Ownerfinancehomes.com Matthew Chan, Benjamin Weaver Slumlords, not Landlords!!! Columbus Georgia

This is a written response and rebuttal to an “anonymous” Ripoffreport.com complaint about me, my business partner, and our website. Since this complaint against us has been made public on the Internet, we are forced to respond publicly. The “anonymous” ex-tenants in question are Sarah Gruhn and Randol Butler.

They entered into a Lease with Purchase Option Agreement on May 7, 2008 with a rent of $650/month. It was less than 30-days later that they had fallen behind in their rent payments and continued a record of late, inconsistent, and partial payments throughout their 9-month tenancy.

I have provided a copy of their payment history on our website to substantiate our position.

http://ownerfinancehomes.com/gruhnbutler-history.pdf

For May 2008, we charged them a prorated amount of 15 days rent ($325) despite the fact they were in the property for 24 days in May. They were supposed to pay the balance within 2 weeks but did not happen.

On June 1, 2008, our office received no money. It would not be until June 10, 2008 before they issued their first payment of $325 for the pro-rated May's rent despite the fact that June rent was now also due. Their 2nd payment of $400 on June 20, 2008 was partial payment against June's rent. We waived late fees for June as a one-time courtesy. We had hoped they would catch up on their rent payments. At the end of June, they still owed us $250.

Going into July 2008, we received a payment of only $250 on July 1, 2008. This went towards paying June's outstanding balance and no monies towards July's rent. We were finally forced to charge a late fee since they did not even come close to paying July's rent on time. They finally paid us the $650 on July 22, 2008.

At this point, most landlords would find their record of payment unacceptable. During the rest of their tenancy with us, they were only able to pay their full rent of $650 rent twice and only once did they pay on time. How many landlords would accept late and partial payments for the course of 7 months? Not many, I suspect.

Regarding the non-refundable two-year purchase option fee of $800, this is stated clearly in writing. It is in bold print and discussed at the signing of the lease. The intention is to buy the house, not trivially “change their minds” as they had. Both of them signed to this statement. In fact, Sarah's father is a landlord and attended the lease-signing to “make sure we were legitimate”. He was witness to the entire transaction when the monies were paid and the agreements signed.

Regarding the plumbing leak…. We were in the process of looking into it but had not pinpointed exactly where it was coming from. The tenants wanted to move in “as soon as possible” because Sarah did not want to live in her father's rental property anymore with a roommate and wanted to move in with her boyfriend, Randol.

Regarding the ceiling situation, we inspected it the next day and it was fully repaired within 2 days. Not a bad response to take care of the small roof leak and broken ceiling. After several months of late and partial payments with December's rent still unpaid, we felt the least they could do was to clean up the small mess. Why did we have to do every last thing for them when they could not pay rent? Perhaps if they had not been such persistently late-paying tenants, we would have cleaned it up for them.

How many people would love to be in the position of making repairs to a property where the tenants cannot pay on-time without constant “reminders”. And yet, you are expected to perform flawlessly. We cannot do or stay in business with tenants who cannot pay their rent on time.

In January 2009, we offered them an opportunity to move out with a signed release (instead of eviction) since they were not able to catch up. But they wanted to take 5 weeks, not 5 days as they claim. We would have gladly waited 5 days to avoid filing a $250 eviction fee. Evictions are expensive in Alabama and it is always the last resort when a tenant cannot pay and will not move out within a reasonable amount of time.

After they were served by a Deputy Sheriff in February, he told us that the neighbors had informed him they had moved out days later.

The court did not “throw our case out”. The judge denied my motion for Default Judgment prior to the court hearing date. Because we had waited for nearly 3 weeks, and they had clearly moved out a week before according the report given to the Deputy Sheriff, and we saw that the property was clearly empty, I dismissed the case. You would think they would be grateful that we dismissed the case to spare them a judgment and eviction record. If we had simply waited for the court date and appeared before the judge, it would be very hard for them to make any kind of complaint about us.

Regarding the accusations we are “slumlords”, you can see the photos of the property yourself. It is NOT slumlord property. These are the photos taken before they moved in. We even have a video of it.

http://ownerfinancehomes.com/homeslist/listings/l0009.htm

The townhouse may have been not been ideal due to the high number of walk traffic of showing the property for many weeks. But I think very few people can say the property is slum or ghetto. In any case, they signed a document stating that they had inspected the property prior to moving in. Obviously, they didn't or they could have told us about it sooner, not after they had moved in.

