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‘You gotta settle,’ says mediator to house flipper in construction defects case

On Behalf of | Oct 6, 2017 | Construction Defects |

The Bravo television series Flipping Out depicts Jeff Lewis as a house flipper and designer with obsessive-compulsive tendencies who brings extraordinary attention to detail to every project he undertakes. More accurately (because this is reality TV), it’s Lewis who depicts himself that way.

Either way, in a case that involved construction defects and conspiracy in a flip, the seller of a house our clients bought certainly did not have Lewis’ attention to detail.

Flip gone wrong

Our clients bought a flipped home originally acquired in foreclosure, but those who did the flipping work either didn’t know what they were doing, didn’t care, or both. Simply put, the house was full of defects.

Everything from the building permits to the swimming pool had issues.

In fact, in representing our clients, we hired an expert to look at the pool, and he said, “I’ve already been to this house before. I already told them about the defects.”

The proverbial ‘smoking gun’

Two days prior to the mediation, we found a “smoking gun” in the form of a YouTube clip posted by the defendants titled “The Street Name Flip.” This clip showed what this really was – a flip – when it wasn’t supposed to be. The sellers committed fraud when they took out the FHA loan because they said it would be owner occupied.

When the mediator saw it, he laughed and said, “You gotta settle.”