PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council on Thursday authorized hearings into a Florida-based real estate company that has enrolled hundreds of city homeowners into a program that Council finds questionable.
Numerous homeowners have filed complaints, believing the company misled them.
MV Realty’s Homeowner Benefit Program pays between $300 and $1,000 to homeowners in exchange for a 40-year agreement to use the company to sell their home, or pay the commission even if they use another realtor.
Philadelphia homeowners who signed the contract got alerted that they may have missed something in the fine print when the Records Department, as part of its Fraud Guard program, notified them that MV Realty had filed a mortgage against their home.
“Homeowners have reported to us that they were never clearly told they were locked into paying the company, and that a mortgage would be recorded against their home,” said Community Legal Services attorney Kerry Smith.
“That was the first time they fully understood they were locked into this long-term, 40-year contract with MV, and they were going to have to pay a hefty fee for any transfer of their property during that time.”
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“We totally disagree,” said MV spokesperson Diana London in refuting homeowners’ claims. “Everything is totally transparent and open.”
She said MV’s program uses the company’s marketing budget to secure future clients, and chalks complaints up to a few disgruntled clients.
“Maybe someone in their home becomes a realtor and they try to get out of the agreement, and we hold them to the agreement,” said London.
“All of our realtors are held to a very high level of ethics. They are obligated to walk through our program, the 40 years, the consequences if they were to breach the contract.”
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Smith advises anyone who believes they were misled into enrolling in the program to seek legal help and file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office.
Council President Darrell Clarke hopes the hearings will warn others.
“We think people need to know about this,” said Clarke. “This is some really shady stuff that’s going on.”