Scams Coming Back Strong - Fairfield Glade Tennessee the Victim
You never know what you’ll stumble across combing through public records. This week, we were busy mailing out property owner scorecards and discovered Pangea Real Estate Group based in Midvale Utah purchasing a high number of lots at Fairfield Glade in Eastern Tennessee, over 70 in 2011 mostly from Raymond Cooper and Lake Worth Properties LLC of Parkland Florida. We searched further to learn more about Pangea Real Estate Group and figure out why this company would be purchasing so many lots at Fairfield Glade and Tellico Village, two Eastern Tennessee lake communities.
One of Pangea Real Estate Group’s websites states they provide “armchair investing” where “they do all the legwork so you don’t have to”. You can purchase lots in Fairfield Glade and Tellico Village on their website with a credit card. As we dug further, we discovered Co-Founder Ron Phillips operates Net Worth Real Estate Group teaching buyers how to purchase land and tax certificates for pennies on the dollar. “No tenants, no toilets and Grandpa Joe acquired his wealth buying land”. The website states they’ve had over 5,000 clients purchase billions of dollars in real estate. Ron Phillips operates a real estate investment club at no cost to attendees. Sounds all good and dandy, until we reviewed the lots Pangea Real Estate Group purchased and are reselling because we know not all lots at Fairfield Glade are a wise investment.
Fairfield Glade is a well established Eastern Tennessee lake community, home to 5 great golf courses and extensive community amenities. Development began in the 1970’s and about 4,500 homes have been built to date. Of the 12,500 acres, not all of the community has paved roads and utilities. Fairfield Glade is quick to inform buyers to avoid buying lots without utilities, to obtain percolation tests for septic and confirm home size restrictions. Although these lots are considered part of the master planned community, some lots are less desirable and may never be functional as lots for single family homes. We contacted Fairfield Glade to find out if the lots on our Pangea Real Estate Group list have infrastructure. Our suspicion was confirmed, many of these lots do not.
Why are we making a big deal about this? Over the years, we have attended a plethora of real estate investment seminars, real estate investment clubs and motivational seminars. While some organizations provide good information, we've discovered most have ulterior motives. To sell you books, tapes, coaching, bus tours, more seminars and to even sell you their own real estate properties. In our opinion, the majority of attendees at these types of events are newbies and inexperienced investors hoping to get rich quick through real estate.
After going through Florida’s tedious broker’s post licensing course, I wondered if serious investors had considered investing money high quality real estate investment courses such as ones mandated by the State of Florida for brokers. Folks - you get what you pay for and you should always question when something is free. The investment education at Gold Coast Schools of Real Estate is excellent and we're sure you can find quality real estate schools across America. When speakers at real estate investment club’s pull “Warren Buffett” or “Mark Twain - they’re not making any more land” quotes out of their pockets to convince newbies to buy, a red light flashes on in my brain warning of Snake Oil Salesman. My blood begins to boil when people claim after they become rich, “I will help the less fortunate and give to charities”. To us, it’s all manipulation to profit from your ignorance and compassionate heart.
We called Ron Phillips office yesterday to have a conversation with him about Fairfield Glade and see how he figured his club members would profit from investments like these in this Eastern Tennessee lake community. After riding the company’s telephone system merry go round, our call was abruptly disconnected and we got no where. It is not our intention to criticize a colleague but new investors deserve to know when the might be hood winked.
Our plea to new investors coming into the market, caveat emptor - buyer beware. In our experience, some real estate investment clubs are cattle round ups to sell you junk while these yahoo cowboys make money on your purchase. Did you know Pangea Real Estate Group is marking up the lots they purchased this year at Fairfield Glade by my calculations - about 600%? Imagine paying around $1,200 and reselling lots to you 3 - 6 months later for $9,000. Who's the real money maker here? Did you personally visit the lot and perform your own due diligence before you typed in your credit card number and signed the disclaimer which informed you utilities may not exist?
We hope one of the 5,000 clients of Pangea Real Estate Group leaves us a comment telling us we're wrong and sets the record straight by measured results. Fairfield Glade is a quality Eastern Tennessee lake community and does not deserve to be harassed by unhappy investors who did not do their homework before purchasing.
If you are interested in purchasing lots or homes at Fairfield Glade, send us an email so we can connect you the right person at Fairfield Glade and don’t get scammed. Write info@communityfinder.com or call us toll free at 866.384.1799
