"In Jan of 2014, I lost my husband. It was a big loss for me and for my family. I decided I needed a change and to sell my only home to start a new life. During the month of May, I have managed save a horse only after another one passed away. Shortly after I decided I wanted to rescue horses on a higher level. I started searching for affordable land that had sufficient acreage. Soon, I came across an advertisement online from a website called landsofamerica.com of some 53.24 acres available in Sierra Blanca, Tx. listed for $15k. I'd never been out West and had decided that I was going to try and purchase this land as my only daughter will be living in Tx after her husband retires from the Army.
I clicked on the link landsofamerica.com had to view the website of original seller, once the page had loaded fully I found that the sell had a OBO (or best offer) posted with the advertised listed land. I contacted seller and stated I was interested in land and how do I go about making an offer and getting the paperwork going. I received paperwork via USPS mail filled it out which it asked for me offer, asked for the interest I was willing to pay and how much I could pay monthly and sent it back to the seller. Within a few weeks I received a contract (PLEASE READ AND VIEW ATTACHED COPY OF ORIGINAL CONTRACT FROM SELLER) for the purchase of the Sierra Blanca land of 53.24 acres.
I was so excited as it was the most land I was ever going to own to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning horses and having a place for my entire family to visit at one time without feeling crowded.
My offer was for $14k with 7.99% interest and monthly payments not to exceed $325. being set for the 5th of each month. Seller agreed to my offer and even offered me a lower interest rate and a easy payment amount to work with. I sent in my down payment as requested and started making my monthly payments. While my home has already been for sale via craigslist.com and other websites, I decided to list it through a real estate agent. While it was listed for sale I had started working on my home to improve altogether to sell faster. I had sunk about $3k when my husband first went into the hospital in 2013 to get it ready for him to come back home. After he passed I sunk another $4k into remodeling and improving my home and land.
I had traveled out West to look at this property in 2014 before leaving notifying sellers I was headed to land, that I needed more information as to the exact road property was off of. I never got a reply from seller or I received a message stating they were out of town. So I just made the trip. In 2015 I started looking for more land for my family in same area because it was affordable. So I hit the internet once again and found another 53.24 acres being sold by same seller of the first piece of 53.24 acres I was buying. I thought this would be great, this way I would only have to send a double payment to same person. But there was a problem after looking over the description of the land. It was the same land I had been paying on now for almost a year.
When my next month's payment was ready to be mailed I wrote the seller asking why my land was listed for sale also asking him to give more details about how I can get to the land for which I was paying. Seller sent me latitude and longitude information of the land and names of road the land was off of. Seller completely denied that such land was listed on any website. Satisfied I was with his response. So once again in 2015 I headed out West to find this land after informing seller I was headed to Sierra Blanca, Tx. Yet again I could not find the land. I became discouraged but never gave up hope. The contract for the real estate agent had expired to sell my home in late 2015. I contacted agent to relist home after completing my remodeling to get new pictures and to relist for 6 more months. Time was counting down and I was ready to move permanently to Sierra Blanca, Tx on my 53.24 acres even though I was not successful at locating the land either of the first two times I'd already been there.
I'd paid for this property of 53.24 acres now for almost 2 years and I was ready for the change.
Now 2016 I get an offer on my only home, the only home I have ever owned. I ended up selling my home for $30k less the appraisal and losing the $8k + I had put into the home and land to remodel and improve before and after husband passed away. Now late August 2016 I rented a uHaul trailer, put the remainder of my belongings in storage, informed Sierra Blanca seller I sold my home and was headed yet again to Texas to live on my new land. This time I used the interstate for the whole trip because I had a rental trailer attached to my truck. Upon my arrival off Hwy 10 in Sierra Blanca, Tx I noticed that the town consisted of a prison situated close to the main Hwy 10 in town, which was not disclosed in any of the information the seller had posted about the land and town. I had to wait to talk to seller about his failure to disclose that very important piece of information.
