PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a Florida-based realtor, alleging it has scammed hundreds of homeowners in the state into giving up a substantial amount of their homes’ values.
Felicia Pierce needed to repair a leak in her bathroom when she learned about MV Realty. She was told the company would give her $465 upfront if she agreed to use them as her realtor if she ever sold her house. Turns out, she told a city council committee, it wasn’t that easy.
“We didn’t know what we were up against,” she said.
Pierce says she expressed interest and the company immediately sent a notary and had her sign papers that not only made them her realtor but let them take out a mortgage on her house and put a lien on her property.
Pierce was just one of the homeowners testifying about feeling tricked into contracts whose terms they didn’t fully understand. The Attorney General calls it a “calculated deception” that has trapped about a thousand Pennsylvanians. The council estimates 500 of them are in Philadelphia.
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Kerry Smith of Community Legal Services says he told city council that the company has filed at least 500 mortgages against homes in Philadelphia.
“MV Realty is running a predatory, home equity-stripping scheme, tricking them into giving up thousands of dollars of their most valuable asset,” he said.
Shapiro’s lawsuit asks that all mortgages MV Realty has taken on Pennsylvania homes be stricken, that it pay restitution and fines, and cease doing business in the state.
MV emailed a statement calling the charges in the lawsuit false and expressing confidence that it will ultimately be found in compliance with state law.
The lawsuit came on the same day as city council members held hearings on the scheme.
MV has also been sued in Florida and Massachusetts.