Former Buyer vs. Shoddy Realtor

[blakkidd25]

What is the name of your state? Orlando, FL.

Here's my situation, hopefully you have a solution for me;

The story is a long one.

Back in April me and my girlfriend had made plans to purchase a condo from a realtor by the name of Kevin Priester of PropertyNETUSA. Kevin in the beginning was extremely helpful as we had stopped dealing with a previous realtor who we thought was unprofessional in his dealings. Kevin remained helpful, showing us different properities until we found one that we liked. After hounding us down for a deposit of $1000.00 (Keep in mind the words "escrow" were never mentioned to us at the time, and the check was written in his name), we never heard from Kevin again. When I say that, I mean, whenever I called him to find out the status on the condo (he told us it would take 4 weeks to get everything settled, which was fine as our lease was about to be up at our apt), and as the time drew nearer to the due date on everything, we began to try and call him more and more to find out what the status was. When we finally got a hold of him, he told us that he was still working on the loan (something he had told us that he had taken care of already). It was at that point that we felt that the time frame was way too close, and that we had no choice but to renew our lease. We told Kevin at that time that not only due to the fact that he never contacted us when we left him messages, but due to the fact that he took so long to finally inform us, we would not be able to go through with the deal again. He told us fine, and that if I wanted my refund back, I would have a check for it by Tuesday, which would've been April 29th.

The 29th arrived and Kevin told us (Myself, and my mother at the time) that he hadn't gotten the refund check as yet, and that he was waiting for the Escrow (first time mentioning this word to us) to be released. That was his first lie, but we let it slide...the following week, which would've been on the 5th of May, he told us that the Escrow had finally been released and that he was waiting for a refund check to be generated by his office. (Keep in mind this is HIS company, he is the president). I again asked him how long it would take for that to happen and he didn't answer. I told him how important it would've been to receive the check by the 9th of May, and he stated that if he did not have the check by that day, he would give me a personal check from his acct to cover the amt. (And yes, I do have all these text messages...yes, text messages saved, not once did he answer his phone when I called him). The 9th came and I tried to call him to find out the status of where we were meeting and got no answer, called him at least 50 times that day to no answer. Finally I got fed up and looked up his name on the internet and found out where his office was here locally, and called them...they told me that they rarely see him in the office but would keep me informed.

I emailed him on the 16th, and got a reply the next day to which he responded that he had lost his job because I called up the office where he worked at. (Also stated that the office where he got his loans done through, and the company he owns were two different companies). I stated that it wasn't a fault of mine that he lost his job, as it was due to his lack of communication that caused me to call the office in the first place. Again I asked him where my refund was, and when I'd be getting it, and 3 days had went to no answer. The latest email I sent him told him that I would be going to the authorities about the situation and again he went on to state, "go ahead, tell the authorities how I refuse to give your nonrefundable deposit back", when weeks prior he stated if I want my refund back, then I could ask for it.

Now this man is refusing to give my my 1000 deposit back, and I need to find the quickest way to solve this. I plan on going to the police on Monday with what information I do have, and hopefully it can be resolved that way...but I need some help.