Predatory Flipper's License Revoked

Great job, Elena! Let this be a message to anyone who ever considered or have flipped. You WILL be caught!

Something is still terribly wrong. Is that all? Revoking a Broker License? No fines? No criminal charges? No felony convictions?

He had a license and a business and he absconded with their clients funds (by directing client funds to their own business and personal expenses), exhibited malfeasance & libeled their clients (by refusing to pay bills, refusing to perform maintenance and refusing to rent out properties or notify owners property was empty all of which reflect upon the owner).

Yet the only news we have is the revokation of a brokers license. Id say there is something wrong.

Also it yet again reminds Buffalonians of the exploitation out of towners perpetuate upon our city. Who among you thinks that native Rochesterians who are well known for their dogged harrassment of those who dont conform to their civic ideals, would tolerate this from one of their own? Oh but Rochesterians dont have any problem looking down on Buffalonians and ignoring their un-neighborly exploitation upon Buffalo.

Usually such exploitation comes from downstate upon Buffalo and such scrutiny is conveniently deflected by accusations of anti-semetism or other such liberal deflections of accountibility thru the victimization mentality. Prejudice explain everything except for their destructive actions.

And as we lose house upon house and neighborhood upon neighborhood, all we can except is the revokation of a brokers license. Woohoo, Im underwhelmed considering all the other punishments that people must face for quality of life crimes that pale in comparison.

Who is behind all those "We buy houses 568 - 7930 or 860 - 0670" signs that are illegally posted on corner light poles throughout the City, conveniently mounted too high to be pulled down? The Flipping Task Force ought to be investigating them asap, and the City should prosecute the company for illegally posting signs on City property.

ah religion. the last refuge of the scoundrel.

In other cities, "flipping" is considered a positive term; consider A&E's "Flip This House". I lived in a Denver neighborhood where investors bought solid houses with cosmetic flaws, spent a little bit of money to clean them up -- kitchen updates, stripping paint from the woodwork, repainting interior walls in neutral colors, refinishing hardwood floors, and so on -- and sell them for a profit of tens of thousands of dollars.

Buffalo-style flipping, unfortunately, isn't the same thing. You can't say it's more genuine, authentic, and real than flipping done elsewhere. Its taking advantage of people who don't know better; who associate "New York State" with "New York City" and its astronomical real estate prices, and see that $30,000 house on eBay in Genesee-Moselle as a bargain.

Speaking of predatory flippers, it's too bad no one has gone after this guy: http://wnymedia.net/wnymedia/buffalopundit/2009/11/extreme-home-makeover-buffalo-edition-a-question/ named TEOFILO MALDONADO -- who sold the Mass. Ave. house to Delores Powell, even though it was on the demolition list. He's another one involved with a religious-influenced real estate investor's group, "Investors Committed to Excellence" (Seriously -- follow the links in the linked article and see for yourself).

Then there's that east side minister about whom David Torke has written extensively, with many properties that are derelict rat-traps, resulting in numerous housing court citations.

Characters like this are a blot on the name of religion.

As a Real Estate Broker I'm certainly glad they lost their license. If anyone else has complaints about fraudulent Brokers they should call the Realtor association as well. All though the above mentioned person wasn't a Realtor member of the association it still affects us and we take pride in trying to maintain a Ethical marketplace for consumers and sales people.

What's to stop hime from flipping without a license? He can still sell by owner if he buys these derilict homes himself. I personally always thought of flipping as a good thing, but my version is the one where you make an uninhabitable home habitable again and sell it. I did this in Lackawanna a few years ago. I bought a house for 15K, renovated it extensively at a cost of about 20K, lived in it for 2 years and sold it for 50K. It's too bad flippers weren't more like that.

Disgusting – this is the type of individual that makes our city look like a joke. I am shocked and disappointed that it took so long to revoke his license and that, at this point, no criminal charges have been brought against him. This man is a thief, not only of his unsuspecting clients, but also of the people of Buffalo by besmirching their good names.

As I posted in another thread, if the City were really committed to bringing in new residents and not feeding the scare tactic beast, they would crack down on toilet scum like Mr. Graham along with the graffiti “artists”, absentee landlords, and other purveyors of urban blight (including some of the jackasses that call themselves “servants of the people” by occupying a post or job within the City’s government).

No wonder we are known far and wide as having a deep investment in corruption – we seldom do little to prevent it.

Great job by Kathleen and the Anti-Flipping task force. James Graham with Cornerstone and Genesis had a few properties that were nightmares in South Buffalo. I talked to James a few times and he never would do what he said. We cleaned up a few of his messes for him to satisfy the neighbors. There are some good investors that I have dealt with but he wasn't one of them.

I wish there was a way to be notified of cases they are working on so we could keep an extra eye on all the properties these dirt bags own. That way the task force would have extra eyes out there and add more to their defence. I'd do it for nothing.