ORR- With the house-flipping craze sending would-be real estate barons flocking to the internet in search of great deals, there must have been some eyes popping out of their sockets if they recently came across an Orr property, valued at over $100,000, that could be yours for just $11,569.
It’s a great deal because, according to the listing on HomeFinder.com and multiple other real estate sites, the “single family home” is an REO (real estate owned) foreclosure.
“The property was foreclosed and repossessed by a lender when the owner failed to make payments. A bank is now the owner,” the HomeFinder listing says.
In fact, there’s no such great deal to be had. The “single family home” is, according to the Google Street View picture posted with the listing, an Orr mainstay, the T. Pattenn Café, and owner Tara Pattenn took to social media last week to strenuously proclaim that the listing is a total fraud.
“SCAM ALEART. I AM BEYOND PISSED,” Pattenn’s note began. “Another reason to not believe everything you see in the internet. (They are) running my family name and business through the mud to scam you! If some of you want to know something, just ask me or my family and we will tell you.”
The Timberjay contacted Pattenn, who said she owns the property outright and that there is no bank mortgage on it. She also confirmed that the property was not involved in any other lending agreements.
A check of the public St. Louis County Property Details Report accessed by the Timberjay through the county Land Explorer site lends credence to that. T Pattenn Café is listed as both the owner and taxpayer for the property. A subsequent call to the St. Louis County Recorder’s Office confirmed that there are no outstanding liens on the property.
Conversely, the Property Details Report for 12745 Sethers Rd., in Orr, a property listed as an REO foreclosure on ColdwellBanker.com, lists a Texas-based financial company, Cascade Funding Mortgage Trust HB7, as both the seller and taxpayer.
The T Pattenn Café property is not listed for sale on any North Country realtor website checked by the Timberjay, while some do list the Sethers Rd. property. It’s also not on RealtyTrac.com, which bills itself as the “nation’s #1 foreclosure listing service,” nor Zillow.com, considered to be the nation’s largest online real-estate marketplace.
Is it a scam?
The Timberjay found T Pattenn Café listed for sale as a foreclosure on at least six different websites, including HousingList.com, GetRentToOwn.com, RealtyStore.com, HomeFinder.com, iRentToOwn.com, and Ultraforeclosures.com.
Some or all of these sites share multiple characteristics:
• All six require fee-based registration or membership to view full details of listings.
• Trial periods of 30 days for a nominal fee linked to automatic recurring monthly billing of a member’s credit card for fees ranging from $49.99 to $69.99.
• A three-month membership option that is billed only once, does not include a trial period, and does not automatically renew. Listed prices discovered for this option were $99.
• An agreement to consent to being contacted by the web vendor and third parties they contract with about various products and services such as credit repair and credit services, property alerts and marketing messages, and others. HousingList.com lists three of the aforementioned websites as third parties that may receive a member’s information.
• Cancellations typically must be done by either sending an email or calling a toll-free number, rather than providing a cancellation option on a member’s account page.
• Required and detailed Terms of Service and Privacy Policy statements.
• All used the same Google Street View photo taken in 2015 for their T Pattenn Café listings, with no other photos accessible without registration. A number of other listings for REO foreclosures checked by the Timberjay used Google Street View photos.
However, it’s likely the detailed information they provide can be obtained through numerous free online realty sources. The Timberjay conducted searches for area REO foreclosure properties on Zillow.com and Realtor.com and came up with detailed property information for many of the same properties that other sites charged a hefty fee to obtain.
While an internet search turned up numerous customer complaints about fee-based real estate websites, including some mentioned above, the Timberjay did not discover any third-party evaluation specifically categorizing the above-listed sites as being a scam, likely because they all have their membership fees, billing and cancellation policies, terms of service and privacy policies clearly spelled out.
Given the amount of free information about real estate properties for sale online, would-be buyers may be well-advised to consider another thing common to fee-based real estate listing sites, their disclaimer statements, such as this one from HousingList.com:
“The information contained on HousingList.com (the “Service”) is for general information purposes only. Although HousingList.com has made reasonable efforts to place accurate info on the site, HousingList.com assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents of the service. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional advice and information from a real estate professional.”
The Timberjay contacted one of the sites listed above through their website for specific information about how they obtain their foreclosure listings, but the company did not respond prior to press time.