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CB Real Estate Review of York Street Homes/Lance Puig
York Street Homes/Lance Puig

York Street Homes/Lance Puig review: Real Estate Scam 4

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4:35 pm EDT
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I was completely SCAMMED by York Street Properties. I am a real estate investor who purchased 6 homes from them that were sold to me as being completely rehabbed. They showed pictures of examples of the kinds of rehabs they do and listed out all the details. Long story short, when they wouldn't pay me the rents due me as my property manager, I investigated and went to Dallas. Every one of my homes were in complete disrepair and some of them are going to cost me $20, 000 - $40, 000 to repair. They just painted and put cheap carpet in to make them look nice and covered up all the problems. In one house the kitchen cupboards have fallen off the wall because they screwed them into sheetrock instead of studs!

They also SCAMMED my tenants. One of the things I discovered is that York St. told the tenants that they could buy the houses in 5 months and gave them a signed contract. They did not disclose this to me as the investor! I interviewed all 6 of my tenants and they all told me they had experienced the same nightmare with York Street.

- House wasn't ready on the move-in date.
- Some of them moved from house to house until their house was ready.
-York Street never does what it promises to do.
- When repairs are finally made, they are made by unlicensed, unskilled cheap labor.
- Repairs must be done again becuase they aren't done correctly or cause more problems.
- Takes hours of trying to phone them before they reach a live person.

Some other things they did:
- Before closing, sent me falsified documents with higher rent amounts than the actual amount on the lease.
- Told me the properties were all leased and cash flowing when they weren't.
- Have not paid me security deposits and rents due me since June. They only partially paid.
- Lance Puig is the President and when I had a phone conference with him he assured me he would get all matters resolved and to date has not.
- They gave the tenants a "one year warranty" and then had the tenants pay for the repairs instead of their rent, therefore I didn't get the rent as the owner/investor.

The worst story ever...
I got a call from people trying to move into my house that York St. had told me was leased. These people were in a panic becuase they had paid York St. $1150 in June as a deposit to get the house cleaned, repaired.They went into office York St. on July 15th and paid their pro-rated rent for the rest of the month and went to move in and the house was red-tagged by the city with over 16 items that had to be repaired before they could move in. There was dog POOP all over the living room carpet and the house was in total disrepair and filthy. These poor tenants were panicking becuase they had to get their stuff out of storage and had no place to move to. When they finally got through to York St. on the phone they were told that they no longer managed the property and that I was the new owner. (I had fired them as the property managers in the end of June becuase they refused to pay my rents to me.) What they failed to do was inform me that the copy of the lease they had given to me for that house was no longer valid and that the house was vacant and that they had re-leased the home to these folks that would be moving in on July 15th. AND, they took the money from them on July 15th even though they weren't the property manager anymore.

Don't BUY from York Street as an investor!
Don't RENT from YOrk Street either!

Their website for potential lease-to-owner's is http://www.yorkstreethomes.com/

4 comments
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Happy Vendor
US
Aug 28, 2009 10:40 am EDT

I have been a vendor with York Street Properties for the last four years. I have always been paid on time for all services that I've performed. I feel that the personnel working within the company have always been upfront and honest with me. When I went to the owner of the company urgently needing a pay advance on an upcoming job he needed me for due to a medical issue in the family, he did it. I'm self-employed; therefore, I have numerous clients. More often then not with this economy, I've seen a delay in pay with nearly all of my clients. York Street Properties has been diligent on making sure I am paid in a timely manner.

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Dallas Investor
Dallas, US
Sep 04, 2009 1:27 am EDT

READ MORE: Lance Puig + York Street Properties — False Representations + Payment Scam

I am a Dallas based investor who also works full-time to support my family. I see opportunities all over town and began looking into companies/persons that I could partner with. In my initial searches; Lance Puig, York Street Properties and York Street Homes came up frequently. So I started looking into the company.

My research included the BBB, banks, appraisers, court filings, looking at York Street Properties houses for rent, talking to a couple of renters/aspiring buyers, company employees (they like to talk - disgruntled, earnest or otherwise), County Sheriff's (process servers), a few of the individuals that had posted complaints on the internet, amongst others.

