Pennsylvania Man Pinched In Alleged Foreclosure Rescue, Rent Skimming Ripoff; Home Seller Still Faces Loss Of Home, Unwitting Tenant/Family Faces Boot

In Jackson Township, Pennsylvania, WNEP-TV Channel 16 reports:

• A businessman from the Stroudsburg area has been charged in a mortgage scheme. Investigators said he offered to help a couple who were losing their home to foreclosure but instead, he rented the property to someone else.

• George Torres and his family came to the Poconos from New York for a better life. They moved into a home they were told they could rent then buy. Now the man who put them in the home is accused of scamming the family out of thousands of dollars. Torres, his wife, their children and extended family moved into the Jackson Township home last May.

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• [Torres said] Michael Price helped him find a place for him and his family to live. Now, Price has been arrested and accused of scamming Torres, the renter, and the couple who own the home.

• Authorities said Price is the owner of "We All Win Real Estate Solution" in Stroudsburg. The business is not a licensed real estate agency or mortgage company. According to investigators, Price agreed to buy the home at 300 Pennbrook Road that was facing foreclosure. He offered to pay the owners $140,000.00, but the owners never got any money.

• Instead, Price leased the house to the Torres family and promised to help them buy it. The Torres' moved in, paid rent and soon after, a strange visitor appeared on their doorstep. "A few months later, a lady winds up at the door asking us who we were. I asked her why she's asking that and she says, 'I'm the owner of this house'," said Torres.

• Now, the Torres have 10 days to move out of the house. "We wanted something great. We wanted a nice home. We put all our money into it, now we have nothing," said Torres.(1)

• Newswatch 16 contacted the homeowner, but she has no comment. The home in Monroe County is still in foreclosure and scheduled for a Sheriff's sale in November. Investigators now say they are expecting more possible victims to step forward.

For the story, see Man Accused in Real Estate Scam in Poconos.

(1) See Pocono Record: Stroudsburg businessman charged in mortgage solution scam:

• Torres gave [real estate agent Gayle] Dimas a total of $5,250 in prepayments, which he was told were a deposit plus the first and last months' rent and which was then deposited into Price's personal PNC Bank accounts. After moving into the house, Torres and [Ivonne] Davila spent $26,000 of their own money in property repairs with the understanding that We All Win would help them gain property ownership.