Something happened a few days ago, Phenix City Water Utilities told us of the tenants lack of payments since August 2008. Water service was cut in late September 2008 for non-payment. The tenants turned it back on at meter. On January 13, 2009, Phenix City locked the meter but the locked was later cut open again. On February 17, 2009, the water meter was locked again but cut open again. We found all this out AFTER we activated water service in our name and Phenix City tried to bill us for THEIR water usage. Basically, as we struggled to collect rent from these tenants, they were getting “free water” for nearly 6 months at the city's expense. I have been informed their account have been sent to their collection agency.

We have also sent their account with us to a local collection agency, RMG (Receivables Management Group) in Columbus, GA. RMG confirms that Sarah and Randol have moved to Smiths Station, Alabama and we have given that information to Phenix City.

Last thing, I am a nationally known author and publisher in the subject of Real Estate Lease-Options. I have written books and audio programs on the subject. You can do an Amazon search. I have no interest whatsoever in being a slumlord, disreputable, or evicting people without good cause. It is far easier to make money dealing with good paying tenants without vacancy. Why would any landlord intentionally create evictions unless tenants stopped paying or caused problems?

We are certainly far from perfect but we try to do a good job and we are generally very good at what we do. We offer a service that most landlords would never consider doing, working with credit-challenged people to help finance and sell them a home. Our agreements are fully published and open for all tenants to read freely before they sign. Our properties are fully available to be freely seen and inspected at anytime. We believe in transparency. In this particular case, even the tenant's landlord father was present to scrutinize and watch the entire transaction!

We work with credit-challenged people but these kinds of incidents are beginning to dissuade us from doing so. If you read our version of the story and reports compared to their “anonymous” complaint, I think the full picture becomes clear. I should have realized the situation was suspect when Sarah did not want to live in her father's rental anymore. Problems just migrate to other people.

Unlike these ex-tenants who are trying to anonymously tarnish our reputation with a distorted and omitted view and recounting of the facts, we stand by what we do.

Come visit our website for the latest information on the rebuttal of this complaint.

http://ownerfinancehomes.com/report-rebuttal.htm

Matthew Chan
OwnerFinanceHomes.com

This is a written response and rebuttal to an “anonymous” Ripoffreport.com complaint about me, my business partner, and our website. Since this complaint against us has been made public on the Internet, we are forced to respond publicly. The “anonymous” ex-tenants in question are Sarah Gruhn and Randol Butler.

They entered into a Lease with Purchase Option Agreement on May 7, 2008 with a rent of $650/month. It was less than 30-days later that they had fallen behind in their rent payments and continued a record of late, inconsistent, and partial payments throughout their 9-month tenancy.

I have provided a copy of their payment history on our website to substantiate our position.

http://ownerfinancehomes.com/gruhnbutler-history.pdf

For May 2008, we charged them a prorated amount of 15 days rent ($325) despite the fact they were in the property for 24 days in May. They were supposed to pay the balance within 2 weeks but did not happen.

On June 1, 2008, our office received no money. It would not be until June 10, 2008 before they issued their first payment of $325 for the pro-rated May's rent despite the fact that June rent was now also due. Their 2nd payment of $400 on June 20, 2008 was partial payment against June's rent. We waived late fees for June as a one-time courtesy. We had hoped they would catch up on their rent payments. At the end of June, they still owed us $250.

Going into July 2008, we received a payment of only $250 on July 1, 2008. This went towards paying June's outstanding balance and no monies towards July's rent. We were finally forced to charge a late fee since they did not even come close to paying July's rent on time. They finally paid us the $650 on July 22, 2008.

At this point, most landlords would find their record of payment unacceptable. During the rest of their tenancy with us, they were only able to pay their full rent of $650 rent twice and only once did they pay on time. How many landlords would accept late and partial payments for the course of 7 months? Not many, I suspect.

Regarding the non-refundable two-year purchase option fee of $800, this is stated clearly in writing. It is in bold print and discussed at the signing of the lease. The intention is to buy the house, not trivially “change their minds” as they had. Both of them signed to this statement. In fact, Sarah's father is a landlord and attended the lease-signing to “make sure we were legitimate”. He was witness to the entire transaction when the monies were paid and the agreements signed.

