Fire-damaged home listed for sale online without homeowner's consent

Online Florida real estate club that listed home admits mistake

DELTONA, Fla. – Gina Tyckoson of Deltona says someone put her fire-damaged house on the market without her knowledge or consent.

The home, located at 1626 Brady Drive, has been all over the news recently after a fire destroyed it and her mother's Kia on Jan.16.

Tyckoson said she discovered the online posting when checking the internet for recent news articles about the fire.

"I Googled it, just to see what would happen," Tyckoson said. "And it shows up on this Miami Wholesaler site and I'm like, 'What's the deal?'"

Tyckoson said that's when she called News 6 to get to the bottom of it.

Tyckoson said the home belonged to her. She bought it years ago for her mother to live in but it has been unlivable since the fire in January.

While her mother has been away, staying with relatives, Tyckoson says she's been dealing with the insurance claim on the house and car.

She says she had plans to sell the home once that was settled, but says there's no way the online group that put the house up for sale would know that.

Tyckoson says she's never heard of Miami Wholesale Homes and definitely never gave them permission to sell her mother's house.

"There's not only a picture of the outside, there are about 15 pictures on the inside," Tyckoson said. "So somebody went in unauthorized, taking pictures of the property, so it's just concerning all the way around."

Tyckoson said she wants to know how the Miami group got her mother's address and wonders how they even knew of her future intent to sell the property.

"They don't know that. It's not listed on MLS. It is not listed on any internet site anywhere that I am aware of," Tyckoson said. "I did not give them any indication that I was interested in selling the house."

That's where things get interesting and complicated. 

News 6 contacted Miami Wholesale Homes. Staff there admitted they made a mistake listing a not-for-sale home.They then blamed a company named KRS Real Estate Solutions for sending them the listing.

The owner of KRS said the company got the listing from another real estate investor.

"I received this property from Patton Investment Properties," said Samuel Rojas, creator and founder of KRS. 

A Patton Investment Properties employee said the company works directly with sellers but couldn't explain how this house ended up on the company's list.

"This is not our direct deal," said Brian Viary, with Patton Investments.

Viary then referred us to owner John Patton, who on Monday referred our request for answers and comment to an attorney.

Patton did say in an email that he got the listing from yet another company. 

As for the original online posting, Miami Wholesale Homes did end up switching the listing to sold after we contacted them.

However, Tyckoson says that is not good enough. She wants them to take down the listing completely.

"It wasn't sold," Tyckoson said. "It's not their property to sell."

Tyckoson wants to know who took all the inside and outside pictures of the house without her permission.

"I think they are just listing this property along with any others that the owners may not know of to make it appear that they have a large portfolio, when they don't," Tyckoson said.

Because of News 6's inquiries, all three companies claim they will now be reviewing all their properties to make sure the properties they have listed are really for sale. 

News 6 also contacted the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and the Better Business Bureau about this situation.

The local Better Business Bureau office says it has only heard of something like this happening one time before. The Sheriff's Office is checking to see if someone did indeed trespass on Tyckoson's property and if anyone committed fraud by listing her house for sale.

News 6 also checked with the Volusia County Property Appraiser's office, where officials said this is the first they've ever heard of something like this. 

Because of our report, they plan to investigate.


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