I drove for miles and miles trying to find this land yet again on roads that were listed as easy access. Going by road names seller supplied with latitude and longitude information was proving to be a complete failure. Frustrated and distraught I headed to El Paso where I was to deliver the empty u-Haul trailer, now having to rent a uHaul storage unit to store what should have been left on my property in Sierra Blanca, Tx in a building I was to buy and place on my land to live in. There is no way a delivery crew would have drove those roads to deliver any building to anyone's land. Pictures listed with land shows great roads, but upon seeing them personally makes one wonder where those roads really are!
After unloading the uHaul trailer into my rented storage unit in El Paso, Tx I decide to travel to California to visit with my daughter and grandchildren I hadn't seen since 2010 before they moved to Army base in Germany. I stayed for one week and two days before I was ready to head back to Sierra Blanca, I pulled out all the paperwork asking my daughter to help me try and locate property by information seller provided. She could not locate any information either road names, latitude or longitude online, gps devices, phones, nothing. She started to get upset cause she couldn't find the land either. But I told her not to worry and forget about it as she was 8 months pregnant and did not need the added stress. On my way back to Sierra Blanca, Tx I took my time, doing a bit of sightseeing and just enjoying to beautiful views. I finally arrived 2 days later and began my search once again.
This was Labor Day weekend so I knew if I couldn't located the land this time I'd have to wait til Tuesday September 6th to get hold of owner (seller). I drove for over an hour trying to find my land. I gave up, headed into town and spent the night. A police officer even stopped to make sure everything was ok and watched me throughout the night cause I voiced my concerns about the prison being right there in town. The next morning on the 6th of September 2016 I sent seller a message via text to which a reply was sent back stating that they were out of office (PLEASE SEE AND READ ALL ATTACHED TEXT MESSAGE RESPONSES BETWEEN SELLER AND MYSELF) and I'd have to email them or visit website.
I sent a reply telling him where I was and the problem I had been having. He showed no great concern for my situation nor the concern I had about him not disclosing information of the prison in town. He stated he did not know of a prison. He asked if I did my due diligence in checking out all information to be accurate. I informed him I went by what he had listed and photo's, I also informed him I did check out his name. I informed him that he is responsible as a seller to show land or have someone for him show his buyers land they are going to look at in person. He says he's not a real estate agent. What? I kept asking him in a text message (the seller) about the prison, because he kept going around that very important subject “I don’t even know about the existence of any prison”.
I told seller even the longitude and latitude he offered me doesn’t get seen on the mapping device nor even the GPS devices. He also offered me a GEO ID. Afterwards, he mentioned me to go to the court house in order to get right kind of assistance. Thought he sold that land to me, doesn’t he have any responsibility to show me where the land is? He has not even offered me any correct details about how to get to that land. He has not even told me about any landmarks, town history and town events. He doesn’t even know things related to Sierra Blanca located in Texas. For just anyone who wishes to build a house in this area, having such information is very important. There would be hardly anyone who would like to build a home and start a family close to a prison. He stated that he was not really aware of that prison near the land.
I got aggravated with seller as he stopped replying and once again hit the road headed back to Big Sandy, Tn where I didn't own a home any more cause I sold it to live in Sierra Blanca, Tx, but I did have family and friends to support me and help me however they could or would be able to. Living in my truck sleeping in parks, truck stops, camping sites, rest areas, parking lots, friends driveways, or motels is how we (my dog and myself) spent the next month and a half until I got seller to agree to a deal. I had located other land seller had for sale in Brownwood, Tx listed at over half an acre for $4k with a matching definable latitude and longitude, which showed up on all gps devices even google maps online.
