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:cool i do have a question on this . HOW long have you been in the business? AS well how many times have you given up front money ?? THERE are far to many loan compines out there who ask no upfront and roll fees into the loan !! WHY did you pay the upfront money ??
I would hope you have had some very good deallings ?? THIS would be with other compines??
ON the other side of the deal whom would you say is a good company to deal with on hard money ??
This was the first, and last, time our company pays any “Good Faith Deposit”. Lesson learned.
The other HML’s I use are private individuals, not companies. These people have never given me any problems. They lend the money, the terms are met, and they get paid back everything they were supposed to.
I was not the broker working this deal. I didn’t come into it until after the problem was there. My understanding was that the particulars of this loan is what lead us to PTFP. Being a farm and because of the details surrounding the situation, there were very few places, people, etc. that would even look at the deal. PTFP claimed to be one of them… Hind sight is 20/20.
:cool OKAY !!! I understand this all the way !!! WHERE if i can ask do your loan people loan as in all 50 states or just some places ??
AS i come across deals and some are mine and some are clients . AND some times we just need a little extra funds for a year or less to close up a deal !!
I am pretty sure in the state of Georgia they would need to be regulated by the Department of Banking and Finance. Here is a link to a complaint form:
http://dbf.georgia.gov/vgn/images/portal/cit_11783501/67823584DBFComplaintForm.doc
I’d call the company and tell them that you plan to file a complaint.
Next time I am in the city, I’ll pop in to the office to see if they are even legit. Are you local? Did you meet anyone here?
Unfortunately this is a huge problem in the real estate business. Never pay any money up front for anything. Whether its a good faith deposit, due diligence fees or travel fees to verify assets. The problem with a lot of Hard Money lenders is that they are not really lenders, only brokers acting direct lenders having to pitch the loans to direct private investors.
For everyone else this post is for the big loans, I’m not talking about ARV or rehab loans.
The way to spot fake lenders is to look at the points they charge, if they are over inflated high without a third party broker at 5-8 points thats a dead give away. Direct lenders earn the majority of there money from interest payments, not points. In fact what your referring to is indeed one of the newest tricks in the book. A company like Kennedy Funding takes huge due diligence fees while funding 7 percent of those loans. If you haven’t done the math Kennedy Funding has a minimum loan amount of one million dollars so for arguments sake lets say they get 50 due diligence commitments each month at 10 percent; 5 million dollars for doing nothing.
The best thing anyone can do is to get a broker who is very experienced with these high output loans so they can spot the red flags. EZloans is one of these brokers on this site.
Take advantage of the Georgia court system and file a small claims action against this guy. Sounds like you have a pretty good case to win a quick judgment. At least that is a start to recovering your funds (if possible) and a trip to sunny Georgia this time of year might make for a good break.
Most of life’s investing woes can be avoided with prudent use of ESCROW.
That’s a damn shame and I hope you guys are successful and throw this crook in jail! I would definitely file a Small Claims judgment against him/them. But definitely check out the class action claim.
Eastern Mortgage in NY is another one to steer clear of. We didn’t send them any upfront money (we don’t do that) however, after we got accepted offers, we got the runaround from them and ended up having to scrape up the cash to make the deals go through. They are such losers!! I ALSO AGREE WITH PUTTING THE MONEY IN ESCROW. Good luck.
Have you contacted the BBB and filed a complaint? How about a call to your local consumer protection agency? How about a call to 60 minutes to see if they might be interested in investigating?
anyone know when sweeps week is in Atlanta?
You probably already know this, but every LLC and company is required to list their statutory agent with the Secretary of State’s office. The statutory agent is who you serve lawsuits on. They had to list one to start the business. If its no good then you may be able to get a default judgment becuase you service of process has a good chance of standing up.
I’d file a complaint with the State Attorney General’s office. They will usually follow through and contact the offender. If Peachtree were to ignore their queries, the AG’s office will usually refer the issue to law enforcement for prosecution. This whole process typically saves you from having to file a lawsuit and force them into a civil trial. I’ve successfully recovered money from companies and people I’ve filed complaints against for sums considerably smaller than what you lost. It’s very intimidating hearing from the AG’s office, and nobody wants a warrant officer showing up at his door with handcuffs.
The Original Ripoff Report Title:
Barry Wallis @ Peachtree Financial Partners, Inc Barry Wallis and Peachtree Financial are Scam Artists! Do Not Send Them ANY Money! I Am Not The First They Have Scammed! Atlanta Georgia
The Original Ripoff Report Text:
I will make this short and sweet. Barry Wallis and Peachtree Financial provided an LOI to us to do a loan on a piece of property in southern California. We provided all of our personal information to Barry Wallis along with an appraisal that had been completed on the property in the spring of 2007. The appraisal was ordered by a bank that we were going to get a construction loan through so it was not one we had requested or paid for. We received an e-mail from Mr. Barry Wallis stating that all of our paperwork was in order but that he had to order another appraisal on the property. We were charged more than was is the accepted cost for this area but that is another story. When the appraisal, from his “independent” appraiser, came back it was HALF of what the bank’s appraiser came back with last year. Now I know that properties values are down in most areas across the country, but this is 2.89 acres (9 lots) of ocean view property in San Clemente, CA. Less than 5 minutes from the water. Mr. Wallis now states that because “our” appraisal, which is not even ours, it was the previous banks, was “incorrect” he has the right to keep our $50k ($10k was paid at the beginning and then another $40k upon signing the LOI). THIS IS A SCAM! They never had any intention of providing the loan. They string you a long, get a low ball appraisal and then blame it on you so they can “try” and keep your money. We are going after Mr. Barry Wallis and Peachtree Financial. I just want to warn anyone else out there before they get involved with Barry Wallis and Peachtree Financial, he is a crook! Scott Cardiff, California
I’ll grab the popcorn if someone will get the beer and we can watch the fireworks :beer