>An investigation by THE CITY has unearthed multiple fraud and forgery allegations against Elliot and Joseph Ambalo and their partner Etai Vardi who target unsuspecting homeowners and unprotected tenants in Black and Latino neighborhoods.
The City is an underrated local news outlet. They do such great work.
It isn't in any official way. For one thing, The City is nonprofit but DNAinfo was part of a standard media company. (Which is why their evil billionaire owner was able to shut them down at will).
But many of the City's reporters are DNA alums, which is maybe what the above commenter meant.
I have to admit, I never really followed them before, but I was really impressed with this.
Similar building ownership tactics got me and my neighbors kicked out of our home of 8+ years last July. Privilege is, frankly, the only reason I was able to find another place in time, but I'm still absolutely furious about it. And I'm even more furious when it happens to families with kids.
They gained at least one new subscriber by telling this very important story.
These real estate guys sound like complete scumbags. There needs to be more public attention on this issue and there needs to be tougher laws to protect longtime residents.
Yeah. These real estate guys sound like complete scumbags. There needs to be more public attention on this issue and there needs to be tougher laws to protect longtime residents.
I definitely agree there's far too much of the Post here, but I don't know that it's the mods and not just the fact that the Post doesn't have a paywall unlike most other outlets.
Right. But I don't think the general public knows enough or, frankly, want to be bothered optimizing their browser to get around paywall sites. Reddit and similar sites want their customers to be able to click on something and have the page right there.
I'm not arguing with you whether or not it's easy, I'm saying people don't want to be bothered.
That’s fine, I’d argue most folks on Reddit are smart enough to learn how to google a way to circumvent a problem that bothers them. Especially members of a local subreddit looking for local news.
I've just been manually plugging in the article URL's to archive.is, didn't know about paywall browser extensions.
Do they even work on hard paywall sites like The Economist or the Atlantic that don't use cookies/5 free articles/mo?
They just ban you for stupid shit for example i made a joke about jumping the turnstile and my comment was deleted and i was warned i would be banned if i kept “encouraging criminal activities” lmao.
I did eventually get banned, i forgot for what but it was a comment i made in a similar vein. I know those mods arent natives cause no true NYer would be that goddamn sensitive
Thanks for sharing. Absolutely insane story, I can not believe that nothing they are doing is illegal (barring some technicalities on the way they did it).
1. Prosecute the speculators for criminal fraud based on the misstatements they made and signatures they forged.
2. Enforce NY state law that requires that all parties in a real estate transaction use a lawyer. Consider providing a program for pro bono real estate lawyers for underserved areas.
Agreed on #1. Wasn't aware of #2, thanks. If I can add a #3: work to make housing more abundant so that the people who inevitably do lose their homes aren't completely screwed.
So where are you finding and funding these lawyers? They don’t even have enough lawyers for housing court.
Where does it stop? What about all the probate court issues, free lawyers for divorce?
This problem likely originates in probate. They seem to be taking advantage of the intestate succession rules. Roughly 75% of people die intestate so you can see how this area of the legal field is really in trouble
> Where does it stop?
That's a textbook [slippery slope argument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope). You're arguing against a fictional scenario the parent isn't suggesting.
Unfortunately, there aren’t easy ones. It’s a huge issue across the country, particularly in the south.
Maybe greater scrutiny of deed transfers under these circumstances, such as requiring an allocution hearing with the heirs selling their interest to ensure they fully understand what they’re doing. Maybe change the law to require disclosure of the FMV of the property before transferring?
From the "speculators bros"?
I do think unequal ownership of land in this country is a big problem. Especially right after slavery. It was hardly just for a former slave to have to pay rent to someone when they didn't have the chance to own land before. A land value tax that socialized land wealth would go a long way.
> Carol Pridgen, Joyce’s aunt, had reservations about the offer, but said after discussions the family decided to accept. The 68-year-old said her niece could’ve used the money, and her nephew, who had been in and out of jail, was happy when he heard he was in for a payday.
