HD Omaha Harvest Homes/Jim Rich III People Rent Apartments, NOT Spreadsheets Omaha Nebraska

As a former employee reporting directly to Jim Rich III the purpose of this complaint is to make the community aware of his business practices and the difficulties individuals face trying to deal with Mr. Rich.  My hope is that this will keep others from having the same experience I did with Mr. Rich and, if possible, prompting Mr. Rich to change his behavior.

James Herman Rich III presents himself in a very professional and personable manner.  Soon after meeting Mr. Rich it is apparent that he has learned these behaviors as a front to keep people from finding out his true personality.

After starting work for Mr. Rich I asked him how it was he began purchasing, developing and renting properties.  He told me he worked managing risk for Tenaska.  He said Tenaska was "very good at not paying taxes" and although they paid him well, they would not offer him an ownership stake.  This prompted him to start HD Omaha/Harvest Homes.  He told me he would act as though he was very upset at his job with Tenaska and leave to work early to start working on HD Omaha/Harvest Homes.

During the interview process Mr. Rich told me he loved working with spreadsheets but did not have the skills it took to work with people.  I did find this strange because it is people that rent apartments, not spreadsheets.  Soon after beginning work Mr. Rich revealed to me he had Aspbergers.  That immediately explained why he was good with math and preferred spreadsheets to people.  I have an "honorary" nephew with aspbergers so this did not deter me from continuing work for Mr. Rich.

I worked hard to set goals and responsibilities to be successful at my job with HD Omaha.  While it was difficult to get Jim Rich to commit to this, I was able to accomplish this for approximately 30 days.  After that nothing was good enough for Jim.

I witnessed Mr. Rich have problems interacting with every person in the business.  One day Jim Rich was sitting at my desk and his cell phone rang, he told me it was his daughter who was in high school and travelling in Europe for the summer.  I watched as Jim let his phone continue to ring and go to voice mail.  Jim told me that having aspbergers allowed him to have no concern for individuals and be successful in business.

I witnessed Mr. Rich treat everyone in his path with complete disrespect and watched him fire people that he refused to reason with.

I was in the process of purchasing a house using a real estate agent Mr. Rich had purchased approximately 100 houses from and a bank that Mr. Rich had applied for a loan with.  When the bank officer found out I worked for Mr. Rich he told me that he refused to loan Jim money for HD Omaha because the business was set up in such a way that it was too risky of an investment.  The bank approved my loan and when they contacted Mr. Rich for employement verification Jim fired me, keeping me from closing on the house.  The real estate agent was not aware Mr. Rich has aspbergers, the agents wife was Guatemalan and told me that every time he showed Jim Rich a house he would ask "How many Guatemalan's can I get in here?"

Mr Rich is undeniably a successful and wealthy man.  With hatred in his voice, he told me his father was even more wealthy and more successful and I always got the impression the Jim's goal was to try to find a way to become more wealthy and successful than his father.

Given Jim's resources and ability to succeed with autisim I have not seen him volunteer his time or money to help other's less fortunate than he is who struggle in the autism spectrum.

When it came to the point that Mr. Rich wanted to fire me because I could get a loan with a bank that he could not, I invited Jim to participate in Mediation which is a cost effective non contentious way of resolving issues.  I further gave Jim the option of choosing the mediator and volunteered to pay for half of the cost of the service myself.  Jim Rich chose to fire me and retaliate to keep me from being able to close on a house I planned to live in.

Jim can try to spin issues very well but if you read closely to the responses he makes I believe you can see what I have put in this report will resonate with truth.

I strongly suggest you consider all options available before working for or renting a place to live from Jim Rich or HD Omaha.