Would-Be Buyer Offering $52K For REO Irked By Real Estate Agent's Possible Double-Dealing After Latter Buys Same Property From Bank For $40K

In Spring Hill, Florida, The Tampa Tribune reports:

• Dominick Marchica has sold guns at an indoor flea market for eight years. In January, he thought he'd found the perfect building to expand his business – right around the corner from his Spring Hill home.
• But the real estate agent hired by Lutz' Heritage Bank of Florida to sell the foreclosed property said his offer of $52,000 was too low. "He was adamant that he was on the board of the bank and the bank would not come up short," Marchica said. "We got a letter back … it said the bank would not negotiate any further and they came back at a $62,000 offer."
• So imagine Marchica's reaction when he found out last month that the property sold for $40,000 – to the real estate agent's company, Williams Realty & Investments. "If someone else bought that property and they paid $62,000 for it, I would not be mad," Marchica said. "What makes me annoyed is that this Realtor stone-walled me, refused to take my offer to the bank, played me, and then he bought it for himself."
• The real estate agent, Cary Williams, runs his realty business out of his used car dealership on U.S. 41, near the property Marchica wanted to buy. He said he's not on the board of the bank, and never told Marchica he was. As for undercutting Marchica?
• "The bank turned down (Marchica's) offer in January," Williams said. "In March, things had changed, and they really needed to sell the property."
• Richard Adams, president of Heritage Bank, said Williams is a long-time customer of the bank, and was hired because of his office's proximity to the property. He said he didn't authorize Williams to tell Marchica the bank wouldn't negotiate. "I remember the $52,000 offer," Adams said. "I countered and was waiting on his counter. When I didn't hear back, I thought he had changed his mind and didn't want the property anymore."

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• By March, Adams said, the FDIC was pressuring the bank to shed bad assets. Regulators cracked down on the bank in late January, telling it to clean up its balance sheet. Heritage Bank agreed to a consent order, which required the bank to boost capital levels and reduce exposure to troubled assets.
• In light of that, Adams said, losing $12,000 on this deal is especially troubling. "No bank wants to lose money on a foreclosed property," Adams said. "Especially not in this economy."

For more, see Agent's foreclosure purchase angers potential buyer.