Investing in Cleveland, OH? Beware of this scam.

[Sean Pomerleau]

I invest in CA and wanted to try out of state investing. I chose Cleveland OH, and started interviewing Realtors, prop managers, contractors, and lenders for months. I felt I built a good team and pinpointed the locations to buy and spent tons of time analyzing properties. As I began sending the properties to my realtor, I would notice days later they would be under contract. These were properties that were seasoned for six months with no activity. In the back of my mind I wondered if he was pitching the properties I did all that hard work on to other investors so I stopped sending him properties. I made plans to fly in and make purchases, so I sent him 20 of my top properties to buy a week before I flew out to make sure he made arrangements for me to view them. Within a few days of sending them they began to go under contract one by one. I still thought it was bad luck so I continued with my plans. The realtor said it was a go on the properties I wanted to see and I made travels plans. He called me two hours before I was to fly out to Cleveland and told me things fell through and I could only see a few properties. I canceled my travel plans which were non refundable. I later looked through the properties I sent him and found 3 more went under contract that day and another today. I called the seller agents and got hung up on or they wouldn’t disclose when asked if the realtor I was using realtor brought investors into the deals.

I writing this to warn people this is the side the podcasts and books don’t tell you about. All the hours or work analyzing properties and due diligence was taken advantage of by a dirty Realtor. I hope this story helps people not have to go through this. Any suggestions how to avoid this would be appreciated!!