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Check out http://www.ripoffreport.com/ and especially http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/385/RipOff0385401.htm to see this recent complaint
PARAGON PROPERTIES OF COSTA RICA – It’s 2008 and for all you folks out there wondering if Paragon Properties of Costa Rica still has irate customers demanding thier deposits ? I am another victim of Paragon Properties Of Costa Rica who refuses to be ignored and cheated out of his deposit.
In Oct of 2006, I entered into an agreement to purchase a lot in Buena Vista one of Paragon’s developments in Miramar ,Costa Rica.
According to this agreement, the developer was obligated to complete the infrastructure within 18 months of contract date. That means the infrastructure should have been completed in March of 2008.
On March 04, 2008, Adrian Duke, one of Paragon’s Hollywood florida corporate employees, advised me in writing that the infrastructure would not be completed until September of 2009.
On April 3, 2008, I sent a letter via certified mail to Mr Bill Gale, the chairman of the board requesting a full refund of my deposit of $ 35,900 since they failed to comply with the terms of the contract.
On April 11, 2008 I received a response with a stamped signature from Esteban Soto -President denying my refund based upon the fact that I had not given them written notice of my intent to cancel within the 180 days of the actual agreement- an irrelivent issue in this case.
Mr. Soto failed to acknowledge the clause in the agreement relative to the developer’s obligation to perform in regard to infrastructure completion timeframe .
I decided to hire an attorney to take care of this case since I envisioned Paragon would use every possible means of avoiding, delaying or refusing to return my deposit based upon the fact that I personally know people who have waited 6-9 months to get their deposits back .
My attorney sent a letter on April 21, 2008 to Mr. Esteban Soto pointing out that the contract explicitly states in item #3 that’ INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ROADS AND ELECTRICITY WILL BE IN PLACE WITHIN 18 MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE AGREEMENT.’
The attorney also stated that ‘a search of the public records revealed that there had been no filings whatsoever concerning the solicitation and sales made of the properties in the United states and specifically in the State of Florida. As a result of the foregoing, the transaction from its inception was and currently is in violation of applicable Federal and Florida laws. ‘
Simply put, the contract is not worth the paper it is printed on and on that merit alone I am rightfuly due my deposit.
Demand was made for the refund to occur within a specific time period but Paragon never responded to the demand.
Additional phone calls were made to try to reach Mr Bill Gale.
Instead , the attorney was always relayed to Joan Cass at the Hollywood office. She listened to the attorney’s demand and stated she would forward it to their legal department- (another delay tactic?)
Subsequent to the conversation with Joan Cass,
On May 5 , 2008, a letter was sent to Ms. Cass reiterating this demand for the deposit refund and the fact the Paragon has been soliciting property sales in the state of Florida without the proper authorization.
Since that time there has been absolutely no response.
Mr Gale has continually refused all phone calls and Joan Cass always insisted on taking a message for Mr Gale and that he was ‘not available’ .
Mr Gale has left me no other choice but for my attorney to file an appropriate action.
Many other deposit holders who are still waiting for refunds have readily agreed to join in my filing of a class action suit against Paragon Properties .
A complaint may also be filed with the florida bar related to the florida attorney Mr. Charles Neustein who acted as the escrow agent on Paragon’s transactions.
Several US , Florida ,Canadian as well as Costa Rican newspapers would love to get an exclusive story on Paragon’s business dealings. Some of these papers were aware of many allegations that had surfaced as far back as 2005 .
They may be curious what is going on 3 years later. Were the rumors of 2005 now the reality of 2008?
Would they feel a duty to let the public know?.
Wether these papers find out is really a matter of how fast this refund is expedited .
The old motto ‘let the buyer beware’ could not be more fitting in this case.
Al
MIAMI, Florida
U.S.A.No surprise here! Sorry to hear about your problem. I’m sure it will be one of many with a slowing world economy. A pyramid scheme only works as long as money keeps coming in. When it slows or stops… that’s when the poop hits the fan! With the world economic crisis right now… money will stop flowing in buckets to CR from folks spending the equity in their homes to buy vacant land with nothing more then promises! There will still be folks coming and investing… just not at the rate we’ve seen in the past. Remember… many people at or near retirement have seen their retirement accounts almost cut in half in the last few months!
In many cases here in CR… questionable developers count on deposits and payments on overpriced undeveloped properties to make the infrastructure improvements promised. REAL developers that have the financing and ABILITY to complete a project would be using their own money to build the project KNOWING they would see the return on their investment! Real developers put in the roads and the extras knowing that’s how you get top dollar for your project from knowledgeable investors. But not folks out for a quick buck and not interested in investing their own money in a project! They rely on money coming in to make it happen! When the new money dries up… they run… and you’re stuck with a lot on yet another dirt (or in the green season MUDDY) road to nowhere! Then you find the value of your lot in worth NOTHING as it’s nothing more than a slice of land with a number on it with no access or utilities! Costa Rica is full of dirt roads to nowhere…. and the wreckage of dreamers!
Stick to your guns… and make them pay! Doing BAD business in the US has a cost… and it’s time you get what’s due you! Good luck! And keep us posted!