Seller asked that I have all my online complaints removed of him before he would make a final trade. I informed him that complaints were permanent record and that I would try even though he had agreed to the swap with a cash refund of difference, less the amount I had paid in on interest for the Sierra Blanca, Tx land of 53.24 acres he was financing for me, that was not locatable via any gps device (PLEASE READ AND VIEW ALL ATTACHED PAPERWORK SELLER PROVIDED IN 2015 WITH ROAD NAMES, HIS PRINTED MAPS, LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE INFORMATION). A few days had passed by and I had not heard from seller as to our agreement of trade, I sent emails after emails and they were going unanswered. I was getting disgusted yet again with this seller. I finally sent his a text message stating if I did not hear from him by a certain date I would proceed further with other actions against him.
He finally did reply and acted like he did not know who I was or what I was talking about. I quickly reminded him of the ongoing problem and trade-off agreement he had stated he would take care of. He then sent me a letter via email with something he claimed was from another potential buyer of the land in Sierra Blanca I had paid on for almost two years. I questioned in my head how he can legally sell land that was not even free to sell at this point to another as our agreement had not been completed or finalized. Nonetheless I sent him a reply email (PLEASE READ AND VIEW ALL ATTACHED CORRESPONDING EMAIL MESSAGES BETWEEN SELLER AND MYSELF) stating I did not mention certain things that only he and myself had spoke about, and asked one more time if we had a deal. He stated paperwork was in the mail as well as refund that is was in two separate mailings.
This is now the 2nd of November 2016 and we (my dog and myself) were getting quite tired of the yo-yoing back and forth and wanted nothing more than to get this man out of my life and our feet planted firmly back on the ground and start our new life over. We were still sleeping in my truck with no place permanently to sleep other that what was stated above on page 3, in my truck, hotels, parking lots, campsites, truck stops, etc.. I lost weight was literally sick due to all the stress I'd endured over the last couple months. I waited and the paperwork finally did arrive with the new traded land in Brownwood, Tx in my name. I did call the county court house to verify it's legitimacy, and was reassured to be a true fact. My quest was on once again as I purchased a trailer this time to transport more of my belongings in a storage unit in Camden, Tn to my newly acquired piece of land in Brownwood, Tx consisting of over half an acre. I told my dog we were going home.
When I arrived in Brownwood, Tx I headed down to Brady, Tx to get a building to have placed on my new land for us (my dog and myself) to live in. I placed a two month payment down on building and headed back to Brownwood, Tx to go to the land. Upon my arrival on the land which I knew there would be some clearing of the land I would have to do to put this building, but I found that the land was not level, in fact it had a 90 degree or better slope on the backside of the land. Which yet again the seller did not disclose important information about this land to inform any and all potential buyers. Which I could try and make it work I just need to see how the lay of the land was where the better place to set the building would be overall.
The next day I went online and found the county website of C.A.P. as I found the land and read detailed information of the land I was in shock when I read that the new land that was listed as over half an acre only consisted of less than one third of an acre. Oh now I was totally upset, got back on the road headed back to Camden, Tn with trailer of my belongings in tow to put back in storage unit in Camden, Tn. I was not going to rent yet another storage unit costing me more money that was now getting to be a bit tight. As I arrived in Camden, Tn I placed my belongings back in storage listed the trailer I just bought for sale taking a loss on that cost now as I could not sell it for what I paid for the trailer.
A few days went by of sleeping and camping out wherever we could park my truck without the fear of it getting towed or the police telling us we have to leave, two days before Thanksgiving, I almost had my dog put down (PLEASE READ AND VIEW ATTACH VETERINARIAN PAPERWORK OF CHARGES) cause of this as I did not feel it was right or fair to him to be homeless because of me and the dreams I had of owning more land with horses. After I placed him into vets office I again started not being able to keep food down, or eat, getting sick to my stomach, not being able to sleep, I decided that if my dog was still alive I was going to get him back. He is my friend, my partner, he never argues with me, he is easy to talk to and most of all never complained of how we were living.
