#6 Does the Media Care? (VI Source)
Maybe the Consortium was just bad luck. I still felt that newspapers would want to cover stories of possible government corruption. Silly me, as I said, this has been quite a learning experience.
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Good day Ms. Cobb
I have written four interrelated articles dealing with both
problems with and solutions for the Virgin Islands real estate industry.
Perhaps you could publish them as op-eds. After you read them you may wish to
have a reporter do a bit of investigative work. Can I send them to you?
Sincerely
David Mattera
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Good day Mr. Mattera,
Thank you for reaching out, and yes, most
definitely we would like to take a look. I've also copied our co-publishers,
Ananta Pancham and Kelsey Nowakowski, on my reply so that we are all in the
loop.
Thank you!
Warm regards,
Sian
Siân Elisabeth Cobb
Executive Editor
904-583-1319
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Good day Sian, Ananta, Kelsey
Almost two years ago I sold my house on St. Croix. My broker
cheated me out of twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars. I have all the
documentation to prove it. Since then, I have been seeking a resolution.
1. The broker refused any compensation at closing.
2. A helpful lawyer tells me that he won’t take my case on
contingency due to the small amount and that I would likely pay him more in
hourly fees than I stand to win in a court battle.
3. The Attorney General’s Office after looking over my
documentation does not deny that a crime was committed but would prefer that
they not be used in squabbles between real estate brokers and clients.
4. In a mediation conducted by the Virgin Islands Territorial
Association of Realtors, the broker offered me ten thousand dollars. This would
have come with a nondisclosure agreement forbidding me from telling my story to
the public. I refused. They tried to force me into binding arbitration which
the assistant AG warned me to avoid since it requires signing away all my
rights in advance.
5. I
continue to try and get the Real Estate Commission to do their job, that of
policing the brokers that they license. I submitted all my documentation to
DLCA in November of 2020. They have dragged their feet since then with a litany
of excuses. I finally enlisted the aid of Administrator Sammy Sanes to
intervene. He forwarded my documentation to Commissioner Evangelista who
unfortunately has also chosen to ignore my written complaint.
Real estate is a huge industry in the Virgin Islands. I am
certain that your readers would be aghast at the lack of support that exists
for problems that arise with brokers. I hope to make the USVI a better place to
live by sharing my story and offering suggestions to fix the system so that
others don’t have to suffer a similar misery.
I wrote articles that cover four main issues.
1. The Real Estate Commission does not do its job of policing
brokers.
2. VITAR is not your friend.
3. My story. What is a fiduciary?
4. Eliminating dual agency will boost small brokers and reduce
violations.
At a later date I will be able to write one more that chronicles
my interaction with the Attorney General’s Office. Hopefully, you will print
them. I would be very interested in the opinions and reactions of the public,
as well as the folks in government that have both caused this problem and have
the power to fix it.
Take your time and give me your opinions,
David Mattera
4 Attachments
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Good day Sian, Ananta, Kelsey
It’s been a while. And considering my track record for getting
responses during my ordeal, if I don’t hear back from someone in a week, I just
assume the worst. So, I’m curious where are we? I assume you don’t find my
articles very uplifting. However, before you too drift away, why don’t we
discuss some options?
Sincerely,
David
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Good day again Sian, Ananta, Kelsey
I’m thinking I won’t hear back from you even though basic
etiquette would suggest otherwise. If you are wondering how I ended up knocking
on your door, it started when Viviana Cohen, a friend of my wife who used to
run The Women’s Coalition Thrift Store along with my wife, said I should
contact a friend of hers, Don Buchanan, who wrote for the Source. Back in
September, I chatted with him on the phone, then sent him all my documents. He
wasn’t very interested. Afterwards, whenever I tried calling him, his wife,
Carol, told me he was unavailable. Once though, she did mention Bill Kossler’s
name. However, before I called Bill, I contacted the Consortium because the
lawyer that I talk to on occasion said that Ernice Gilbert hates corruption and
I should start with him. You can read about it in the attachment. Now,
between Ernice and Glen I am aware that Commissioner Evangelista
and possibly even the Governor are aware of the deceit that exists in the
Real Estate Commission.
