Chasing Perfection – Going the Extra Mile for Turnkey Investors By Carole VanSickle Ellis When REI Nation founders Kent Clothier, Sr., and his wife, Sherry, started building their real estate portfolio in the early 2000s, the real estate investing landscape was very different than it is today. Ultimately, the company born of those initial portfolio-building efforts, then called Memphis Invest and today operating as REI Nation, would play an integral role in the evolution and growth of the space thanks to particular emphasis on providing a personal touch for both clients and residents and delivering gold-standard service to both clients and property residents. Today, REI Nation operates in a dozen primary markets, manages nearly 8,000 properties, and has home bases in Memphis, Tennessee, and Dallas, Texas. “We really started looking to grow in 2009, 2010, and 2011,” recalled Chris Clothier, one of Kent’s sons and a partner in REI Nation along with his father and brother, Brett. That growth led to the renaming of Memphis Invest as REI Nation, a necessary shift since the company is headquartered in Memphis and has a second hub in Dallas, Texas, and roughly 120 teams operating in Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Little Rock, St. Louis, Huntsville, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa. “We operate in markets that are just a short drive from one of our main hubs,” explained Clothier, noting it is a priority for REI Nation representatives to be able to get to any active markets “really, really quickly.” He explained, “We always want to be able to utilize a team and our resources quickly as well as operating mainly in mid-size and large markets with population centers at or below the median price point for homes.” REI Nation acquires, renovates, leases, and operates single-family rental properties for its investor clients, making efficient, effective systems a must for successful company growth. “Today, we manage a $2 billion portfolio for our clients,” Clothier said, noting that 100% of REI Nation clients elect to have the company manage their assets after acquisition. Although roughly 3% of the company’s clients annually elect to go with a new management company or sell off a property, Clothier proudly points out that this is far, far less than the 20% industry standard. “We do not do things like your traditional property management companies,” said Nate Gray, a vice president with REI Nation who oversees property management and customer service across the company’s markets. “Our investors hire us to handle the headaches that come with investing in single-family real estate. Property management is a tough, tough business, and we handle it so well because we are willing to do the things that no one else is doing.” Gray cited company practices including sending out surveys to both investors and property residents to elicit responses and feedback on nearly every interaction with REI Nation and an ongoing tradition of reading Google reviews “every single day” in a productive, group setting in order to adjust and refine how the company handles asset management and other facets of SFR investing. “We read those reviews aloud in front of the entire leadership team every day,” Gray said. “We talk about them, discuss them, and, when necessary, fix problems. 98% of the time, we get everything right, but we care about the 2% of the time we do not get it. We are chasing perfection.” A Tradition of Transparency & Dedicated Communication The REI Nation team does not just share reviews and survey responses internally; they prioritize transparency about company performance across the board. Nowhere is this more evident, said Jessica Stooksbury, the company’s chief financial officer, than in the financial, legal, and human resources aspects of the group. When she interviewed with the Clothiers, she was intrigued by “a family business that seems small but is so large of a family enterprise.” She joined the team about five years ago, citing the group’s “transparency about business” as one of the main attractions and recalling how she had been excited to work with a business operating on the scale of REI Nation. “It is a lot easier to account for things if you do it consistently,” Stooksbury said. “This is especially true when you are dealing with a lot of investors. You have a lot of money coming in and going out, and it is easier to manage when things are consistent across the board.” Stooksbury said she also admires the way REI Nation has a policy of always trying to do the right thing. “A lot of companies will say that they are always thinking about what is best for owners, residents, vendors, and associates,” she explained, adding, “but walking the walk is very different from talking the talk. If the right thing to do is to help a client or resident out, that is what they are going to do even if they could do something else that would be financially better for them. As a CFO, that way of thinking makes being fiscally responsible for what is going on in an organization a whole lot easier.” Communication is not just about making information available, however. Heather Harris, vice president of marketing for REI Nation, explained education holds a top position both in terms of providing information to REI Nation investors and serving the real estate industry at large. Harris manages production and distribution of the company’s weekly “REI Nation Market Insights,” the “REI Nation Investor Blueprint,” videos and original content, company-focused updates, Clothier’s “Total Turnkey Series,” and weekly showcases of featured properties, employees, company events, and investor visits. “We have really taken time [during the COVID-19 pandemic] to hone our skills: improving our teams, providing better education for our team and for investors, and becoming the ‘go-to voice’ in the industry,” Clothier said proudly. “There are no secrets in this industry. We share so much of our information, data, and knowledge with other companies, other entrepreneurs, other management companies, and other investors. That will never stop for us because we have
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