Metro Dream Homes (Baltimore: rent, purchase, income)

[Rey19]

Originally Posted by JustAMom

I am new to this forum but have been reading this site for the past week. I happened upon it looking for information about this story. I happen to live in Spotsylvania County VA which is now linked to this scam. The best coverage to date had been in the Free Lance Star. It was there (August 17th) that I learned that one of the leaders of the ring and his wife live in a $924,000 dollar home in my neighborhood. (I assure you, I do not!) As I followed the story I also learned that another individual lives in the "neighborhood". BB&T bank and some of their loan officers have been implicated, along with well known builders. When I saw how they were living and read the army officers story I became very angry. Do you know of anyone following the VA side of the story? I will say this, I consider myself a very skeptical person who truly believes if "it smells like a rat it probably is". so I tried to put myself in a circumstance where I could fall for such a scheme. Then it hit me. If my child got into a exclusive college and I knew I could not afford it, would I consider the venture then? No mortgage payments for 5 years, by then college debt would be done, etc, etc. Under those circumstances, it could be very alluring. For those who knew what they were doing on both sides of the fence, I pray they will get their just rewards, but for those who went along with it because they thought they were doing the right thing for their family, let us not be too quick to judge.

Here is the info on the Home you were talking about.

http://www.spotsylvania.va.us/online...OID=A0000007AU

[Rey19]

This week MDH was suppose to be meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus.

http://www.metrograpevine.net/pdf/MG2007.pdf


The Bankcard threads from another Andy SCAM!


Maryland Seizes Assets of Bankcard Group Inc. and ATM Group Enterprises

Maryland Attorney General - News Releases

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/in...g/20010604a.asp

[noway]

Hey all.....this is crazy, I found out today that the September mortgages are not paid. There is a meeting Thursday night to discuss. What I do not understand is how long folks can stay loyal to someone who will not give any credible information to prove a real business exists?

Just say for a moment that its not a scam(which I believe it really is), September mortgages are not paid! well how many months do you want to look over your shoulder to see if your mortgage was paid. Even if it was legit, they have broken the contract and your credit is being destroyed. MDH is not on the mortgage yours is! What is your recourse against MDH?


Ok regarding the meeting in which Andy Williams offered to pay mortgages, and give people their money back. Ok say you have a 6K monthly mortgage and lets say MDH paid 3 months already even though it was late. If you raise your hand and ask for a payout, they are deducting 18k from your 50k leaving you a whopping 32k to pay a mortgage that you can not make. The 32k is gone in 5 months unless you can sell the home (which if the numbers were inflated is impossible). My point is even if you got the 32k, you can not walk away because you STILL have a 6k mortgage. So people held on in hopes it was legit?
I guess I probably would have took the cash (32k), at least I would have got something before foreclosure. I know folks who are deeply involved and it bothers me, I considered it myself but could not figure why they needed my cash if they could generate that much revenue...it didn't add up. Plus I could get the whole board of directors deal... You could buy your way in...not like the board of directors that I have worked with..

So do any of the victims (greedy or not) have a case against anyone? If its found that the appraisal was inflated can the sale be voided?

[scamme]

I suggest anyone deeply interested in what is going on to go through this thread and the sister thread on scamDOTcom and save all the related pages. If this site gets hacked too (I am sure it's a matter of time) then we can regroup at another site but with all the information in hand to repost.

[JustAMom]

Originally Posted by Rey19

Here is the info on the Home you were talking about.

http://www.spotsylvania.va.us/online...OID=A0000007AU

Thanks for reply. Lives right down the street. Also, anyone out there, has there been anything else on BB&T Bank. I refer to cjett's Free Lance Star's last article where two loan officers were fired because of their involvement with Metro. One of them is Williams neighbor.

[sagegriot]

Originally Posted by JustAMom

Thanks for reply. Lives right down the street. Also, anyone out there, has there been anything else on BB&T Bank. I refer to cjett's Free Lance Star's last article where two loan officers were fired because of their involvement with Metro. One of them is Williams neighbor.