After the Consortium I called Bill; he directed me to you, Sian.
At this point, I am at a complete loss. I expect that the folks who want to
hide something will ignore me but don’t journalists, you and the Consortium,
have a responsibility?
“Only a free and unrestrained press
can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the
responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the
government from deceiving the people…”
― Hugo L. Black (Associate Justice of U.S. Supreme Court)
I suppose next I’ll try the paper press. I wanted to avoid that
because my articles are rather long and I had hoped for the electronic press to
save a tree. And if it so happens that the paper guys are equally unresponsive,
I’ll have to take a shot at social media which unfortunately I know nothing
about. But , I have a friend that does.
Wish me luck,
David
1 Attachment
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Good day David,
Thank you for reaching back out. We deal with
a high volume of emails and requests on a daily basis, on top of putting out
the paper, so sometimes our responses are delayed, and admittedly, it was a lot
to read, too.
We have discussed it, including with Bill
Kossler, but cannot wade into a civil case between two parties. If you file
suit, we are protected in reporting what is filed in a court of law, but we
cannot print your allegations against Mr. Hanley without exposing ourselves. We
cannot try your case for you. There could be a story on the USVI Real Estate
Commission and its role and responsiveness to complaints, and the fact that the
Virgin Islands Territorial Association of Realtors (VITAR) is now outsourced to
the Pinellas Realtor Organization in Clearwater, Fla., but I cannot
commit to that with any certain time frame -- we can hardly keep up with the
vital government functions we must cover with the staff that we have.
I'm sorry to disappoint, but that's where we
stand. I do wish you luck, and please let us know if anything changes.
With warm regards,
Sian
Siân Elisabeth Cobb
Executive Editor
904-583-1319
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Good day Sian, Ananta, Kelsey
Sorry to take so long to get back to you. From your email I need
to clarify a couple of points. First, you refer to not wanting to “wade into a
civil case between two parties.” I am not engaged in a civil case nor will I
be. Perhaps I didn’t explain the math clearly enough. Here it is. After weeks
spent trying to find a lawyer to look over my documents, I reached Attorney
Nathan Mirocha. He was quite frank. He said I would probably win twenty-two
thousand five hundred dollars in a civil suit. But I could eventually pay him over
twenty thousand dollars in fees. And equally important, winning is never
guaranteed. Taking a broker to court is not worth it to me nor is it likely
worth it for any individual. Most cheated clients are only going to be looking
for a few thousand dollars for reasons such as being lied to about new
appliances, or perhaps a nine that looked like a four on a contract and ended
up costing them five thousand dollars. Brokers know that they are safe from
lawsuits because it costs more to sue a broker that a client will win in
damages.
The second point, Ernice Gilbert complained about being very
busy. In order to remove his opportunity to not cover my story, I wrote the
articles for him. At that point, the Consortium didn’t have an excuse, so they
simply blew me off. Now, they are just another part of my story. You don’t have
to print all my stories or any of them. I only want you to cover the deception
of the Real Estate Commission. I understand that you need to cover vital
government functions. However, I feel that covering government dysfunction is
more important. As Hugo L. Black said, “…paramount
among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of
the government from deceiving the people…”
There is one passage in my four articles that expresses my
greatest concern and I didn’t even write it.
“…the
Virgin Islands Real Estate Commission [is] there to police the Realtors. In the
states, Realtors live in fear of the Real Estate Commission.” -- St.
Thomas Board of Realtors President Kerstin McConnell
Maybe in the states, but not so in the Virgin Islands. I feel
the lack of policing by the commission is purposeful corruption. For proof, I
fall back on the old adage, “If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck,
it’s probably a duck.” I cannot expose the misdeeds of the commission. That
would take a voice louder than mine. I truly need the help of the press because
I have no other options.
Can we come to an agreement?
David Mattera
No response
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Well, it has been over two years and
she did say to let them know if anything changes. There are changes. The Real
Estate Commission has definitely shown their true colors and the public will
benefit from knowing what they’re up against. Hopefully, now they might be
willing to report on some part of my story.
