Realtor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 61 posts · 24 votes
Hello, fellow investors!
I feel compelled to share my experience with Charles Lee and his business, Realty 103 in Birmingham, AL.
After we were unsuccessful in closing the deal Charles and I had agreed on: we cancelled the expired purchase agreement. I asked that the EMD and appraisal fees be wired back into my account as agreed. He advised me the transfer would take a few days. That was on November 11th.
Charles owes us $10,150. He's not answering my emails or phone calls at this point. But he seemed not have any problems posting on here.
Hanford, CA · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 3 votes
9y
Wow. Sorry to hear that man. Belongs in prison. I would like to know if he deleted his account or if BP did the honors for the good of the community...
If I tagged you it's only because you had obvious interaction with Charles Lee based on your post in this forum. It doesn't sound like anyone has made any progress in getting their money back and I don't know if I can help, but I would like to try. Realty 103 LLC a domestic limited liability company was formed 12-20-2016 in Alabama by Charles Lee with a registered office street/mailing address of 1119 30th Street S. Birmingham. That address, however, is not owned by Charles Lee; the people that own it also own another property in the county. I would think that means there is a good chance it was a rental, but there are other possibilities. The state is not great at inputing data into their systems and keeping them up to date; some of the information that should be public record may not have been entered, depriving you of said free information. However, the Articles of Formation (non-certified edition) are available for sale on the state system for only $6. There may be better details in those documents, but perhaps not.
As for Kenneth Lewis and Rehab America, I couln't find any information matching that person to that company here on BP. There was a guy by that name from Birmingham on here but his company is a different name and he hasn't been online in 8 months; doesn't look like he's ever been truly active on the site. Basically, I couldn't find enough to do any kind of due diligence on the alias statement from Sam. Not saying it's not true, I just couldn't find it and maybe it's because he has deleted those accounts too. I did check the Rehab America company and there is a foreign (out of state, Tennessee) corporation by that name, it was formed in 97 and there is no obvious connection to Charles Lee, but like I said earlier the data entry doesn't cover everything.
I hope that some of this is helpful and feel free to pass it along to your attorneys if they haven't already figured this out.
Flipper/Rehabber · Reno, NV · Member since 2016 · 235 posts · 35 votes
9y
http://www.rehabamerica.biz/ is their website. If you call the number on the page, you can reach Charle Lee. His "son" was contacting me once from this number once too. Kenneth is also quoted under the Testimonials.
I am not saying Kenneth is a bad guy, or Charles for that matter, but I can tell you, I called Kenneth on the number he gave me, and Charles answered. Then Kenneth emailed me saying his dad answered and to call back. It all seemed fishy to me. I think Kenneth follows this thread too because he emailed me and asked me to stop discrediting him on BP...They never scammed me so I don't have any thing bad to say, it just seemed very fishy....
Birmingham, AL · Member since 2017 · 8 posts · 3 votes
9y
Hello All!!
I can probably help you all on locating Charles Lewis aka Charles Lewis and Kenny Lewis..
My company was burned as well by the Lewis Brothers. There are 3 of them total. Bradley, Kenny and Charles. All three are known for stealing money and making deals they can not uphold. We were burned by Bradley - long story short - he stole $50k from us. He was then a partner... We had no idea what we were getting involved in..
After he was dropped as a partner, he never made things right. Stolen money was absorbed by us and the empty houses that were never completed were left to disintegrate. Not only did he steal money from our investors, but he also took out 2 and 3 mortgages against houses and lied on HUDS and Leases.
Bradley is the ring leader. He has been sought out my so many lawyers. He has also over taken his brothers names and has used them as well. Bradley and his brothers move office locations about every 4-8 months. When the lawyers start to catch up to him, he packs up in the middle of the night and relocates.
I am sorry to everyone that has had a bad experience with investing in Birmingham! I hope this experience has not ruined others reputations. There are still good property investment companies in Birmingham that won't give you the run around and will keep things simple.
http://www.rehabamerica.biz/ is their website. If you call the number on the page, you can reach Charle Lee. His "son" was contacting me once from this number once too. Kenneth is also quoted under the Testimonials.
I am not saying Kenneth is a bad guy, or Charles for that matter, but I can tell you, I called Kenneth on the number he gave me, and Charles answered. Then Kenneth emailed me saying his dad answered and to call back. It all seemed fishy to me. I think Kenneth follows this thread too because he emailed me and asked me to stop discrediting him on BP...They never scammed me so I don't have any thing bad to say, it just seemed very fishy....
Birmingham, AL · Member since 2017 · 8 posts · 3 votes
9y
I hate to break this to you, but while looking at the Rehab America website, their employee who finds them section 8 renters- Victor Jordan ( Victor J) is posted on there with his testimony. However, he has never bought a house.. In fact he doesn't even own the house he lives in currently..
How do I know this? Victor Jordan one one of our employees when we were partnered with Bradley Lewis running Birmingham Income Properties. Anything to do with Brad, Kenny and Charles (Lee) Lewis is a SCAM!!
http://www.rehabamerica.biz/ is their website. If you call the number on the page, you can reach Charle Lee. His "son" was contacting me once from this number once too. Kenneth is also quoted under the Testimonials.
I am not saying Kenneth is a bad guy, or Charles for that matter, but I can tell you, I called Kenneth on the number he gave me, and Charles answered. Then Kenneth emailed me saying his dad answered and to call back. It all seemed fishy to me. I think Kenneth follows this thread too because he emailed me and asked me to stop discrediting him on BP...They never scammed me so I don't have any thing bad to say, it just seemed very fishy....
