If you are ever approached by a Real Estate Investor named Bruce Windsor, connected with Lease To Home, run!
This investor will put houses under contract, saying he will buy your home, and then back out at the last minute, if he cannot fine another buyer for your home, so he can flip it, to make his profit. He has left several homeowners in this way, in the past 8 months, that I know of. There's no telling how many I don't know of.
He will not prioritize your needs if you are facing foreclousre, he will only try to do a short sale on the property, and if he can't, you're still stuck with the debt. I know of one homeowner that asked to do a deed in lieu of foreclosure, yet Bruce Windsor was still trying to sell his townhome. He also did not have a written contract on the house while he was trying to sell it, which is illegal to do.
He will take deposit money from you, saying that he'll be able to sell you the house after he closes on it, and then if he decides not to buy the original house, he won't refund the deposit from the tenant he contracted with to buy the house from him. This also, has happened in the last 8 months.
Bruce Windsor presents himself as being very knowlegable about real estate issues and will offer a lengthy narration of what he can do for you, but the fact is, he doesn't really know what he's doing.
Instead of helping his lease/option clients get credit repair, so they can buy the property at the end of the contract, he simply evicts them, because they couldn't get financing, at no fault of their own, within the allotted time frame. Lease/Option clients come into a home with damaged credit. That's why they buy through a lease/option, because it can raise your credit by paying "rent" on time every month. But sometimes, mortgage companies tell you that a person will be able to get financed out, when they really can't. Even if they just need 6 more months, Bruce Windsor will evict them, instead of trying to help them and in turn help him by being able to sell the property. He refuses to help his clients/tenats with credit repair at all.
I would NEVER do a lease/option with Lease to Home. Ever!
I know this, because I worked with Bruce for several months during 2005. He promised me, we would work together as partners, splitting everything 50/50. I was aggressively working to find potential properties that we could purchase and then resell. That's what real estate investing is all about. Out of all the leads that I brought to Bruce, and he put under contract, he backed out of all but one of them. Why? Because he coulnd't find a tenant for the house. He puts properties under contract, with no intention of following through on the contract, unless he can find a buyer first. Some will say this is fine. Those are called predatory investors. Bruce, is a predatory investor. He uses contracts on properties, as an experiment... To see if he can first, get it under contract, and second, to see if he can find a buyer that will meet what his financial desires are from that property. If he doesn't, the homeowner is screwed out of luck.
With this latest, of not returning one client's refund, I am disgusted at his unethical behavior. I don't know how many people he's done this to, outside of my knowlege, but I'm sure there are many.incidentally, this house that he put under contract, had poop in the toilet, that he didn't even have the decency to clean out, before showing to a prospective buyer. This is why the house didn't sell!
He lied to me, as a prospective partner concerning his desires to do 50/50 splits on deals. He only wanted my leads. When confronted with signing partnership paperwork from me, several times, he responded with an email saying that if we had to sign paperwork to work together, it would mean that we had to move forward without trusting each other. He also said, that a contract expressesd intent, and that no piece of paper, would make him act, against his wishes, so they mean nothing to him. Somehow, he thinks that he is above the law enough, to not have to be held accountable for his written "intent" to follow through on something. This is a man that does not feel he has to be held accountable for anything. Even when one of the homeowners that he had contracted with, to buy her home, and again backed out of buying it at the last minute, contacted an attorney concerning his actions, he refused to seek legal councel, saying that he could handle things on his own. I find this surprising, since his parent business is just now coming out of bankruptcy. It was being challenged, so he might not have come out of it yet.
He also had me advertise properties in several newspapers, promising to repay me for the cost of advertising, yet he never did. At one point, I was mailing post cards. My expense for paper, print, and mailings... Every week... And his company address was the return address for the mailings. Since I was sending them... I decided after a couple of months, to just have them sent back to me, since I live in a different area from him. He about had a fit... Just because he wasn't getting those leads coming to him straight away. It was ridiculous the diatribe that came out from him about this. I soon realized after this, he was only after leads... No interest in actually working together. He would never admit this to me, to this day.
So be it... I am furious at how he's treated people that are in bad situations with their homes..
I have gone back and rectified anything I could, from where Bruce Windsor caused damage. I am still trying to get this one man's deposit back, and have even contacted one of the financial backers for Lease to Home, Mr. Ezra P. Mayer. The other financial backers is Michael Cantrell. Both gentlemen live in Greer, Sc. I do not know if they are aware of the behavior of Mr. Windsor or not, but they will soon.
Real Estate Investing has become quite a fad now. Everyone is trying it. It does offer a way to make a bit of profit, while helping someone at the same time. Unfortunately, too many wannabe investors don't know what they are doing, and end up screwing people over. There are many investors out there, that are honest, upfront, and ethical in their dealings. This one is not. He doesn't know what he's doing. He's hurting others, from his lack of knowledge, and his unwillingness to see that a contract is a written legal accountability for one's words and actions. He feels he is above this.
Please do not do business with Lease to Home, if you are approached by them. There are several LLC's under the Lease to Home name... Because of the bankruptcy Bruce Windsor had under the parent company...
Please read very carefully any contract that any investor brings to you, about buying your property. Especially if you are facing foreclosure or bankruptcy. Talk to you lawyer first. And if Bruce Windsor offers you a home to purchase through a Structured Sale, Lease/option, run.
Find the non-predatory investors, if you plan to be involved with one. Thank you for your time.
0 comments