Digg It |   Del.icio.us |   Printer Friendly |   PDF |   Email

Worst Business Idea Ever

Friday, February 22, 2008 | Lawyer Is this Spam?

Rating:

I am a lawyer. About a decade ago, I had a client who was a home builder. I was always having to help him either get paid or fight off creditors. One day, he took his financial advisor and I out for dinner and proposed a joint venture. The FA and I would invest cash in a series of "speculative homes" that he would build. He would go to the bank and get financing based on the architecture plans, but make a huge profit by ignoring the plans after the construction loan was approved. He would build the floorplan correctly, but cut every corner he could in the construction process - leaving out studs and other structural materials, using the cheapest possible materials regardless of what the plans required, and so forth. He apparently had the local government inspectors paid off in order to make this work out. I immediately was offended by the sheer dishonesty of it, and advised him that he risked going to prison for bank fraud if he actually followed through with this plan. I don't think he ever found anyone to hook up with him as a joint venturer on this dishonest business plan.



Rate this article
Thank you for your vote!

4 Comments

Post your own comment
  • Most recent
  • 1
  • Oldest

  1. Alan W (1 year ago) Is this Spam?

    I concur, investing in anything dishonest knowningly is bound to fail.

  2. D.Lowrey (1 year ago) Is this Spam?

    The builder knew his attorney pretty well, perhaps the payoff just wasn't large enough or perhaps he was just going by the reputation of Lawyers in general.

  3. Patti (1 year ago) Is this Spam?

    Three cheers for the attorney! I have been a painting contractor for nearly 20 years and have seen and physically worked on new homes for the better share of my business. I have always had great sympathy for the "new proud owners" of these pieces of work! Since I have the opportunity to paint, I use the electricity, faucets (water), see the woodwork, drywall, flooring, etc. All I can say, is the true craftsman seems to be a lost art.

    The list of poor workmanship is way...to long to list here, but I can testify, I love my 1915 home much more than a new home. One more thing to mention, when I was involved in painting/staining the new homes being built, the home builder definitely does not have the best interest in mind for the home owner. Lastly, hope to God you get paid. I am so happy to hear people still have morals. The world is so full of greed.

    Patti S.

  4. C.S. (1 year ago) Is this Spam?

    1. Offended is an understatement.

    2. Doubt he had a legitimate license.

    3. No wonder he was in trouble, with more to come.
  • Most recent
  • 1
  • Oldest

Add Your Comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed.

Please fill in the missing field(s).

Important: To comment on Tycoon Report articles, you must first log in. If you are a paying customer of Tycoon, you may use the same login and password that you use normally. If you do not yet have a login, please take a moment to register below. It’s free, and you only need to do it once.

Register

(email address and password information will NOT be displayed publicly)

Name *

Email *

Password *

Subscribe to The Tycoon Report
By registering, you agree to our terms of service.

Already a member? Log in!

(you will not be taken away from this page)

Email *

Password *

Remember?

Forgot Password?




Important Notice to all stock spammers, scammers and penny stock pump-and-dumpers: You will get no respect here. Don’t bother submitting fraudulent or misleading information in the guise of an article, because we will remove it. Any piece of content submitted on this site can be removed at the sole discretion of the Tycoon staff.