What I discovered motivated me to publish a few of the things I found out. Perhaps then, any hard working investor or company thinking about providing services to Lance Puig and companies would have a place to start their own research (so that an informed opinion and decision could be made on their own). The facts are easily verifiable.

Would I like to reveal my name in this forum? NO THANK YOU. After my first posting I was able to confirm that Lance Puig had allowed homes and investments of friends, business colleagues and family (including his mother) to be foreclosed on due to non-payment of mortgages. That's in addition to the numerous people he has already destroyed. Disregard for the lives, security and well being of people doing business with Lance Puig seems to be a recurring theme. Would I like to subject my family, home personal security to potential harm needlessly - NO! - my finding do not warrant that sort of trust in Mr. Puig. What I found was chilling.

Perhaps an earlier poster, Reidar Klaumann, has a good idea. It's possible that the State Attorney General would be interested in the financial affairs of Mr. Puig. I, however, do not have an actionable claim as I made a decision to stay away from his dealings. Here's contact information for those interested. There seems to be a lot of people harmed or mislead, perhaps a group effort would offer some protections or satisfactions:
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/
Attorney General Greg Abbott: greg.abbott@oag.state.tx.us
Main agency switchboard [protected]
Consumer Protection Hotline [protected]

I'm an above average earner, family man and hard working person trying my best to cope (if not profit from) the bad economy our nation, state and community faces. It's a time to work together, not work against one another. This also includes sharing information that could help fellow community members avoid a potentially hurtful situation. There are numerous credible facts available (as stated in my first post) and the focus of attention should be on those facts, not attacks on yours truly - which is what several of the above posters have decided to do (or perhaps one poster - Lance Puig using different names). Check the facts; check with BBB, check with TAA, talk to numerous service suppliers, contact tenants in York Street Properties homes, verify county records, speak with banks, there are many channels for credible information.

Our country is a beautiful place; we can express our opinions and make decisions freely. The internet and regulatory agencies make it possible to discuss, interact and take appropriate action. For me, I am walking away from Lance Puig and companies. For the parties already harmed, they may like to "band together" and act as they see fit. I hope this forum and my postings help somebody.

York Street Properties owner and Manager shown

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Lance Puig / YSP Victims
Dallas, US
Sep 05, 2009 1:21 am EDT

BE SURE TO SEE THIS POSTING ALSO:
Lance Puig + York Street Properties — False Representations + Payment Scam

Over 4 pages of comments and information as of this posting !

York Street Properties, York Street Homes and Lance Puig are companies and a person NOT TO DO BUSINESS WITH !

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York Street Official Response
Dallas, US
Sep 09, 2009 3:37 pm EDT

York Street Properties vehemently disagrees with the assertions in these malicious, anonymous comments concerning our business conduct. While we do not wish to speculate as to someone else’s motives, maybe the postings are motivated by the current multi-trillion dollar crisis in the domestic financial/real estate market. If that’s true, their focus might be more appropriately directed elsewhere. York Street Properties, like nearly every person and business, suffered in 2008 and the early part of 2009. However, since late spring of this year the real estate market has started to improve and, to that end, our dedicated staff is redoubling its efforts to maximize opportunities for our customers during this improving real estate market. YSP has delivered for many satisfied customers over the past years and much of our business has come (and continues to come) from customer referrals.

YSP does not recognize the comments posted on this unaudited website (or on other non-accredited “consumer advocacy”) as legitimate and truthful, backed by fact. Only the Better Business Bureau refuses anonymous complaints; therefore, only the BBB is a reliable source of consumer information. Posting anonymously is not an effective, nor fair, way to deal with complaints. Moreover, it is not a normal means to address problems. Contrary to the outrageous claims made by these anonymous snipers, YSP values each of its customers and, when necessary, always welcomes the opportunity to work towards a mutually acceptable outcome. Although rare, when solutions have not been readily achievable, YSP has often refunded money. For years YSP conducted business without such attacks and now, all of a sudden, these anonymous hecklers post online (instead of seeking legitimate means of redress). Worse still, the defamatory material posted here has been copied and re-posted verbatim to other sites. YSP is currently investigating its options to resolve this issue and defend its unfairly besmirched name and urges any potential, existing or former customer (including those who have posted this material) to contact us directly.