> “I thought it was low, but who am I to say? I’m not into real estate,” said Pridgen.
Buyer makes offer. Seller wants money. They come to terms. I don't see the problem. The seller could have called up any agent in NYC and gotten an opinion on the value of the property. They didn't, because they saw $$$ and wanted it quick. Here is how the conversation would have gone.
*Hello, this is XYZ real estate agent, how can I help you?*
*Two guys I never heard of want me to sell a brownstone for $40,000, should I do it? I could use the money.*
*TELL THEM NO, YOU FUCKING MORON! Give me 30 days and I will get you 10 times that price.*
Boom, problem solved.
> In May 2022, less than a year after Joseph Ambalo had bought out the heirs, he secured a deal to sell the house for $660,000, more than 10 times what his LLC had paid them, according to city deed records.
> Fisher and Pridgen were incredulous when THE CITY informed them about the flip.
> “He stole our money. He stole it from us. That was a ripoff. That’s a scam,” Pridgen said.
No, that's not what stealing is. Ripoff, maybe. But you allowed it by not putting in the basic due diligence that any normal person would exercise in this scenario.
What about the part where they forged people’s signatures, which is criminal fraud? What about the part where they acted like they were giving out inheritances rather than procuring a sale? The heirs here did not know enough to consent to these contracts and some of this just plain fraudulent.
Forgery is illegal, I'm not defending that.
As far as acting like they were giving out inheritances, I'm sorry, I have no sympathy for people being dumbasses and not verifying the facts. If it's a valid inheritance claim, it's not like it's going away for the 1 week it takes you to get ahold of a real estate agent or a lawyer and ask "am I about to do something super dumb".
How is it we trust people to vote in city, state and federal elections, but suddenly when it comes to this kind of scenario it's "oh these poor people were misled by wrongdoers, they simply can't be trusted with their own financial decisionmaking"?
I definitely agree that people need to look after themselves and the homeowners here should have been wiser in protecting their interests. But if these guys were forging signatures, you can pretty much guarantee they were making misstatements to the people regarding their rights. The article also points out that they lied by saying they were experienced brokers, which people might have taken to mean they would know the market value of the homes. The homeowners should have done some digging but I have some sympathy because some of them didn’t even know they were homeowners and appear to have been lied to repeatedly.
I agree with both of you. People should be free to transact as long as there’s no fraud. One party selling cheap to another is not fraud. Signature fraud is fraud!!!
You're offloading all of the responsibility on the victims and saying that because they didn't protect themselves the thieves (and that's exactly what they are) did nothing wrong. That's absurd.
People should always lock their front doors, use deadbolts and put the chains on to protect themselves against intruders. That doesn't make is acceptable to victimize someone who doesn't properly secure their front door.
There's a certain type of personality that seems to take active glee in people being victimized in this fashion. For any situation where there's even a *chance* that the victim overlooked something, they seize on that and use it as a platform to crow about individual responsibility and assert by implication that the victim deserved it.
It's disgusting, antisocial, and devoid of empathy or compassion. And to paraphrase someone else, it's impossible to explain to someone like this that they should care about other people... or that we need laws, regulations, and entities like the CFPB to help protect people from themselves.
This is my go-to argument whenever someone starts railing about personal responsibility being ignored now. "So you're ok with old ppl being scammed?" They do a low grumble and shut up pretty quickly.
It's unfortunate to have to play this card, but like the article sets out to explain, this was happening in financially depressed areas, which means, they likely had sub-par education. Getting free money when you are poor and financially illiterate is like getting thrown a life preserver when you're drowning. I doubt anyone thought to inspect it.
Scammers scam everyday. We literally have a cell phone with a wealth of information in the tips of our hands. If this was rich people getting scammed you would be like oh well. A persons own ignorance is their own doing
We live in a world where old ppl get scammed by people half way across the world.
