Thanks Joe and Summer. I knew the best thing was to go ahead and just take my loses on these two houses. My friend Earl also saw the same conclusion. We had both thought that we were dealing with honest people when we were approached with an investment opportunity. A mortgage broker shared the opportunity, but unbenouced to Earl and I, the builder friend of the mortgage broker had No builders licence and very little building experience. This unlicenced builder made a side deal with a actual licenced build to recieve $5000 per unit, for the use of his builder licence. Ultimately, the licenced builder signed our notes, and then had the draws deposited into the non-licence builder's account. The money all went into one pot, where the non-licenced builder and another friend of his, where using our money to build one of their own homes....using our money for financing. When builder leans started to appear against our homes, that were under very slow construction. The little skeam that the non-builder put together, all fell apart. This left the actual liceced builder legally bound to build the home. Since the mortgage broker didn't do her part throughly, we never recieved a builder's contract. All part of the broker and non-licenced builder scam. It all became a big mess and even the actual licence builder lost about $100,000 due to the mortgage broker and he non-licenced builder friend. The actual builder, of course didn't help us out too much by then taking so long to complete our home. With that actual builder taking more than a year on each of mine and Earl's homes, the bank defaulted Earl and I into an 11.75% interest rate. Had the home been done on time, we would have been at 8.5% interest rates for investment property.

We should have known things were funny when the mortgage broker kept shuffling paper work around, and kept telling us that she was having problems getting us financing, and kept asking for more copies of pay checks, bank statements, voided checks, etc. This mortgage broker was only looking to make so quick money on making the loans. She made about ten loans in all. She probably pocketed about $5000 per house ($50,000).

By the time the house were complete, the real estate market had tanked. Earl and I were lucky enough to get at least one house rented each, with one house vacant. I knew that neither of us could afford to fool around with these house, and that we needed out fast. My immediate though, with what little marketing background I have, was to go with a big reputible named company in real estate sales. I knew that Century 21 was the company that could do the job. I got on the phone, calling from Iraq, and spoke with Joe. We immediately connected, being both US service veterians. I felt comfort knowing that he could end the nightmare that Earl and I had gotten into, and that he and his team would stop the money loses we were incurring as quickly as possible. Knowning that through our bad experience that Earl and I had found someone in real estate that we could finially trust.

Joe, Dave Peeples, and Summer Munyon did an outstanding job. Especially Summer for her consistent, persistent, and untiring efforts made the sale of our houses possible. The team at Century 21 not only got our houses sold, but saved Earl and I thousands of continued lost dollars.

My strong praise and sincere thanks to all at Century 21 in Tallahassee for getting us out of that mess.

Best Regards, Dave B.