Does your home need updating to sell, but you don't want to do the renovation? We have cash buyers who will buy your home!
This was my first "adventure" in real estate. This one came to me pretty early in 2016. At this point I had been back in real estate full-time MAYBE eight months. One of my primary clients is an investment firm, Regal Redevelopment, they buy distressed homes, renovate them, and resell them. Many of my listings are of their remodels. To support this, I market for people looking to sell these types of homes.
In early 2016 I was contacted by a gentleman about one such home in Thousand Oaks on Erbes Road, a little north of Hillcrest. The property sounded interesting and the price the gentleman was asking was reasonable given the condition he was describing the home in. Here is where it went from an interesting and viable investment opportunity to "red flag city". He tells me "I found a way where we can save some extra money and not use a title or escrow company for this deal." Now, being a professional real estate agent (this was before I became a Broker), I know the value of using a title company and an escrow company and there was no way I wasn't going to call my favorite title rep, Lisa Anglin at Fidelity National Title, to be a part of the deal. The prospect was firm on not using the services, so we passed on the deal.
Fast forward two or three months, I'm reading the local paper (ok, I'm reading an RSS feed) and I come across this story about a case of elder abuse where the parents were tricked out of their home of 56 years by their son who fraudulently sold it out from under them. After some quick checking, it turns out, this was the home the "we can avoid title and escrow" guy had talked to me about! Sadly, there was no way to know what he had been up to and nothing led me to think he was committing any crimes at the time.
Sadly, this story does not have a happy ending. The parents were forced out of their home, money was raised by members of the community to support them, and even the Sheriff's Explorers helped them with the move.
Additional news stories:
https://abc7.com/eviction-elder-abuse-fraud-deceit/1446428
https://www.toacorn.com/articles/betrayal-threatens-couples-t-o-home
https://www.gilfix.com/blog/2017/june/california-couple-s-eviction-highlights-dangers-
