Is Darren from "Darren Buys Houses" Another Summers' Friend?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Hey City Hall/Cuyahoga County, what's your hurry, Murray?

Perhaps they broke us and now need to liquidate quickly?

Perhaps, they need money for their new private institutions.

Perhaps baby boomers trying to spend it all before some young families get to it?

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[Bridget Conant]

On West Clifton, just south of the railway trestle, on the east side of the street, Relief Properties is "working" on a two family.

Drive by and look at it. It has boarded up windows, but even worse, OPEN windows!

Not only does it look bad, it's potentially dangerous as someone could easily enter the property and get hurt. You know how curious kids are.

Is this in conformance with city codes? I highly doubt it.

So where is the code enforcement?

Hello? Anybody home? This is on a busy main street. No one sees this?

Must be too busy rubbing their hands together over the hospital foundation money. Fiddle while Rome burns.

[Bridget Conant]

Another odd thing. The home is actually located at 17852 Cannon, but they are claiming on the property listing that the address is 1297 West Clifton. (Relief purchased the $150,000+ county appraised home for $84,000. Good buy!)

I am assuming that use of West Clifton adds some "prestige" to help justify the $499,900 price tag.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1297 ... 0084_zpid/

I am also assuming there must be some city approval needed to "re-number" a house - he's changing both the street and the number.

[Lori Allen _]

Bridget,

That is the same deal as with the one on Marlowe. For several months, the windows on both the north and south sides of the house were wide open. No boards, no plastic, no tarp, nothing. This was around the start of winter when we first started getting those rain/snow mixes with sleet. How much of the inside was ruined by the precipitation? Also the same deal with one of his houses on Wheeel-birt (Wilbert). As of tonight, the roof to the rear of the house is wide open, specifically the southwest corner. No tarp, no covering, nothing. It is totally open.

In regards to the Marlowe Ave. house, I can confirm that neighbors have called the police, on more than one occasion for workers swearing, playing loud music, leaving the house wide open, etc.

You may recall the Mars Ave. boarding house that a collaboration between City Hall, LakewoodAlive, Detroit-Shoreway Development Corporation, and Darren saved. While I am glad the stately boarding house could be saved and now looks pretty good, the sale of this boarding house is interesting. On April 17th, 2015 the boarding house was sold by Relief Properties, or "Darren" to someone with the first name of Kyrian. This person named Kyrian is the Senior Developer and Architect for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. In other words, Relief Properties sold the Mars Ave. boarding house to the Cleveland Clinic's Senior Developer and Architect.

Could this be a coincidence? I suppose, but what are the chances of that?

If I were City Hall, I would not have allowed Darren to purchase those City Hall land bank properties, seeing as it is apparently difficult for Darren to keep his current worksites clean and safe. Then again, perhaps the apparently special relationship between City Hall and Darren exempts Darren from building codes and contractor regulations. If you are a resident of any street that Darren is working on and you notice Darren's worksites are not up to code, I urge you to call:

Lakewood Division of Building & Housing: 216-529-6270
Office of Mayor/Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers: 216-529-6600
Your Ward and/or at-large Councilperson

For urgent after hours matters, such as doors being left open after dark, squatters in the house, or kids playing on the property, call the police at 216-521-6773.

Again, the biggest questions are:

1. Why were the two City Hall Land Bank properties that Darren bought not put up for open bid?
2. What is this sudden scurry to buy up as much property as possible? This is the third lot that Darren has purchased in two weeks.

I have been considering purchasing a house on Darren's stately cul-de-sac in Strongsville, butchering it, and abandoning it for months and seeing how long I get away with it.

[todd vainisi]

He purchased it for $84,000 and is listing at $499,900? I'd like to see some before and after shots!

[Bridget Conant]

How much a businessman makes on an investment is not my concern. If he's smart and making good money, more power to him!

My concern is limited specifically to the property on my street that has open windows that kids could enter. They should board up any means of access to the property.

I'm not sure why the city isn't enforcing codes.

I actually hope the property sells for what they are asking as it will benefit me.

[Jim O'Bryan]

He purchased it for $84,000 and is listing at $499,900? I'd like to see some before and after shots!

Todd

People are paying righteous dollars for Lakewood Homes. With the diverse values in property in Lakewood, while being in only 5 square miles, it makes it a flippers dream.

While I find fault with the administration on many issues, the price of Lakewood homes, the speed in which they sell, and our ability to attract flippers, and new families will be one of many keys to our survival without the hospital, if it can be done.

There is no arguing, when an $84,000 house sells for $500,000 without tax abatement it is a very good thing for Lakewood.

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[Bridget Conant]

I agree with Jim. Improving properties benefits everyone. It makes the city more attractive and increases property values.

The homes that company renovated look beautiful. People are snapping them up.

That's a good thing for all of us.

[Lori Allen _]

And there lies the problem. Most, if not all of Darren's flips come with ten-year tax abatements.

The whole idea of giving tax abatements is an oxymoron. If the Lakewood brand is as great as Summers touts, why the need for a ten-year tax abatement? Isn't that like begging?

While "flipping" can be a great thing for Lakewood, it would be ideal if the city land bank properties were put up for open bid, so maybe someone with a vested interest and genuine care for Lakewood could do the jobs, and not an alleged friend of the mayor's from Strongsville.

Also, City Hall should really be doing more checks on these "flippers". While many of them are honest, some are risky and can even be engaging in false appraisals or "fraud-for-profit" schemes. See http://www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily/ ... pping.html

Also, could we please start fining these flippers that put their ugly "we buy houses" signs all over the utility poles? It is not only utility poles now, but the flippers are getting smart. They went around last week and taped them to City Hall sidewalk trash cans.

