poorbuthorny has left 10 comments

poorbuthorny comments on John Gilletti

Wastelandline: Fact: These people rented a house that was not in foreclosure. Fact: John told them that it would be going into foreclosure. He did not steal their money. He did not screw them over. They had a choice to stay or move. They chose to move and call the newspaper and make a big deal over nothing. Where was the swindling? Where was the theft? How did they get hurt or screwed over? What part makes him a con artist? For being up-front with them about his situation? Explain how someone who NOTIFIES his tenants that the house WILL BE GOING into foreclosure is a con artist? That makes NO SENSE to me.

poorbuthorny comments on John Gilletti

Hey newbie (thetruthbetold): If you REALLY believe there are equity in houses in Florida, I have lots of 2nd mortgages for sale for 20 cents on the dollar. YOU ARE A MORON! There is no simpler way to put it. When people buy a house with 100% financing, and have closing costs, even in an UP market there is NO EQUITY. Now, when houses DROP in value, there is not only NO equity, but NEGATIVE equity. You must have failed math. When a house that was bought for $150,000 house now goes for $70,000, where is the equity? Do you even know what the word means? You should get all your money together and buy all the houses for the amount owed, since after all, they all have equity, right? Does anyone rent because they "like someone"? They rent because they want a place to live, moron. Please, go on, show more of your ignorance and stupidity.

poorbuthorny comments on Lousy (PBH) landlord hurts families

FYI, a real "Scam Artist" would be this other guy (TD) I know about, who sold a friend of mine (ES) a bunch of properties at a high value, with the "guarantee" of $2000/mo rent per house. Well, it is partly ES's fault, since I WARNED him there was no guarantee without $24K in escrow per house. Then, I saw TD's name on 7 foreclosures. Again I warned ES not to buy. "If TD cannot manage his own properties, how can he manage yours?" He still wanted to go through with the deal. Then, I found TD on the police records site (related to dealing crack and assaulting an officer). After informing ES, he STILL bought the houses. The $2k/mo never came, and he ruined his 750 credit score and lost everything and will be filing bankruptcy. ES owes me money too. Another guy I know about convinced his partner to deed over a rental property (16 units) to buy him out of the business. Problem was, the mortgage was in the name of BP. So, shortly thereafter, he stopped paying the mortgage but collected $10-$12K/mo rent and ruined BPs credit. Apparently, BP was not the ONLY person he did this too. To villanize John for collecting rents on his own properties, to me, is wrong. If he stopped collecting rent, the tenants would be there anyway and the property would not be maintained. If the banks actually sent someone to collect the rents, that is another story. They don't.

poorbuthorny comments on Lousy (PBH) landlord hurts families

Part of defending oneself has to do with credibility. There are 3 sides to every story. Nobody will take what he says as seriously as another person giving their thoughts. In my case, I have known him for 5 years. I know all the good, bad, and ugly. People are comparing him to Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky thing. He does not deny renting his OWN houses that are in foreclosure. He could have lied to his tenants and did not. The article was based on comments from one angry tenant that did not pay and one buyer who lost their house through no fault of John. There was no investigative reporting. What people don't seem to realize is how the Florida economy got hit worse than any part of the US, and LEE county especially. Homes that were $275,000 are being sold for $100,000, if they sell. The article did not say that he was renting out houses he didn't own. Just that they were in foreclosure. The "harm" was that these families would be "thrown out on the street". I don't know any state in the US that allows anyone to be evicted that quickly. There are laws, procedures, etc. that take a long time to evict someone, even AFTER an auction. I know people who had been given a 30 days notice when a house was sold, and they have had to uproot their families and find a place quickly and spend money on a move. Where is the article about that? There won't be, because that is the risk of a month to month lease. Add the word "foreclosure" and it sounds like a good article. And whether I am a friend of John or not, I am making observations based on 1) Facts pertaining to the article 2) Personal knowledge of John 3) General information about laws (eviction, foreclosure, etc) 4) Common sense 5) Putting oneself in his position Most of the foreclosures I have seen take 18 months or longer. Perhaps they are getting faster. But I know of many that are still pending, despite trying to GIVE the houses back to the bank. In other states it can take 3-4 months. Florida is backlogged. Another reason John may not be defending himself as much as people expect is because when you are getting bombarded by many people on many fronts, sometime it is overwhelming and easier just to give up. Nobody will believe him anyway.

poorbuthorny comments on John Gilletti

>>Interesting. Nowhere in his passionate defense does he simply say, "The accusations in that article are not true. I'm not renting out homes in foreclosure and lying to my tenants about it."

