Michigan

Last edited Thu Apr 28, 2022, 11:20 AM - Edit history (1)

His eyes gave it away. This guy is a scumbag. He was licensed as a Real Estate agent in the early '80s. He lived in St. Clair County for years. He fancied himself a builder and took a $50,000 deposit from someone and never built the house. That was his first felony. When he got out of prison, he re-applied for his Real Estate license. At the time, a broker had to sponsor you. That broker was Jake Hewitt. Jake knew Randy was a felon and sponsored him anyway. You cannot be licensed in Michigan with a felony on your record. Jake had been an Earl Keim Realty broker. His father had a franchise and Jake ran the company into the ground after his father died. They ended up in the Remerica system and Jake was selling franchises. When my father's sister who was my first broker decided to semi-retire, Jake and Randy brought in a Remerica franchise and worked out a deal with her to buy her business and rent her building. Within weeks he had locked her out of the building, stopped paying for the business, stopped paying rent, and sued her. He was married at the time and had his mistress working as a receptionist. We ended up hearing from one of his previous clients that she came home one day to find Randy, her agent, in her bed with one of his girlfriends. He wasn't paying the agents and was illegally using a business checking account instead of an escrow account. I had 5 closings that month and had to go to his bank for several days after each closing until there was money in the account and I could cash the checks. As soon as the last one was cashed, I got out of there. He kept a $240,000 vacant property listing I had and shortly after, the property was sold. I told the lady just close it and take the money. Nothing I could do. He closed the business soon after when all of the agents left. Apparently, he then lost his licenses due to lying on his application about being a felon. Months later, I was driving in St. Clair County and saw his Real Estate sign with my aunt's business phone number that he had kept. He was still selling Real Estate-without a license. Two years later, my aunt died of cancer. I really believe the stress of losing the business that she built for 30 years to that loser contributed to her death.