Black Widow Real Estate: My Brush With Death

Editor's Note 12/15/2011:  I am a believer in redemption.  Although I cannot speak for the individual below, in order to help the healing process, I have redacted the individual's name and removed the real mug shot photo.  Hopefully, this will help wounds heal while also preserving the story.
 
Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware

I have come to learn that there are a few people in the real estate business that will chew you up and spit you out. They operate by their own rules with total disregard for the well-being of others. Unfortunately, they tend to be silver tongued devils and sway many unsuspecting individuals. This is what makes them so dangerous to our industry.

I have a list of about four folks I know in the business that I avoid if at all possible. My list just grew to five today.

Here is the perpetrator's mug shot. In April 2008 a friend asked me to work with him and a female colleague to form a new Real Estate company. I began attending broker school and we started putting the pieces of the plan together. However, by August, my friend had a falling out with her over some details of the plan. He left the partnership. That left me to deal with her to see if the plan could still work. I remember asking her up front if she could assure me that she had the financial capability to finance a new office. She said she couldn't provide that assurance. So I left.

What caused me to inquire about financial capability had to do with all the new furniture in the office and the new Mercedes in the parking lot. I feared she was spending wildly on credit.
Today's newspaper sheds light on the real story:

A Washington Terrace woman has been charged with 11 felonies for allegedly bilking three investors of almost $200,000 in a real estate scam. [REDACTED], 47, was arraigned this week on four counts of communications fraud and four counts of theft by deception, all second-degree felonies, and three counts of forgery, a third-degree felony. Weber County Attorney Mark DeCaria said he could only say that the investigation of [REDACTED] by his office is continuing. “To date, there are also about 30 other investors who have made similar complaints, with [REDACTED] as the suspect,” according to a probable cause affidavit in the charging documents. They list three victims so far in the case, one who lost $141,000, another who lost $35,000 and a third out $10,000.

One of the plans that was in the works while I was there was to use investor money to purchase, rehab, and then resell investment property. The investors would be paid back with interest at the sale of the property. That is a legitimate business model. Here was her plan for the investors:

[REDACTED] worked as a real estate agent at Exit Realty, in South Ogden, when, in the early part of 2008, she “entered into agreements with a number of people telling them that she had received calls from loan officers about people who were applying for loans and could not qualify,” according to the charges.[REDACTED] told prospective investors the loan officers who called asked her to find individuals willing to invest money to help the people obtain financing, the charges read. [REDACTED] informed prospective investors that Exit Realty would guarantee the loans they made to help the struggling applicants up to $10,000. She also informed investors that they would receive an 18 percent monthly return on their investment. [REDACTED] also forged trusted deeds and notary public seals as part of the scam, according to the court documents.

Nice! Promise somebody a return that is unrealistic and back it up with a guarantee from somebody that you have no authority to speak in behalf of. Then make it all happen by forging legal paperwork!

Sounds like a good plan to me. Looks like she will be moving from Washington Terrace to Draper soon.