Complaint Review: Texas Lease to Buy

We were looking for a home to buy but needed time to get our credit in order so we decided to contact a local company, Texas Lease to Buy, to find a home we could lease and as soon as we got our credit in order buy the home. The owner of the company, John Rodriguez is the only person we spoke with and dealt with during the transaction. He met us at the home to show us the home and discuss the process of leasing and then buying the home that he advertised on his web site texasleasetobuy.com. We asked the question we thought we needed to ask including if the mortgage was in good order and asked what we needed to do in order to proceed. We explained to John that we were both teachers and this was a very big investment for us and John told us that we had nothing to worry about. John re-assured us that everything was in good order and that the owner was a retired surgeon so we had nothing to worry about. He took $50 from us to check our credit and make sure we were "qualified".

A couple days later he contacted us and said that everything looked good but that the owner wanted to meet us before we moved forward. We met with John again as well as the owners Keith and Shirley Soper. John is 83 and Shirley 85 years old. A couple days after we met with the owners John contacted us to let us know the owners were happy with our meeting and said that they were ready to move forward. There was a question that came up on the monthly payment because on the first time we looked at his web site the payment was listed at $2000 but now he was telling us it was going to be $2200. We questioned him on this and he told us the owner was going through a refinance and that it should be completed soon so as soon as it was complete then the owner would be ok with the $2000 payment that we saw on his web site.

Within the next few days John began asking for a $500 deposit to hold the home and said he would only accept money orders or cashier's checks. John was readily available and answered our calls when we were making arrangements for him to come by to pick up payment. After he took our $500 deposit he began pushing us to come up with the $5500 balance so that we could sign the contracts and make everything legit. On November 19, 2010 we met him at a local Burger King. He came to meet us and brought the contract for us to review and sign. We went through the contract and yes we did sign the contract. The contract is a 24 month lease between John and his company Texas Lease to Buy and the Soper's to lease the property at 5754 Walnut Creek Fort Worth Texas 76137. The next part of the contract is an assignment in which John sells his interest in the lease to us for the sum of $6000 which in the contract specifically states is to be used as a down payment on the home should we decide to purchase the home. The last part of the contract is a option to purchase the home at the end of the lease period. At this point we were happy with the situation and felt like everything was good. John told us that he would contact us before we moved into the property because he was going to set up a bank account for us to deposit the payment each month and to collect the first months rent.

We met with John one last time before we moved in and that was because my wife's parents wanted to see the home and he made arrangements with the Sopers for them to leave while we looked at the home again. That was the last time we have seen John, he said he was going to Mexico for the holidays but as the time to move in got closer and closer and John had not contacted us we contacted the owner to find out if he had heard from John. The Sopers had not heard from John either. Keith asked when we were going to pay our deposit and we told him that we had already given John the $6000 in full. Keith acted surprised and said that John was supposed to give him $2000 of the $6000 we gave him. We continued to try to contact John without any success. After making arrangements with the owner we moved into the property and made our monthly payment directly to him (Mr. Soper). So in total we have paid $8000 towards this home.

We moved into the property on Dec 28, 2010 and on Jan 6, 2011 we noticed we were receiving legal advertisements to stop the pending foreclosure on this home. I began investigating and searched the Tarrant County Public Record and leaned that the home was indeed set to be auctioned off on Feb 1, 2011. We immediately began trying to reach John Rodriguez by phone, email and text. We confronted Mr. Soper and he admitted the home was in foreclosure and that he was not waiting on a refinance but a loan modification. He also said that John was fully aware that he was waiting on a modification and not a refinance. John completely ignored all our attempts to contact him. We made numerous attempts to contact him but they all failed.

On Jan 14, 2011 we sent him an email again giving him a chance to make things right. We made him aware that on Jan 21, 2011 we would file complaints and seek legal counsel if he did not return our money. On Jan 18, 2011 he finally returned a email stating that he had been out of town and that he would be available to talk in a couple days. When we did finally speak to him he claimed he did nothing wrong and tried to put all blame on the Sopers. He also claimed he did not know the home was in foreclosure. He asked for 7-10 more days to contact his lawyer and decide if he would return the money. We discussed it and came to the conclusion that he needed to come up with the money sooner than later and told him that he needed to have it returned by noon on Jan 24, 2011. The deadline came and went with no word from John. We contacted him and he acted as if he could care less. He continued to say that he needed to contact his attorney. It seems that John was aware of the home being in default and chose not to disclose it to us. It is also evident in the fact that he never made arrangements to collect rent like he said he would. His neglect to set up a account to collect the monthly rent just goes to show that he never intended to be around long enough to collect any rent or knew of the pending foreclosure and knew that we would soon find out.

After further investigation we have learned that the home we leased is not the only home that he is advertising on his web site that is in default or foreclosure which leads us to believe that we were not the first person that John has done this to and if he is advertising other homes in default then we are not the last family he plans on doing this to.

Be smart do not do business with a company like this onewithout doing alll your homework Go to the county courthouse to see it there has been a notice of default filed on the property. Do not sign the contracts without having an attorney looking of them first. Get a physical address for the owner John Rodriguez. He also goes by John Edward Rodriguez or John Eddie Rodriguez. His only form of contact is his cell phone 817-938-1376. His web sites are texasleasetobuy.com or dfwleasetobuy.com