If City Hall is going to start catering to the "flipping" business, that is great. However, the following needs to be done:

1. Vigorous inspections of the flipper's worksites to ensure cleanliness and safety (apparently not being done with Darren's flips).
2. Ensure that any taxpayer property that is going to be sold to flippers is put up for public bid, and not just sold under the table to an alleged friend of the mayor's.
3. Background checks before any permits are issued to "flippers" to attempt to prevent any "fraud-for-profit", "fraudulent appraisal" or other dubious schemes.

These three steps seem simple enough. Then again, maybe membership has its rewards.

[Bridget Conant]

Lori

I'm not seeing any tax abatement on the few properties I know of. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the tax appraisals were near what the latest purchase price was. Often, the county is slow to update home values after renovation or a new high sales prices.

Again, this is a win for the city. These properties are bringing in more property tax than in their former state.

Except for my annoyance that homes under renovation aren't always kept "secured," I think the work Relief Properties is doing is of great benefit to the city.

[Lori Allen _]

Bridget,

Maybe you and I were not looking at the same properties. For example, Darren recently flipped a house on Giel. That house is still for sale on Zillow. In the long descripition of the property it is said "this property is eligible for a five-year tax abatement".

He also sold one recently on Rosewood. In the description of that house, it is also said "eligible for a five-year tax abatement". See https://www.zillow.com/homes/1479-rosew ... -44107_rb/

I also recall someone mentioning that Darren's flips on Merl also came with tax abatements.

While not every single one of Darren's flips may come with tax abatements, it appears that many of them do.

While flipping can be good for cities, it needs to be done in an honest, transparent manner. With so many "fraud-for-profit" schemes and false appraisal scams in the real estate business today, it would be prudent for City Hall to investigate the backgrounds of all flippers before giving out permits. Also, flippers need to be fined for illegally-placed advertisements.

Flipper's worksites also need to be kept clean and safe. Speaking of which, this is Darren's worksite on Marlowe as of today:

1240 42 Marlowe Darren 3.13.17.jpg (19.51 KiB) Viewed 5344 times

1240 42 Marlowe Darren frotn end loader 3.13.17.jpg (19.64 KiB) Viewed 5344 times

Notice the while one of the front windows is covered with plastic, the other one has been left wide open. In fact, I believe it has been left wide open all weekend, as no work took place on the home today. Also notice the front-end loader in the front yard, which was also left out all weekend. Really? This couldn't be put in the backyard? Kids or developmentally challenged individuals could get hurt on this. I'm surprised it wasn't stolen.

All I want from this Darren/City Hall comradery is open bidding on City Hall land bank properties, a transparent process, and clean, safe worksites that do not blight the rest of the neighborhood.

Why is this so much to ask? Is there more to this comradery than meets the eye?

[Marguerite Harkness]

Is City Hall collecting income tax from Darren for his salary, for the portion of profit from his company which is earned from projects in Lakewood, and from all his employees or subcontractors who are doing all this work?

Is he issuing W2's and withholding all appropriate income taxes, federal, social security, Ohio, LAKEWOOD, and paying Ohio Unemployment, Federal Unemployment, and Workers Comp on all of them? (In case one of them falls out of an open unsecured 2nd-floor window.)

Or is he issuing 1099's to all of them instead of withholding the correct taxes and paying them in to all the tax agencies?

[Lori Allen _]

Marguerite,

You mention some very good points. Unfortunately, I do not have the answers.

According to the deed of transfer from the Cuyahoga Land Bank to Darren for the Winchester property, the deed was signed by William Whitney, Chief Operating Officer. All of the previous Cuyahoga Land Bank transfers have been signed by Gus Frangos, our friendly dump North Parking Garage owner. Why did Gus appear to want to distance himself from the transfer of this lot to Darren?

Also, why did the Cuyahoga Land Bank accept only $10,000 for the lot when it is appraised at $28,800? That is only 34.7% of the lot's value.

[Amy Martin]

the flip on our street got a 10 year tax abatement . . . that's a lot of cash on a house that sold for $330,000. Personally, I'm upset about having to pay for their schooling, fire department, police, etc. If you can afford a $300,000 home, you should be able to pay your taxes. Lakewood is not a distressed community like the majority of those who offer abatements.

[Lori Allen _]

Bridget,

I see what you mean about the Cannon house. No work taking place at all today, and the front window is wide open. Critters and squatters rejoice! Seriously, this is just being plain lazy.

Darren 17852 Cannon.jpg (78.72 KiB) Viewed 5129 times

As is the fact that the front-end loader sat in the front yard of the Marlowe flip all weekend again. He couldn't put it in the backyard.

When most of us have contractors work on our homes, there are strict guidelines they must follow in regards to the safety and cleanliness of the worksite. I don't care what Darren does with his private business ventures, so long he doesn't get favorable treatment from City Hall and he keeps the worksites are kept clean and safe. Unfortunately, the favorable treatment seems to be happening and the worksites appear to not be kept clean and safe, obviously.

Timelines are also a factor. Darren has owned the Marlowe property since November 2015, almost a year and a half ago, and the job only appears halfway done, if that. How would you like to live across the street from this? Neighbors have gotten smart and have started calling the police on Darren. A post on this will be coming soon. Most contractors are given deadlines to complete a project, or else permits will expire. I have never seen one permit in the windows of any of Darren's flips, ever. I am beginning to doubt if he even has permits, or if he is being given a "free ride" on that as well. If that is the case, that is really dangerous.

Then again, is it possible that Darren is just a member of the same old company? Nobody seems to be trying to hide it, if that is the case.