Ripoff Report Needs Your Help!
X  |  CLOSE
Report: #1077232

Complaint Review: 1st American Home Tenders Orlando - Tampa Florida

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: madoldlady — orlando Florida
  • Author Not Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • 1st American Home Tenders Orlando 1632 Pine Ridge Dr, Davenport, FL 33896 Tampa, Florida USA

1st American Home Tenders Orlando Brad LukensShannon Boswell Rip off artists Orlando Florida

*REBUTTAL Owner of company: Claims Against Deposits Must Be Approved Before Dispersement

Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...

Is this
Report about YOU
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
How to fix
Ripoff Report
If your business is
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..

 This company, !st American Home Tenders, is a rip off.  There is supposedly an owner named Brad Lukens but he has never surfaced and only a single person - Shannon Boswell - seems to step in.  Shannon does not take responsibility for the actions of the company although he was suppose to be an owner in the past.  That is until the sh*t hit the fan and then he stepped aside and this ficticous person - Brad Lukens - stepped in.

The company brags about selling homes quickly by placing tenants in them; this is to make them more desirable for buyers. What the truth is that they place poor unsuspecting souls in bank owned/owner neglected properties to repair and fix up with free labor and non-working plumbing, electrical or appliances in place.

These "homes" are suppose to be staged but there is no way to stage a house that has dried feces in the toilets.  That is something the new tenant is expected to clean.  A "home" cannot be staged without electricity, plumbing and appliances so the poor tenant must repair the plumbing, electrical and buy their own appliances (quoted by Shannon Boswell).  When a tenant refused to purchase appliances, Shannon showed up with a refrigerator that was infested with roaches.  The stove did not work but Shannon left it anyway, apparently feeling like he did his job. Shannon is an idiot.

They call their contracts "home managers" when in reality they are a landlord/tenant agreement. 

And then this poor tenant, after repairing and making a property habitable, is expected to move immediately to yet another dump that is not habitable and, if inspected by proper authorities, they would not be allowed to conduct business.

It is a safe assumption that they have not been investigated as of yet by the proper authorities because i doubt that a government agency would permit what equates with slave labor just to sell a property for a deadbeat owner or deadbeat bank.

Shannon Boswell will not refund your security deposit either.  You can fix everything in the house, clean out the dried feces and move as required by the contract and they will still keep your security deposit because they have spent it on themselves.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 08/19/2013 07:51 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/1st-american-home-tenders-orlando/tampa-florida/1st-american-home-tenders-orlando-brad-lukensshannon-boswell-rip-off-artists-orlando-flor-1077232. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

Search for additional reports

If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:

Report & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Also a victim?
What's this?
Repair Your Reputation!
What's this?

Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
0Consumer
1Employee/Owner

#1 REBUTTAL Owner of company

Claims Against Deposits Must Be Approved Before Dispersement

AUTHOR: Shannon B - ()

POSTED: Tuesday, September 02, 2014

This report speaks of no impropriety other than to say we don’t return deposits, that and the other items mentioned will be explained further below. That leads me to think that this is an attempt at negativity rather than to help and inform the general public. The only circumstances that a deposit is not returned is if fees are not paid, damage is done to a home or a court order makes it so. If there are claims a home manager must sign a form with the details of the claim before funds can be dispersed to anyone. Otherwise it takes a court order to release the funds without a sign off. Since we have only had 1 court ordered deposit remain, I can probably guess who wrote this complaint.

This is Shannon Boswell the sole owner of 1st American Home Tenders (1AHT). Brad Lukens and I started this company together about 5 years ago (as of this writing). It is currently owned solely by me. Brad is a great friend and former business partner. Our business is to help vacant homes that are on the market and for sale. We stage them with the help of a home manager. The home manager pays for the utilities, keeps the grass cut, pool clean, and adds security by being at the home. The owner gets lower costs and an average of 15% higher sales price than compared to vacant. The homeowners’ benefits are free of charge. The home manager is contracted to keep the home neat, clean, make it available for the Realtors to show then ultimately leave the property prior to the closings of the home. For all of this trouble the home manager pays 1AHT a fee that is 1/3 to ¼ of traditional rental rates. A home that would normally rent for $1500-$2000 monthly the home manager pays us approximately $500. Most home managers in our program (80% of them) simply move from home to home averaging 2 moves per year. As of this writing we have helped approximately 500 homes and home managers. Home managers get minimum 3 times the house for 1/3 the price and homeowner get their home taken care of while it is for sale. This saves both the home manager and the homeowner a small fortune over time.

