"Quick Flips" Transform Luxury Estate Homes Into Public Nuisances

In Tampa, Florida, The Tampa Tribune reports on the fate of five luxury homes that were bought and sold on the same day (with simultaneous closings) by real estate operator Atlantic Coast Investments to straw buyers with questionable backgrounds:

• Once they were dream homes, with views of the golf course, a marble-floored music room, servants' quarters and a taste of the good life behind the gates of some of Tampa's most posh communities. Now, they sit abandoned, with overgrown lawns, leaky roofs and deep-green, algae-filled pools. They are empty and overpriced. All are in foreclosure. One has been declared a public nuisance by Tampa Code Enforcement and two others have active cases against them. All were bought sight unseen by a South Florida investor who is suing his former business partners and lawyer for fraud and identity theft.

Reportedly, two of the straw buyers (who together purchased four of the homes) have outstanding court judgments against them for more than $600,000. For more, see Questionable flips leave upscale homes derelict.