Complaint Review: House Buyer's Direct/Cory Glen Harrington

House Buyers Direct is a Veteran founded, and woman owned business. The founders Cory Harrington and Angel Harrington met as teenagers and have been married over 18 years. We have owned and managed rental properties since 2003 and opened our first real estate development business in 2006.

We are highly experienced and trained. Angel is a licensed Broker and Property Manager and Cory is a former licensed Securities Broker and Principal Investor on hundreds of real estate transactions for our business, and as Managing Member of numerous Partnerships.

As a long standing small business operator, we do our best to produce high quality, reasonably priced residential properties that provides a safe, reliable, and enjoyable living environment for our buyers and rental tenants alike. 

Now, after careful review and consideration of the comments made against our company and our persons, we have chosen to respond to the negative feedback/reviews to explain our side of the story. Initially, we did not choose to dignify a response, but the review has come up a few times with people vetting our business. So, its time to balance out the review with our comments.

First Point: The family that posted these comments consist of a mother and daughter. They are the only people to post a negative feedback/review, as of the date of this response. We are an active business with several hundred purchase and sales transactions that have been successfully completed. In these transactions, we bought, renovated, and sold retail or held them in partnerships or personally as a Family Office.

We have had many years of transactions and this is the only negative review. Furthermore, House Buyers Direct, as a brand, had not solicited reviews before and in response clients have posted multiple positive reviews. Here forward, we will encourage feedback of all types so that we can strive to be a better company every day.

Second point: The review was based on a property purchase contract. The seller solicited us. We did not seek her out, nor had we completed the purchased transaction, so it is not a reflection on the rest of our business (development, renovation, property management, sales, lending).

Third point: We met when I had responded to her Craigslist ad to sell a set of vintage wrought iron gates. I met them at the house where the gates were located and purchased them. Several months later they had asked me to buy their house too. I do this for a living, but her property is not the type I usually purchase. We focus on houses that allow us to buy and hold them in a rental portfolio. Her house was not ideal so I would not typically buy in her location and tax basis. That being stated, I have bought numerous properties in the luxury market, commercial buildings, and other non-typical assets so I was willing to consider her home. 

Fourth point: The house was in a significantly deteriorated condition after decades of deferred maintenance, major structural, foundation, electrical, and HVAC defects. It was going to cost a lot of money to repair this older and large home in an expensive part of Terrell Hills surrounded by houses where people have demolished homes in this condition and built luxury custom homes. The cost of demolishing and rebuilding would be unprofitable. The total building costs would be more than the future home would be worth. So, it is imperative that we keep costs under control.

Fifth point: The seller had asked me to buy the house 16 days before a foreclosure sale was scheduled. I did not know she was facing foreclosure until she approached me to buy her home. Previously I did not get involved with foreclosures auctions since they do not allow you time to inspect the property and I do not buy blindly, but, they wanted my help.

I spent several hours at the house measuring, inspecting, reviewing recent sales activity and estimated construction costs.

Sixth point: I consulted her and proposed two options.

1. Refinance with repair allowance: I would pay off here defaulted mortgage, in full, give her money to renovate, and provide a long term mortgage. 2. Buy the House: I offered $200,000 in its current condition. As she stated in her review, the house was worth $400,000+ if it was in good condition. However, it was in bad condition. There had been unpermitted additions to the house, and other major items that would need to be rebuilt so her offer was accounting for all my estimated costs of renovation and sale plus a 15% estimated profit margin for my company. The offer was typical and fair and I had given her options. She did not have to sell to me but she had agreed to sell and I had agreed to buy the house so we had agreed to terms and signed a 16 page TREC 1604 Purchase and Sale contract.

Seventh point: We are a licensed Real Estate Brokerage and we had followed all the rules of TREC, SABOR, and the state of Texas.

The seller had breached the law. Unfortunately, and undisclosed to me, they also signed another contract with a second person for a higher price than I offered (this is not legal). They sent me a copy from the other broker and demanded I rescind my contract. I would not release my contract at first, so they hired an attorney. The attorney agreed that I was in the right so they had no choice but to sell to me or compensate me for my time, money, and effort required to conduct this transaction, seek legal option, and take time away from my business obligations to address this issue. Thus, they offered my company financial compensation to release the contract and I accepted their offer and released them from our contract.

After the settlement and after they signed a non-disclosure agreement, they also broke that agreement they proceeded to write negative feedback over the situation. Had they honored any of their legal commitments perhaps they would not have been in this situation in the first place. There are two sides to each story and there is the truth. I leave that up to you to decide.

