Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

Alleged Home-Flip Scammers Prompt Homeowner Protection Forum

  • June 8th 2015

by Tianna Mañón

✉️ Want to forward this article? Click here.

Alleged Home-Flip Scammers Prompt Homeowner Protection Forum: Figure 1
A view of 51 and 53 T Street NE in July 2014. Both were flips by the Hofgards
listed in the lawsuit filed against them by OAG. Image via Google Maps.

There’s at least one good thing coming out of a Virginia-based home-flipping couple who allegedly swindled buyers into purchasing unsafe and unpermitted homes.

Prompted in part by its lawsuit against flippers Insun and Jefferson Hofgard, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is hosting a forum this week to educate new homeowners on housing scams. The forum’s goal is to empower buyers and make it harder for scammers to operate.

The OAG went after the Hofgards in DC Superior Court for unsafe flips that allegedly violated building codes. OAG says the Hofgard’s homes, usually priced high and set in trendy neighborhoods, stuck their new owners with hefty bills for repair and renovation once problems became clear after move-in, according to an OAG news release, which filed the suit earlier this May.

The focus of the forum is not just how to avoid bad construction and renovation scams, but also how to spot foreclosure scams, navigate mortgage regulations and deal with other issues.

The forum is open to new and potential homeowners and will be held June 11 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Shaw Library on 1630 7th Street NW.

See other articles related to: flipping

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/alleged_home-flip_scammers_prompt_homeowner_protection_forum/9978.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse