Protect Yourself

I decided to share a story with all of my readers, basically in hopes to prevent you from falling victim to scam.

I say a story simply because it is easier for me to bare telling it then to let you know that this is in fact a biographical story.

As it stands right now, we are in the middle of litigation over this with the very obvious reatlty that even with our winning we will never see the money we lost again, and that these people and their counterparts will continue to do business illegally and take more money from more people. And let me tell you now, jail does not scare them. They have been in jail and they are not afraid of going back.

I will also tell you the point of this story is to get you to go to a webpage and investigate coverage for yourself and your family. It is coverage that we did not have at the time but wished we had, and now we do, and we will never not be protected again.

We had a home based business, we still have the business but we are at the starting over point, that dealt with seller financing of homes that created a real estate note, and facilitating the sale of that note. Actually, our preference then as it is now, is to come across a note that is already created with payment history and that is legitimate. I went out one afternoon to all the realtor offices that were in our area and delivered personal invitiations to all realtors and firms for a seminar I was putting on, about the benefits to the realtor for learning about seller financing and promissory notes.

One "business" that I went into that portrayed itself as a real estate office dealing specifically with seller financing, and rehabbed homes and helping people not rent but own a home. They were very interested in what I did, and I thought the "service" that they offered was great and it seemed to be a great fit with the potential of alot of business for our company as well as theirs'.

I gave them the requirements of my investors to purchase a note, I explained what a note is, how it is created, what would need to happen in order for a note to be created and what my investors were looking for when deciding whether to buy or not. We had two meetings prior to the first deal that we attempted to do. I needed to understand what they were looking for and they needed to understand the procedure and what I could do and what I could not do.
With the promises of they were legitimate, they were in the business to help people not hurt people, we started out first deal.

Right here I want to interject that there was no contract between our company and thier company, and I could not be paid unless a deal closed, and I was never paid by them, I was paid by my investors that were buying the notes. But I stress to you, get a contract, put it in writing. When ever you are consulting, get a contract, have it reviewed by an attorney that is looking out for your interest.

Well, the start of the first deal went well, they were able to create a note, we closed with a title compnay, I had most of the needed documentation for my investor and we were waiting on an appraisal to back up what they had sold the house for so that my investor knew that the house was atleast worth more then what he was paying for the piece of paper. It took two months to get an appraisal, and when we finally got it, it was for half of what they "sold" the property for. I should've been worried then, but they reassurred me that it was a one time thing, they had other deals to work on. I advised them of what to do in order to be able to get anything out of that note, which was basically make sure all payments were on time and try to work on the house. Well, that isn't what they were interested in.

So after that, they began innodate me with purchase contracts, and demands. With out closing one I was up to 22 properties that I was trying to collect from them the needed documentation, getting quotes from my investors and trying to get a deal closed. Working 40 hours a week, week after week with no pay is not a way to live. I had to let my other clients sit on the back burner, which eventually cost me a few clients, just to try to get any of these properties taken care of. My investors were getting irritated because it shoudn't take more then 4 weeks start to finish once a seller accepts an offer and we were going on months for some of these.

I didn't stop working with them when I shoud've because we had made a mistake of becoming friends with them. Not that you can't be friendly or even friends with people that you do business with, but I recommend KNOWING who you are doing buisness with.
In an effort to try to expedite the process, we had three dinners that our company paid for to have all of thier investors(sellers) and all of thier home buyers as well as their enitre office over to go over the requirements, the legalities and what a note was, and what was needed to get a sale completed and that it could not happen without all the needed documentation.
During this time, the owner of the company was in a tight spot and asked for our help. He needed a loan until a set of properties that he was partnered in closed in Texas. We loaned him $25,000.00 with the promise to return the $25K as well as an additional $10K interest, and that it would be returned within 45 days. Again, did we get it in writing? Yes and no, the cashier check that we gave them stated that it was in fact a loan, and who the loan was to. As that the owner wanted it made out to the company.

Why did we do this? We were looking at purcahsing rental properties through them, I had 22 of their properties with seller financed notes that I was trying to get the paperwork to close, we had a relationship with them. Or so we thought....

It all started coming apart when appraisail after appraisal wa below purchase price, when my investors would order BPO's and there were items to be fixed they never fixed them my investors were yelling at me, I was yelling at this "real estate company" to try to salvage anything. We started asking for our money back that we had loaned them and we got delay after delay. It got to the point where they were bankrupting us. I was loosing commissions, they had our money and it was all becoming very clear. We met and talked with one of their investors that was having problems with them as well. He had bought 12 properties, and had mortgages on those 12 properties that they were suppose to be managing for him and they were destroying the properties and not paying him his collected rents. He was in for over $780,000 just with what the balances on the mortgages were, not including penalties for late payments or early payoff.

Though alittle late in some aspects, we walked into their office and handed them back the mess that they had given to me, told them the had 14 days to pay us back the loan and that I could no longer do business with them as that I worked in the legal and legitimate world and the worked in another world. I walked out of thier office and into my attorney's office.

We presented all of items to the attorney and then we were let in on a little secret. That these people and their so called "real estate office/management firm" was a scam. They were part of a county wide scam that was going on and that the FBI was in town running that investigation. We were also told that depsite the fact that we had a better then good case, we would never see our money again. That is the way these "companies" work. And our attorney gave us a list of people that were fraudelent and scamming people in real estate. It was disheartening. Apparently what these companies do is set up a bunch of phony companies that are LLC's with bank accounts that never have money in them. So even with winning a court case, there is no assets for you to attack to get your money back.
We decided to go after them, and we talked to the investor that they had suckered for over $780K and had him go talk to our attorney as well. And we joined forces in the federal case against them.

I tried to help this investor, I read his mortgages over, the broker that worked with this real estate fraud company had brokered the mortgages, and he must of looked for the worst interest rates and most brutual prepayment penalties that he could, because if this investor woudl've tried to pay off earlier he owed far far beyond what all the properties togethere were worth. But we tried to bundle them, and I approached some of my real estate buying investors with the package. Well after we looked at the properties, there was just no way to sell for what was owed, as that the appraisors that did the appraisals over valued the properties. As we found out later, those appriasors were in the pocket of this real estate fraud company.

My purpose as I stated in the beginning is to urge you to protect yourself. Don't think it can't happen to you because it can. It can happen to someone you love. Unfortunately, there are alot of scam artist out there and they know how to work the system, and they are not afraid of jail.

Our attorney fees right now are in the thousands, if it goes to trial we are looking at tens and twenty thousands of dollars. Had we had Prepaid Legal then we wouldn't be in this position.
You get the best law firms in your state at your beck and call, 24 hours a day, for one flat monthly fee. Protect yourself now, so that you aren't in the same boat we are saying "If only..." We have the protection now, and as I told you in the beginning, we will never not have it again. It is nice to say, "I'm calling my lawyer.." and knowing that they are there, and I don't owe them an hourly fee, I paid my monthly membership fee and I am covered.

There is no contract for you to sign, it is month to month. But what they offer is priceless and you will not want to be without this protection ever again. They will even prepare your will for you, that is included in your memebership.

Please take the time and check it out, for yours and your family's sake.
www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/jennifercassady