UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip) 2024 Comprehensive Review and Ranking

What is UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip)?

 

To avoid the financial conflicts-of-interests that are rampant on virtually every other review site, I DON'T accept any money from any outside sponsor or platform for ANYTHING (including but not limited to affiliate ads, advertising etc.). See code of ethics  for more.

 

Fund That Flip specializes  in residential debt investments (also called fix-and-flip loans or hard money loans), along with a smaller amount of multifamily and commercial debt. They have the lowest loan to values of any platform (lower values have less risk than higher). They also have excellent transparency and a best-of-breed low default rate. (More on these in the "pros and cons" section).

 

What's the latest feedback on UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip)?

 

September 2024, Update: Unfortunately investor sentiment on UpRight has dropped rapidly due to a number of issues (including fallout from the Synapse bankruptcy and claimed issues with non-performing UpRight loans in both their funds and individual loans).

 

1. Synapse bankruptcy:
    

   1. ​Upright used a fin-tech called Synapse to hold money (including investor wallets and apparently borrower money as well) and process distributions.
      
      In Q2 of 2024 Synapse went bankrupt and $13.7 million of Upright money was frozen. Upright says this was deposited behind-the-scenes with AMG National Trust Bank and that all of the missing funds are accounted for in the books.
      
      But investors claim that, to date, Upright has not yet fully clarified if they have physically recovered all of the funds (or if not...then the amount of unrecovered funds). 
       

   2. On September 16th, Synapse bankruptcy trustee Jelena McWilliams, estimated that about 25% of the $219 million of Synapse deposited funds are still not distributed.
       

   3. ​In June of 2024, McWilliams said that there was an $85 million shortfall between what the company owed to depositors (similar to Upright) and the money it actually held in bank accounts. This prompted an investigation by independent auditor Earnst and Young.
       

2. Upright Pre-Funding Note Fund (PFNF):
    

   1. This fund is a line of credit funded by investors that was used by Upright to purchase their loans. It is currently marketed with a projected 9% return (and for some reason still contains the tagline "100% interest paid, 100% principal repaid, 100% on-time"...which presumably has not been correctly updated).
       

   2. ​Upright said on September 19th that 43.7% of investor money has been returned. So that should mean that 56.3% has still not been returned/paid back.
       

   3. Additionally, Upright reports $18.4 million non-performing loans on a $30.06 million portfolio (for a sky-high 61.2% non-performing rate). In my opinion, this is very concerning for the future health of this fund. 
       

3. Residential Bridge Note Fund (RBNF):
    

   1. This fund was marketed as a diversified investment in Upright notes yielding around 10%. 
       

   2. ​Upright said on September 19th that $2.06 million remains unpaid (but did not report what % this entails)
       

   3. One RBNF investor claims they are still owed 24.44% (and that they believe all investors are being treated the same and thus would be in the same boat).
       

4. Individual loans:
    

   1. ​Upright did not report any statistics on these in their September 19th update.

   2. Investors claim that there are material numbers of outstanding individual loans that are past due (which is consistent with investor allegations on the last survey...see below). Some investors claim that some of these are paying interest but not all.

 
Until these issues are resolved, UpRight's rating has been downgraded to "under probation".

And we hope that they can turn this situation around and that investors will report better news in the future.

 

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Yearly Investor Survey (updated August 27, 2023): In the previous update, UpRight (formerly Fund that Flip) was listed under "All-stars". So a new survey was just done to see what the current investor sentiment is.
 

Survey takers alleged they've invested anywhere from $30,000 to $400,000 on the platform. And when asked the question "Would you recommend that your friend or family member invest with Upright (formerly Fund That Flip)?" the answers were:
 

• Yes: 85.19% (which was up from 84.62% last year)

• No: 3.7% (which was down from 15.38% last year)

• Not sure: 11.11% (up from 0% last year)
   

Overall investor feedback was almost all positive. And it was in stark contrast to many of the other sites this year, who struggled with mixed or poor reviews. For example:

 

• "Low default rate, responsive, high return, handling difficult market well."

• "Clear and transparent communication, responsive to potentially uncomfortable questions, monthly payments on time, investor participation in late fees and extension fees, active management of individual notes."

• "Wide variety of offerings, good customer service. They originate all of their offerings and follow strict lending guidelines."

• "Very responsive investor relations team. Very active following up on late/delinquent loans (though they do have them). Their PFNF and other fund products are super consistent."

• "Excellent service, excellent return, excellent follow-up on problem loans. they continue to invest in the platform to make it better and present more options for investment."

