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  • February 6, 2007 at 10:59 PM #8344
    The OC Scam
    Participant

    Well it’s been a couple of days and a lot has happen and discovered!!

    For those not aware of my situation please read “The OC Scam part 2”

    I put a stop payment on my rent check just sent on Thursday last week.
    Deposited the money into a bank account called Rental share and will continue this until I know who’s telling the truth.

    Linda made a couple major mistakes.

    1. She came to my home in front of some visitor’s and told her story in front of all of them. They are all very well capable to testify on my behalf. I say this because her story has changed a little. She is now telling the tenants she bought the homes but no one was allowed to live in them or Paul and Stacy to sign lease contracts.

    2. Linda gave me copies of her default loan documents and the address of all the other tenants. On one of the documents she wrote the cell phone numer of the tenant. Of course I called him and the stories do not match. So I went to another one of the homes and they told the same story but different parts that do not match like Linda’s family said she doesn’t speak english. We have all started to network together.

    3. Linda claimed to have reported to her local sheriff department of forgery and fraud. However I contacted that department and there is no such claim. She also told me it would be a very bad idea to call her loan company because I stated (not seriously) that I was considering purchasing the home from her. She said if my agents calls the bank and tell them about the forgery and fraud then she could not attempt a short sale.

    4. I filed with the local police department/ District attorneys office the claim of the owner and the lease contract is a forgery. (By the way I took all day Monday off)

    5. Finally called and met with the lawyer! His advice is to keep with the deposits into the account. Not to give Linda any copies of rent checks, contracts and receipts. Notify Stacy of the contract of the claims of the owner and the police report. If the owner or Paul and Stacy try to evict me. Then he will ask them to pay the final amount of the contract plus damages and loss time or go to court and pay all plus his low fees! Lastly he said to just sit back and wait for the house to go into foreclosure and the bank may want to collect rent from me until the home is sold. He said the bank does not want a house vacant during that process.

    In the end Paul and Linda have talked too much to all the tenants and it seems this is an investment gone badly. Paul is saying Linda used money from family from Asia and her father to back some of these loans and continued buying additional homes with zero down interest only/ special interest loans. Paul also said to me Sunday night they were in this together and Linda got upset when he started dating the real estate girl hired to run the property management. Now she wants to get back at him.

    I receive from my agent friend the deed. The first loan is 530k at 8.5 percent and the second of 135k is at 11 percent. I don’t understand this but it’s written on each deed.

    Also on this home alone they owe 11k on the loan and 5k on back taxes but no tax lien has been filed.

    Linda has told some other tenants she did buy the homes but never said Paul and Stacy could lease them to collect money. She says her plan is to sell the homes and the contract is all forgeries and will need to take Paul and Stacy to court. She claims Paul hasn’t given her any money and hasn’t made the loan payments. Apparently this was his responsibility.

    I think the truth is some where in the middle. Funny enough the only one not talking is the Stacy the leessor and signer of the contracts. They all seem to be liars!!

    Sadly one of the renter I met did pay 30k for a full year and it looks like he is not getting that back anytime soon.

    And who needs TV when you got this going on?

    February 6, 2007 at 11:16 PM #44888
    Raybyrnes
    Participant

    Very good material. I have actually considered paying a year of rent upfront for a discount. Makes me seriouslly reconsider that as a viable option. Thanks for the heads up.

    February 7, 2007 at 6:01 AM #44893
    Critter
    Participant

    I also considered paying six months or more upfront for a discount – but then I realized I would be stuck here for six months at least (in case a much better rental became available), plus, if something broke, the landlord would be less likely to make a timely repair since I would not have the leverage of withholding a portion of the rent to get the repair done myself.

    The whole place could go up in flames as well. Also – with that kind of cash, why not put it in a six-month CD instead of your landlord’s wallet?

    February 7, 2007 at 8:10 AM #44894
    blahblahblah
    Participant

    In the current environment, don’t even consider renting a home or condo unless it is from a respectable property management company. The weak hand neg-am/IO holders don’t want to use management companies because they can’t afford to pay the management fee. Good landlords (usually folks with actual wealth, not these California Trump wannabees) don’t have time to mess with maintaining their properties and turn them over to experienced property managers. They understand that the fee is just the cost of doing business. I have never, and will never rent from an individual. Just my $0.02. Let these weak hand neg-am/IO holders rot. If you rent from them you’re enabling them to keep up the charade that much longer, thus prolonging all of our misery.

