This is the story of the rise and fall of a "New Model" in real estate, the story of Realty Place in Charlotte North Carolina, a buyer agency company that didn't have Buyer Agents. Built on sub-prime lending they had socalled Buyer Agents who became agents of the New Home sellers,  marketing to first time homebuyers in local shopping malls, with Used Car sales techniques. Or so says our local newspaper, the Charlotte Observer in two front page stories over the last two days. We've taken a number of former Realty Place agents into our agency, according to them, it's worse than the paper said.

Do you have a "Realty Place"  in your local mall?

As I read the article filled with hard facts and quotes, numerous non-denial "denials" of the owners, I came away feeling a bit dirty calling myself a Buyer Agent.  From 2002 to 2005 Realty Place sold over 450 Beazer homes, receiving $2.2M in commisions, 700K in bonuses, an average 3.9% on each sale. Today 1/3 of the purchasers who bought in 2002 are in foreclosure, compared with a national average of just 3%. They were taught not to sell a home but sell the payment. And sell they did. They were known to run buyers credit in their sales office. Often they showed nothing, just sending buyers to new home subdivisons- carefully chosen ones of course.

Deception, collusion and fraud, was there also a conspiracy? Only an investigation could find that out. Here is the rest of the story. 

So, what are our responsiblities here?  I believe we have to be out front on this, and destroy them before they and their kind destroy us.

Terry McDonald

Vote YES on School Bonds, Vote NO on the Transit Repeal, VOTE

Terry@TerryMcDonaldRE.com

www.TerryMcDonaldRealEstate.com

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