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PACE home sold

Mon, 01/09/2012 - 4:00pm — john

Duplex
402 & 404 Alton, Bicknell, In 47512
Asking price------------- $110,000.00 Discount $38,373.00
Selling price------------- $71,627.00
Buyer--------------------- J. & S. Jones
Building contractor----- J. & S. Jones
Lenders name----------- None
Selling agent------------ Beth Meeks
Meeks Real Estate and Insurance
Closing date 10/26/2011
This is the duplex that the City of Bicknell had built using the grant via PACE; it appears that it was sold to the person or company that was paid to build it and not according to the guide lines as per the low income purchaser.

On the other hand if it was cleared to sell on the open market I am not aware of any notification to the general public that it was open to offers. I am aware of a couple of people who would have liked to purchase a brand new duplex that is giving a nearly $40,000.00 discount.
The question seems to be why was this, particular buyer, offered such a discount and how much was the profit for the builder when a person adds in the $40,000.00 discount to the monies collected for construction.
Surely they did not also purchase the lots from the builder. This is similar to giving a contractor an additional $40,000.00 interest on a $72,000.00 investment which is about 56% interest on the investment; who wouldn’t love such a deal if it is as it seems.


 

Comments

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 8:29am — john

I have been notified to the following concerning housing

About the builder of the duplex being its buyer; as far as I can tell, that's legit and one of the reasons he agreed to buy the duplex for so little money was because the city owed him money it didn't have after PACE allegedly shortchanged them.

The evidence for that, however, is rather vague, at least with regard to a paper trail.
So, even if all the stuff about Amy Fehrenbacher and her messed up paperwork and $200,000 missing from Bicknell's funds being true, I don't know how to go about proving it right now.


 

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 10:25am — Anonymous

Alton St Pace Duplex

After a conversations with Beth Meeks and Pace I'm told that the city and Pace are trying to sell the remaining houses FSBO (for sale by owner).

I can't see how Pace could be involved if they shortchanged the city, maybe they aren't. I wish the city would disclose what is going on.

Maybe the Vincennes paper will come out with something since they do smell a story.

I can't see the reasoning to sell something cheap to settle up with a contractor, maybe to avoid a lawsuit?

Surely if the city is blameless the contractor would have waited until the money came in. Or is the city at least partly to blame?

To sell a $110,000.00 listing for $70,000.00 something (losing 40k?) to expidite settling with a contractor does not seem wise. That's $40,000.00 less that the city will have to use on future projects like this.

All this has been behind closed doors at least to me and my real estate office (I am a member of the MLS) because of the non MLS listing statuses of the homes and the non-disclosure locally of the availability of the duplex to any buyer.

To try to sell FSBO also avoids the MLS.

There are agreement forms available to Realtors to use in a "For Sale By Owner" situation with a seller whereby a Realtor would earn a commission in case the owner is agreeable to sign such a form and the property is sold by the Realtor.

Does the city contemplate doing this? I will call and ask. I hope so because I would like to help the city be successful with this project. But I was told by Pace that if any Realtors are to be involved again it would be Beth Meeks.

Hmmm!

Ron Ackman

Tue, 01/10/2012 - 2:50pm — john

Never looked for a better deal

I'm told that the realtor who is a member of the multiple listing service never listed this property on the MLS; thereby passing on the possibility of getting a higher bid on the property. Rumor is that the mayor was getting scared because none of the houses were selling.It also means that the possible higher sale to another buyer was not possible as every buyer outside of Jones was blocked out of the sale process.

 

Thu, 01/12/2012 - 11:41am — john

Never enter on MLS

Meeks has never entered any of the houses in the MLS and even though one did sell for 80k it was not reported sold in the MLS and this is the first one to be reported sold. I believe Meeks took the listings on them and kept them in house (not to be made available in the MLS) and would only report when sold. This is an injustice to Pace and the city. I would liked to have had a chance to broker their sale but was not made aware of the bidding being done for the job.

Ron Ackman