A ‘Black Eye’ to Real Estate Professionals Nationwide!

Desperate Realtor files Frivolous Lawsuit against Customers!
A ‘Black Eye’ to Real Estate Professionals Nationwide!

Bradford County, Starke Florida – Another blow to the already devastated real estate market may send potential buyers looking elsewhere in an attempt to avoid the State of Florida forever as a place to call home. With a justice system that is merely an illusion nowadays, Florida State & Federal laws can be broken, and the crooks can use the legal system to get away, with the right connections!

A California couple and their paralyzed 82-yr.-old mother became the latest victims of an old scam with a new twist when they purchased almost 2 acres of land from an unscrupulous developer & realtor to build their dream home in Florida. Unlike the olden days of selling worthless swamp in Florida that could be developed in some cases by investing thousands of dollars to bring the land above water, building roads, etc. Scammers nowadays sell fancy waterfront subdivisions with paved roads that are up to 99%-restricted government land that is not disclosed to the buyer being sold and illegal. Unlike the swamp scams of years past where it was possible to develop, a Government Restricted State Jurisdictional Wetland is “land that is protected by the government for the bugs, bushes, and animals”, you cannot step foot on it, or row across it in your canoe when it rains. Buyers are obligated to pay taxes each year just because someone made huge profits selling worthless dirt, and have no more rights to their property any other person driving down the street looking out their car window would have. The sales take place in the dry season and the land is illegally cleared & permitted prior to the sale so no one suspects a thing.

Prior to buying these worthless properties, buyers can thoroughly research them with the local courthouse, property appraiser, building officials, zoning directors, and everyone will state they are “good property”, a “good deal”’ and “they would buy it themselves”, etc. which is obviously not true. Background check on developer and realtor is clean? After moving 2500 miles from one side of the country to the other in a moving truck and wasting over one hundred thousand dollars, victims are told “That’s Life” and “You Shouldn’t Listen To What People Tell You Or What You Hear Them Say”? These are from people who drive around town with signs on their vehicle telling everyone to read the Bible?

You would think in the United States of America there would be laws against swindles like this and there are, plenty of them, both State and Federal. However, just like other laws in this country, NOTHING IS ENFORCED. You make numerous complaints to a variety of regulatory agencies; an investigation is initiated taking a year or more, then nothing happens! This is why most people just quietly put up a “For Sale” sign on their bogus land instead of complaining. But if you do decide to complain, this is how game works and what you will experience:

 The #1 problem for the unsuspecting buyer is the developer & realtor know the employees working within the local courthouse, building & zoning, etc. who assist in the ploy.
 The FBI will not get involved unless an out of state buyer spends over $500k?
 The U.S. Postal Service can transmit payments, and these activities constitute the federal crime of mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1341. But as long as scammers do not rip-off an individual for over $250k, or 25 people are not ripped-off $25k each or more, nothing will ever happen? So $249k x 24 people, and the crooks can legally skirt the law here with almost $6 million dollars cash!
 The State Agency who issues the building permits for these bogus home-sites DO NOT enforce their own permits? So, a developer can buy several hundred acres of restricted and protected government wetland for cheap, and get a building permit for one or two home-sites in the non-restricted sections, as long as they agree not to sell the restricted areas. But once the permit is in the developer’s hand, new surveys are filed with the court and the worthless land is sold to out-of-state buyers and foreigners alike in violation of the subdivision’s permit?
 The Division of Land Sales, who apparently put people in jail when people do this on Ebay, will not get involved unless the land is conveyed by quitclaim? Not a problem for a con-artist.
 HUD has pages and pages of laws pertaining to Federal Interstate Land Sales, Fraud, Subdivisions, Disclosure, etc. that have been violated, and the transactions are not legal in the USA. However, your grandchildren’s grandchildren will graduate college before anything happens here since the mortgage crisis takes precedent in Washington DC nowadays.
 The Division of Real Estate, the department responsible for licensing realtors in Florida will end up renewing these broker’s license for 2 more years after an investigation is completed and finding numerous illegal violations! The case is then handed over to their legal department for prosecution, and forgotten? I’m saving the best for last!
 Media? Advertising this is what goes on in Florida is not good for business, so hush!
 Politicians? It’s an election year and “not my job”!
 Civil Court? Numerous civil laws have been broken and any somewhat competent attorney can point that out to a judge or jury. But you see the same problem other agencies have had while sorting through the legal process here, happen time and time over again, because everything ends up in the exact same place!

Now here is the best part I promised you!

In North Florida, most people are extremely nice! However, “some” are prejudice, see others as mega-rich; job stealing, out of state foreigners, and fair game in the quest to make a buck! In a small town 10-15 minutes outside of a big city; everyone knows everyone else and most people are related to each other either by blood or marriage. When regulatory agencies have attempted to prosecute these con artists, proper jurisdiction is the local county courthouse. The judge is elected into power through connections with the churches, has little legal experience, and the defendants are wealthy and well-known individuals. State Attorneys who prosecute criminals like these have their own districts, and they won’t prosecute their own.

So what happened to the civil court case you ask? The defendants sold the buyers under the guise of a home-site; a subdivision drainage easement/government restricted state-protected wetland that legally must be owned by the homeowners association as permitted. Lot sale violated numerous other State and Federal disclosure laws, and is not able to be developed. You can’t even make a campsite!

The judge closed his eyes & ears, to the facts, and ignored the law.

AND, the victims are being put on trial for 4-days, 6 months from now, for the Slandering, Defamation of Character, and Libel of the “Developers & Realtor who tricked them” (aka: friend’s of the judge). Just because they were not happy about getting ripped-off by an unethical, immoral, and illegal miscarriage of justice & power, and complained, but nobody listened.

Southern Justice Bradford County style, Florida USA!

By Daniel Arthur - March 7, 2008
For more information, please contact the writer at fl_landscam.victims@yahoo.com