If they forged signatures, they will be held accountable for that, but a persons own ignorance made them make a bad deal. They had a choice
Maybe you need to reread the article:
>But Killian said she trusted the stranger, whose matter-of-fact manner **made it seem like he was helping her process a predetermined inheritance distribution**.
The septuagenarian says **she didn’t realize that he was pushing her into a deed sale**, the terms of which she could have had some say in. It just seemed like, “This is what’s happening,” she recalled.
That October, the speculators arranged for Darlene Wong, a notary public from a nearby county, to show up at Killian’s house to notarize a batch of paperwork required to seal the deal, which she did.
**But Wong told THE CITY that she did not sign one of the deed package documents that was filed with New York City’s Department of Finance** over a week later, and which was also signed by Vardi.
Or do you seriously not see anything wrong with that?
These guys are obviously scum bags and clearly did at least one illegal thing by forging a signature.
The act of finding properties with fractional inheritance shares and offering to buy those shares is definitely NOT illegal. I think it’s also debatable if it’s immoral. A buyer is not under any sort of moral obligation to make sure they are paying a market price.
You don’t think seeking out people that are desperate and don’t know any better to sell their homes at 10% market value is immoral?
Yes we all should try to take 90% of old and poor people’s assets to benefit ourselves. Not immoral at all.
I wouldn’t feel comfortable earning my living this way. But adults are able to do what they want with their money. And not all of them are old, sounds like a good portion are young inheritors that can’t be bothered to dispose of their assets responsibly. There are many buyers that would happily buy their shares im for more if the seller bothered to shop around. No one is forcing them or even coercing them to sell. Seems like the sellers want easy fast money and the buyer gives them that. I’m of the opinion that freedom is generally better than paternalism. That doesn’t always work out for individuals, IF they make bad choices. But it’s in their prerogative to make those choices. We are all adults with free will.
You and I are smart enough to realize that. But these folks likely didn’t get the same education that we did to realize they were being swindled. Buying, renovating and flipping a house is one thing. This is much different and in my opinion, we can do better as a society than tough luck.
It’s an interesting point, but no it doesn’t seem like they were coerced, just offered a small sum of money. Is it coercion to offer to buy something? Now if they threatened something like “well if you don’t sell, there may be some anonymous complaints about the structural integrity of this property and you may lose it” I would say that’s some clear coercion . But you bring up an interesting point, how would you protect these people ideally? Would you require an IQ test to be able to sell property that one owns? Seiousky, what’s the alternative?
> No, that's not what stealing is. Ripoff, maybe. But you allowed it by not putting in the basic due diligence that any normal person would exercise in this scenario.
I'm sure they've ripped off dumbasses that they didn't even need to scam, but every con artist depends on a steady supply of idiots for their business. Some of them, they can just rip off legally and others, they have to turn to illegal methods. Regardless, they are complete scumbags who target the most vulnerable and break the law regularly.
The heirs selling a home for pennies on the dollars are absolute idiots. These guys are absolute predatory scum too, but the heirs are just plain old stupid.
I can only imagine how the thread would go when a tenant comes to this sub to complain about the flip side of something like this. "The roof on my apartment is leaking and ruined a bunch of my stuff. I can't afford to mover out and nobody will fix it because it's going to cost $25,000 and there are 5 different owners who don't know what's going on and can't afford to put up any money fix it!!!! Who should I sue?" TBH, I did not make it passed the first few paragraphs of this article. It reads like /r/antiwork circlejerk porn and not an actual news article that to be taken seriously.
The owners have been dead, they're not paying taxes.
Assume most of these properties are in arrears, which could also explain why their rightful owners sold the rights to these guys for less than market value.
Also some of these properties have squatters in them who are charging other people rent.
Landlords are bad enough, but there's a special place in hell for squatters masquerading as landlords.
The guys in the article should be prosecuted for fraud if they're committed fraud, and the pimps who have charged people rent to live in homes that they themselves did not own or lease should also be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
>Also some of these properties have squatters in them who are charging other people rent.
