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“I never intended to cause Ms. Swanson or her family distress,” Gereghty said, also noting he has never sued anyone for backing out of a sale as other franchises have. In a court document, Reiner said he called Hi-Land to cancel the sale. Don Cameron, owner of Hi-Land, said Reiner stopped communicating with him entirely in August 2021. In late 2020, Reiner’s health was in decline, his income had dried up because of the pandemic, and he and his adult son Douglas needed to find a less expensive place to live. Reiner’s Delray Beach condo was in need of significant repairs and cleaning, so Reiner had his son call the number on a HomeVestors ad.
Companies That Send People Money When They’re Asked Nicely
But the town of Heber-Overgaard is a popular spot for vacation cabins, and the property was dotted with piñon and juniper. Pennee Nichols tried to hang on to the Arizona mountain home she inherited from her mother. The place had been in her family for decades, and she planned to move there after her partner retired. So in late 2017, she called the number she saw on a HomeVestors television commercial. Taryn Tacher is the senior editorial operations manager and senior editor for HomeLight's Resource Centers.
How Does a Cash Home Sale Work?
You don’t need to do anything before we come over to see your house—no repairs, updates, or even cleaning. During the walkthrough, we will inspect the exterior and interior of your property, as well as ask for a tour of the rooms and utilities. We buy houses “as is,” which means we can buy houses in almost any condition.
We can close in aslittle as 3 weeks.
When she called the phone number on a HomeVestors ad, she reached Patriot Holdings, the successful franchise run by brothers Cody, Chris, Casey and Cory Evans with their partner Scott Mansfield. Seventy-two and in poor health, Jimenez had a problem with hoarding that attracted the attention of Camarillo, California, code enforcement officers. She had bought her house in 1981 with her late husband and worked two jobs to afford the mortgage. She raised her children there, teaching them to work hard and follow the rules. "This lady just might be bitter about the fact I bought it for $10,000 and sold it for $55,000,” Ellingson said. “I made $45,000. I wouldn’t have ever forecasted that would happen on that deal."
Who Buys Ugly Houses?
HomeVestors' CEO is retiring after almost 20 years - The Dallas Morning News
HomeVestors' CEO is retiring after almost 20 years.
Posted: Wed, 28 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Real estate experts, however, say HomeVestors franchisees’ large volume of lawsuits and title notices is not only indicative of a predatory business practice, it’s a tacit acknowledgment that sellers often later learn of better options. ProPublica found HomeVestors bestowed awards on eight franchise owners in the last two yearswho had engaged in behavior the company said is not tolerated. It teaches them to be clear that they are a “discount buyer,” unable to pay full price, and that the seller will instead get speed and convenience. A HomeVestors spokesperson said the deals uncovered by ProPublica represent a tiny fraction of the company’s overall transactions, which have totaled more than 71,400 since 2016.
Sell your house fast in California with We Buy Ugly Houses®.
HomeVestors of America boasts that it helped pioneer the real estate investment industry. Founded in 1996 by a Texas real estate broker, the company has developed a system for snapping up problem properties — and expanded it to nearly 1,150 franchises in 48 states. After David learned of the contract, he explained to Evans that his mother had dementia and tried to cancel the sale. Instead of walking away, Evans dug in, recording a notice on the property’s title that essentially prevented a sale to anyone else, which forced the Casanova family into a years-long battle to keep the home. Along the way, Evans disputed that Casanova showed signs of impairment during their interactions. Despite HomeVestors’ efforts to “bury” ProPublica’s reporting, millions read the investigation and more than 40 media outlets featured our work, including The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News and Apple News Today.
Our story begins back in caveman days.
You say, “Buy my house fast,” and we visit your house personally, can make you an all-cash offer on the spot, and then close quickly. However, the Simple Sale platform can also provide offers for people with houses in fair or even great condition looking for a fast sale. HomeVestors of America is a national network of real estate investors.
Restrictions on Recording Claims on a Property Title
In their letter, Smith and Lummis asked the nation’s attorneys general to consider alerting the public to these practices, work together to monitor trends and look for patterns at the local level. They recommended states create “cooling-off” requirements to give homeowners time to back out of contracts they regret. They also asked AGs to work with local officials to make it easier for homeowners to view real estate records online and be notified when documents are recorded that affect their properties. Thanks to our strong relationships with lenders, we close quickly, often in as little as 3 weeks. No matter what situation you’re facing, you can get the sale you want when you need it. Our no-obligation consultation will typically take about an hour, in which one of our property specialists will assess your home and answer any questions you may have.
In the April 18 call recording obtained by ProPublica, HomeVestors’ leadership admonished franchises that frequently engage in clouding titles. “Clearly, it’s just a bad practice that we are not comfortable with,” said Maren Kasper, managing director of Bayview Asset Management, the investment management firm that bought HomeVestors in 2022. Hi-Land Properties has been named HomeVestors’ National Franchise of the Year five times.
He said Black Rock’s title company had reached out to her multiple times attempting to close the sale. (McNair said she was never contacted by Bassett’s title company.) Bassett said he learned of her desire to exit their deal when a ProPublica reporter emailed him. HomeVestors® is the #1 cash home buyer in America and has been since 1996. We buy houses fast every day for cash, and we can buy yours too, no matter what condition it’s in.
With us, you can speak directly to an interested buyer in no time for the fast cash offer you need, and that’s a breath of fresh air for homeowners whose houses are waiting on the market. Within days of receiving questions from ProPublica, HomeVestors prohibited its franchises from recording documents to prevent homeowners from canceling sales and discouraged them from suing sellers. The practices not only affect the seller, the company noted, it creates a paper trail that reporters and prosecutors can follow to a franchise’s doorstep. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., co-signed a letter with Smith to the National Association of Attorneys General asking for a more coordinated approach to preventing cash homebuyers from trapping sellers in unfair sales contracts.
“My office has bought over 2,000 homes since joining HomeVestors in 2005 and take great pride in doing things the right way,” he said. A HomeVestors spokesperson admitted that the company had used such ad-targeting technology but said it only did so once, more than four years ago. A spokesperson for Imaginuity said the pilot project did not target rehabilitation centers.
HomeVestors has become a major franchise offering continuity among real estate investors who purchase homes under the We Buy Ugly Houses® brand. That said, the company isn’t the only means of selling your home for cash, nor are ugly homes the only properties investors may be interested in. As an established player in the cash-buying space, We Buy Ugly Houses® has an interesting history, so we compiled this list of fun and fast facts about the company churned up from around the web. By the early 2000s, HomeVestors became known as the We Buy Ugly Houses® people, thanks to its iconic advertising campaign. It is common for many HomeVestors franchises to file such lawsuits when owners try to cancel a sale, or to record a lis pendens or similar documents — termed “clouding a title” — as a way to tie an owner to a deal.
After ProPublica pointed to company advertising documents and training materials that teach such tactics, the spokesperson said they represent a small fraction of its marketing budget. The company also denied targeting homeowners based on demographics, including age. Rather, the company focuses on smaller, older properties that may be in need of repair, the spokesperson said. HomeVestors also casts its net online, hoping to reach homeowners before they talk to a real estate agent or another investor. In recent years, scores of homeowners have complained to local authorities and the Federal Trade Commission about HomeVestors’ ceaseless overtures — sometimes claiming that the company has ignored formal requests to stop.
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