Actually, it was four loan officers:
Summary: BB&T terminates four mortgage loan officers after questions raised about links to Metropolitan Grapevine
Date: 9/19/2007
Locality: Regional
Category: Business

FWIW,cjett is beating the pants (skirt?) off the Washington Post's E Razzi in covering this story.

[NCJOSIE]

Originally Posted by JustAMom

Thanks for reply. Lives right down the street. Also, anyone out there, has there been anything else on BB&T Bank. I refer to cjett's Free Lance Star's last article where two loan officers were fired because of their involvement with Metro. One of them is Williams neighbor.

Do you know which one was William's neighbor? Dwight Taylor was the number 1 loan officer for the whole bank. Why he would throw all he had away by getting involved with these folks is unfathomable to me. He took his boss down and two other loan officers under him. Just wondering if he was the neighbor. Do you know if it was him?

[ralphmalph]

Noway was running some numbers by us that showed why it might be hard to get out of the MDH program. But let me run some other numbers by. If your mortgage was $6k a month, how did anyone qualify for the loan if they can't make the payment??? That would be an incredible amount of lying for anyone making less than $150 a year or so.

Here is another, if MDH said they would pay off the loan in five years, why were they so excited about the mortgage being paid? In reality the required payment would have been triple the monthly obligation. For example, your $6k monthly mortgage would have been a 6% loan on about $1 million. To pay it off in 5 years would require $19,333 per month. So why was anyone happy about the monthly mortgage payment being made (even if late) if they really needed to be paying triple that???

There were just too many simple, clear warning signs that this was a scam. Even if you didn't figure it out until after you had invested, you should have squealed like a pig and tried to get your money back. I know *I* would have!!!

[Re-foundingMother]

The real crime is not the mortgages and "regular people getting something for nothing or being naive" even though that is a huge one. It is the swindle of small business and legitimate enterprise being made into scam and destruction of dreams and expectations and real people's "livings."

I have not invested money into Real Estate with these companies, but my living has been destroyed by this band of racketeers and I have been bullied and harassed by some of the principles in the companies. and I am not defending them in any way, just writing this post hesitantly and in the middle of the night.

I have tried to interview with some of the powers that be (FBI and attorneys etc.) but those 'powers that be' don't make it very easy to report suspected wrong doing for surveillance and people can't possibly know everything nor can they know what they don't know when they only hear part of a story. I've called no less than 9 attorneys and 3 accountants from the rich and famous big firms to the small firms and have met with other business advisors, and emailed journalists and NO ONE has called me back to help resolve real issues the right way in more than a year. I even tried to get activist groups involved and authorities have literally treated me like a rape victim who can't explain why she did in fact wear a skirt to the grocery store on the day in question.

There are many savvy investors who: create REIT's (public and private) legitimately, pay down mortgages early, use investment tools and guaranteed investments to create personal wealth and manage assets. There are of course investors who create separate corporate shield entities legitimately, start up "new technology" businesses with borrowed money and angel investors and even the SBA may post a lien on your home as collateral for a legitimate loan you may apply for if you are starting a business.
But what separates the legitimate from the illegitimate is EDUCATION and INTENT. And I am quite sure that the SEC and AG don't have any use for shutting down legitimate newbie investors in whatever business, RE or otherwise for trying to improve personal life positions. (I got really angry when I found out couple days ago about retaliation civil rights claim Metropolitan Grapevine filed against the SEC).

all I'm trying to initiate with this first post is that if everyone is simply looking at the mortgage issue, the problem(s) won't get solved. There are some business issues and education lacking that have snowballed this problem. Like him or hate him, even Andy Williams had a dream business and started out trying to figure out how to get there in a complex world. And like it or not, human nature includes greed and jealousy on many occasions.

EVERYONE is on the real estate investing bandwagon today and EVERYONE needs help or continued education including the Donald Trumps and the Robert Kiyosakes and the Barbara Corcorans and the victim ex-Enron employees of the world. And EVERYONE looks for a deal or some help navigating the waters of free enterprise and the abundance that America has to offer. The first thing that "Pros" advise is "get a partner" without advising about the responsibility of being a good partner or where to go when the "greed leads" a partner out of solid business building decisions and stupid expenditures (i.e. box seats at sporting events and positions as "board members" when your "business" still hasn't made a first sale.)

