Fight Wrap Around Mortgage Bills
Donation protected
Please join us in funding an effort to STOP the current proposed legislation which will effectively stop investors, buyers, and sellers ability to purchase or sell properties subject-to the existing mortgage via a Wrap-Around Mortgage Strategy in Texas.
As you know, Shenoah and I have been buying property subject-to the existing mortgage (the correct and legal way) since we started our business in 2003. However, sadly, there were a few investors that used this strategy to defraud buyers and sellers by not making the payments to the underlying lender.
As a result of this fraud, legislators have decided to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" and make it ILLEGAL for the rest of us to do these types of transactions the right way. They have proposed SB 1993, 1994, & 1995 that effectively disallow these transactions, even when done the correct way.
To combat this legislation, we have retained a highly experienced lobbyist, with connections to the senators writing the bills. This required us to commit to paying them $40,000. We have already paid the first $10,000 and are looking to our real estate colleagues, across the state, to help us raise the rest. We've set up a GoFundMe account to take contributions for this effort and fight to keep our rights as real estate investor professionals. Several of the leading investors in the state have also offered to join this effort.
This effort is already starting to yield results. Shenoah, Alan Ceshker (our attorney), and I have met several times with the legislators responsible for writing these bills and have told them about how this could negatively affect their constituents by disenfranchising them of their right to buy and sell property using the owner finance strategy of the Wrap-Around Mortgage which will ultimately have a deleterious effect on the very people they represent. We have proposed modifications to the legislation, that will make it safer for buyers and sellers, while closing the loopholes that allow fraudsters to commit fraud. And, we have mapped out a strategy to either get these modifications into the bills, or fight to kill the bills.
As a side note, this proposed legislation has once again illuminated how vulnerable Texas Real Estate Investors are to the legislative process. Without ongoing representation, we will eventually be completely legislated out of existence. Previous laws have been passed in Texas to regulate seller financing, ban lease-options and contracts-for-deed, and now they propose banning wrap-around mortgages. In all of these cases, laws were written to stop fraud, but modifications could have been made to accommodate the abilities for legitimate buyers, sellers, and investors to use these strategies for good, while shutting down the fraud. So, in addition to fighting the current legislation, Shenoah and I are also committed to working with other leaders in the state to establish a statewide association for representing Texas investors on an ongoing basis (not just for our REIAs, but for all of the REIAs in Texas that would like to participate). All excess monies raised by this GoFundMe effort will go towards those efforts. We will also contribute a portion of the REIA membership dues we raise going forward.
Please DONATE to this important cause!
Warm Regards,
Phill & Shenoah Grove
Follow up:
GoFundMe has asked us to clarify our story and wanted us to share some additional information with you all as follows:
1. Who you are - Phill & Shenoah Grove. We run the Texas Wealth Network and Love American Homes. We are real estate investors and real estate teachers. We run investing associations in Austin, Houston, Dallas, & San Antonio.
2. Where you're from - We live in Austin, Texas
3. Your relationship to the parties you're raising funds for - We are raising funds to pay for the lobbyist (Winstead Law Firm) we hired to represent us in the current Texas Legislature session at the State Capitol. We are raising funds from our students and supporters who we work with. The funds will go to us (Phill & Shenoah Grove) and we will use those funds to pay the lobbyist.
4. How the funds will be used (be specific as possible) - The funds will be used to pay our lobbyist. We have personally already paid the lobbyist $10,000.00 and we were trying to raise the balance from our students and supporters.
5. If you intend to withdraw the money, how you plan to send the funds to the parties you're raising money for or use the money on their behalf - We originally wanted the funds to go directly to the lobbyist. However, since they are a company, now the funds are going to have to come through us (personally) and then we'll write a check to them. (It's my understanding that the GoFundMe system won't allow for an EIN number and instead requires a social security number that's why we made that change from sending the money directly to the Lobbyist and instead it now has to go through us.)
Thanks again for your support!
As you know, Shenoah and I have been buying property subject-to the existing mortgage (the correct and legal way) since we started our business in 2003. However, sadly, there were a few investors that used this strategy to defraud buyers and sellers by not making the payments to the underlying lender.
As a result of this fraud, legislators have decided to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" and make it ILLEGAL for the rest of us to do these types of transactions the right way. They have proposed SB 1993, 1994, & 1995 that effectively disallow these transactions, even when done the correct way.
To combat this legislation, we have retained a highly experienced lobbyist, with connections to the senators writing the bills. This required us to commit to paying them $40,000. We have already paid the first $10,000 and are looking to our real estate colleagues, across the state, to help us raise the rest. We've set up a GoFundMe account to take contributions for this effort and fight to keep our rights as real estate investor professionals. Several of the leading investors in the state have also offered to join this effort.
This effort is already starting to yield results. Shenoah, Alan Ceshker (our attorney), and I have met several times with the legislators responsible for writing these bills and have told them about how this could negatively affect their constituents by disenfranchising them of their right to buy and sell property using the owner finance strategy of the Wrap-Around Mortgage which will ultimately have a deleterious effect on the very people they represent. We have proposed modifications to the legislation, that will make it safer for buyers and sellers, while closing the loopholes that allow fraudsters to commit fraud. And, we have mapped out a strategy to either get these modifications into the bills, or fight to kill the bills.
As a side note, this proposed legislation has once again illuminated how vulnerable Texas Real Estate Investors are to the legislative process. Without ongoing representation, we will eventually be completely legislated out of existence. Previous laws have been passed in Texas to regulate seller financing, ban lease-options and contracts-for-deed, and now they propose banning wrap-around mortgages. In all of these cases, laws were written to stop fraud, but modifications could have been made to accommodate the abilities for legitimate buyers, sellers, and investors to use these strategies for good, while shutting down the fraud. So, in addition to fighting the current legislation, Shenoah and I are also committed to working with other leaders in the state to establish a statewide association for representing Texas investors on an ongoing basis (not just for our REIAs, but for all of the REIAs in Texas that would like to participate). All excess monies raised by this GoFundMe effort will go towards those efforts. We will also contribute a portion of the REIA membership dues we raise going forward.
Please DONATE to this important cause!
Warm Regards,
Phill & Shenoah Grove
Follow up:
GoFundMe has asked us to clarify our story and wanted us to share some additional information with you all as follows:
1. Who you are - Phill & Shenoah Grove. We run the Texas Wealth Network and Love American Homes. We are real estate investors and real estate teachers. We run investing associations in Austin, Houston, Dallas, & San Antonio.
2. Where you're from - We live in Austin, Texas
3. Your relationship to the parties you're raising funds for - We are raising funds to pay for the lobbyist (Winstead Law Firm) we hired to represent us in the current Texas Legislature session at the State Capitol. We are raising funds from our students and supporters who we work with. The funds will go to us (Phill & Shenoah Grove) and we will use those funds to pay the lobbyist.
4. How the funds will be used (be specific as possible) - The funds will be used to pay our lobbyist. We have personally already paid the lobbyist $10,000.00 and we were trying to raise the balance from our students and supporters.
5. If you intend to withdraw the money, how you plan to send the funds to the parties you're raising money for or use the money on their behalf - We originally wanted the funds to go directly to the lobbyist. However, since they are a company, now the funds are going to have to come through us (personally) and then we'll write a check to them. (It's my understanding that the GoFundMe system won't allow for an EIN number and instead requires a social security number that's why we made that change from sending the money directly to the Lobbyist and instead it now has to go through us.)
Thanks again for your support!
Organizer and beneficiary
Shenoah Grove
Organizer
Austin, TX
Shenoah Grove
Beneficiary