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Multiple investors gave favorable feedback on the fund offerings and contrasted that with individual notes (which sometimes got negative feedback). For example:

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• "Overall, we have been happy with our investments in Fund That Flip (FTF), especially since the platform began offering opportunities to invest in Pre-Funding Note Funds (PFNFs). We stopped investing in individual loans almost two years ago, though we still have one under-performing single-project loan outstanding (of which about 90% of the principal has been repaid, but is now lingering into the 3rd year past its due date)."

• "Their P/R fund series pay promptly and only lock up funds for a maximum of a year. Their individual deals have quite a few extensions/delays which sometime stops payments but investor gets nothing until resolved."

• "Positives: Reliable payments for the RBNF and PNPF funds.  Negatives: Falling interest rates when rates elsewhere are rising. Increased pressure to roll over each month. They're fairly transparent on available offerings but less so on completed loans."

•  "Out of 26 investments only 5 are individual properties which are all between 2 and 23 months past the original due date. I've wholly moved into PFNF and RBNF vehicles however as don't like to deal with the hassle of individual properties."
   

Multiple investors expressed concerns about the potential risks of overconcentration on the platform's loan sources and/or lack of visibility. For example:
 

• "The one concern I have with FTF in particular is its reliance on a handful of core borrower/developers who obtain loans from FTF. Although I currently deploy new money on FTF exclusively into PFNFs, investing in a fund does not guarantee loaning to a diverse group of borrowers in geographic markets."

• "They had significant amount of capital tied up with one borrower that had many loans past maturity. While it may work out fine I feel that since they have some much exposure that one borrower gets preferential treatment... For me the updates are not timely. The deals go past maturity dates with no updates for weeks. I am in one deal where they said it was supposed to sell by end of June and no updates once on July 24."

• "Do not know financial situation, e.g. whether still doing fine.  Also there seems not to be any default/loss by their funds...is that realistic?"

• "I believe FTF's management team is outstanding, one of the best in the debt-focused real estate crowdfunding space, but I sometimes wish they would be a little more transparent about what loans comprise their PFNFs and Residential Bridge Note Funds. Until about a year ago, we had dedicated $200,000 of our overall investment portfolio to debt-focused real estate crowdfunding platforms - almost all with FTF. We reduced that allocation to $75,000, and deployed the difference to a private, conservatively-run managed futures fund with which we have been very pleased."

• "Their PFNF and RBNF give you good diversity. However, I am still slowly pulling out my money and moving to Socotra, which I believe has even better diversification."
   

So Upright achieved one of the highest percentage of "yes" votes in the crowdfunding platform space (for the second year in a row). And the platform is staying under its current category of "all-stars".

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How does UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip) work?

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UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip) loans money to borrowers and then sells pieces of those loans to investors who share in the profit (or loss). Typically the borrower is themselves an investor who wants to flip a home. (Purchase a home that is run down, fix it up, and hopefully sell for a profit). 

​

They make their money by charging the investor a service fee that ranges from 1 to 2% per year (the average is 1%). They also charge the borrower 2 to 4 points as well as some nominal legal and appraisal fees.

​

If the borrower on a loan stops paying, Fund that Flip will attempt to negotiate. If that fails, they will manage the foreclosure process, which can get expensive. It also can take months (in nonjudicial states) to years (in judicial states). After that, it over-sees the rehab and selling of the property.

If the net proceeds are more than is owed than the investor gets back their owed principal and interest, and maybe even a boost from penalty fees. On the other hand, if they're insufficient then the investor takes a loss on the investment. During the time all of this is going on, the investor usually receives no interest nor their principal back.

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What are UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip) Pros and Cons?

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One huge advantage of the site is that most if not all loans at or below 65% LTV/ARV (after repair value). This keeps a healthy reserve in case the loan has to go into foreclosure, and is much less riskier than high LTV/ARV loans. (See this article on "Hard Money Loan Investing Guide: Part 1.").

They also pre-fund all of their investments.

 

And in June 2017 they became just the 3rd site in the industry to publish the past performance of all investments (and committed to doing so every month in an ongoing basis).

(As of today, they have an impressively small number of loans on the site are more than 30 days overdue (2.39% in the current loan book). In the entire history of the site,1.8% of loans (4 out of 215) had foreclosure initiated, making it one of the top performers. All of these repaid investors in full before judicial proceedings were required. They have currently lost $0 principal and $0 earned interest since founding. )

On the minus side, their investment volume is low (especially when compared to hard money loan funds). We hope to see the company improve this in the future.

Additionally, it loans in some states that do not have a nonjudicial option. This means that if things go wrong and foreclosure has to be fully invoked, it can take years (instead of months) to resolve before you get your money back. And it can be very expensive (which further stresses out the equity cushion and can cause losses). Investors who are concerned about a recession potentially causing a lot of foreclosures, may want to cherry pick the loans and avoid the states that don't have a nonjudicial option.

