Aeon Tax Liens Mark Schwartz response to Washington Post story

Submitted by Gone Fishin on Tue, 12/10/2013 - 14:04.

 The thieves want to dump their property on county taxpayers so we can foot the bill for their demolitions AND for the tens of thousands they owe in delinquent property taxes.

The thieves force folks from their homes for delinquent property taxes,  they don't pay their own property taxes, and then expect taxpayers to bail them out after they have made millions here.

Meanwhile, thousands of people have been victimized by these sorry ass thieves, and they LOST THEIR HOMES.

Their response to the Washington Post story, " We have repeatedly met with local officials in Cleveland to discuss blight problems and offered to donate every parcel of forfeited real estate Aeon controls to the East Cleveland or Cuyahoga County Land Banks, but those entities have declined, since they are already glutted with properties." 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20131210/BLOGS03/131219975

 

If Mark Schwartz (Aeon Financial Tax Lien Services) was sincere about the concern for tax strapped counties, they should pay their OWN delinquent property taxes on property which they obtained via delinquent property tax foreclosures.  Aeon Financial owes Cuyahoga County tens of thousands of dollars for their OWN delinquent property taxes.  Read HERE http://realneo.us/content/aeon-financial-aka-capitalsource-bank-property-tax-foreclosure-thieves-does-not-pay-their-ow

 

 

Aeon Tax Liens Mark Schwartz - Fraud Attempted Theft Man in Danger of Eviction AFTER he paid off tax lien land contract

Document notarized by Attorney Keith Liederbach.  Keith Liederbach has never filed for a notary commission and is NOT a Notary Public.

The fraudulent notarized legal documents have caused property owners - including Cedric Bishop- to lose their property:

 

Rebecca Hill operating without a valid license.  Her fraud has caused property owners - including Cedric Bishop - to lose their property with the direct knowledge of Aeon Financial's attorneys.

Full Story HERE http://realneo.us/content/aeon-tax-liens-mark-schwartz-fraud-attempted-theft-man-danger-foreclosure-after-he-paid-tax-

 

 

Cleveland suffers from an 'extra-vicious' Aeon Financial 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20131209/BLOGS03/131209828

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Lily Miller source for Wash. Post article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2013/12/08/local-laws-do-little-to-protect-homeowners/

In Cleveland, Lily Miller grew so frustrated with tax lien investors that she started blogging in 2008, criticizing government officials for allowing investors to “destroy lives and neighborhoods.”

Thank you Lily - I can't believe how many people STILL refuse to cover this story - but it will not be buried as there is now a senate investigation in the works (no thanks to Sherrod Brown or Rob Portman):

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-09-19/news/42216250_1_senators-homeowners-tax-liens

County Council does nothing to protect us from Aeon

What has the structure of Cuyahoga County council done to protect us from similar corrupt structure that existed under Dimora-Russo ???- evidently, NOTHING has changed:

 

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2013/09/cuyahoga_county_selling_up_to_25_million_in_property_tax_liens.html

 

What did we get for the promise of Cuyahoga "reform"????  Better oversight?

 

VAPAC Letter to Mark Parks Re Aeon Financial

 

Cuyahoga County Administration Building 1219 Ontario Street, 1st floor Cleveland, OH 44113 June 27, 2013 Dear Mr. Parks,

 

We have greatly appreciated the responsiveness of the Fiscal Office to incorporating recommended changes into tax lien certificate sales and understand the importance of these sales as a tax collection tool for the county. For that reason, we are very concerned about the potential damage that could be done to the public support and credibility of the tax lien certificate sale process if companies that demonstrate a lack of regard for municipal codes are allowed to participate in the tax lien sale program. This is a topic which we have previously discussed with Fiscal Office staff and as a result we had recommended that the county establish a vetting process that excludes bidders who have a history of non-compliance with municipal codes.

 

Based on the data presented at the meeting as well as the reports from municipal officials who have been dealing with Aeon Financial, the following points clearly emerged at the meeting: • Aeon Financial, as a result of foreclosing on tax liens it purchased from the county, currently owns a substantial inventory of 252 properties in Cuyahoga County, with another 158 properties about to come into their possession. Of these, 276 (71.5%) are in the City of Cleveland, and 28.5% are in the suburbs. • Of the 276 properties in the City of Cleveland, 40 (15%) have been condemned, and at least 12 have already been demolished by the City of Cleveland. The Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation (CCLRC) has demolished at least three suburban properties owned by Aeon, with at least one pending. To date Aeon has not paid for nor accepted responsibility for the demolition costs. In addition, Aeon has repeatedly stated that they do not consider themselves responsible for demolitions paid for by DTAC funds since they were the reason such DTAC funds are even available. • Despite months of meetings and discussions with municipal officials and the CCLRC, Aeon has been unable or unwilling to present a plan of action for responsibly handling the distressed and condemned properties it owns. They are willing to donate properties, but not to cover the associated demolition costs. • Aeon has demolished two properties and indicated it has one demolition pending, but no plans for further demolitions. They have indicated that they do not have the funds to demolish condemned properties and instead they plan to continue marketing them through the MLS to the highest bidder, in as-is condition, with no vetting of buyers. Despite their claim of lack of funds, between February
and June of 2013, Aeon sold 42 properties in Cuyahoga County which in total grossed them $234,190. • Between February and June of 2013, Aeon has already sold three (3) properties condemned by the City of Cleveland, and an additional eight (8) on the city's Distressed Property list. Of the 42 properties they sold between February and June 2013, only 6 sold for more than $10,000, and the average sales price was $5,576. This dumping of low value properties is of grave concern to the community. • Aeon's initial response to municipal efforts to enforce their codes was not compliance, but rather a series of aggressive lawsuits which only served to create additional costs for municipalities and delay any beneficial outcome. Aeon finally dropped these lawsuits in April 2013, but has continued to routinely file appeals challenging condemnation actions on properties it owns in the City of Cleveland. Aeon has emphatically stated that it will legally challenge any efforts by the City of Cleveland to enforce its ordinance which holds all property owners in the chain of title responsible for demolition costs, on properties that Aeon owned. Until recently, they have refused to comply with the City of Shaker Heights' foreclosure filing fee ordinance. • Aeon indicated that they had requested that the county research taking back liens on properties that are condemned but that have not yet come into Aeon's ownership. You stated that while they have the legal ability to take back liens, it is a tool that will only be used sparingly, and only in rare cases where all parties are in agreement, i.e. the county, the city affected, the lien holder and if applicable, the CCLRC, since it is not the county's responsibility to bail out private entities. In short, what has emerged from Aeon's actions is a picture of a tax lien buyer that either has little willingness to cooperate with municipal officials or lacks the capacity to comply with local housing codes, and instead is actively offloading as many distressed properties as they can without a process to insure a beneficial outcome for our communities. Local research has clearly shown that indiscriminant trading of low value properties (generally considered properties valued under $20,000) has become the scourge of Cuyahoga County communities, creating blight, and setting up a cycle of neighborhood decline.

 

This is the very reason why the community has worked so hard with the county to prevent condemned and low value properties from being a part of the tax lien sales. Despite best efforts, however, there will always be properties which end up in a deteriorated state by the time they come into the ownership of the tax lien certificate holder, and the business plan for all tax lien certificate buyers must take the responsible disposition of these properties into account. It is not unreasonable for the public to expect that tax lien certificate buyers will be expected to maintain properties they own according to city codes and dispose of them responsibly, just as it would be reasonable to expect them to maintain a history of timely payment of taxes.

 

https://archive.org/stream/799508-vapac-letter-to-mark-parks-re-aeon-6-2...

 

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