SQUEEZED BETWEEN THE MORAL AND THE LEGAL

Reflections on the daily clash between morality and legality.

Anjeanette Damon, Byard Duncan and Mollie Simon wrote an article on the May 11 issue of ProPublica co-published with The Dallas Morning News and Shelterforce, The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses”.

HomeVestors of America is responsible for the ubiquitous “We Buy Ugly Houses” ads in our neighborhoods that seek to acquire problem properties. HomeVestors franchisees focus on human crises such as distressed properties, evictions, public records, and access to elderly facilities in rehabilitation hospitals, assisted living facilities and nursing homes to identify those who are urgently needing to divest of their property to meet financial needs. By getting a jump on realtors, franchisees pursue rock-bottom prices rather than fair market prices in their transactions with property owners in dire straits.

One of the many recent cases revealed in the investigation concerns an 82-year-old widow who needed to sell her well-maintained and paid-off home bought in 1961. She was on the way to an assisted living facility and responded to a HomeVestors ad. The ad was from a franchisee who legally sought to maximize profits through a hard negotiation with this dementia-suffering homeowner. She was unable to identify her city of residence and frequently mistook her son for his uncle. After closing on the contract for the sale of her home she could not remember the buyer. Her son tried unsuccesfully to annul the transaction with the local HomeVestors franchisee, who then took aggressive action to protect its legal right to the executed contract for the acquired property. This action forced the seller into a multi-year battle to keep the home and sell it at a fair price to finance health services.

The investigation disclosed dozens of similar cases of pressure on the elderly and infirm by franchisees. Aside from profit considerations, franchisees pay HomeVestors substantial fees and commissions, these costs put pressure on a franchisee’s revenue stream. Franchisees aggressively pursue closing on these properties despite alleged “best efforts” by HomeVestors to influence its franchisees in a more compassionate direction.

·      Are these simply cases of greedy businesses exploiting the public?

·      What structures in our society facilitate the emergence and propagation of these situations? Are we witnessing structural evil rather than personal evil intent by the franchisees?

·      What moral injury is being inflicted on all concerned and human society at large?

UPDATE: “We Buy Ugly Houses” CEO Steps Down Following ProPublica Investigation