is generating wealth by the increased value of his home. Since I am from New York where homes are virtually out of reach for any middle class single person I decided to give Homeunion a call to find out more. I spoke with a nice person name Chris on the phone. I was shooting very pointed questions to him about how this works, what I do, what they do, what’s the cost, how they determined the best investment property, etc. He answered all questions very thoughtfully. Since I never bought a house before, let alone an investment property I am very unfamiliar with this income strategy. Without realizing I was on the phone for an hour. I did not move forward for two months after that call. It took me this long because I just could not get myself to trust this company with one of the largest outlays of money that I would make in my life. I honestly thought it was a scam until I read other online reviews and discussed rental real estate with some knowledgeable friends of mine. After another phone call with Chris, I proceeded to find a home. I chose my first home in Atlanta because I sometimes visit and have family there. That was how I weeded out all of the other cities that Homeunion offers across the US. After confirming my selection the seller said I must wait ten days before my bid is even considered because I was an investor. This happened because the home I selected was a foreclosed home and the seller (Fannie Mae) preferred owner-occupied owners over investors. Unfortunately, it fell through because they found someone willing to live in it. In retrospect I wish Homeunion would have told me it was a foreclosure on the website. Now determined to have an investment property, I quickly found another home in Atlanta the following week. Homeunion gave me a lot of documents to read through. The signing process was all done online making my life easier. I had to sign a power of attorney document giving permission for the attorney to bid on the house in a specified range. After some negotiations we came to an agreement with the seller to buy the house for $100,000. FYI: This is a fraction of what homes are going for in New York City. I kept in constant communication with Chris throughout the bidding process, but after the accepted offer I began communicating with Lisa who is the Transaction Coordinator at Homeunion. She gave me more agreements to sign and information to go further. Again, since this was my first house I really appreciated the constant communications about what to do. She recommended that I go through Homeunion Lending to get a mortgage for my home and then I would not have to worry about all the little things about getting a mortgage; she would handle all of it. However, I ended up deciding to go with an outside bank; it was cheaper. This made my life a little harder, but I always appreciate a challenge. I learned so much about how mortgages work! While my mortgage application was going through I started discussing the rehab work with Lisa. The inspection report stated more problems with the home than I expected. The rehab estimate from the contractors they hired came in at a whopping $20,000! I was shocked because the sample homes on Homeunion’s website stated their rehab costs at a much lower number. Thus, I had a conference call with Lisa and the management team on the ground in Atlanta. They told me to not worry, the seller would most likely fix the big repairs that represented a third of the cost and they were correct. I then instructed them to not install fencing and to not replace the furnace. That brought the costs down to a more reasonable $6,000. I was very pleased with this process. After my mortgage closed the rehab commenced a week and half later. They finished in three weeks and began marketing. My house was tenanted in eight days! Three months after the close I now have positive cash flow! Amazing! I now communicate with Jeff who is the client services coordinator. Key Takeaways Here: Things I liked: 1. The constant communication. I was not familiar with investing in property at all and they helped throughout the entire time. 2. They handled the contracts, rehab, tenant marketing, and tenant relations flawlessly. 3. The website is fantastic. Everything is organized well and I can keep up with everything about the home. 4. I really liked the income and wealth projection calculator on the website. 5. Great managers and coordinators. They know what they are doing. Things that can be improved: 1. The team on the ground in Atlanta forgot to include a refrigerator in the rehab estimate. I had to ask them don’t I need a refrigerator? 2. Displaying all fees related to the home. I was not aware of a Homeunion oversight fee of the rehab until I received the estimate. It is possible that I may have missed this. 3. Depositing my rental income sooner in my bank account. Right now it takes a month. For example: my May 1st rental income was deposited on May 31st. Nothing in life is perfect so I must give it up to this company for doing a great job. I hope this helps the next investor.

HomeUnion has been a solid company to work with on investing in rental properties. They have very competent teams that handle all aspects from identifying property, an easy finance process, good communication on rehabbing it to standards, securing tenants and providing an overall portfolio view of your real estate investments.

I started investing with HomeUnion in 2015 and they have greatly improved over the years. I am happier with the way HU handles investments, management of monthly rent, renewing lease, rehab and finding tenants. I have looked at similar investments and none come close to what HU offers. This is a great diversification of my investment. I am looking forward to continuing investing with HU in the coming years.

This service is a great system and I own the house. You aren't stuck in any contract so you aren't stuck to anything. Try it and it wirks

Solid platform to build wealth through the accumulation of real estate. The busy executive would appreciate the advantages of the friction being taken out or avoided in their day to day lives. You invest and let them do the rest and jump on the "one throat to choke" model to build some wealth to enjoy a better quality of life.

