Metro Dream Homes (sale, buy, college)

[A. R. Todaro]

BTW--has anyone done the math of how much MDH has received? Per the Post 900 x $50K= $45,000,000 (and I thought I saw 950 homes before). That's alot of money folks.

And another thought about what this effects most. It is not the lower dollar homes. It is too hard to hide $50K in a $250K home. It is easier to hide it in $500K and up, so this effects the higher dollar homes and neighborhoods. So much for MDH helping to make housing affordable.

[sagegriot]

Originally Posted by Rey19

Sagegriot, thanks for the article!

Honestly, I am greatly disappointed by the Washington Post. After breaking the story, they have let it whither on the vine. Perhaps the charges of racism scared them off. Maybe they are forced to standby as the AG makes his case. The reporter states that she has heard from several members, but details are scarce. No real update on the legal status. Mis-use of the term 'equity'. I had posted a question in thier online chat, but it was ignored. At best, the article amounts to mere speculation on things that are obvious to most of us. Many have commented on this board about the ripple affect on our homes in nearby neighborhoods. Then again, no one complains when the over-appraisals raise thier property values!........only when the foreclosures depress them.

[scamme]

Originally Posted by A. R. Todaro

BTW--has anyone done the math of how much MDH has received? Per the Post 900 x $50K= $45,000,000 (and I thought I saw 950 homes before). That's alot of money folks.

And another thought about what this effects most. It is not the lower dollar homes. It is too hard to hide $50K in a $250K home. It is easier to hide it in $500K and up, so this effects the higher dollar homes and neighborhoods. So much for MDH helping to make housing affordable.

That would be the best case scenario, but many have put multiple homes into the program.

There are also the people that signed up as board members for an additional $50K. The actual figure is probably 50% more at around $60-$70 MILLION.

I am sure this is still small potatoes compared to what the AG deals with in other white collar crime in the corporate world. But like sagegriot pointed out this affects communities and add the credit that will be destroyed for some in the program and the damage may end up amounting to hundreds of MILLIONS.

[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.

[ralphmalph]

Originally Posted by JustAMom

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.

Why would wanting to send your child to college suddenly make you stop thinking rationally???

I am willing to make you the same offer. If you give me 15% of the value of your house, I will pay off your mortgage in 5 years at which time I get half the value of the house at that time. You would not take me up on this I am sure, for two reasons.

1) If you thought for just a moment about the numbers you would realize that I would need a 50% return on investment to live up to my promise of paying your mortgage. That's an awfully good ROI for anyone! But wait, that does not pay off the house like I said I would. To do that would require about 300% to 400% return on the initial investment. Hey, if I could even get close to that, I could invest my own money and live very well for the rest of my life! Why would I need to bother you or convince anyone else to invest?

2) Even if you don't run the numbers, why would you believe that I can provide *any* income? I have not shown you any source of revenue and I am not willing to even discuss this other than to say "I have means" and tell you that "I am doing God's work!". Are you going to even give me bus fare???

I don't typically believe that scam artists take advantage of people's greed. But in this case I don't see how you could believe these guys unless you allow greed to blind you to the obvious truth. So don't the victims have to accept responsibility for their own situation? That does not relieve MDH, et al, of their responsibility for creating the scam and luring the victims in. But the victims can't say they are truly "innocent". They had to stop believing in their own common sense and allow their greed to take control of their actions.

One other thing that I just realized. Depending on the housing market, this might still not be a good idea for an investor, even if they did pay off the mortgages. If you bought a home today, at the end of five years you would still owe about 95% of the initial value of the home . If you went through MDH, at the end of five years you would have to come up with half the value at that time to give to them (or sell the house). If the house goes up in value by more than 100%, you would have to refinance for *more* than the initial value of the house giving you a larger loan for the next 30 years! Between 2000 and 2005, the market did just this. Of course you can't count on that happening in the next five years, but the point is that it may still not be a good investment.

[ralphmalph]

The Post article talks about how housing prices may be reduced because of the homes that will go on the market and be auctioned off as a result of the inevitable foreclosures that will result from this scam. But there has already been other victims, the people who have bought other homes in the area with comps based on the inflated values of the homes in the MDH program.