Edited on Oct 28, 2008 13:10
wow! we have been talking about Paragon here for a long, long time-old Bill use to even join in and tell us what great projects he was doing. You would think with all the lots they sold and the money they received from selling them, they at least would get water, power and roads done. Having houses built out is another story but hey Paragon didn’t promise houses they were selling lots, houses were an option. Sending money site-unseen well that’s something I can’t get my head around, it took me a couple of trips to CR before I could fathom buying property and I’m a bit out there.
Back in the early 80’s they sold land in the northern Catskills the same way more or less. An investor would buy 100-200 acres of former dairy pasture divide it into lots of say 5-10 acres each. Run electric down the road(if you were lucky), and put in a shale road. they would also finance the purchase with 10% down for 5 years. Well these lots sold really well a lot of folks thought this will be a hot investment, or they will retire there someday? But 95% of the lots remained un-built on. We actually built our own little cabin ourselves one of only two out of about 30 lots. So when I bought our 5000m2 lot in a proposed gated community in the central pacific(just south of Jaco) I was really only concerned with one thing-that they finish what they said they would do, gated entrance, roads, water and electric I felt houses will come but that will take years. To the disbelief of many people they actually completed the development and did a damn good job! Now from my past experience in the US I thought that if 10-20% of the lot owners built that would be great….so far zero but I hear that there are some homes that will start being built in November-we’ll see. My point is I think people who bought in these big projects of Paragons probably assumed that there developments would look like the renderings on Paragons website and a whole community of large Spanish style homes would litter the rolling landscape…instead they can’t even get a road built or water and power to the lot! I thinks it’s mostly underfunded slightly naive dreamers who buy into these projects and purchase a lot in central America like they would buy some gizmo being sold on TV at 2am….now they are getting the wake up call. I feel like I got lucky as I now own a beautiful lot 1.5km’s from my favorite surf break in CR and I only paid US$6M2, but I did a lot of digging before I sent money(especially since the project was slammed on this site, (rightfully so I might add based on the information available and the track record of Gringo developers with NO projects under there belt…anywhere!). I just really wanted to pass on some of my experience buying a lot in the pre-construction faze, at least we received a very big discount for taking the risk, I don’t see that really happening in the Paragon projects. Also it seems to be much easier for the developer selling these lots with a massive advertising etc. Selling your own lot in a project not yet completed or void of any actual homes is no easy task. Well good luck with everything I hope you get your money back! In my case the deposit was placed with Stewart title and If I wanted my money back within the refund period I could call Stewart directly and they would wire it back into my bank account. Of course I verified this with Stewart as well. I think this is a reasonable escrow arrangement that any legit developer would agree to.
Edited on Oct 28, 2008 13:35
Interesting to note that four years ago in November 2004 we wrote about Paragon’s Reservation and Purchase Agreement:
“Their ‘Reservation and Purchase Agreement’ states that ‘The infrastructure of roads, electricity and water will be substantially in place within 12 months from the date of this agreement.” So does that 12 month period start with your signature or the signature of the first of the supposed nearly 200 people that have previously purchased land?”
And now four years later?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comWhy spend all that money if you don’t have to? Maybe their projects will go the same way their ostrich farms went! jejeje
I’m guessing that everything we all thought about these folks is in fact true… promises… lies… threats of legal action aside…. I guess at the end of the day…. reality wins out!
There is yet another new Paragon Properties Ripp Off report http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/386/RipOff0386638.htm
Looking forward to the day when Paragon will be ParaGONE!
Paragon Properties Of Costa Rica Fraudulant Contracts for sale of land in Costa Rica for which there are no filings concerning the solicitation and sales made of such properties in the United States , and specifically, in the State of Florida. Hollywood Florida
My story is very similar to all the others I have read on this site. In essence, I purchased a 1 hectare site of land from Paragon Properties for a $39,000 deposit against Agreement for Deed dated January 24th, 2007. In this agreement for deed, Item# 3 states that Infrastructure for Roads and Electricity will be in place within 24 months from date of agreement ( More on this later ).
Subsequently, I decided to pay off the balance of the purchase price on the land so as to have clear and full title to it as soon as possible. As agreed, I made a payment of $11,250 in March, 2007, a second payment of an additional $11,250 in July, 2007, and a final payment of $10,250 in September, 2007. Therefore, my property was paid off in total as of September, 2007 for a total of $72,250.
During the course of all the above negotiations and payments, Paragon Properties assured me that it would take approximately 6-8 weeks for me to receive full deed to my property. However, over a year later, due to their lies, procrastination,, and possibly, downright fraud ( i.e. If ,in fact, Paragon Properties has never filed for solicitation and sales made of my property in the United States, and specifically, in the State of Florida, this is criminally fraudulant activity.), I have still received no deed to my property.
A secondary, although just as important issue, is Section #3 of my Agreement For Deed with Paragon Properties. This section states that the ‘Infrastructure for roads and electricity will be in place within 24 months from the date of this agreement…’. In fact, neither roads nor electrical work have even commenced as of October 31, 2008. This means that unless Paragon Properties can accomplish the Herculean task of initiating and completing both projects within 3 months, they are in Breach of Contract in regard to my Agreement for Deed with them.
I would like to contact any and all the other people who I have read on this site concerning Paragon Properties.
Harly
Florence, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
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