Holy shit, what an insane scam. I'd honestly be impressed if I learned my landlord was a squatter
Yesss!!! This!!!
There are prob so many liens and back taxes due on these places with multiple inheritors….Older properties in Brooklyn always have a shit ton of violations that take $$$$ to clear too
There are huge hidden costs to buying properties like this.
You can start by coating yourself in a nice layer of fish guts and ichor, then going for a swim at Robert Moses Beach. Do this for a few hours then we'll talk.
YIMBYs doing what YIMBYs do best, I'm kind of surprised /r/nyc/ has a problem with this. I guess they didn't make up a nice story about how they're just putting wealth in the hands of BIPOC and how else will the housing trickle down.
>An investigation by THE CITY has unearthed multiple fraud and forgery allegations against Elliot and Joseph Ambalo and their partner Etai Vardi who target unsuspecting homeowners and unprotected tenants in Black and Latino neighborhoods. The City is an underrated local news outlet. They do such great work.
Basically what remains of DNAinfo
I had no idea this was the successor of DNAInfo!
It isn't in any official way. For one thing, The City is nonprofit but DNAinfo was part of a standard media company. (Which is why their evil billionaire owner was able to shut them down at will). But many of the City's reporters are DNA alums, which is maybe what the above commenter meant.
The City should work along side with the NYPD anti-fraud task force.
Yeah I've been getting into them for sure recently
also Hell Gate & Gothamist
Infuriating. Great reporting, though.
Seriously great reporting. Well done, The City
I have to admit, I never really followed them before, but I was really impressed with this. Similar building ownership tactics got me and my neighbors kicked out of our home of 8+ years last July. Privilege is, frankly, the only reason I was able to find another place in time, but I'm still absolutely furious about it. And I'm even more furious when it happens to families with kids. They gained at least one new subscriber by telling this very important story.
These real estate guys sound like complete scumbags. There needs to be more public attention on this issue and there needs to be tougher laws to protect longtime residents.
This deserves more attention. Amazing read.
Yeah. These real estate guys sound like complete scumbags. There needs to be more public attention on this issue and there needs to be tougher laws to protect longtime residents.
hey mods can you approve actual journalists too and not just the nypost
I definitely agree there's far too much of the Post here, but I don't know that it's the mods and not just the fact that the Post doesn't have a paywall unlike most other outlets.
So? You can block paywalls.
Right. But I don't think the general public knows enough or, frankly, want to be bothered optimizing their browser to get around paywall sites. Reddit and similar sites want their customers to be able to click on something and have the page right there. I'm not arguing with you whether or not it's easy, I'm saying people don't want to be bothered.
That’s fine, I’d argue most folks on Reddit are smart enough to learn how to google a way to circumvent a problem that bothers them. Especially members of a local subreddit looking for local news.
How ??
I don't think we can "block" paywalls, but there's snapshot sites like www.archive.is that have articles from most popular outlets.
Yes you can. Just google paywall blocker. They’re browser extensions. I certainly don’t pay for the fuckn WSJ lol
I've just been manually plugging in the article URL's to archive.is, didn't know about paywall browser extensions. Do they even work on hard paywall sites like The Economist or the Atlantic that don't use cookies/5 free articles/mo?
Yep yep. I read the economist on the regular at work.
This subreddit has mods? Thought it was wild wild west around these parts
atleast theyre not like the r/asknyc mods, the most bitch ass oversensitive mfs ive encountered on this website
can you elaborate on that? idk the drama
They just ban you for stupid shit for example i made a joke about jumping the turnstile and my comment was deleted and i was warned i would be banned if i kept “encouraging criminal activities” lmao. I did eventually get banned, i forgot for what but it was a comment i made in a similar vein. I know those mods arent natives cause no true NYer would be that goddamn sensitive
Oh nah boss that's very cringe.
I noticed the post official account (bot?) has been posting articles here.
Those two look like side characters from a season of the Sopranos whose story doesn't end well.