I would really like to see people look below the surface of this scandal to the real issues of compromising free market enterprise and lessen the gossipy pitying poor investors-- who, while taken advantage of, still are simply getting some life lessons that they can rise above once they take responsibility for creating a culture of entitlement that is usually impossible to maintain. I'm not saying that people deserve to lose their money to selfish SOB's but if those same people can't recover some confidence and get some education and even find the humor, while they are starting a class action or going to presentations and applying for refunds, they will probably never be able to manage risk or assess risk or even get back on the horse of investing, thereby losing the single thing they started out to get-- their own quality of living and their own incomes and security of their own home.

I understand the allure of investing and keeping up with Joneses and wanting your own business and feeling empowered to pay for your homes in a non-traditional way, even understand the feelings of thinking you are doing the right thing by being "creative" about your real estate purchases. I get it and have done it. I've never broken the laws in question here (fraud, investing, real estate finance/purchase etc.) and in the same breath, I've gotten a few speeding tickets and looked for ways to cut my taxes. Both exercises exist in my one body and I am highly motivated to taking good care of my family.

I even believe that the banking industry is more than partly to blame for its current troubles and investors over-valuing or over-extending is way risky at best and scary at the least. (That last sentence is exactly one of the presentation points I heard for Dream Homes-- noble cause?? or rebellious liberal? you decide) I also believe that 30 year and 40 year mortgages and whatever other products many Banks offer including 29% interest rates on regular credit cards is punitive and destructive but I don't believe in the vigilante cavalier individual unorganized half cocked responses of people trying to buck a system without a real plan of responsibility.

So in ending this post, my call to action is ... Could some attorney out there please contact me? and Could people start a conversation about the real underlying problems in addition to the symptomatic topical "mortgage" issues?

Thanks and I look forward to continuing this forum. (I've never been in one before and I only found this one few days ago. )
good night

p.s. re-founding mother (the "new" founding fathers of this country will be the moms out there...test me on this)

Originally Posted by noway

Hey all.....this is crazy, I found out today that the September mortgages are not paid. There is a meeting Thursday night to discuss. What I do not understand is how long folks can stay loyal to someone who will not give any credible information to prove a real business exists?

Just say for a moment that its not a scam(which I believe it really is), September mortgages are not paid! well how many months do you want to look over your shoulder to see if your mortgage was paid. Even if it was legit, they have broken the contract and your credit is being destroyed. MDH is not on the mortgage yours is! What is your recourse against MDH?


Ok regarding the meeting in which Andy Williams offered to pay mortgages, and give people their money back. Ok say you have a 6K monthly mortgage and lets say MDH paid 3 months already even though it was late. If you raise your hand and ask for a payout, they are deducting 18k from your 50k leaving you a whopping 32k to pay a mortgage that you can not make. The 32k is gone in 5 months unless you can sell the home (which if the numbers were inflated is impossible). My point is even if you got the 32k, you can not walk away because you STILL have a 6k mortgage. So people held on in hopes it was legit?
I guess I probably would have took the cash (32k), at least I would have got something before foreclosure. I know folks who are deeply involved and it bothers me, I considered it myself but could not figure why they needed my cash if they could generate that much revenue...it didn't add up. Plus I could get the whole board of directors deal... You could buy your way in...not like the board of directors that I have worked with..

So do any of the victims (greedy or not) have a case against anyone? If its found that the appraisal was inflated can the sale be voided?

[JustAMom]

Not sure if Taylor lives in neighborhood or not; was refering to another. Do you believe the two loan officers under him, who were brought down, knew what they were involved with or doing? I find it hard to believe they did not.

Also, cjett mentioned Castle Builders as being implicated. If I am not mistaken I think it is the builder who built Williams home. Again, not definite. But have any other builders been linked to these people.