The Journal Sentinel had an interesting article in today’s paper about the kind of people “preying” on folks in foreclosure …….
As a Realtor myself, I have been growing increasingly alarmed at who is out there, trying to benefit over someone else’s misfortune. I posted the following ten days ago, on June 6th on the MLS Bulleting Board, that only Realtors have access to --- relating an actual story of someone trying to rip off a friend of mine, and wondering when the Realtor Associations are going to go after the “unlicensed” predators out there.
WHEN ARE THE REALTOR ASSOCIATIONS GOING TO GO AFTER THE CON ARTISTS AND CROOKS OPERATING WITHOUT A LICENSE
According to Wisconsin law a real estate license is necessary when "Five sales or exchanges in one year or
10 sales or exchanges in 5 years is presumptive evidence of a pattern of sales or exchanges." !!!!
Knowing this, now go and look in Craigslist and see how many people are 1) Offering to buy your property and lease it back to you 2) Offering to sell 5 or more properties 3) Offering to buy your property if in foreclosure 4) Offering to let you "rent to own" .
And please note that most of these ads do not have any Disclosure --- because they are NOT LICENSEES but they are acting in the market to the extent were a License is Mandated by Law !!
Of course not all of these folks are crooks or con artists -- some of them are just following the "info-mercial" advice of buying and selling Distressed Properties -- or the allure of Property Flipping.
But there are some Really Bad Actors out there -- and nobody is monitoring them or protecting the public from them.
Just today I talked with one of these guys who approached a friend of mine who has a property that is in the start of foreclosure, due to a divorce situation. The property is easily worth $130,000 or more, and there is only $70,000 owed on the mortgage note. My friend will probably be able to get new financing to salvage his equity, from a reputable financier.
The guy who approached him proposed the following --- He buys property for the $70,000 --- my friend pays him rent for up to one year at about $900 per month --- and then he buys back property for $100,000 !!!!!!
That folks is anywhere from 50% to 100% interest, depending upon when in a 6 to 12 month period he is able to secure a new mortgage to buy his property back.
And per my conversation with this guy, he does about half a dozen of deals per year !!! and he is NOT licensed !!!
My friend was astute enough to call me and I put him in touch with a legitimate lender who is going to be able to help him.
But how many people in this situation are taken advantage of by these kind of sharks --- who get to them before they can talk to a licensed Real Estate Professional ------ and find some options in many or most cases that are not Predatory ------ many of these people don't even know that if they just call their lender, they can probably work out a repayment plan --- the Lender doesn't want to foreclose --- but people panic and are vulnerable to the Con Men (and Women) and Crooks ......
I have written the WRA and GMAR before about all these unlicensed folks on Craigslist and other venues --- but I don't see anything being done.
It is time for them to monitor the ads, and monitor the real estate transactions, and get these bozos out of the Predator Business ------- and at the same time, of course, make sure that those of us who are licensed, act in an ethical manner with integrity.
Dave Tatarowicz
Better Living Realty & Relocation, LLC
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