And we will get to the bottom of it. Paul Brandus. The Hollywood Reporter. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters theatlantic. May 6,
Making the Pitch
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. However, its acquisition by Disney expected for closing in will change. Fox would retain Fox News, their broadcast network, and sports channel FS1, among other assets. In Julythe deal was approved by nws and now moves on to regulatory approval around the world. The evolution of the acquisition and subsequent merger is ongoing with many moving parts. The company also has a huge presence in Western Europe, Latin Makea, Oceania, and Asia, operating various movie channels and sports channels throughout said parts of the world.
Fox News Channel is on track to earn $1.50 per cable subscriber per month in the not-too-distant future.
Their plan was to connect mom-and-pop investors with turnkey investment homes in Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Fla. Their company, Morris Invest , would handle the details: finding properties, overseeing renovations, hiring property managers to rent out the houses. All clients had to do was put up the cash and wait for the checks to arrive. But Mr. Nearly two dozen customers are now suing Mr. Morris and his company. They contend that the properties were in worse shape than advertised, and that rehab work paid for upfront was done poorly or not at all.
‘Fox News brain’: meet the families torn apart by toxic cable news
Their plan was to connect mom-and-pop investors with turnkey investment homes in Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Fla. Their company, Morris Investwould handle the details: finding properties, overseeing renovations, hiring property managers to rent out the houses. All clients had to do was put up the cash and wait for the checks to arrive. But Mr. Nearly two dozen customers are makex suing Mr. Morris and his company. They contend that the properties were in worse nakes than advertised, and that rehab work paid for hoe was done poorly or not at all.
Vacant lots sold on the expectation of new homes being built are strewn with trash. Neews house gutted by fire was sold a few days later to an unwitting investor, according to a lawsuit. The Morrises face a half-dozen lawsuits, including one in federal court, and mkes will probably follow. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Federal Trade Commission said it had received 21 consumer complaints.
Morris, 42, said during an interview with his wife at a coffee shop near their suburban New Jersey home. The couple said they had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on homes that they and their relatives bought from a property-management company that was one of their business partners in Indianapolis. The Morrises said that Oceanpointe, which many Morris Invest clients said they had never heard of until after buying the homes, is the real villain and liable for any damages.
Few, if any, problems have arisen in other cities, they said. Oceanpointe blames the Morrises, saying they are responsible for the promises made to investors. Also caught in the middle are the renters who lived in some of the homes. They say that poor upkeep resulted in collapsing ceilings and frequent plumbing problems.
Furnaces often did not work properly, leaving homes freezing cold in winter. One renter in a pending landlord-tenant case blamed poor living conditions for the premature birth of girl who died an hour after delivery.
Morris, 40, said. The unfolding affair demonstrates the allure that real estate speculation still holds for individual investors roughly a decade after one of the worst housing crises in United States history. It can be problematic when such investors look to charismatic personalities for investing tips.
Many of the financial gurus pushing investors into real estate play off fears of economic insecurity, according to Philip Garboden, a professor of affordable housing at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In a research working paper financed partly by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Garboden said in an interview.
The property manager. The whole system thrives on keeping every dollar invested in that network. Investment gurus, he said, tend to have a common message: Investing in real estate can help guide the average investor to financial hkw.
But he did not keep it a secret. He how fox news makes money to his new career in a lighthearted seven-minute video send-off that Fox News put together and that showed Mr.
Morris competing in an obstacle course competition and grilling burgers outside the Manhattan studio. Real estate investing, he said in marketing materials, had given him the financial security to quit his 9 to 5 broadcast job. An email sent to one client who signed up last year summed up the pitch:.
Are you working LONG hours but never quite able to get ahead? Stop worrying, and let us take care it! They helped sell nearly homes in Indianapolis. Morris in the federal lawsuit. Danny Gomes, a real estate agent from Redding, Calif. The house is now boarded up, its back half all but gone.
Gomes said he had learned about the fire only several months later, when the city sent him a notice warning that the property was unsafe and needed to be boarded up. Until then, he believed the house was being rehabilitated, work he paid for when he bought it.
One of Mr. Gomes said it was only after he learned about the fire that he discovered Morris Invest was simply getting a referral fee for sending customers to Oceanpointe. As the Morrises tell it, they were blindsided just like everyone. The couple, who have three young children, said they were frustrated with all the anger directed at. They have put their own home up for sale, in part out of concern for their safety.
They place the blame squarely on Oceanpointe and its founder, Bert Whalen. The Morrises said they met Mr. Whalen inwhen they bought a few homes in Indianapolis and enws Oceanpointe to hews up and manage. ByMr. Morris was referring one or two investors a week to Mr. The Morrises said they had eventually formalized the relationship, sending buyers to Oceanpointe and earning a fee on each sale.
Morris said it was not until spring that he became fully aware of the problems his customers were having with Oceanpointe. The relationship formally ended in May. The Morrises said they would not have gotten involved with Mr. Whalen had they known that Indiana regulators moved to deny a renewal of his real estate license in December A state regulator determined that he had failed to disclose convictions for operating a car and motorboat while intoxicated and, on at least one occasion, had not turned over rent money he had collected for a property owner.
His real estate license was permanently revoked in January Despite the break with Oceanpointe, the Morrises said they had many satisfied customers. Renovation work was done on 60 percent of the homes sold in Indianapolis, Mr. Morris estimated. For clients dissatisfied with the work on their properties, Mr. Morris said Oceanpointe had agreed to indemnify Morris Invest against all lawsuits and investor claims.
Whalen in October seeking to enforce the indemnification agreement. The couple declined to provide moneyy copy of the agreement. John Tompkins, a lawyer for Mr. Tompkins said. He disputed the suggestion that the indemnification agreement held Oceanpointe solely responsible for problems with the selling of the homes. The Morrises have largely gotten out of the real estate business in Indianapolis.
They are focused mainly on Detroit, where they have sold more than homes, largely without the kind of complaints they face in Indianapolis.
The Morrises are now selling an online financial advice and planning mpney Financial Freedom Academy. The site describes a conversation that Mr. Morris said transformed his life: He was seated next to real estate investor on a trip to New Zealand several years ago, and learned the man and his wife were on a two-month vacation after making money acquiring homes, fixing them up and renting them.
Morris says on the site. The Morrises said they were not aware of the extent of the problems. Making the Pitch Mr. An email sent to one client who mnoey up last year summed up the pitch: Are you working LONG hours but never quite able to get ahead? There are many, however, who are not.
Morris Invest, though, ness no longer their top priority.
‘Incestuous Networks’
SmartAsset Paid Partner. The Sydney Morning Herald. Brooks Pat Buchanan William F. CBS News. In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote. Very Short Introductions. Towering above all others is the Fox News empire, the hoa voice in conservative media. October 4, Oxford University Press. KICU Ind. Fox News publicly denies it is biased, with Murdoch and Ailes saying have included Murdoch’s statement that Fox maked «given room to both sides, whereas only one side had it before».
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