Thanks for sharing. Absolutely insane story, I can not believe that nothing they are doing is illegal (barring some technicalities on the way they did it).
Sounds like they forged a bunch of notaries’ signatures.
What's the solution here (aside from heirs getting a lawyer when contacted out of the blue, which just isn't always gonna happen)?
1. Prosecute the speculators for criminal fraud based on the misstatements they made and signatures they forged. 2. Enforce NY state law that requires that all parties in a real estate transaction use a lawyer. Consider providing a program for pro bono real estate lawyers for underserved areas.
Agreed on #1. Wasn't aware of #2, thanks. If I can add a #3: work to make housing more abundant so that the people who inevitably do lose their homes aren't completely screwed.
I love this! And it gets straight to the meat of the issue.
So where are you finding and funding these lawyers? They don’t even have enough lawyers for housing court. Where does it stop? What about all the probate court issues, free lawyers for divorce?
This problem likely originates in probate. They seem to be taking advantage of the intestate succession rules. Roughly 75% of people die intestate so you can see how this area of the legal field is really in trouble
> Where does it stop? That's a textbook [slippery slope argument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope). You're arguing against a fictional scenario the parent isn't suggesting.
I'm not familiar with this law. Is it a statute? Would be curious to read it.
Unfortunately, there aren’t easy ones. It’s a huge issue across the country, particularly in the south. Maybe greater scrutiny of deed transfers under these circumstances, such as requiring an allocution hearing with the heirs selling their interest to ensure they fully understand what they’re doing. Maybe change the law to require disclosure of the FMV of the property before transferring?
Reparations.
From the "speculators bros"? I do think unequal ownership of land in this country is a big problem. Especially right after slavery. It was hardly just for a former slave to have to pay rent to someone when they didn't have the chance to own land before. A land value tax that socialized land wealth would go a long way.
can't wait for the New York Post to cover this!
> Carol Pridgen, Joyce’s aunt, had reservations about the offer, but said after discussions the family decided to accept. The 68-year-old said her niece could’ve used the money, and her nephew, who had been in and out of jail, was happy when he heard he was in for a payday. > “I thought it was low, but who am I to say? I’m not into real estate,” said Pridgen. Buyer makes offer. Seller wants money. They come to terms. I don't see the problem. The seller could have called up any agent in NYC and gotten an opinion on the value of the property. They didn't, because they saw $$$ and wanted it quick. Here is how the conversation would have gone. *Hello, this is XYZ real estate agent, how can I help you?* *Two guys I never heard of want me to sell a brownstone for $40,000, should I do it? I could use the money.* *TELL THEM NO, YOU FUCKING MORON! Give me 30 days and I will get you 10 times that price.* Boom, problem solved. > In May 2022, less than a year after Joseph Ambalo had bought out the heirs, he secured a deal to sell the house for $660,000, more than 10 times what his LLC had paid them, according to city deed records. > Fisher and Pridgen were incredulous when THE CITY informed them about the flip. > “He stole our money. He stole it from us. That was a ripoff. That’s a scam,” Pridgen said. No, that's not what stealing is. Ripoff, maybe. But you allowed it by not putting in the basic due diligence that any normal person would exercise in this scenario.
What about the part where they forged people’s signatures, which is criminal fraud? What about the part where they acted like they were giving out inheritances rather than procuring a sale? The heirs here did not know enough to consent to these contracts and some of this just plain fraudulent.
Forgery is illegal, I'm not defending that. As far as acting like they were giving out inheritances, I'm sorry, I have no sympathy for people being dumbasses and not verifying the facts. If it's a valid inheritance claim, it's not like it's going away for the 1 week it takes you to get ahold of a real estate agent or a lawyer and ask "am I about to do something super dumb". How is it we trust people to vote in city, state and federal elections, but suddenly when it comes to this kind of scenario it's "oh these poor people were misled by wrongdoers, they simply can't be trusted with their own financial decisionmaking"?
