Real Estate and the Wild, Wild West
Purchasing real estate today is like living in the Wild West. The farmers are the gullible citizens of current day Chicago and the ranchers are like current day real estate brokers fencing off their turf. The Sheriffs are today’s home inspectors, and the US Marshall is our current United States Attorney’s office. These folks prosecute the bad guys. Sooner or later they get them all.
Two weeks ago, I spent almost 3 days working with the US Attorney’s office in downtown Chicago. Here, I got to work with an Assistant US Attorney who was a faster gun than any crook I’ve ever met… and I have met a few.
The issue was that we had a fast talking agent and a developer getting folks to buy renovated buildings by making them sign contracts that gave the developer “all of their credit”. This slickster then went out and bought foreclosed properties for cheap, fixed them up, and moved his clients in.
My client was excited about moving into her first home. Trouble was, the hustler developer “didn’t know” that it was cold in Chicago and you must hook up the heat. He also didn’t know that big ol’ roof rats weren’t supposed to be living in the building. He forgot to replace the stolen copper piping or install the missing window on the first floor. To his credit, he did put plywood over them. His contract called for the buyer’s possession within 180 days. When I showed up on the 178th day and began telling my client that the place was falling apart, the developer began pushing and jamming my client into the place with the threat of a lawsuit if she didn’t close in two days.
I convinced the buyer that the place wasn’t ready for habitation. She realized she had a strong aversion for rats so she wasn’t willing to take up with them anyhow. When she walked away from the closing, all hell broke loose and that’s when we had to call the US Marshall. Turns out, this developer had done this hundreds of times, forcing people to buy incomplete houses with all kinds of vermin in them.
When they called my name to speak to those 12 jurors I got my faith back in the jurisprudence system. I saw the developer’s eyes get wide as I said, “folks can’t live in a house without windows in the winter time and most people don’t choose rats for their neighbors.” I knew we were going to win as I heard those 12 people sigh when I talked about the rats. Nobody likes rats.
Today, I am a changed man. Even with all of the politicking and governors trial and the collapse of the real estate market, for the second time, I know that the US Marshall has things clear and in focus. He will win.
If you want to help people in your community and get paid for it and maybe restore your faith in the legal system, why not volunteer to be an expert in construction? Oh, you will need your inspector’s license first.