Irresponsible and Unethical Business Practices
I've been debating writing this review for a few days now, and after much reflection, I felt it would be negligible on my part not to do so. I am a seasoned real estate investor who has been fixing and flipping houses as well as purchasing rental properties for decades. I write this review because I don't want "newbie" and/or uninformed investors to get taken advantage of.
As has recently come to light, and unfortunately, it seems that Ms. Cristina Ortega's business practices are irresponsible and could be geared to taking advantage of unsophisticated investors looking to purchase off-market properties.
For many years I have purchased "off-market" properties from middlemen like Ms. Cristina Ortega for the purposes that I mentioned above. I know that I am paying a finders-fee for these properties, and I'm ok with that, since I know I will ultimately make a profit from the property in the long run. This is not my issue.
The issue is that on May 28th (2020), I received an email from Ms. Cristina Ortega which advertised an off-market property in San Diego for $395,000 (see attached pic). I am signed up to receive emails from her and several other middlemen who sell off-market properties, so this is not unusual. What I found were the accompanying numbers she presented: 1) Asking Price: $395k 2) Repairs Needed: $75k and 3) ARV (which is the value of the property after you make repairs): $599k. In other words, there was potential to make some money on my end here. I immediately had my team look through the numbers, and was told that they weren't even close to being realistic. I wasn't surprised by this business practice and it's almost expected in the industry. But it gets WORSE!
A couple hours later, Ms. Cristina Ortega sent out a "Retraction" email (pic attached) where she stated that the first email "was sent without the knowledge or authorization of the owner of this property, and it contained several mistakes," including: 1) A highly inflated ARV 2) Comparable property values that were NOT comparable at all, and (3 An inaccurate valuation of Repairs Needed, because she had "not seen the property, or sent a contractor on my behalf." WOW!!! Irresponsible at best. Unethical at worst.
What I found most insulting is that Ms. Cristina Ortega attributed such blatant misrepresentations to "oversights" and her "lack of knowledge of the area." For the record, Ms. Cristina Ortega touts herself as an experienced and knowledgeable Real Estate Agent in her advertisement to home sellers. She knows better. Again, her business practices are irresponsible at best and unethical at worst. I am seriously debating reporting her to the board of real estate agent for this!
The bottom line is, Ms. Cristina Ortega attempted to sell a property (without knowledge or authorization of the owner) to unsuspecting wannabe-house-flippers by representing the property's value at an inflated price (well over $100,000 of the property's real value). Furthermore, she provided "comparable properties" that were not even close to being comparable: miles away, more bedrooms, bigger square footage, etc. And lastly, she never visited the property, but somehow magically estimated that it needed $75,000 in repairs. Oversight? Stupidity? Or just plain unethical?
Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if she applies the same "oversight" when she approaches home sellers to put their properties under contract. If you are irresponsible/unethical with buyers, why would you be any different with home sellers?
Everyone out there, please do your "due diligence." In other words, do your own research before you trust someone else's word, especially when you are talking about a substantial amount of money.
-JC read more