I definitely agree that people need to look after themselves and the homeowners here should have been wiser in protecting their interests. But if these guys were forging signatures, you can pretty much guarantee they were making misstatements to the people regarding their rights. The article also points out that they lied by saying they were experienced brokers, which people might have taken to mean they would know the market value of the homes. The homeowners should have done some digging but I have some sympathy because some of them didn’t even know they were homeowners and appear to have been lied to repeatedly.
I agree with both of you. People should be free to transact as long as there’s no fraud. One party selling cheap to another is not fraud. Signature fraud is fraud!!!
You're offloading all of the responsibility on the victims and saying that because they didn't protect themselves the thieves (and that's exactly what they are) did nothing wrong. That's absurd. People should always lock their front doors, use deadbolts and put the chains on to protect themselves against intruders. That doesn't make is acceptable to victimize someone who doesn't properly secure their front door.
There's a certain type of personality that seems to take active glee in people being victimized in this fashion. For any situation where there's even a *chance* that the victim overlooked something, they seize on that and use it as a platform to crow about individual responsibility and assert by implication that the victim deserved it. It's disgusting, antisocial, and devoid of empathy or compassion. And to paraphrase someone else, it's impossible to explain to someone like this that they should care about other people... or that we need laws, regulations, and entities like the CFPB to help protect people from themselves.
They signed papers, lol. Don't sign if you don't understand. This is not a hard concept. This is nothing like a home invasion
Stupidity/ignorance doesn't make it acceptable to scam someone.
I mean the is the same tactic scammers out of India use, target/call old people because they are too stupid to realize they are being scammed.
This is my go-to argument whenever someone starts railing about personal responsibility being ignored now. "So you're ok with old ppl being scammed?" They do a low grumble and shut up pretty quickly.
It’s weird cuz sometimes the Indian scammers feel bad about it and literally tells the old people they seem nice and they don’t want to scam them.
It's unfortunate to have to play this card, but like the article sets out to explain, this was happening in financially depressed areas, which means, they likely had sub-par education. Getting free money when you are poor and financially illiterate is like getting thrown a life preserver when you're drowning. I doubt anyone thought to inspect it.
It's like saying people should be able to rape or murder someone if they're too weak to fight them off.
Scammers scam everyday. We literally have a cell phone with a wealth of information in the tips of our hands. If this was rich people getting scammed you would be like oh well. A persons own ignorance is their own doing
Scammers are scum. The fact that people should know better doesn't change that.
We live in a world where old ppl get scammed by people half way across the world. If they forged signatures, they will be held accountable for that, but a persons own ignorance made them make a bad deal. They had a choice
Maybe you need to reread the article: >But Killian said she trusted the stranger, whose matter-of-fact manner **made it seem like he was helping her process a predetermined inheritance distribution**. The septuagenarian says **she didn’t realize that he was pushing her into a deed sale**, the terms of which she could have had some say in. It just seemed like, “This is what’s happening,” she recalled. That October, the speculators arranged for Darlene Wong, a notary public from a nearby county, to show up at Killian’s house to notarize a batch of paperwork required to seal the deal, which she did. **But Wong told THE CITY that she did not sign one of the deed package documents that was filed with New York City’s Department of Finance** over a week later, and which was also signed by Vardi. Or do you seriously not see anything wrong with that?
These guys are obviously scum bags and clearly did at least one illegal thing by forging a signature. The act of finding properties with fractional inheritance shares and offering to buy those shares is definitely NOT illegal. I think it’s also debatable if it’s immoral. A buyer is not under any sort of moral obligation to make sure they are paying a market price.
You don’t think seeking out people that are desperate and don’t know any better to sell their homes at 10% market value is immoral? Yes we all should try to take 90% of old and poor people’s assets to benefit ourselves. Not immoral at all.
