B & D Rich Holdings, LLC Lucius Baston Jr Investors buy Short Sale. However do not release owner from contract unless paid. Tampa, Florida

Carl Hunter from B & D Rich Holdings, LLC contacted me in Sept of 2009.  I am a real estate broker and he asked if I had any short sales.  He said he worked for an investment company who purchased the homes and did all the negotiating with the lender with NO CHARGE to the owner or realtor.  I was thinking of a short sale myself and got all the paperwork.  I then decided against it instead doing a loan modification instead.  They were fine with me backing out since they said from day one the owner can cancel at anytime.  He then asked if there was any other short sale listings I had.  I told them my daughter was thinking of it and they met and my daughter decided to go with them.  Again she was told she could cancel at any time.  After several months and nothing was happening we reduced the price and got an offer for an end buyer.  The lender said we should get the investor to back away and deal directly with the end buyer.  We then found out they filed a contract to purchase in the public records which put a cloud on the title and we were not able to sell the property until they released it.  Lucius Baston, Jr.  is the president and he refused to release it.  He said he put in a lot of time and wanted $10,000 to release it.  I gave my daughter $5,000 and told her to offer it to him.  He immediately took it.  I feel this was blackmail and or extortion on their part.  I know it is against federal law to charge a fee to an owner in a short sale.  I have reported this to the BBB and also the State Attorney General of Florida.  I have asked for a refund with no response.  If you are thinking of doing business with this company don't.  That have caused so much damage to my son in law's credit and business I can't even begin to tell you.  They dragged the short sale out for over 9 months with no results.  They have a negotiating team called Preico Home Solutions of Apopka.FL  I am not sure if they are in business together but Jack Morris the owner said they had never closed a deal although they had several pending.  The title company Professional Title said they never heard of B & D.  This is a complete scam and an illegal flip.  A to B  B to C is not allowed in most short sales.  They try to get around it and the unlucky buyer ends up paying more money than they have to and B & D pockets the profit.  Companies like this need to be exposed for the illegal things they do to people down on their luck.