Now that I have read 38 consumer complaints on Tom Butler's Short Sale Magic I see that I have a lot in common with many of you. One of you said "don't walk but RUN". I agree. Take heed and do so now! You will not benefit in any way from involving yourselves with these clever, crafty, entrepreneurial psychopaths.
My saga begins with purchasing the Short Sale Magic book for $9.95. It was an easy read and the methodology presented seemed plausible; but, unfortunately I was not versed well enough in real estate to see what was minimized or omitted in the book and I became interested.
I didn't contact them they contacted me to ask how I had liked the book. A discussion ensued and the sales pitch began. My husband and I had a conference call the next day with Dan Hekking and got sold a bill of goods by all of his hype, ego stroking, deception and liberty with free bonus items at no cost. (Note: Dan Hekking no longer works a VIG)
So we sign the contract for $11K, put it on a credit card and the materials arrive. We reasoned (wrongly) four things: that the structure of the program could save us from making costly mistakes, that the coaching would be seasoned and worth the investment because coaches here in our town charge 50% net on each deal, that they had 4realtools in place to help get started quickly and that they had a money back guarantee.
We set up shop with machines and supplies, get the Notices of Default from our county and begin a mail and advertising campaign. Silmultaneously we received 45 minutes a week of coaching by telephone from Ron Edmonds. That's when buyer's remorse set in. He justread the manual to us every week. We didn't need that. We were reading it ahead of time. We needed real coaching and mentoring. Once, Ron taught the same lesson twice. When our first solid lead came in we called Ron with excitement for direction and he told us to review lesson #2.
We kept trying though and leads began to come in through the 800# and the website. We sent the leads to the live screening service, called ODA, that came "free" for 90 days. We found ourselves disappointed greatly. The live assistants' notes had poor, poor grammar so you know they spoke with bad grammar as well and several times the ODA's spelled names wrong or outright got the last name wrong all together. This caused us tremendous embarrassment when we made our follow up calls. Unprofessional at best! Egregious if you ask me!
We kept trying though hoping it would work out. The demise came when a realtor received one of our mailings and advised us that we should read the Maryland The Protection of Homeowners in Foreclosure Act a.D.A. PHIFA This act went into effect 2005 and was revised in 2008 defines Tom Butler's methods as foreclosure consulting. Once a person is in the role of a foreclosure consultant either intentionally or unintentially they are forbidden to take any financial interest in the property being foreclosed upon whether directly or indirectly. The fine is $10K per incident and up to 3 years in jail and there can be more than one offense within one transaction.
We contacted Tom Butler's offices, sent them a copy of the law and asked them to be reasonable and grant a partial refund since we were no longer able to proceed with the short sales as they taught them; moreover, we would not be able to be eligible for the refund guarantee which we were aiming to achieve.
VIG was less than accommodating and Tammy Castro would simply respond with "We do not think you are a foreclosure consultant." She did offer to give us more coaching if we wanted it. That was inane. We were in danger of imprisonment because we already had two contracts signed and one notarized ready to be filed in the courts. It was touch and go with the two homeowners whether they were going to report us or not.
What we got from Tom Butler, Ron Edmonds, Tammy Castro, 4Realtools and ODA was worth no more than $500 to us. Like you, we are screwed and will look to the US Attorney General, the BBB and other avenues we can find. We would be glad to join a class action suit if one comes about.
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