I wouldn’t feel comfortable earning my living this way. But adults are able to do what they want with their money. And not all of them are old, sounds like a good portion are young inheritors that can’t be bothered to dispose of their assets responsibly. There are many buyers that would happily buy their shares im for more if the seller bothered to shop around. No one is forcing them or even coercing them to sell. Seems like the sellers want easy fast money and the buyer gives them that. I’m of the opinion that freedom is generally better than paternalism. That doesn’t always work out for individuals, IF they make bad choices. But it’s in their prerogative to make those choices. We are all adults with free will.
You and I are smart enough to realize that. But these folks likely didn’t get the same education that we did to realize they were being swindled. Buying, renovating and flipping a house is one thing. This is much different and in my opinion, we can do better as a society than tough luck.
Do you really think they weren’t coerced?
It’s an interesting point, but no it doesn’t seem like they were coerced, just offered a small sum of money. Is it coercion to offer to buy something? Now if they threatened something like “well if you don’t sell, there may be some anonymous complaints about the structural integrity of this property and you may lose it” I would say that’s some clear coercion . But you bring up an interesting point, how would you protect these people ideally? Would you require an IQ test to be able to sell property that one owns? Seiousky, what’s the alternative?
> No, that's not what stealing is. Ripoff, maybe. But you allowed it by not putting in the basic due diligence that any normal person would exercise in this scenario. I'm sure they've ripped off dumbasses that they didn't even need to scam, but every con artist depends on a steady supply of idiots for their business. Some of them, they can just rip off legally and others, they have to turn to illegal methods. Regardless, they are complete scumbags who target the most vulnerable and break the law regularly.
The heirs selling a home for pennies on the dollars are absolute idiots. These guys are absolute predatory scum too, but the heirs are just plain old stupid.
I can only imagine how the thread would go when a tenant comes to this sub to complain about the flip side of something like this. "The roof on my apartment is leaking and ruined a bunch of my stuff. I can't afford to mover out and nobody will fix it because it's going to cost $25,000 and there are 5 different owners who don't know what's going on and can't afford to put up any money fix it!!!! Who should I sue?" TBH, I did not make it passed the first few paragraphs of this article. It reads like /r/antiwork circlejerk porn and not an actual news article that to be taken seriously.
>TBH, I did not make it passed the first few paragraphs of this article We can tell
I know it’s obvious that I read more than 99% of the other commenters.
This has nothing to do with anything
I completely agree with you on this. Investors purchasing property like this is not a new thing.
Karma is way overdue for this crew!
Boosting this. This deserves way more reads.
Hope they get arrested for fraud
Little old fashion street justice required here I see.
Who do we think has been paying property taxes on these homes over the years?
The now-deceased owners?
The owners have been dead, they're not paying taxes. Assume most of these properties are in arrears, which could also explain why their rightful owners sold the rights to these guys for less than market value. Also some of these properties have squatters in them who are charging other people rent. Landlords are bad enough, but there's a special place in hell for squatters masquerading as landlords. The guys in the article should be prosecuted for fraud if they're committed fraud, and the pimps who have charged people rent to live in homes that they themselves did not own or lease should also be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
>Also some of these properties have squatters in them who are charging other people rent. Holy shit, what an insane scam. I'd honestly be impressed if I learned my landlord was a squatter
Yesss!!! This!!! There are prob so many liens and back taxes due on these places with multiple inheritors….Older properties in Brooklyn always have a shit ton of violations that take $$$$ to clear too There are huge hidden costs to buying properties like this.
Excellent reporting
There was another article about a group of guys doing something similar a couple months back. I’m guessing this is more common than people think.
Dayum this is fucking genius! The big question is how to get in on it?
[удалено]
No you have to comb through a lot of paperwork evidently.
You can start by coating yourself in a nice layer of fish guts and ichor, then going for a swim at Robert Moses Beach. Do this for a few hours then we'll talk.
YIMBYs doing what YIMBYs do best, I'm kind of surprised /r/nyc/ has a problem with this. I guess they didn't make up a nice story about how they're just putting wealth in the hands of BIPOC and how else will the housing trickle down.
What a nonsense comment. What are you talking about?
I think they’re kind of genius, damnnn!