Mr. Richard Eastman is a ex-realtor and rental property owner in Kalamazoo, MI that uses his charming demeanor to take advantage of individuals with less than perfect credit.
In June of myself and my husband were renting from Mr. Eastman in one of his 18 or so rental properties with a roomate, when he gave us the opportunity to buy our own home using a land contract. Mr. Eastman knew that we did not have the credit to secure a home loan nor the knowledge on how a land contract is supposed to be prepared. We trusted this guy, fell in love with the house immediately, paid him $1350.00 to move in the next month and signed a contract to buy the house from him, paying him $675.00 monthly.
15 months later, I came home from work to find a foreclosure notice taped to my door! I called Mr. Eastman to ask him about it, to which he replied, "I am doing some refinancing, you guys don't have to worry, everything is fine!" Like I said before, we had put our complete trust in Mr. Eastman and did nothing further... My mistake!
On December 26, we heard a knock at the back door, opened it and were greeted by a realtor! He was kind, but just wanted to let us know that the house were were in was up for sale and there would be a key box placed on the front door for showing purposes. I was floored! I was mixed with anxiety, fear, anger and confusion.
We called an attorney that morning and was able to meet with him that afternoon. After reviewing Kalamazoo county records we found out that Mr. Eastman was in no position to even sell the house, foreclosed and the house was auctioned on November 30th. (We paid Mr. Eastman our monthly payment 5 days after that!)
After calculating we found out that not had Mr. Richard Eastman knowingly entered into a fraudulent contract with us, he took over $13,000.00 from us, having us beleive we were buying our first home! The attorney contacted the realtor and let them know what was going on and the house was removed from their listings.
Mr. Eastman contact us a few weeks later and wanted to meet with us to talk about the situation. I was, at this point in time still emotionally destroyed at the thought of not only losing our home but the fact that the man we trusted was only using us to put more money in his pockets! We met with him anyway, just to see what he wanted to say for himself. He apologized and offered us the home he was at that time living in, with a Lease with option to buy, paying more money than we were paying now per month and even wanted a downpayment of $1400!!
I lost it! This just proves that Mr. Eastman had no remorse for his actions! We have not paid him since our December payment and are still looking at options for another home.
This man is a complete crook! He still owns property in the Kalamazoo, MI area and has since then moved out of the house he was living in, changed his phone number and works for a company writing mortages for them. I hope they know of his background!
We would love to sue this guy for all the money he took from us on false pretenses plus emotional distress. I am now on two different mediations to treat my depression and anxiety. Of course that takes money too. We need to use the money saved now to move into our new home and after that if we can find an attorney to take this case without fees paid upfront we would get this guy for every penny we can. It would be different if our family were the ones in the wrong, but we were used and taken advantage of by someone we trusted! Do not do business with this man. Mr. Richard Eastman is as crooked as they come! Please do not do any business with him!!
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