Regarding the plumbing leak…. We were in the process of looking into it but had not pinpointed exactly where it was coming from. The tenants wanted to move in “as soon as possible” because Sarah did not want to live in her father's rental property anymore with a roommate and wanted to move in with her boyfriend, Randol.

Regarding the ceiling situation, we inspected it the next day and it was fully repaired within 2 days. Not a bad response to take care of the small roof leak and broken ceiling. After several months of late and partial payments with December's rent still unpaid, we felt the least they could do was to clean up the small mess. Why did we have to do every last thing for them when they could not pay rent? Perhaps if they had not been such persistently late-paying tenants, we would have cleaned it up for them.

How many people would love to be in the position of making repairs to a property where the tenants cannot pay on-time without constant “reminders”. And yet, you are expected to perform flawlessly. We cannot do or stay in business with tenants who cannot pay their rent on time.

In January 2009, we offered them an opportunity to move out with a signed release (instead of eviction) since they were not able to catch up. But they wanted to take 5 weeks, not 5 days as they claim. We would have gladly waited 5 days to avoid filing a $250 eviction fee. Evictions are expensive in Alabama and it is always the last resort when a tenant cannot pay and will not move out within a reasonable amount of time.

After they were served by a Deputy Sheriff in February, he told us that the neighbors had informed him they had moved out days later.

The court did not “throw our case out”. The judge denied my motion for Default Judgment prior to the court hearing date. Because we had waited for nearly 3 weeks, and they had clearly moved out a week before according the report given to the Deputy Sheriff, and we saw that the property was clearly empty, I dismissed the case. You would think they would be grateful that we dismissed the case to spare them a judgment and eviction record. If we had simply waited for the court date and appeared before the judge, it would be very hard for them to make any kind of complaint about us.

Regarding the accusations we are “slumlords”, you can see the photos of the property yourself. It is NOT slumlord property. These are the photos taken before they moved in. We even have a video of it.

http://ownerfinancehomes.com/homeslist/listings/l0009.htm

The townhouse may have been not been ideal due to the high number of walk traffic of showing the property for many weeks. But I think very few people can say the property is slum or ghetto. In any case, they signed a document stating that they had inspected the property prior to moving in. Obviously, they didn't or they could have told us about it sooner, not after they had moved in.

Something happened a few days ago, Phenix City Water Utilities told us of the tenants lack of payments since August 2008. Water service was cut in late September 2008 for non-payment. The tenants turned it back on at meter. On January 13, 2009, Phenix City locked the meter but the locked was later cut open again. On February 17, 2009, the water meter was locked again but cut open again. We found all this out AFTER we activated water service in our name and Phenix City tried to bill us for THEIR water usage. Basically, as we struggled to collect rent from these tenants, they were getting “free water” for nearly 6 months at the city's expense. I have been informed their account have been sent to their collection agency.

We have also sent their account with us to a local collection agency, RMG (Receivables Management Group) in Columbus, GA. RMG confirms that Sarah and Randol have moved to Smiths Station, Alabama and we have given that information to Phenix City.

Last thing, I am a nationally known author and publisher in the subject of Real Estate Lease-Options. I have written books and audio programs on the subject. You can do an Amazon search. I have no interest whatsoever in being a slumlord, disreputable, or evicting people without good cause. It is far easier to make money dealing with good paying tenants without vacancy. Why would any landlord intentionally create evictions unless tenants stopped paying or caused problems?

We are certainly far from perfect but we try to do a good job and we are generally very good at what we do. We offer a service that most landlords would never consider doing, working with credit-challenged people to help finance and sell them a home. Our agreements are fully published and open for all tenants to read freely before they sign. Our properties are fully available to be freely seen and inspected at anytime. We believe in transparency. In this particular case, even the tenant's landlord father was present to scrutinize and watch the entire transaction!

We work with credit-challenged people but these kinds of incidents are beginning to dissuade us from doing so. If you read our version of the story and reports compared to their “anonymous” complaint, I think the full picture becomes clear. I should have realized the situation was suspect when Sarah did not want to live in her father's rental anymore. Problems just migrate to other people.

Unlike these ex-tenants who are trying to anonymously tarnish our reputation with a distorted and omitted view and recounting of the facts, we stand by what we do.

Matthew Chan
OwnerFinanceHomes.com