“Tibor Hollo said he was left with a net worth of $35 million after lenders released him from $364 million of his personal debt.”

That may not be bankrupt, but sure doesnt sound good!

Give a smack to those cheeseball developers!

I read your article regarding Tibor Hollo suing you for $25M.

Due to a divorce in 2003 and my son out of the house, I decided to sell my 4 bd/2-1/2 bth. home in Kendall. It was a good year to sell in 2003. I sold my home in 3 days and profiting over $150k market value. Being single again, kid is grown, and working in Coconut Grove, my suburban living was no longer feasible nor applicable for my new life style. So after researching Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, I stumbled upon the condo market at Brickell.

Eventhough, I could not conceive and struggled with the fact of paying so much more for so much less square footage– from this point forward, I will call myself a “virgin condo owner”. The price was right on Brickell and even better at The Club at Brickell Bay (Tibor Hollo development). The sales brochure and ad in Ocean Drive Magazine read… “affordable luxury living” for young professionals. Being a “virgin” to the condo market, I believed that what I saw on the brochure was exactly what I was going to get at closing… hence the word “virgin condo owner.” Besides, owning was always better than renting. I had fallen into the condo “rat” trap.

My nightmare started immediately with developer (Tibor Hollo):
1. Walk-thru day– what I saw on the brochure WAS NOT what I got at closing.
2. Financing was a problem, because the building was not Fannie Mae approved.
3. Had a potential buyer, but was denied by developer, because I was 20 days away from closing. However, the 20 days became 2 months, because of Hurricane Katrina, ____, ____, and finally Wilma (too many that year to remember all the names). I lost my first potential buyer.
4. THE CLUB HAD ISSUES:
a. Flooding – due to supposedly to one of the aforementioned hurricanes, cooling tower, PVC pipe on the roof top burst (which I later found out that PVC piping was not code approved since it was being used on an exposed roof top), etc…
b. Below construction standards – exterior/interior.
c. Parking mix-ups.
d. Incompetent Management
e. Break-ins, theft, burglary by security, construction, and management employees.

For the past 2 years, I have been unable to sell my unit at the Club at Brickell Bay (mainly, because of fraud in the building). Unfortunately, I was one of the first unit owner to experience “mortgage fraud”. However, working in the industry for over 25 years, I knew to always hire an attorney.

The first sign was my sales contract. The buyer was asking for 100% financing, my attorney immediately called to advised that most of the time this type of transaction is difficult to close; however, he continued with the closing process.

The second and final flag was two (2) days prior to closing date, my buyer’s broker e-mailed me an addendum to the sales contract, stating that even though my sales price was $500k, the appraisal came in at $775k, I was only entitled to asking sales price at closing ($500k). I told him, of course, so why do I have to sign this addendum. He replied, to avoid any confusion at closing. I immediately sent the e-mail with attachment to my attorney and asked if I should sign the same. He immediately responded with a return phone call requesting my presence the next day.

I was advised that the closing would not take place the next day and the Title Insurance Company was immediately contacted. The FBI was already aware of the on-going fraud at the Club since 2005, as well as sales agent of Vista Realty, but they continued to resale units and close.

Furthermore, Countrywide was very much aware of the fraud going on in this building, together with Coldwell Banker (20 pending transactions). Followed by Wells Fargo, who happened to be Tibor Hollo’s “developer’s preferred lender” for most of his investors (pre-construction).

Thereafter, every potential buyer, broker, so called investor approaching me by leaflets (underneath my door) or mail, had the same MO as the first con-artist.

Remember, I am a “virgin condo owner”… fraud, foreclosures, bankruptcy… ?“What do you with a condo that you cannot sell or refinance, because the building is NOT ELIGIBLE”?

Please help!

Granted there are no hard rules in blogging, but it’s generally considered better to use the strike through and/or to respond in the comments.

It’s your blog, so you are of course free to do whatever you see fit.

I am curious though. Do you feel that nobody portrays a blog as being a reliable source of information? I’ve worked hard the past (almost) 3 years to become a reliable source of information.

Were your comments defamatory? Possibly. Sounds like interpretation of certain words and impact have to be judged. Bankrupt is very specific, especially in the US. Gone bust, project taken over by the bank yada yada are different.

Whether it’s defamatory should near bankruptcy have taken place. Don’t know – but the response should have been a full-on insistence of a retraction and no further comment on Opera Tower.

Should the plaintiff have asked for a retraction first? Yes.

Has some damage from defamation been caused? Yes, if proven, and then more so, as a result of the case (if that counts).

Has the Plaintiff gone over the top on this one? Certainly. Completely OTT lawsuit, gut feel and moral compasses would swing in your favour. But this is the law we are talking about…!

BUT…comparing comments on Amazon to your posts on here isn’t right. Maybe the comments to your posts is the correct comparison, but the post themselves are real articles, published on a website. Whether the articles are held to the same journalistic/legal standards as those that are written by those who held a Press card is probably moot.