Idaho secures settlement with real estate company that ‘trapped’ homeowners
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office has negotiated a settlement with a Florida-based real estate company that it accused of trapping Idaho homeowners in “predatory contracts,” according to a Wednesday news release.
The AG’s office sued MV Reality in May for deceptively marketing a homeowner benefit agreement program in Idaho, the release said. The lawsuit accused the company of coercing customers into signing agreements that allowed the company to act as the exclusive real estate listing agent for an undisclosed period of time.
Since February 2023, Attorney General Raul Labrador’s office has received 19 consumer complaints about the company, according to the lawsuit.
The news release said that MV Realty offered Idaho homeowners a few hundred dollars in exchange for using them as their real estate agent if they ever sold their home. But when homeowners agreed, a notary would come with a multipage contract in confusing language, the AG’s office said, and the notary would pressure homeowners to sign immediately without allowing time for review.
Breaking the contract would cost 3% of the home’s value.
“The company lured families with small cash payments, then trapped them in 40-year agreements with hidden penalties — even binding their children to the contract,” the news release said.
The settlement announced Wednesday declares all Idaho “homeowner benefit agreements” null and void. MV Realty is required to contact every Idaho county to remove the contracts from homeowners’ property records, and the company and its main officers — Anthony Mitchell, David Manchester and Amanda Zachman — are banned from conducting residential real estate work in Idaho for five years.
Idaho homeowners affected by the MV Realty operation will no longer face penalties or obligations, and their property titles are being cleared, according to the release.
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office encouraged Idahoans who have consumer concerns or need to report possible scams to visit ReportScamsIdaho.com and file a complaint on the AG’s website.
