Reed Clanahan

I was introduced to Reed through a connector, and Reed had all the trappings of success. I was told he had 25 successful co-living deals, he was on podcasts, bright and shiny FB page, I had 3 recordings of previous partners who all referenced him as a great partner. I talked with him on the phone and he had -- verbally -- a good system. This was my first time doing a real estate deal and I clearly didn't do enough due diligence. We closed on the deal, wired the money, and I started receiving updates of the renovation. After 90 days, where I had only heard good things "reno is on track", "starting lease up", etc. I got my first check. It was less than agreed to, I reached out, and he mentioned everything would be good next month. Next month goes by, and it's still below agreed on. I ask again, and he had more excuses saying it would be fine. Finally, after about 6 months, I asked why I got *no* payment this month he says "we're a little behind on the mortgage." The entire time he had been telling me how great everything us with just a small hiccup. I started digging in. I found there were squatters, the house was never fully renovated, I found Reed had taken out more money than he said for himself, I found the house was *5 months behind in mortgage payment and foreclosure had been threatened* -- meaning he had made 1 single payment after buying the house and then made no more payments. This whole time he kept the conversation as if it was a small issue, passing it off as an inconvenience. I had to find a lawyer, a new operator, people on the ground (I'm out of state) to investigate, talk with current tenants and more and more nightmare stories popped up. I discovered I was one of *several* investors who all had similar dealings with him (currently around 30). I pushed and legally got him to hand over the deed completely to my name. The whole time he had a "no hard feelings" vibe. As far as I understand, he's currently being investigated by multiple federal agencies for fraud and has a potential class action lawsuit against him.

You can see my other experience, but this deserves a second review for a second partner. I invited my friend into this deal because I believed it was incredible, how wrong could I be. My friend put in more than I did (about $50K). Reed sweet-talked the deal, I had done (not enough) due diligence, had a connector from a strong community. He kept saying everything was good, the house was great, the mortgage was great. Shortly thereafter, two other people got involved with Reed and said everything was a mess. All of his deals were working out of the same bank account (illegal), the reno wasn't completed, the mortgage wasn't paid, and almost no one was in the house. Other people working for Reed ended up squatting in the house itself. I had to force his hand as he would not willingly give back the house (despite it being in arrears), and use his money for other purposes than we agreed on. It took me a long time to comes to face the face that I was defrauded. He's now being investigated by at least one federal agency and has the beginnings of a class action lawsuit against him. In this process I discovered I was one of many, I personally met around 30 others who went through similar dealings. Stay away from this man.