Currently we are still homeless and though we are not living in my truck due to severe cold weather and are staying in a friends storage building until we can find new land to purchase and plant our feet firmly back on the ground. As of this date January 19th 2017 I have not contacted the seller of this last issue of the property we swapped for to get him out of my life. I will not allow him to get by with this, try and take advantage of me yet again and my disabilities. He needs to be held accountable for his lack of doing his due diligence as he wants his buyers to be in researching land they intend to buy. When listing property online sellers have to realize that not everyone can drop whatever they're doing, put their work and lives on hold to go and look at property listed online for sale.
It is the seller's responsibility to list full, accurate information as much as they can with accurate photo's of the land and if seller chooses to list photo's of surrounding area stating that those photo's are of the surrounding are only of any and all land they are trying to sell online. Photo's should have this information printed on the seller's photo's, kinda like a copyright logo so that no one else can use those photo's without having to doctor original photo's. It is unknown how many others are out there from buying land online from either this seller or others that have not reported to proper Channels.
I have filed complaints against this company/person Mr Kent Taylor of 1881.com Investments. All over the internet. Be it known the complaints are 100% true accurately and correct. There are other complaints not of same situation as mine by others listed on these websites. So he has done this to others. I wanted this settled and Mr Taylor out of my life. I want all my money returned less the $1736.59 he has already refunded me. I have gone to Legal Aid in Brownwood, Tx for their help in taking this seller to court. They stated they can not help that way, but are drawing up the proper documents to file with the court house myself in small claims court.
It appears he (the seller) does not do his due diligence in making sure what his listings for sale is accurate according to court and county records. I traded off the first piece of property of 53.24 acres in Sierra Blanca, Tx @ $14, 000., for something smaller of over half an acre in Brownwood, Tx @ $4, 000. and not that of what I really wanted with a partial refund.
Arriving in Sierra Blanca, Tx I found a prison right off Hwy 10 in town of Sierra Blanca, Tx, latitude and longitude information did not pull a hit on any land in Sierra Blanca, Tx, Seller refused to come show me or have someone show me exactly where the land was located. Seller did not state in sales listing that a prison was near land (less that 15 minutes). When I arrived in Brownwood, Texas to get property cleared to place a building, I found that the property backside had a severe slope. Seller did not state such information in sales listing.
Which means Mr Kent Taylor failed to yet again disclose in the sales listing. However I was set to make it work for me, but I had to make sure of the property layout from the county records office. Upon viewing their records I was devastated when I read that both lots combined only consisted of .32 acres and not at all close to the over half acre as described online.
Mr Taylor had given measurements of property which does add up to .63 acres, however again his numbers are false and inaccurate. My complaint against Mr Taylor for both counts are legitimate. I’ve had enough with this person and his inaccurate, misleading sales ploys to sell land fast so he won’t be stuck with them before taxes are due. Which is another issue, he owes tax on this lot for the time frame he owned it, and he has only once supplied me with a interest paid year to date for 2014 on the first piece of property. Which makes me wonder if he even has claimed that income on his taxes for years of 2015 and soon to be 2016. He doesn’t disclose important information of property he sells and he won’t list accuracy of acres.
He has no business selling or buying land. He has to be held accountable for his misleading ways. We (my dog and I) are still homeless with no place to permanently put our feet on the ground.
Out traveling cost now 4 times. Out a permanent home roof over our heads, Out storage unit fees, out uHaul trailer rental, out having to buy a receiver hitch, out the cost of remodeling my home of over $7k, out the appraisal difference from sale of my home of over $30k to move to Tx land that could not be found.
Out traveling cost now 2 more times, out difference of sale of trailer purchase to move more belongings to Tx, Out storage unit rentals time 2 for more than 3 months, Out wear and tear on my truck now for making a total of 6 or more trips to Texas alone, Out my dignity, Out of stress, Out Depression, Out panic, Out Anxiety, Out hope, Out fear, Out trust.
In all I'm out more than $10k in out of pocket expenses. There are others that have helped me along the way whom are also out of pockets costs in helping me through this ordeal. Seller does not deserve to have or maintain a license to sell any property any where."