I worked with HomeUnion on purchasing couple of properties last quarter and the overall acquisition process was rather smooth. Surely there were miscommunication, glitches, delays and mistakes but the team at HomeUnion were able to handle them satisfactorily. I appreciate the fact that HomeUnion takes care of everything from property selection to rental management. I do find that I have to initiate the majority of the communication regarding statuses - excess cash, rehab, etc… But I am quite disappointed by the spotty at best customer/investor support AFTER the acquisition. I have a list of questions, corrections and action items outstanding from a month ago which have not been addressed, and I haven’t been able to get any response. It is unsettling when I am not given a clear accurate picture of where my money have gone or is going. Frankly I was very much looking forward to expand my rental portfolio with HomeUnion as I believe it is a feasible investment model but at this point I am rather uncomfortable.

The customer service has gone down, down, down. Its a shame as I was hoping to work with this company for a long time but their constant employee changes, to failure to do what I ask and refusal to answer my questions has become unacceptable. Look for other competitors

My real estate experience started when I purchased a condo in Hoboken, New Jersey, in the early 2000s. I lived there for a while, and then converted it into a rental. Over the years, I was able to weather both the financial crisis and Hurricane Sandy while keeping my rental and generating monthly cash flow. Now that the local housing market is up in Hoboken, I made the decision that it was time to exit the market, as it’s been extremely unfriendly with rent control laws and taxes. Not to mention, tying up half a million in 1 tiny box is a significant chunk of my net worth. The Next Steps Once I decided that I would sell my condo, I had to consider multiple factors: Where to invest? I considered a few local New York/New Jersey spots to invest in, but they were too expensive and came with high taxes and home prices. How do I invest passively? After self-managing for years and dealing with 2AM phone calls, terrible contractors and the rest of it, I wanted to make enough free cash flow to hire a property manager. This way I could truly be an investor, not a landlord. This was so important to me that I even strongly considered REITs as an alternative! What is the most advantageous way for me purchase real estate? When I started to calculate the tax bill, I realized that a 1031 exchange was my best option. 1031 Exchange A 1031 exchange was the best option for me as I had been depreciating the place as a rental for the past few years, which provided a lovely tax shield. The challenge was that if I sell the property, I would have to pay income tax recapture on top of the capital gains tax - OUCH! How HomeUnion Helped Luis from HomeUnion reached out to me around this time, and he informed me that HomeUnion could meet the fairly short timelines required to complete a 1031 exchange transaction. Even better, HomeUnion could help me split proceeds into multiple cash flow-positive homes and secure GSE mortgages to boot. To be honest, it sounded too good to be true. How do I know these are legit? Do I really want to buy homes I've never seen? I ended up visiting two locations, Chicago and Tampa, to meet HomeUnion’s local region managers and check out a few properties, which included the ones I was bidding on. Both local region managers struck me as knowledgeable, experienced and skilled at what they do. These meetings got me comfortable with HomeUnion as a company and as a partner. Fast forward a few weeks, and we've just completed the 1031 exchange transaction! I was able to split my Hoboken condo into 6 single-family houses (technically 5 as we added additional funds to purchase the last home) in 5 states using a 1031 exchange. By diversifying into multiple markets, I feel much safer for the following reasons: I'm not as worried about a big storm wiping me out, as I now have additional cash flow-generating properties. This means I'm well covered, even if I have an issue with one of them. I don't need to stress about keeping the places 100% occupied, as the cash flow is sufficient to allow for some vacancy. Best of all, the cash flow is expected to be enough to cover HomeUnion’s management fees, which reduces my hassle, and I can truly invest passively. HomeUnion’s Pricing Some may view their pricing as a premium product - I would agree it is not the cheapest route. I've always been a ‘do-it-yourself’ kind of person like many TrustPilot members, but after my experience, I would say HomeUnion delivered a lot of value and has been worth every penny spent. I believe they provided me with a service that went above what I could have handled alone (unless I quit my day job which I enjoy and wish to keep). I feel that I am in a much stronger position, and have advanced my real estate portfolio multiple years ahead by making this move. Current Status Three properties are now in rehab with HomeUnion, where they are handling the whole process of repairs/maintenance and working with contractors. I will keep you posted as they progress, but so far they are on track to exceed expectations. The other three properties have been tenanted and the early outset for HomeUnion’s management team looks good. _________________ Disclosure: I volunteered to write this because I saw some good posts here, but nothing on this specific topic and not many detailed accounts of HomeUnion from the community. When I mentioned this to HomeUnion, they offered me a free month of asset management as a thank you, but this has not affected my post and I've tried to be as unbiased as is humanly possible. In addition, we are at a stage where we have just completed the transaction: 3 properties are tenanted and 3 need some minor rehab and need to be filled. The early outset for management and rehabbing looks good but I can't vouch for that yet. I will create an update in a few months with my findings.