The facts are stated above. On occasion buyers and sellers find a better deal after the first deal is made. In the past, and I am sure in the future, I will allow people to exit their legal contract to sell or buy houses from our company without compensation to us if they are fair, honest, and decent about the reasons. I am in the business of purchasing properties, not collecting settlements from people who knowingly breech contracts.

Sometimes its best to walk away from a deal if new and unexpected events are the cause. But, if you have a fair and legal contract you should try your best to honor it always. They did not honor our contract by signing a second contract for a higher sale price to someone else after they were already in contract. At the end of the day, the house seller was in and out of foreclosure court for years and failed to pay her lender for a very long time. I did not put her in that situation. I offered two solutions. The first was a way to keep her in the home and lend her money to make the required improvements so she can live in safety and comfort. The second was to buy the house with enough of a discount that my company could buy, renovate, and eventually sell the house for a 15% profit in the future. Keep in mind, doing this is very expensive and each month a house does not sell, it costs taxes, mortgage, utilities, insurance, upkeep, and more.

We provided a solution, we did not try to cause a problem. She on the other hand was not following the law, nor paying her mortgage, nor honoring our contract. So, at the end of the day, I was very disappointed, I had the right to force the sale, but I did walk away. The small amount I received for my costs was not worth the effort but out of principal I defended my rights.

Final point: The seller was not a victim in this transaction.

We both have different ways of conducting business. I believe that if you make an agreement you must try your best to keep it. And, if someone else intentionally violates an agreement they should expect some level of justice will be served.

The negative review is just one bad experience. Soon after this review we received positive reviews from clients with good experiences and now we are on a mission to encourage feedback, positive and negative alike. We encourage transparency and full disclosure.

Please consider my explanation on the mater. With nearly 30 years in combined experience between the owners of HBD, and as a married couple of 18 years, our goal in business is longevity and success.

(Edited by myself, Ms. Schooling, in order to adhere to legal standards. I am not in violation of any confidentiality agreement relating to subject) After dealing with HOUSE BUYER'S DIRECT (HBD) and owner/flipper, Mr. Cory Glen Harrington, I can only conclude that they are motivated NOT by a genuine desire to maintain ethical real estate practices, but rather driven by pure, unadulterated GREED. They're opportunists of the worst kind - bottom of the barrel. HBD is a sleazy outfit of bottom feeders in my opinion. They capitalized at ANY COST, particularly at the expense of my mother, a vulnerable home owners experiencing temporary hardship, or otherwise. âš  HBD's mission statement is entirely misleading. They claim to employ ethical and conscientious real estate practices while considering the best interest of both parties involved. However, nothing could be further from the truth as Mr. Harrington's conduct with me reflected they had no compunction or moral compass. 

Please DO NOT be fooled by or fall prey to the questionable and suspect intentions of real estate investors who offer unsolicited legal advice and claim not to exercise pressure on clients, only to act on the contrary, as Mr. Harrington did with me. Mr. Cory Harrington and acting agent, Mrs. Angel Harrington, are both complicit in their exploitation of my mother, Mrs. Charlene Schooling/homeowner, who happens to represent a most vulnerable segment of the population. Unfortunately, I, Ms. Susan Schooling, and my family became acquainted with this entity through a dubious and an extremely short-lived real estate transaction to which my 68-yr-old mother, Mrs. Schooling, was party.  Mr. Harrington egregiously and successfully persevered to abscond with a large sum of money obscenely incommensurate with his efforts. He NEVER had TIME OR MONEY INVESTED...  absolutely NOTHING but a 2-hour meeting and an unexecuted, unrecorded, and erroneous agreement. TRANSACTION BACKGROUND: Following the recent death of Mrs. Schooling's husband (my father), Mrs. Schooling was made aware of a lien due to a debt -unrelated to her- incurred by my late father.

As a result, the precarious foreclosure process began on her home of 25 years, which she owns as it has been paid for for several years. While disputing the validity of the foreclosure, she contacted HBD to entertain a property evaluation -not intending to solicit an offer- after Mr. & Mrs. Harrington made numerous phone inquiries regarding the status of her property. Well, he did present an offer. Upon feeling ill & weak during their only meeting, my mother had to retreat to her bedroom to lie down, and Mr. Harrington followed. Smoking cigarettes, he sat at her bedside -on the floor next to her bed- where he made my mother an offer to purchase her home for 55% below fair market value. At this point in time, it would have been most prudent for Mr. Harrington to offer to return the following day or at a later date in the near future. At which time, he falsely assured her, "If you received a better offer, you can take it"... "Or, while unlikely, you are able to negotiate with your lien holder, we can cancel our agreement, my offer." Mr. Harrington, on several occasions, provided unsolicited legal advice regarding the said real estate transaction, acting as an amateur lawyer/attorney. After repeatedly expressing our desire to consult our own attorney, he went so far as to question the intentions of my own personal counsel by sending me, Ms. Schooling, links to media reports /stories via text messages alleging impropriety on behalf of homeowners' real estate & personal attorneys.

