New Western Acqusitions Sherman Bridge Lending Smoke and Mirrors Fort Worth Texas

New Western is a company that sells thousands of distressed investment homes to real estate investors. The goal of the real estate investor is to rehabilitate the property and return it to the market in top condition so that a homeowner can purchase it to live in. The real estate investors who purchase homes from us perform a vital role in restoring communities, and we are proud to facilitate the process.

However, we are not shy in broadcasting that real estate investing is a high risk / high reward proposition and after we sell a distressed home to an investor there is no guarantee of success. As anyone can read in our FAQ www.newwestern.com/faq, it is really at the purchase from New Western that the investor’s job truly begins.

Onsite management must be present to ensure construction is prompt, within budget, and to a high degree of quality. Additionally, a strong effort must be made to market the property to a discerning homeowner, especially those in the high-end price range where mere details can make a world of difference. New Western does not perform or represent itself to aid in these after sale responsibilities in any way. The company only provides a property for purchase that is clearly disclosed to be distressed. In fact, a total of at least six disclosures is provided that clearly state the property is distressed, sold as-is, and all value determinations should be made exclusively by the buyer. This is because the final after repair value of the home is subject enormously by the level of improvements made by the investor.

The overwhelming majority of our customers understand our role clearly and accept their responsibilities in the investment transaction after the sale. This is evidenced by literally more than five thousand distressed sales to investors (which are public record), and five negative reviews online about our firm, three of which belong to Roger.

New Western does make mistakes just like any other company, and we have customer service protocols to identify and take responsibility. As it happens in this transaction, the property taxes were misquoted, and an adjustment was made that over compensated for the error.

However, it would not be fair for New Western to take responsibility for the quality or mismanagement of an investors rehab since that process is outside of our control. Roger managed the design and rehab for an $800,000 Texas home remotely from California. We do not handle the retail marketing of the property after it has been repaired. Ben Cowling, Roger’s New Western contact, actually recommended a listing agent who specialized in that subdivision and had previous success. However, Roger elected to hire a realtor that has never listed or sold a house in this very specific high-end neighborhood before. When Ben Cowling visited the home at Roger’s request, after the house was put on the market, it was not even properly cleaned.  Ben also informed Roger that the house needed a complete detailing before it would be considered presentable for sale. Ben took a photograph of multiple dead cockroaches in the foyer of the $800,000 newly remodeled home. 

At some point customer service becomes exhausted. The relationship started out with both New Western and Sherman Bridge offering support in any way possible to Roger. Ben from New Western had a strong desire to see the investment succeed and visited the home many times to provide support and made several recommendations that were not followed and, in the end, he was also disappointed and frustrated. The lender, Sherman Bridge, waved an assortment of fees and charges to accommodate the situation in good faith, even though they were completely outside of the scope of the issues at hand.

Obviously, there exists the possibility that even if Roger had managed the construction appropriately and marketed the property professionally that the result may have been the same. This is the risk of real estate, and it is a priority of ours to communicate that not every deal works out as planned. Although we do track all of the distressed properties, we sell, and the vast majority are resold within a close % of the after repair value that was quoted. An interesting fact is that during the time of this flip, 2014-2015, the Tarrant County homes averaged a double-digit appreciation in value. The market, if anything, was investors favor if they properly executed a correct rehab and design finish out within the neighborhood standards.This data is made upon the request of any of our customers.

Our research into a few of the markets we focus on shows the estimated ROI was as follows:

Tampa 57.2%

Philadelphia 55.2%

Atlanta 54%

DFW the estimated gross profit was $83,000 

So in short we think the market is favorable for flipping and the majority of investors are doing pretty well. The trend we found that was interesting was that if a first-time investor fails on their first deal, they are highly unlikely to continue to invest. So our priority is to prep our buyers that this is a game of baseball and not every “at bat” is a homerun like they are told in the seminars. I have no doubt that Roger did indeed lose the money he stated in this review, and it is a disappointment for us as well as it is I’m sure for him.

Some facts we would like to share which are at odds with the statements in this review:

Sherman Bridge has never charged an interest rate of 21%, in Texas the long term rate averages around 4.5% and fix and flip financing averages 9%. www.Shermanbridge.com