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Good day Sian, Ananta, Kelsey
It’s been quite a while. In your
previous email you asked me to let you know if any changes occur; some have. To
encourage the Real Estate Commission to do their job, I enlisted the aid of
Senator Carrion and DLCA Commissioner Evangelista. At that time, Mr.
Evangelista was Commissioner and Ms. Hodge was Assistant Commissioner; now, Mr.
Evangelista works elsewhere in government and Ms. Hodge is Commissioner. Thanks
to their pressure, the REC could no longer just ignore me. They were forced to
respond to Senator Carrion’s office.
Laurent Alfred, the chairman of the
Real Estate Commission, reluctantly responded but not according to VI Law or
the promise given to me by Ms. Hodge when I started this odyssey years ago.
“The
VI Real Estate Commission is the entity that regulates brokers and salespersons
and the entity in which you file your complaint. Once you file the complaint to
the Commission, the Commission will subsequently give the Respondent a
copy and request that they respond to your complaint in writing. The
Commission will review both complaints and meet with you both in a Fact-Finding
Meeting, deliberate then provide you with a determination.”
After many agonizing months of
stalling, Mr. Alfred eventually stated that providing a determination to
citizens’ complaints is not the job of the Real Estate Commission. He promised
repeatedly to Sonia Andrew, Senator Carrion’s Chief of Staff, that he would
instruct DLCA’s attorney to send a letter detailing their position. Clearly,
they are not going to put a lie in writing. Repeated phone calls by Ms. Andrew
have gotten repeated promises, but no letter. So, we are nowhere.
If you are curious as to why the REC
is so dead set on protecting real estate brokers, you may be surprised to learn
that contrary to VI law that states that no more than three of the seven
commissioners can be real estate brokers, currently four of the commissioners
are brokers. And there are not seven members but only six; rather a
super-majority that can ram through any course of action that they choose.
You also may be curious as to why I
have not approached the Attorney General’s Office with a corruption complaint
regarding the Real Estate Commission. I have. You are probably aware of the
goings on at the Department of Justice. I was told by my Assistant Attorney
General confidant that, “Now is not a good time.”
When the police who are supposed to
watch over real estate brokers won’t do their job and the police who are
supposed to police the police are preoccupied, what is a citizen to do? I’ve
written a blog and turned it loose on social media. It chronicles everything
that I’ve been through. Our past correspondence is one of the nine articles; no
opinions, just the emails. I want anyone who might think of obtaining a bit of
justice from an unscrupulous broker to realize what they will be getting into.
https://
Previously, you stated that you
didn’t want to wade into a civil case between two parties. I respect that
decision. However, now you have the option to report on several stories that
will be of interest to your readers, plus another intertwined one that I
haven’t mentioned yet. I’m not sure if you are aware of the HUGE paradigm shift
that will be occurring in the real estate industry this summer. The National
Association of Realtors was sued for acting as a monopoly.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/
Everyone predicted a long and drawn
out court battle during an appeal, but the NAR wisely gave in.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/
In the upper 48 the 6% real estate
commission will be dead. Like the rest of the civilized world, commissions will
probably be in the 1% to 2% range. Unfortunately, a corrupt Real Estate
Commission in the Virgin Islands will most likely use their chicanery to
maintain commissions at the 6% level. If they are willing to break the law for
a single broker, what is going to prevent them from breaking the law to protect
all brokers from taking a pay cut at the expense of all the citizens of the
USVI?
Please get back to me with your
thoughts.
Sincerely,
David Mattera
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Good day Sian, Ananta, Kelsey
I’m not sure why I haven’t heard from
you regarding my last email. Perhaps you missed it, or haven’t had a chance to
read everything, or are not interested. I have a thought of one more option for
a story. If I am able to get the Real Estate Commission to actually send me
their “promised” letter stating their position as to why they are unwilling to
help with a citizen’s complaint, would you be willing to publish it? I will
definitely need the assistance of Commissioner Hodge to get it. Seeing that
Senator Carrion’s Chief of Staff couldn’t get this letter, it appears it’s
going to take more clout to pry it loose.
I don’t want to bother you. So,
please let me know if you have any interest.
Sincerely,
David Mattera