Stay away from these people!
They are illegal frauds! We moved cross country. We searched on line and located a property on-line. We spoke with Derek Clark first, he told us the home belonged to him.
We had a friend that lived nearby look at the home on our behalf. We knew that we were looking at a "fixer-upper" and entering into a "lease-purchase" contract. We got the OK from our local liaison and wired the money for her to pay the down payment on the agreement.
We were told that the septic system was fairly new, just being completely replaced within the past 5 years. New roof, installed within the past 5 years and the inside just needed to be "finished".
Upon arrival in Buffalo, we were told that the "actual owner" of the property was Lonnie Clark. After 2 weeks, we finally met Lonnie Clark to sign "papers". We were told we were told we were just gonna sign a quick agreement until he had time to draw up a contract. The agreement went something like this:
Buyer/Our name agree to PURCHASE the property, located at XXXX in Buffalo, MO.in the amount of $XX, XXX at 8 1/2% interest for $xxx per month. From Lonnie Clark. We then signed and notarized said document.
We then began hearing, from several acquaintances, that we should be very careful dealing with Lonnie Clark. To say the very least, the stories were not good at all!
About a week after signing this "document", we had no water for 4 days due to the fact that the well pump broke. Then we were awakened with the Dallas County Health Dept representative at our door. Wanting to know who owned the home. We explained our situation to him and were told that the Deed was in a different name. Anyway, the health department had several complaints regarding our septic system.
We began our own investigation finding that there was never any legal contracts or deeds filed on our property. Therefore Lonnie Clark does not even OWN the property. Meaning he can not, rent sell lease or anything else LEGALLY with this property. When I called to ask Lonnie about this, Wilma Clark jumped down my throat and told me I had to deal with her son, Derek and not call her and Lonnie.
Lonnie states that he has a "special agreement" with the owner of the house.
Meanwhile the health department wants a whole new septic system installed as the original system from the 50's is failing and the clay lines are deteriorating. (Yet another lie). Lonnie refuses to do this and asks us to pay for the new septic system. At this point we told him we were not paying for anything. We were told not to Worry about the Payment for the month because we were going to have to move.
We did not argue and said we would start looking for something else. We got a call a week later saying that he may have a solution and we may not have to leave. NO SOLUTION! After a month of this we have Derek calling us demanding the monies owed and we explain what was discussed with his father. During a power outage after severe storms, we receive a call from Derek telling us he is going to lock us out of our home.
Only being familiar with the laws on the West Coast, after being involved in Real Estate, Mortgage and Property Management for 12 years there, we were not familiar with the Real Estate Laws of Missouri. We went and spoke with a Real Estate Attorney... Long story short... Our Legal advice was DO NOT PAY THIS MAN A DIME!
We are now in the process of locating another investment property and going to speak to the attorney again in the morning. We are planning on pressing charges against Lonnie and Derek Clark for mis-representation, Real Estate Fraud, Trespassing and suing for the money that he defrauded us of.
Please beware of these people... It has been said that he has taken thousands of dollars from one gentleman and never made payments on the home and that home is now being foreclosed on. The poor guy does not have a leg to stand on, he is from another country and not familiar with his rights.
If you run across these persons, check to see that the deed to the home is in their name and they have the LEGAL RIGHT TO RENT OR SALE THE PROPERTY TO YOU!
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