This was an intentional scare tactic to instill disillusionment in my mother and me so we would doubt my attorney and not follow through seeking his guidance regarding the matter of her property. After expressing my concerns and wish to wait 24 hours for due consideration, not once did he encourage her to do so. Instead, he continued to reiterate how he has "seen people lose their homes time and again due to indecision." Understandably, this further instilled fear into my mother. Uncertain & fearful of potentially losing her home/life savings, she impulsively entered into a tenuous agreement with HBD.  MINUTES after accepting the purchase contract, however, my mother immediately realized the mistake she made by prematurely committing to sell to Mr. Harrington without consulting her attorney, especially due to the fluid circumstances of the foreclosure. She felt the unprecedented stresses and pressures of illness, grief, and the then-pending foreclosure status of her home had impaired her judgment. Mrs. Schooling instantly notified him and the title company of her wish to rescind her signature due to the pending foreclosure status of her home.

At no point in time throughout the interaction between my mother and Mr. Harrington, did he have TIME OR MONEY invested... absolutely NOTHING but a two-hour meeting and an unexecuted, unrecorded, and erroneous agreement. No earnest money was ever accepted or deposited with the title company/ he never acquired a lender/ the contract was never recorded because of our same-day, immediate request of the title company & HBD for rescission. At which time, only the title company obliged Mrs. Schooling's rescission, halting execution of the contract. Mr. Harrington never incurred actual damages or losses, neither financially nor personally at any point. Literally, within 15 minutes of signing and Mr. Harrington's departure from her home, Mrs. Schooling respectfully requested that Mr. Harrington grant her a release of obligation. Within 15 MINUTES! He adamantly refused!! He proceeded to surreptitiously cloud the title with language stipulating his declared right to the property and any future conveyance for 5 years. (Such action also came perilously close to possibly jeopardizing any leverage she had at the time in absolving the pending foreclosure.)

Fortunately, the foreclosure was subsequently quashed, allowing my mother to temporarily remain in her home (the home she had worked so hard for & rightfully owned). *Still, amid repeated pleas to release her of contractual obligation, Mr. Harrington obstinately & defiantly refused to remove the cloud. Thus, preventing Mrs. Schooling from selling her home for a price commensurate with her equity at any time in the future, should she so wish. Mr. Harrington's trolling of the title and refusal to cooperate left my mother with only two options: 1) sell her home to him against her will or 2) acquiesce to HBD's demand of compensation for release. Unconscionable considering the considering the circumstances.  My family has suffered financially and emotionally from this sad encounter.  I feel compelled to report my experience with House Buyer's Direct in order to protect and prevent home owners and/or buyers from potentially making a detrimental decision having life-altering consequences.

************ Disclaimer: This review and complaint regarding Mr. Cory Glen Harrington and House Buyer's Direct, was/is submitted by me, Ms. Susan Schooling. It does not violate any confidentiality relating to the subject. I can provide the BBB verification if necessary. I identify above, my mother/homeowner, Mrs. Charlene Schooling, who was the recent victim of immoral, exploitative and unethical business practices, relating to real estate, perpetrated by House Buyer's Direct, Managing Member, Cory Glen Harrington, and Chief Operating Manager, Angel Harrington. With the utmost sincerity, my account reflects what transpired during the time period beginning July 17, 2017 and ending Sept. 5,2017. I, Susan Schooling, was witness and have intimate knowledge of the the entire transaction from beginning to end. I am included in verbal and electronic correspondences between parties. I was involved through every step of the process. I also have POA (Power of Attorney), and speak not only for myself, but for Mrs. Schooling. Once again, HBD and Mr. Cory Harrington are employing intimidation tactic; and attempting to censor me and conceal their highly suspect conduct by asking, without cause and with erroneous justification, that my comments be removed. Thank you

There is a confidentitial settlement agreement with the Schooling family, which includes a hold harmless and nondisclosure clause. I am bound by that confidential settlement agreement not to respond to the Schooling family account due to a potential breach in that confidential settlement agreement. 

Our Mission Statement "HBD strives to be the best selling option for property owners who do not want to renovate and sell retail using a traditional Realtor. Believe it or not, the cost and time involved with renovations and retail sales is difficult and stressful. We used to do that exact thing. Now we keep a rental portfolio and our long term income and low ongoing costs allow us to make offers for more money than our competition."