New Orleans   In writing about Vision Property Management, the predatory and unscrupulous rent-to-own real estate company, reporters for The New York Times obviously struggled for a way to describe where to place Vision and other bottom-fishing realty companies that exploit lower income and working families’ hopes of home ownership. They ended up just talking a walk and euphemistically referring to these operations as operating in “this corner of the housing market.” If it’s a corner, it’s a very dark and nasty place.

Vision, based in Columbia, South Carolina, owns more than 6000 houses, many of them purchased at rock bottom prices from the foreclosure inventory dumped on the market “as is” by the quasi-governmental housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Times described their modus operandi succinctly:

Vision markets its homes on a website, with most of the transactions taking place either over the phone or by email. Sometimes the photos of the properties are several years old and do not reflect what they actually look like.

You’re wondering how that would not run afoul of truth-in-advertising laws aren’t you? I thought the same thing, but to the degree that state and federal laws do not seem adequate to regulate operations like Vision, this dark corner of the real estate market, whether called contract-for-deed, rent-to-own, lease purchase, or whatever, is based on transactions where the “looks” of the place may be the least of the problem. No inspections, no appraisals, and agreements based on condition “as is,” make it easy to hide problems as severe as lead poisoning and roof leaks in Baltimore, lack of water, heat and good sewage in Arkansas, and unaddressed code violations and thousands of dollars in fines in Cincinnati, all of which reporters were able to document from disgruntled and exploited wannabe home buyers. If in doubt then you can try Vegas Valley Inspections. Even a recent photo on the Vision website would not have revealed the horrors that awaited these families – and thousands of others.

As we’ve noted over recent months, contract for deed land purchases, like a bad weed, have grown in the credit desert since the Great Recession for lower income families still hoping to own their own homes. In the wake of these horrible stories of exploitation, some states are finally looking to tighten up regulations. A bill in Illinois is progressing that would give buyers some additional rights, especially once they have paid more than 10% of principal and interest. A bill proposed in Maryland had less luck, as the real estate industry muscled up to prevent reform even in the wake of lead paint poisoning in some of the homes, arguing that over worked and undermanned city inspection teams needed to do better. The Uniform Law Commission is evaluating whether to draft model legislation on contract for deed purchasers in the wake of all of this shame and scandal, but that will also take years.

Exploited home buyers shouldn’t have to crouch in this dark corner of the market waiting for relief. Signing light on the problems is valuable, but this is a situation that cries for action, since the words aren’t working.