We entered into a contract with Larry Gonzales on 3/22, LG Properties, LLC, 25612 Barton Rd #222, Loma Linda, CA 93254,909-266-3468 phone, 909-494-5568 fax, www.usaequitypartners.com, it was a VIP lease to own program. We were in a bad situation, our house was going thru a short sale and rental properties were hard to find and qualify for. We had just gone thru bankruptcy the year before so our credit was not so good. We had to be out of our house by 5/1. He told us he has found lease to own homes and made deals in as little as 2 weeks. We would rather own then rent so we signed the contract and paid the $2500 deposit. The contract was for a service.
If he didn't show us two properties in 90 days that met our criteria he would refund our $2500 deposit. He did not meet that criteria and I sent him a Refund Request letter on 6/22. He responded quickly via email that he was not going to give us the refund. We had several emails back and forth. I kept reminding him he did not show us any houses that met the criteria in the contract. The ones he did send us were way out of our price range. He said don't worry you'll qualify for a loan in two years. When we asked him what would happen if we didn't qualify he said we would loose our $5000.00 down payment. We turned down all offers he sent.
He originally told us if we sent him 5 properties (not required to send properties to him) he would be able to make a deal with at least one of them. We immediately start looking for properties and sending them to him. We must have sent him 50 or more properties. When we inquired if he made any deals with the properties we sent him he said they had to be "For sale by Owner" or rentals. They could not be listed with a real estate company, no foreclosures. He said I'm not a bank I'm an investor. Of course he told us this after we paid the $2500 deposit. Now we were stuck. We found a couple properties FSBO but still no deals. We ran out of time and found a rental house a week before we had to be out of our home. We moved out and waited 90 days. We had several emails back and forth and he said he would look over our file but he had 45 days to make a decision (45 days from 6/22).
We knew he was just buying himself some time but we agreed to leave him alone until 8/8 (45 days). We have sent him several emails and left him voicemails and he still has not replied or called us back. I submitted a complaint with the BBB 6/23. He's a member. He has not replied to BBB as of 7/7. He also states in the contract if we do not respond to the email/phone call notification within 24 hours the property would count towards the 2 minimum houses. We were desperately looking for somewhere to live so we were on the internet every night after work. We responded to all his emails either by email or phone within the 24 hrs so there is no reason not to refund our deposit of $2500. I'm wondering how many other people he has ripped off and how many people are getting ready to sign his contract not knowing they will never see their money again.
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