worked their way up the real estate ranks and became the #1 franchise office in the country receiving awards from HomeVestors for their outstanding achievement. During this time they worked on roughly 1,200 single-family homes.Help with Claims of Real Estate Fraud
learning’s of an investor involved in over 1,200 homes
Colin Reilly opened Harvest Properties, a HomeVestors franchise in 2003 after selecting from a large list of real estate investing companies that seemed to increase daily during the home market boom this decade. Colin choose HomeVestors, the nation’s largest real estate investing franchise primarily to align himself with a professional real estate investing network known for its high ethical standards. After 1,200 homes acquired through the HomeVestors franchise, 5 years in business and investing over $100,000 in legal costs with attorneys to form the best legal practices of any real estate investment company in his market… Colin Reilly has learned that you can do everything right, have the best intentions and still get burned.
Colin Reilly had to fight the Arizona Attorney General on charges of committing real estate fraud. The Arizona Attorney General eventually agreed to a settlement with Colin that included no admission of wrongdoing. No wrongdoing was ever admitted, but still Colin must continually face the reality of others using the wild, wild web to further their agendas, often at the expense of his credibility. (recently a competitor of Colin’s electric car business, Drive Electric, Inc. commissioned a press release that retold the incident with omitting key facts, it has been removed from the PR source due to its slanderous errors, but only after days of Colin enduring more hurt)
The following is shared with you, not as legal counsel, but one man’s sincere intent to do right, accept life’s realities and help others. Colin, as a man of faith and role model for his children feels deeply compelled to learn from those obstacles that are placed on our life’s path and help others along the way.
Colin Reilly through Harvest Properties took many steps that ultimately led to conclusion of no wrongdoing and kept him clear of guilt in the eyes of the law. The following practices are documented to help you consider those actions you should exercise, whether you are the consumer looking to sell your home or you are a business looking to profit through real estate investments.
Best Practices Performed by Colin Reilly that led to No Wrongdoing Agreement by Attorney General
1. offered people selling their homes to his investment company a 3 day right to cancel the contract for any reason (A right to cancel offer, especially for any reason, is typically not possible through investment companies. Time is money and they want to buy and then immediately move on. However, Colin believed it was a good idea and offered it to all his clients and you should seek it too!)
2. Colin Reilly contracted with several independent real estate attorneys to represent people who were selling their homes to his company and Colin paid the bill.
3. Trust and followed the recommendations of a national large franchisor. All practices employed by Harvest Properties were taught by HomeVestors and remain standard accepted practices in the real estate investment field.
4. Colin Reilly trained his employees to carefully explain the contract to each person who sold their property to Harvest Properties.
5. Use of outside closing organizations, including escrow companies and title companies.
6. Colin Reilly had the escrow officer carefully explain the transaction to the Seller at the close of escrow and had the Seller sign acknowledgements. (Colin demanded any Escrow Officer involved in a HomeVestor transaction to act in accordance with Arizona real estate law, which is to act as a neutral third party who is responsible for making certain all terms of a real estate transaction were understood and executed by seller and buyer).
Colin’s best practices clearly made a difference with maintaining his innocence under Arizona law
After over 1,200 single family home transactions as principal, Colin Reilly had about 5 complaints from Sellers.
This is a record far better record than any company in his market. Although 5 out of 1,200 (less than ½ of 1%) complained, even this number was too high for Colin. All complaints were resolved by Colin Reilly's company, HomeVestors, immediately. Some of complaints would not even be considered valid by most reasonable persons, but Colin Reilly sought to settle all complaints in order to better serve his company and maintain his status within his community and church.
Legal & Ethical Best Practices + Complaints from less than ½ of 1% = Attorney General Investigation ???
One complaint led to the Arizona Attorney General's office launching a 4 year investigation into every transaction and file of Colin Reilly's company, Harvest Properties that started with a letter from the office of the Attorney General that would astonish most as to the choice of words. The Arizona Attorney General's office sent out letters to everyone who had ever sold a property to Harvest Properties that began
"We are investigating the business practices of Harvest Properties. We cannot promise you that you can get your home back, but call to discuss your circumstances".
A letter that seemed to indicate anyone could get back their home during a timeframe where home prices were climbing every month at record paces. A time when demand was incredibly strong, loans were easy to get and sellers could profit just by “flipping” a home. Additionally, Colin Reilly's company was rehabbing each property it purchased thereby increasing the value of the property, often increasing significantly after large up-front costs incurred by Harvest Properties.
The letter sent by the Arizona Attorney General was essentially offering the lure of tens of thousands of dollars for people to lodge a complaint where they had no previous issues. The letter provided the opportunity to go back and profit from reversing history at the expense of those who took the risk of an uncertain future. As we have all seen in recent years, guarantees that investors will make money through buying and selling houses does not and has never existed.
Result: Colin Reilly No Charges of Wrongful Act through Arizona Attorney General
Despite investing 4 years in an extensive investigation, the Arizona Attorney General did not charge Colin Reilly or any of his 30 employees at Harvest Properties with any wrongful act.
It should be noted, that in the 4 year investigation, the Attorney General did not even interview a Harvest Properties employee, did not interview any of the owners of the company and did not interview any of the vendors of the company such as title companies, escrow companies contractors, advertising companies, etc….
Conclusion: Colin Reilly did not commit Real Estate Fraud
After 1,200 homes, 5 years and hundreds of thousands in attorney legal costs… Colin Reilly has learned that you can do everything right, have the best intentions and still get burned. However, Colin does have the comfort of an agreement of no wrong-doing by those who sought to persecute him with committing real estate fraud. His best practices may have not prevented financial loss, but they avoided real estate fraud and allowed a man of good intentions to keep his identity.