Please stay away

[Christopher Garcia]

Not entirely sure who this will reach but wanted to share/warn others to stay away from Nick Vittardi & Tyler Powell based out of Cleveland OH.

New investor here that recently purchased my first property in NY (back in June '24) that I am currently house hacking. Decided to look into investing in out of state properties as everything in NY is much too expensive. I tried the Bigger Pockets forum to recommend / put me in touch with out of state realtors where I was recommended Nick (Vittardi) first. After a few discussions back in November '24 of what I was looking for and the price ranges (BRRR & Multi-Family, around 150k-250k) he showed me a couple properties, where one of them being a SFH in my price range, (not exactly what I was looking for but financials made sense on paper). After some shakey inspections and appraisals I was hesitant and leaning towards backing out of the deal. Nick assured me that it was a good deal and to go with another lender that would appraise the deal for the numbers that he presented to me (one that he recommended) and that it was still worth pursuing. First mistake/red flag. His own lender provided and even lower ARV (not even half of what Nick presented) and that's when I decided that I no longer wanted to pursue the deal.

I submitted a denial letter in January that I would no longer be pursuing this deal due to the property not being evaluated at the numbers that were presented to me and would like to receive my EMD back in full. Nick assured me that this will be the case and will just take a little while to get the release. A week later I receive a letter for the mutual release of funds to the seller. Confused and when I asked why, Nick flips the script that the seller is threatening to sue if the funds are not released to him as he is entitled to the full amount. After going back in forth that he deceived me and that I will not be signing Nick went to say that he will do everything he can get the money that belongs to me and that NO funds will be released without both parties signing / agreeing.

Months go by without any contact, fast forward to where it is now April '25 and his partner in crime Tyler Powell comes into play where $1,000 of the EMD was released to him. There was no signing, no agreement, not a single conversation from either the buyer (myself) or the seller that any money is to be released. Completely fraudulent.

I continue to reach out to Tyler Powell and have not had any contact with him since November, and Nick Vittardi has not responded to me since February.

I have since tried to resolve the issue amicably with the seller and his agent as they seem reasonable but they have since gone silent for the past month.

I realize a made a lot of mistakes without properly vetting, doing due diligence before jumping into a deal etc. But it has been a very disappointing entry into Real Estate Investing that I will certainly never forget the lesson. It is much less about the dollar amount of the EMD but the deceit and deception of trying to sneakily take part of the EMD paired with the lack of communication as I am sure this is not the first time this has been done.

I hope any moderators read this post and remove both Nick and Tyler from any recommended groups so this does not happen to any other investor, seasoned or new.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Ned Carey:

Without knowing the details of the contract and the timing of notices we have no idea if you were taken advantage of or you simply made some bad choices.

@Christopher Garcia  I don't say this to be critical of you but for other new investors following along this should be a warning. You need to know what you are signing and what the terms are. You also need to know how to evaluate deals yourself. 

 the big question is who did you give the EM to ?  if it was a legit title company they cannot release any of it without yours and sellers signatures.. so what did you do give the EM directly to the Broker. who then should have put it in his / her trust account ?.. was there something in your contract that says the agent was entitled to this even if it does not close?   So if you gave it to the title company and they released without your signature you need to be up in their grill. 

if it went to brokers trust account and there was nothing in writing to release it to the agent.. then you simply make a complaint to the department of real estate tell them what happened back it up with your contacts and let them handle it its free for you.