    February 7, 2007 at 8:50 AM #44896
    PerryChase
    Participant

    Aren’t you generally paying more by renting from a management company.

    If you rent a house and want to make sure that you’re paying rent to the rightful owner, you can simply visit the County Recorders’s office to verify that information. It’s that simply. How about due diligence on the part of of the renter? The landlord does credit checks. Perhaps the renter should do some checking also. 🙂

    February 7, 2007 at 9:05 AM #44897
    blahblahblah
    Participant

    Aren’t you generally paying more by renting from a management company.

    I don’t think so, although some weak hand landlords might try to pass off the management fee to their tenants. The rent will be whatever the market will bear. I know it’s certainly not true in my case — I rent from a management company and it’s definitely less than some of the prices I see on craigslist. I stop by their office sometimes and chat with them and they always tell me that they have to educate the wannabee landlords as to the actual market rent value of their property. It is almost always less than they think it is. The last time I stopped in they said they were getting flooded with requests to rent out properties. Heh heh heh.

    Renting from a good management company has many advantages. They will usually fix things that are broken and bill the owner, etc…

    February 7, 2007 at 9:29 AM #44902
    Happy renter
    Participant

    Good update OC Scam Part 3. We all will be more careful. Like what I guessed, Linda might be part of the plan. Now, they are having problems in finance and relationship due to house market slow down, so they point the guns to each other. They made the ugly big mess illegally, and they are fully responsible for it. You can just kick back and relax to watch them how to fight to each other.

    They are not only greedy big liars, but also extremely stupid. “Justice” does not allow them to do it. They will be punished, but all you renters need to tesify them. You guys should fight for yourselves to get what you lose including money & time. It will stop the greedy criminals who try to take advantages of other innocent people and inflate the house market.

    February 7, 2007 at 9:55 AM #44903
    The OC Scam
    Participant

    The person “Stacy” I signed with comes from a valid Real estate company. She claimed to be running the property mangement for all of the owner’s “Linda” properties.

    Stacy approved the home insurance to pay for plumbing work to be fixed right before christmas. She sent me reinburstments check from a the Property management account in the name of Linda for expenses I took on for cleaning the house.

    I think Linda just wants out!

    February 7, 2007 at 10:00 AM #44904
    blahblahblah
    Participant

    The person “Stacy” I signed with comes from a valid Real estate company. She claimed to be running the property mangement for all of the owner’s “Linda” properties.

    If your lease is with a management company, you shouldn’t be talking to the property owner at all. The management company is the intermediary in this relationship. The next time Linda shows up, tell her she needs to talk with them, not you. She is obviously an idiot and probably in big financial trouble as well. Protect yourself and LET HER ROT. We need to bring back debtor’s prisons.

    February 7, 2007 at 10:18 AM #44905
    PerryChase
    Participant

    We need to bring back debtor's prisons.

    Why bother?  It's expensive to imprison someone.   The ideal solution is to stop bailouts — let the markets work.   Let lenders and borrowers go bankrupt.    

    February 7, 2007 at 12:06 PM #44921
    The OC Scam
    Participant

    I spoke with the Broker over Stacy and she says Stacy just informed them of this situation and they will have a lawyer to contact by tomorrow. The broker said their sending a letter stating that the owner has fired them and we need to contact the owner from now on. I told them no you need to speak to my lawyer!

    This is crazy!

    February 7, 2007 at 12:39 PM #44922
    lendingbubblecontinues
    Participant

    Down here in San Diego we’ve got Michael Turko…

    Once this thing develops a head of steam (and your attorney says it’s okay to do so) you ought to call your own local TV news channel’s investigative reporter to embarrass the crap out of these people.

    Sounds like they are gonna put you through hell the next few months, though. Good luck to you!

    February 7, 2007 at 12:44 PM #44923
    SD Attorney
    Participant

    Hey OC Scammer, sorry to hear about your situation. It sounds like you are doing the right thing and that your lawyer is giving you good advice.

    Word to the wise: don’t post what you lawyer is recommending for you to do in such detail. Not a good idea. Have you ever heard of discovery?

    February 7, 2007 at 2:39 PM #44929
    no_such_reality
    Participant

    OC Scam, my only thought is sit back, wait for the bank, don’t pay back rent to the bank and then negotiate a rent reduction once the bank forecloses.

    Did you ask your lawyer if anybody can legally claim your rent escrow account if the people landlording are multiple count rent skimming?

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