I purchased a property in Utah in 2018. This was supposed to be a rental property and act as passive income. I hired Home River Group of Utah based on the advice of a few other people who had worked with them in the past. Boy was I wrong in that decision.

First, we haggled back and forth on the rental price. Although I had hired Home River Group, they were looking to me to decide the monthly rent. Isn’t it there job to look up market comps like most real estate agents would do? The one guy in charge Marshall came back with a rental amount that was $400 lower than all other properties in the area. If you hire them to come up with the rental rate, you really want to do your due diligence in setting the right amount. Next came the rental agreement itself. They charged me a fee to clean the property even though it was recently renovated and there was nothing to be cleaned, a listing fee to publish it to Zillow and KSL classifieds and then told me it would be 10% of the rental amount each month to manage the house. I asked what the 10% covered and got some bogus answers from their accounting person.

They were able to get the house rented to someone but didn’t give any detail about who the family was. I asked how things were going and Marshall couldn’t really answer. After a year of them managing the property, I decided to cut them loose and I went with a company named Wolfnest. I’m still charged a 10% fee each month, but I pay that no problem thanks to the transparency Wolfnest provides. Without asking they tell me how the renters are doing, if anything needs to be fixed and they do routine checks on the renters…like a property manager is expect to do.

My advice to owners in Utah, Home River Group is a scam. They will do their best to make themselves money while you’re left wondering who is actually managing the house for you. You’ll expect to pay a 10% monthly fee almost anywhere you go with, but be sure you get the help you need without having to beg them for a response.

All things considered, the house was still standing when I passed it off to Wolfnest, so I’ll give them a 3/10.