When the appraisers added 15% to the value of a home which was then recorded as a normal sale, this gets factored into the valuation of home values in the area. The result is that homes have been selling for more money that they would have if MDH had not screwed with the market. All of the buyers over the last 6 months to a year have overpaid for their homes. Now that MDH appraisals will no longer be inflating home values add in the foreclosure sales that will be happening and you can expect prices to virtually crash over the next 6 months to a year.

[JustAMom]

I acknowledge that greed, or for some, being part of an "exclusive club" played a part. Perhaps for the majority this is true, however, I am sure, just like the army officer's post read, that some were brought in by people they thought they could trust. (First mistake, I make it a habit to trust no one) After all, they were not approached by strangers. Also, like I said, I thank God I did not fall for some scheme such as this. I payed two daughters tuition to MIT and BC the old fashioned way, saved and sacrificed. I merely stated, that some people might stop thinking rationally if they justified their actions because of extraordinary circumstances. I just named my particular soft spot; my children.

However, this is not the issue. What is most important is that this is investigated and that guilty parties are held accountable.

[scamme]

scamDOTcom is back up. According to the moderator (click on announcement link at the top) they were attacked by at least 50 computers. They said they have contacted the FBI. Strangely, the Metro Dream Homes thread is gone!

Hmm, Mr. Andrew Williams, are you responsible for this too? This is starting to read like a bad novel.

[Rey19]

Originally Posted by scamme

scamDOTcom is back up. According to the moderator (click on announcement link at the top) they were attacked by at least 50 computers. They said they have contacted the FBI. Strangely, the Metro Dream Homes thread is gone!

Hmm, Mr. Andrew Williams, are you responsible for this too? This is starting to read like a bad novel.

Scamme, too funny I thought the same thing. Kinda of strange right before the hearing ScamDotCom goes down and the thread is missing. Ummm.... Look's like Andy paid these guys off b/c there was a lot of incriminating info on that site. Like you said, "This is starting to read like a bad novel". BTW, I will not be posting there anymore!

As a note, this thread is being read by the press (and VICTIMS of the SCAM) and they are in wait mode. Tons of info is being pulled from this site. It is just a matter of time before all the pieces come together. They have not forgotten about MDH; they realize the seriousness of this SCAM. What we need to do is to continue posting anything we can find on these guys. If anything of importance was posted on the ScamDotCom site and is not posted here, we need to re-post - HERE.

To all the victims of the POS Dream Home scam who are reading this thread - please post your experiences here. Let your voices be heard!

[Rey19]

After we posted about the Metro Dream Homes thread missing on ScamDotCom it magically appears. Ummm....

D.C. Metro Area - Has anyone heard of Metro Dream Homes?


I will be thoroughly reading naledge4ya threads: scams - Search Results.

Posts from naledge4ya

"Hey all, I just got back from vacation and all everyone is talking about is scam.com and the Washington Post article. WOW!!! Listen people. Yes it's true Metro Dream Home's customer service ranks somewhere near the DMV's. Yes, they are slow to return your calls, and Yes the mortgages and payouts have been late on more than one occassion. However, this is for real. For those of you who are using this website as part of your research on the company, your making a big mistake. I've had several of my friends tell me I was crazy for getting involved with this company, but those same friends are borrowing money from me every month. Besides, I've never asked them to invest in this company or any of my many other investments. I'll tell you what I tell them. Do your own research and make up your own mind. Don't listen to any of these comments including mine. Draw your own conclusion based on all the facts. You may find that this program really isn't for you, or you may find that it's the best thing since air conditioning http://www.scam.com/images/smilies/smile.gif (broken link) Sorry skeptics, I know you get off on watching people fail, but you got this one wrong. Stay tuned you'll soon see. Oh and iknowaboutthis, change your id name to Judas. Selling out your own company. I'll bet your really proud of yourself. dumbass http://www.scam.com/images/smilies/cool.gif (broken link)"

"Ok I lied. This will be my last post until after the new year. Sonowwhat, if my mortgage was late I would’ve made sure I got a check on 8/18 when I had the chance. I also would have opted out if I no longer believed in the program. My question to you is why didn’t you? Are you really even in the program?"