Performance Guaranty Deposits are taken to ensure that the home if damaged can be repaired or if a utility hasn’t been paid, or fees haven’t been paid. 1AHT has never taken any portion of a deposit without consent from the home manager or a court order. Meaning if a home manager doesn’t pay their fees or damages a home they have to sign a form saying they agree to pay for those fees or damage. The one exception to this rule is if a judge orders that we can take it because of a lawsuit. In the one instance that we were involved in a lawsuit the home manager owed several months of back due fees in addition to not leaving the property when they were given notice to relocate, all part of our contract with the home manager. 1AHT does not markup any repairs to homes. We simply contract with another individual, get an estimate, add that to the claim for the home manager, then once the home manager signs off we get the work completed and cut the worker a check. Homeowners can make claims on a deposit if they feel the home manager has done damage to a home. If that happens AND the home manager will NOT give consent then the parties must sue each other to have the funds released (this has never happened). Rarely does 1AHT have any claim on a deposit. If we do it is usually because we have unpaid fees when a home manager leaves the program.

The home manager that stays in the home are not tenants, they are much more like a house sitter. In fact here is the language exactly as it reads on our contract Paragraph 1:

1. RELATIONSHIP OF THE PARTIES

1AHT is in business for the sole purpose of staging residential real estate which is for sale to the public.  1AHT is not in any respect as a result of this contract, acting as a Leasing Agent, or Landlord as those terms may be defined under Florida statutes or any states statues, local or municipal ordinances and regulations of any Federal Agency or any relevant local, state or federal case law. Furthermore, as a stager of residential real estate 1AHT has no ownership or other beneficial interest in the property which it stages.”

It is unclear how this can be construed to mean anything other than what it says.

We do not work with REO or bank owned properties. Never have and probably never will. Banks aren’t in Real Estate because they want to be in Real Estate. They are in it to settle a debt. They want to sell their home as fast as possible below market value to ensure that is sells quickly, usually a week or two. They are not trying to maximizes their return or get as much money for the home as possible, which is what an owner of a property would want. There is a difference between a short sale and a foreclosed property. Short sale is when a person or family has a hardship, meaning loss of income somehow, is unable to pay for the property and the mortgage is more than the homes current value. The mortgagor may give the homeowner permission to sell the home. The homeowner lists the property for sale with a Realtor and they sell the home for as much as possible. With a short sale, if an offer comes in high enough the bank will say yes to the sale instead of foreclosing on the property thereby eliminating a foreclosure on the homeowners’ record. The homeowners benefit here is that in foreclosure they would have to wait 10 years before they could get another loan when they only have to wait 2 years with a short sale. Banks say yes more often to homes we help because the offers we get are higher than if they were left vacant. We still must contract with the homeowner before we can place a home manager in a home.

The complainant says that we place unsuspecting home managers in homes. This is completely false and it seems the complainant lived in more than 1 of our homes. The first time someone would hear about what we do is when they call in to our company. There is a prerecorded message that plays. It tells the home manager about their responsibilities and why the home is so inexpensive when compared to traditional rental rates. After that they are transferred to a live person that will further explain our program and why the rates are so inexpensive. The next step is the potential home manager must submit pictures of their current home including the bathrooms and kitchen. This helps us determine if they are neat and clean enough for our program. Third we meet them at the home in person so they can see the home in person, its current condition and if they would like to work with our program. It is rare but on occasion we have had homes that were not in clean condition when a home manager wishes to take over. In ALL of these cases we give substantial discounts off our already low rates to account for the needed cleaning. In this rare instance we will get a bid on the cleaning or work that needs to be done, we will inform the home manager of the work to be done prior to meeting them at the home, we will show them the work, then tell them the amount of the bid. If they choose to do the work themselves they can and they get the credit. If not then we have the work done before they take over.

As soon as we get a new home we place a home warranty on the home. In the unlikely event that sometime needs repair the home manager can simply notify us, we call it in to the home warranty company and the warranty company gets a contractor to come out and fix it. As a business practice 1AHT keeps refrigerators in stock. If a refrigerator goes out we will temporarily provide one for the home manager while the original is being repaired. This is not a contractual obligation nor do we charge for it. We simply don’t want our home manager to go without a working refrigerator. Before we take one to the home we tell the home manager that they are not pretty. None of them are but they are all cleaned before delivery and they work. If a home is missing a refrigerator or stove we will provide one free of charge. Stoves are not replaced like this they are simply repaired or if the warranty company cannot fix it they replace it. All appliances are delivered clean. We also take pictures of the delivered appliance along with its serial number given by us on the front. Our serial number help us identify the appliance as well as serve as notice to a potential buyer. Our stickers are red and clearly mark that they do not convey with the sale of the property.

It sounds as if this was a previous home manager that moved from at least one home to another. If that is the case why not simply leave the property and go to traditional rental? Our contract has a 30 day notice clause and we have in the past waved even that for special circumstances.

Respond to this report!
What's this?
Featured Reports

Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.

X
What do hackers,
questionable attorneys and
fake court orders have in common?
...Dishonest Reputation Management Investigates Reputation Repair
Free speech rights compromised

WATCH News
Segment Now