Atlanta, GA · Member since 2016 · 2 posts · 2 votes
9y
Wow! I am SO glad we (my daughter, specifically) found this thread.
We entered into an agreement with Charles Lee from Realty 103 LLC to partner on a property where we handle and oversee all renovations while he provides all financing and we just needed to provide a portion of the down payment. We looked at the house that he already had under contract and listened to the plans he supposedly already made with his contractor. As new investors we thought this would be a great experience and after a couple weeks of property research and due diligence on the property provided him $1,500 of the $6,000 we were to pay. That was on 5/23/2017. As the closing date, 6/5/2017, approached I was getting antsy as I knew a lot of planning should be happening but I couldn't get any straight answers from Charles and no schedule, time tables or floor plans had been done - not even meetings scheduled. At first I thought he was just spacey or had ADD or ADHD but I asked more and more questions and wasn't feeling asgood as I previously had - my concerns just kept increasing and I was no longer feeling good about the deal.
I was to provide the remaining funds ($4,500) at closing to the closing attorney but without any straight answers and getting the run around I started placing more and more calls and we started searching online. And that's how we found this thread. I feel so terrible for giving him our money. I have asked several times for our $1,500 back but am getting the run around and now he is yelling at me for backing out of the deal but it was supposed to have already closed. He says he is waiting on the lender to close, the lender says they are waiting on the closing attorney, the closing attorney says they are waiting on Charles to sign documents and none of them had knowledge of us or our company let alone for funds from us. The closing attorney even mentioned that Charles was currently in LA which I wasn't aware of. We last met in person at the property in Atlanta, GA area on 5/23/17 when I gave him the $1,500 check. I asked him several times when he planned a trip to LA but he wouldn't give an answer - always avoided the question. He cashed the check on 5/24/17 and the next day he was back in Birmingham, AL (according to FB) and the following day in LA (again according to FB). So maybe he already had travel plans but why wouldn't he just say so? So did our $1,500 actually contribute to the property or did it go towards his travel?
I have asked several times today for our money back and he is blaming me and giving me excuses. I don't know what to do but reading what others have gone through I will not give him anymore money! I doubt I will get our money back from him either. But at least it is not the full $6,000 or more like the other people on here.
Information I have on Charles Lee that I hope will help others:
Been staying in: Atlanta, GA. He said he had been living in Birmingham, AL around family but really from Los Angles and only moved to Atlanta for investing. Cell: 2 zero 5 - 4 five 2 - nine 8 five 3 (texted with him on today, 6/5/2017, about the $1,500)
Office: 2 zero 5 - 5 seven 8 - zero 8 two 8
Fax: 2 zero 5 - 4 four 9 - zero 3 7 three
Email: Google account for"charleslee08" and "mainaccount2"
"charleslee" and "info" for Realty103.net
Office Address Provided on contract: 1000 Highland Dr, Fairfield, AL 35064
Address provided on website and email: 420 20th Street N. #2200, Birmingham, AL 35203
Birmingham, AL · Member since 2017 · 8 posts · 3 votes
9y
Living in Birmingham I've checked the address in Fairfield and it's a residential house that was foreclosed on by another investor that his brother scammed money out of. Charles & his brother owe thousands & thousands of dollars to investors if not a millions.
Atlanta, GA · Member since 2016 · 2 posts · 2 votes
9y
So Charles is ignoring me now. He "promised" to give me my money back. And now he is just ignoring me, won't answer at all and of course hasn't given me any money back.
When he did talk to me I told him I found this post online and he said everyone posting here was a liar or didn't understand real estate and was dumb. He even called me an idiot several times for believing anyone here was telling the truth and continued to cuss at me. Very disrespectful. Typical blame the victim. Everyone beware of this guy. I'm going to help the authorities any way I can till this guy stops hurting people!
Please spread the word to everyone you know to stop this man. He is a serious scammer.
Real Estate Agent · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2017 · 5 posts · 6 votes
9y
Has anyone gotten their money back? If so, please let me know what attorney was used. I am in a similar situation with this individual to some varying degree of change. Looking for a lawyer to handle it. Here in Atlanta, he seems to be using the same realtor to put homes under contract but can never close on them. Any assistance would be of help. Thanks
Rosedale, NY · Member since 2017 · 8 posts · 3 votes
9y
Are any of these individuals licensed agents or brokers? If so, report them to the state. If not, go after the broker that continues to allow them post listings. This Needs To Stop!!! Based on the amounts stolen this is GRAND LARCENY. They everyone involved should be locked up.
Its reassuring to know that we have a community of people who care enough to look out for each other and realize that when one of us is hurt that we all suffer as a whole. We all have to do our small part to insure the success of this magnificent resource we have here with BP.
Austell, GA · Member since 2017 · 1 post · 0 votes
9y
Wow!! This is all very disturbing.
The house next door to me was purchased by Charles Lee (REALTY 103 LLC), and two contractors have poured tens of thousands of dollars into rehab. Now, I'm wondering if they are going to get stiffed.
I was told the house will be put on the market for $200K, which is way overpriced for this neighborhood.
Investor · Pasadena, CA · Member since 2016 · 14 posts · 1 vote
8y
@George Carrasquillo - I've just been totally defrauded by an associate of Charles Lee, Kenneth Lewis who still has an active BiggerPockets account. Have you been paid back by Charles?
@George Carrasquillo - I've just been totally defrauded by an associate of Charles Lee, Kenneth Lewis who still has an active BiggerPockets account. Have you been paid back by Charles?