FHL Homes? Ron LeGrand? What kind of scammer am I talking to?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My wife and I own a house in Cincinnati. We live in Missouri and rent the house out. We don’t really want to be landlords, but we moved from Ohio when the housing market was crap and we couldn’t sell it, so we’ve been renting it out since then. We have a local rental management company, and the rent just about covers the mortgage, so it’s not an awful situation. But we’d sure like to sell it.

So the other day I get a mass mailing claiming to be from someone named Terry Stewart saying he was interested in buying the house. The mailer was pretty cleverly done to look like a handwritten note on yellow notepaper. It had a phone number but didn’t identify a company name. Suspicious, but I have the time and I think, “God, I want to sell that fucking house.” So I call.

The guy who answers takes my name and number and says they’ll get back to me. He didn’t volunteer the name of the company, but when I asked him what company he was with, he said “FHL Homes”.

Today I get a call back from someone else, “Beth”, who takes some more information such as what I want for the house. I tell her it’s not on the market right now, but if I were to sell it, I’d be looking for something around $XXX. She asks some questions about the number of bedrooms and such. She says “Terry” will get back to me.

FHL Homes has a website, fhlhomescincy.com, registered recently by “Global Publishing, Inc”, which looks like the operation of a somewhat shady “get rich in real estate” guy named Ron LeGrand (http://www.ronlegrand.com/). Doesn’t look good.

OK, so when “Terry” calls me back, what’s the angle? High-pressure pitch to get me to sell for less that its value? Some kind of more complicated scam? Or is “Terry” being scammed by Ron, and he just thinks he can buy my house and make money on it if he follows Ron’s plan? I assume part of buying into Ron’s scheme is that you get leads like this. So maybe Terry is Ron’s mark, but Terry himself is just trying to buy the place legitimately? I don’t even have the house listed – is Terry going to try to get me to do a sale by owner (i.e., without a real estate agent) and try to put the weenie to me in the sales process?

Any thoughts? Anyone done business with these guys or someone similar?

2

Might just be an attempt to get a bargain from someone eager/desperate to sell.

Interesting that LeGrand has an entire article up on his site purporting to advise you on how to spot phony reviews (a lot of people have something to say about him online, a considerable amount of it unfavorable).

I like the part where he says you shouldn’t trust one-star reviews because those are just people mad at the world, but on the other hand five-star reviews are likely to be the real thing because the reviewers are so happy.

The logic escapes me.

3

Bottom Feeder/ Lead Generator.

Bottom feeder:
Kind of like a “flipper”, but they don’t do plumbing - so to speak.
I see bunches of “We Buy Houses for Cash!” signs (other people pay with postage stamps?).

Lead Generator:
RE agant trying to get “For Sale” listings.
Is Cincy awash in unsold properties?

4

I wonder if this is the “We Buy Ugly Houses” people?

5

I’m not sure about the market in Cincy. It’s probably better than it was when we moved in 2009, but I dunno.

I thought the “Ugly Houses” people went after houses in disrepair or going through foreclosure or suchlike. My house is in great shape in a very nice neighborhood. Maybe once they discover there isn’t much that needs to be done to it, they will lose interest.

If it is just a guy hoping to find a bargain, fair enough. I’m not exactly desperate to sell, but I would be more than happy to unload it.

6

These folks are probably whosalers. They typically mail these letters to hundreds or thousands at a time. You were targeted as an out of state home owner. You will probably be offered 60-70% of actual retail value. The wholesaler likely has no plans to close but will try to sell the right to purchase from you at their price. You will know this is true if the offer to purchase includes their right to “assign” their interest. They would use a weasel clause to get out of contract should they not find another buyer. Of course, ymmv.