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For more raw data on the site (including investor and sponsor fees, legal structure etc.), or to easily compare it with the data of competitors, see the feature by feature comparison matrix.​

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UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip) Quick Pro & Con Summary

 

• Advantages: Low LTV/ARV (after repair value), currently all at or below 65%, excellent transparency, low uncured default rate and solid track record,$2M in venture capital funding, pre-funding of all investments.
   

• Disadvantages: Low investment volume.
   

• Accolades: #2 in residential debt. #1 for lowest LTV loans. #1 hard money loan safety award, Shooting Star award for  increase in ranking since last year (#9 to #3)

Additional notes:

 

Investor feedback 2017-09-22:

 

"I think you need to upgrade FundThatFlip. Specifically, they have a problem credit (Matthews, North Carolina rehab loan). The property has been developed to about a LTV of ~50%. The developer is having problems and needs more funding. FTF has stepped in and provided the additional subordinated $50k in funding required to make sure the property is finished and us lenders continue to get serviced and return of principal upon sale. This is clearly going over and above in terms of service!!! Note that this is not pre-funding and then having investors take them out, this is FTF assuming risk so that the investors have an excellent seamless experience. They're #1..."
 

Is Investing In UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip) Legal?

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Fund That Flip arkets to investors under 506C, meaning that it's only available to accredited investors. Since it is not using 506B, new investors are able to view investments immediately and there's no 30-day waiting period. Since it is 506c, it also  requires investors to prove their accredited status (and update it periodically).

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What does an UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip) deal look like?

Here is my step-by-step due-diligence on a random Fund That Flip investment. So it may or may not be a typical investment. Also I'm a very conservative investor, so something that's way too risky for me might be the perfect fit for someone else who is more aggressive. Finally, I'm not a financial advisor, attorney or accountant. So this is just my personal opinion and always consult your own financial professionals before making any financial decisions.
 

This investment is located in Chicago Illinois. It's a 9 month loan on a loan on a single family home for 9% annual return.

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The first step is to make sure that the asset class and strategy even make sense for my portfolio. (If you don't know how to do this, please see The Conservative Investor's Guide to Due Diligence). Let's say it makes sense for my portfolio and jump  in.

 

Like all Fund That Flip loans, it is first position, meaning that if there is a foreclosure, the investor will get paid first from the proceeds before anyone else. I personally like to see this.
 

The loan-to-value is 57.1% which is below the 65% maximum that many experienced hard money lenders will not exceed. So this means it has a very healthy equity cushion if something goes wrong, which reduces the chance of the investor losing money. In my opinion this is great to see.
 

The loan is being made in Chicago Illinois. This is state that is judicial only, meaning that a full foreclosure needs to go through the courts. It will be much more expensive and time-consuming (perhaps taking a year or more), then if it was loaned in a nonjudicial state. For me, this is a dealbreaker and I would move on to the next loan. However, someone more aggressive might not have an issue with it.

 

Had the investment passed those initial check, I would have dived in further to check out the sponsor, the property itself, the projections, etc. To learn how I do those things, check out The Conservative Investors Guide to Due Diligence.

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Where can I discuss other UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip) deals?

You can do this with thousands of other investors in the private investor club. While the club is free, membership is restricted to investors who have no business connections to sponsors or platforms. Also, all members must agree to keep all club info confidential by signing a nondisclosure agreement. Click here to join or get more info.

Who are UpRight (formerly Fund That Flip) Competitors?

 

Here are the reviews and rankings for other residential debt sites:
 

• Peer Street

• Upright (formerly Fund That Flip)

• ShareStates

• Zeus Crowdfunding

• AlphaFlow

• LendingHome

• InstaLend

• YieldStreet

• Patch of Land

• GroundFloor
   

• All other sites (ranked)
   

• To compare this site directly with competitors, see the 
  feature by feature comparison matrix.

OR...if you're looking for more volume and/or more conservative LTV's than most crowdfunding sites provide, then a fund might be a better choice for you. If so, here is our Guide to the Top 15 Hard Money Loan Funds (and honors). 
 

How do I invest in debt?

 

Looking to learn more about investing in debt (hard money loan investing)? Here's our 4-part step-by-step series.

​

• Hard Money Loan Investing Guide: Part 1 - What is it?

• Hard Money Loan Investing Guide: Part 2 - How to protect from loss

• Hard Money Loan Investing Guide: Part 3 - The Due Diligence Check List 

• Hard Money Loan Investing Guide: Part 4 - Top 15 hard money loan funds

Related:
 

How to pick? Check out our step-by-step guide.
 

• The quick guide to picking conservative real-estate deals
   

• Top 100+ accredited investor sites (ranked and reviewed)