New Orleans   Meeting with friends and lawyers in Austin, Texas, including my longtime, go-to-counselor for organizational and personal matters, we had stopped briefly on the way to their celebrated annual spring crayfish boil for a cup of coffee and to watch marchers with homemade signs hearing towards the Texas capitol in the name of science. Later in the back patio of the law firm’s offices in a downtown house, while we watched young people take their turns at stirring the four boiling pots filled with crayfish, potatoes, corn, mushrooms, and even sausage, we found ourselves talking about how in the world it could be legal for the contract for deed and rent to own real estate predators to be able to stay in business given their total lack of compliance with local laws or contractual ethics of any kind whatsoever.

We discussed the lawsuit filed in Cincinnati, Ohio by that city to try and collect $335,000 in fines and penalties from Harbour Portfolio, the Dallas-based private equity vulture financier of contract-for-deed sales, and whether or not the company would run from the business. We made plans to challenge any application that the principals might make to acquire banking assets in Arkansas with our organizational allies there.

Where there was no question was that these companies had to be stopped. On the way to the airport, I read a report from Craig Robbins of Action United in Philadelphia who had been part of our recent doorknocking teams in Pittsburgh, Akron, and Youngstown. On a recent call, we had asked him to jot down any stories that we could put on the Home Savers Campaign website from the visits he was making with Vision Property Management, the South Carolina based rent-to-own predator. I opened the email and here is what I read:

Maria Rodriguez and her husband “purchased” the house at 917 Sanger St., in the Frankfort section of Philadelphia for $65,500, almost 4 years ago. Their credit was not that good, so Vision seemed like a good way to pursue their dream of home ownership. They both worked: he as a landscaper and she worked at a hotel doing housekeeping. Contract was signed on 9/1/13 w/BAT Holdings 8, LLC. They put down $2000, plus $465 as the monthly lease payment, $105 for real estate taxes, $30 for general liability insurance, or $2600 as an initial payment and $600 a month. Contract runs until August 2020. $57.06, +2000 initial option, of the monthly payment is credited toward the purchase price. Maria and her husband have put about $25,000 in the property-huge issues when moving in like unpaid water bills, no heating or electrical system. They believed that at the end of the contract, in 2020, they would own the property and get the deed. Instead, they will have paid $6,793 toward the $65000 house price. On Aug 30, 2020 they have 3 options: give Vision a check for $58,206; walk away, or they can convert to seller financing with a new contract for the remaining $58K. Like all the Vision properties people we’ve talked to, this was a total surprise.

Change the names and the listing price and this is the story of Vision – and many companies like it – all over the country. They have to be stopped.