poorbuthorny comments on Lousy (PBH) landlord hurts families

No, I am not owner of anything in MDE. Because of various financial setback (tenants not paying, one of my partners killed herself and left me with our company debt, house burned down without insurance (due to the partner who killed herself - never balanced the books to see the insurance check was not cashed) and mainly, over $500,000 in 2nd mortgages that were never paid by people (like the Solomons mentioned in the article). John and I lost EVERYTHING. We are struggling to survive. I am off in another state, that I hate, in order to TRY and make money. I would rather be living in MDE, as I had planned to do in 12/07 with the money I had made. Not a lot, but those $500,000 in 2nd mortgages would have brought in enough monthly income to afford living there. If they ever got paid off, I could reinvest it. Instead, every single person stopped paying and eventually went into foreclosure. John paid the banks for years. The value of the properties dropped and people stopped paying us. There was no way to foreclose, since there was no equity left. We got wiped out. So, John continues to rent (and maintain) the properties until they are gone. Just like thousands of other people. It is no different than the owner of a primary residence living in his own house and not paying the mortgage. He is not collecting rent, but he is not turning the keys over to the bank either, and the bank is getting no property and no money. Believe it or not, the banks should be thrilled he gets these places occupied. When was the last time you got an insurance policy on a house? A vacant house is harder and more expensive to get than an occupied one, for a reason. Vandalism, theft, etc. Getting off the point, but basically, when you read an article, try to figure the motive is to sell newspapers, not get at the truth. There was an article written a few years ago about someone else I know, that bashed him for not honoring a lease/option because the people were 3 weeks past the due date (they had over ONE YEAR to exercise the option). The article made him sound like a monster. All he did was tell the people it would cost them more. If they weren't so lazy, they could have started the loan process 6 months prior, or if there credit was no good, FLIP the house for a profit. Instead, the article villanized Peter. For what? For going by a contract of which they were fully aware? Anyway, I am not saying John is a saint, we fight over money from time to time. But he is no scam artist either. That's my job! (JUST KIDDING).

poorbuthorny comments on Lousy (PBH) landlord hurts families

FYI, the business with Lisa is no big deal. She is blowing it out of proportion. Nothing to do with drugs, prostitution, etc. I hope one day that all you people who are quick to judge are faced with similar problems and see how you deal with the choice of being broke and homeless or doing something that is a "gray area" or "shady".

poorbuthorny comments on Lousy (PBH) landlord hurts families

I know John, and most of you a**h0les JUMP to conclusions due to a bogus, incorrect article. Is John a saint? No. I get pissed at him from time to time. The sewage issue was explained by him, so I don't need to repeat. FYI, the Solomons never made a payment to him and had bought the house BELOW APPRAISAL despite what the article implies. His tenants WERE informed of the foreclosure. NOBODY gets thrown out on the street, EVER, without notice, in ANY state. If you know of one, let me know so I can be a landlord there. I ALWAYS get screwed over getting someone out. A foreclosure notice is posted 20 days before the sale. How is this ANY DIFFERENT than a month to month rental, if someone sells the house or decides to kick you out? He DOES NOT TAKE SECURITY DEPOSITS. So there is nothing to return. I have 5 houses in an estate that I tried to give back to the bank in 12/06 and 1/07. They decided they would rather FORECLOSE and spend money on lawyers than get them for free. 16 months later, they are still being tenant occupied or vacant. I have not checked because I don't care... I am no longer the personal rep for the estate. I had CALLED the banks to tell them to GO GET YOUR RENT. Nothing. Most vacant houses get vandalized or turned into crack houses. So, by John RENTING and MAINTAINING the property (foreclosure or not), the banks will eventually get back a house with a higher resale value. Yeah, what a SCUM. What a SCAM ARTIST. Let's talk about financial obligations. Had the "investigative" reporter actually investigated, you can see over $500,000 of 2nd mortgages that were NOT PAID to him, me, and our company. Had the Solomons and other people MADE THEIR PAYMENTS, John would not have been FORCED INTO FORECLOSURE. Yeah, we lost over $250,000 each because of these "victims". Property values in Florida have dropped more than 50% (despite the news saying 14%). Homes that were $275,000 are being retailed by builders for $139,000, sold by wholesalers for $105,000 and bought at auction for about $80,000. All the second mortgages are WORTHLESS. Nobody is paying. The assumption is John scammed people out of millions of dollars and living the good life in Colombia. The fact is he is doing what he can to survive because the economy went to hell and he is trying to recover what he can through rentals. He is NOT renting out vacant houses that belong to someone else. If the banks would actually WORK with people, they would have fewer foreclosures. I am dealing with an issue with countrywide right now. Online, my payment shows $x. So, I paid $x. A few days later, my bank gets $x returned. I called, they tell me the amount owed is $y. But the website shows $x. Yes, but escrows are short, so now it is $y. Then WHY does it not SHOW that for the payment? I don't know. Now, I need to pay the $y, plus a LATE FEE, for money that was paid on time and for the amount that was showing due. Go figure. Pretty soon, I may let all my properties go to. They make it hard to do the right thing. All you people who jump to conclusions for reading a biased article should have something similar happen to you. I applaud the FEW people who correctly assumed there are 3 sides to every story (your side, my side, and the truth). Tenants get a lower rent than a normal house with the knowledge that one day a notice will be posted. The banks won't go collect the rent even when TOLD TO DO SO. The house is occupied, maintained, and not vandalized. What families are actually HURT by this? If the bank prefers to take a deed in lieu (they don't - they want pages and pages of financial documents and listed with a realtor for 3 months and lots of red tape, etc) - they end up with a vacant, soon to be vandalized home. John and I got screwed out of a LOT of money. He is no saint, but no scam artist either. More like John Valjohn (Jean Valjean - Les Misérables - stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving family and got 5 years hard labor). Anyway, just because a guy is doing something to keep afloat, that hurts NO ONE, cut him some slack. Rent his apartment in Medellin. It is NOT in foreclosure, and you can rent it for 1 night (or more), so there is unlikely to be a notice posted to vacate by 5am. Believe me, I WISH he were a good scam artist so we would not have financial problems!

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