So, Have You Been Pitched To Invest In Detroit Real Estate Lately?

Unfortunately, my client from Ohio was so pitched and sadly did decide to invest.

A very sophisticated pitch, promising how to go about using your IRA funds to invest in Detroit area real estate to get a better return than the market.

Targeted at seniors with money - hence using funds from their IRAs to do the investments, and of course directed to those not from Michigan.

A very slick marketing pitch and glossy materials, a promise of a first place mortgage for their investment funds on property the pitcher will be rehabbing and flipping and a promise of a minimum 7% return.

The Bat Rastards knew their con well.

Any bets where this is going?

Yep, you guessed it, my clients got a mortgage all right - along with a lot of other investors on the same property.

The same property already being secured by an actual mortgage the scammers already got from a real financial institution which they and their shell company promptly defaulted on, taking their victim's money with them and leaving all of their victims with nothing but low-priority mortgages about to be wiped out by the bona-fide first place unpaid mortgage who was also ripped off by the scammers but at least have a first place mortgage on the home to try and recover on their loan.

Yep, these Bat Rastards are ripping off seniors' retirement savings.

Now to add insult to injury, my clients are pulled into a lawsuit by the actual mortgage co seeking to foreclose on the property for their not being paid on the real mortgage and to wipe out their lower priority mortgages.

This is not going to be pretty, and it's highly unlikely my clients will see any of their money back.

We will be getting law enforcement involved as its pretty clear fraud, but often times that unfortunately won't amount to much or law enforcement can't be bothered with somewhat complex financial scams.

So, if you're getting pitched to invest in real estate, especially in flipping houses outside of your immediate area (and even inside it for that matter), be very careful. If it sounds too good to be true, especially if it guarantees an income stream, then it most likely is too good to be true and you better go over it very carefully before deciding to invest even a penny.