MOUNT VERNON – Knox County Recorder Tanner Salyers won’t rely on a lawsuit to stop a Florida real estate company from negotiating real estate contracts that Ohio Attorney General Ed Yost alleges violate Ohio law and from practicing real estate without proper licensing.
The attorney general’s lawsuit alleges that MV Realty founder Amanda Zachman and broker Diana Remar confused and mislead homeowners with the company’s “Homeowner Benefits Agreements,” contracts that omit crucial information and language required by state law, according to a news release from his office.
The agreements offer cash enticements but aren’t clear about the 40-year terms and consequences for current and future property owners on their sales, Salyers said. If the lawsuit fails, legislative corrections will be pursued.
“Because if the lawsuit fails, that’s kind of blood in the water for anybody else that wants to get in on the racket,” he said.
MV Realty is based in Delray Beach, Florida, but Salyers fears people think the MV means Mount Vernon.
He said that other companies use these agreements but don’t record them in the county recorder’s office. And they aren’t as extreme. So whether it’s a senior, a young family or somebody down on their luck, the property’s title is locked into this agreement for that 40-year term.
Salyers warns people to be careful what they sign because if a notary witnesses the agreement, they will have no chance to change their minds.
“Either a certain percentage of any home sale during those 40 years will go directly to MV, or the homeowners will have to pay thousands of dollars to get out of the agreement, he said.
The Ohio Recorders Association got involved when MV Realty started submitting the agreements to county recorder’s offices because they usually aren’t recorded.
An opinion from the attorney general didn’t answer whether recorders are required to add these to the record. But Yost later filed suit against MV Realty in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on behalf of its client, the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing.
Title agencies and title searchers told Salyers they were uncomfortable giving a clear title on any property in which one of these agreements has been signed and recorded.
Unless the lawsuit succeeds or legislation is passed banning the practice for the recorder’s office, he’ll have to keep recording what he considers questionable single-seller agreements.
