Mobile Home Billionaire Goes Bankrupt

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the New and Experienced Investor Podcast. We've got a real doozy for you today. I'm one of your hosts. I'm Alex Barnett. I'm the new guy.

Joe Homs, the experienced guy.

That's right. You know, I'm always talking about mobile homes, and now you're always talking about mobile homes because it's one of the best asset classes in real estate. My opinion: affordable housing, strong demand, and recession-proof. But today we're looking at the dark side. The dark side, Joe. Did you know?

I only talk about mobile homes because you got me started a few years back.

That's how it is.

Yeah. So we've made some good money on the purchases and rehabs and stuff. But we're we're looking at the dark side.

Looking at the dark side. There's a dark side to mobile homes.

Oh my God!

Mobile home investing from Wall Street buyouts.

Yeah.

To, um, a British billionaire with 12 Lamborghinis.

Yeah.

To a California guy that got arrested at Orangetheory. Yeah, so, um, we're talking about fraud everywhere and we've got receipts, so it's gonna be a doozy. Strap in. Um, let's go ahead and start with, uh, their private equity. Everybody's favorite private equity. Have you seen what they've done to, uh, what's the, the sandwich place that we go to? There's a couple, but what's the one over by the Leisure World?

Jersey Mike's?

Jersey Mike's. Have you seen what private equity has done to Jersey Mike's?

No.

What have they done?

You used to get a fat stack of meat.

Yeah.

And then now all of a sudden it's real.

Seriously?

Yeah.

It's been a while.

Exactly.

Really?

See, I knew that would get—

I knew that would cut right to you. Please do not tell me that. That's like You know, Jersey Mike's just recently sent me a free sandwich for my birthday.

Okay. Tell them about your other birthday story.

But I haven't, uh, been able to use it yet, but it, you know, it goes on my frequent flyer card, let's say.

Right.

Um, no, I don't want to talk about the other one.

Why?

Oh, because—

That's a private equity thing. They probably got bought out.

You think so?

Probably.

Okay. This restaurant, I won't mention the name. Why?

Yeah, throw them under the bus.

I won't say Red Robin.

Okay, nice.

They sent me a free hamburger for my birthday.

That's great.

I get there, sit down, I order my free hamburger. I'm with my wife, she's getting a hamburger as well. Yeah. And the server says, well, do you know that I can't use this on your wife's meal because she ordered one of our special $9.99 meals. So, I can't combine the two. So, I can't give you your free hamburger unless I split the check. And I go, hey, split the check.

That's fine.

You know?

Yeah.

Oh, but if I split the check, you have to have a minimum charge of $4.99. I go, okay, so What happened to the free hamburger?

Exactly.

Well, there's rules. $4.99 is your free hamburger. So it's not free.

It's not free.

No, it costs $4.99.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And that's just the sentiment that most people have with private equity. But today we're looking at mobile home parks, supposed to be affordable housing.

Okay.

Apparently They're coming in and just ravaging the—

Oh no, don't tell me that.

Yeah, they're ravaging the, you know, the people living there. But I wanna see your take on it. So let's take a look at this investigation.

Okay.

I'm sorry, but we cannot respectfully have media on the property.

There's something the private equity owners of this mobile home park in Central Florida don't want you to see.

We have to refrain from filming, photographing, No activity may proceed until our communications representative has contacted you.

Can we get your contact information?

Absolutely.

I had been filming conversations with residents of this park who have seen massive rent hikes. So it more than doubled?

Yeah, 125%.

That's crazy. As I was walking around, this corporate representative tried to shut us down. So I tried to ask them about some of the issues the folks I was talking to had raised. We're trying to get answers from Legacy about why the rates are going up so dramatically.

So they are conducting a lawsuit at this moment. So there's nothing that I can talk about with that.

This whole incident got me wondering, what do these companies have to hide? So we kept investigating.

Florida has some of the worst tenant protections in the entire country for tenants and renters of all kinds.

They don't—

Democrat in Florida.

There's some. Yeah, there's some.

Treasure their older people.

It's a mobile home park. What do you expect? Yeah.

Well, they just put them in places and let them die.

Oh, come on, lady.

I want to tell you about 3 mobile home communities where private equity came knocking on the door, because learning from each one might help us figure out how to protect some of the last affordable housing in the country. I'm here at the Highlands, a community with some—

I guess what they don't talk about is these were probably all owned by mom-and-pop investors at first. And then, you know, Wall Street comes along and probably gives them an offer that they can't refuse, and now they're multi-multi-millionaires.

Yeah.

So, I mean—

Yeah, kind of like SpaceX.

What about those people?

Yeah, it's like, how many millionaires did that create?

Yeah.

You know, janitor, right? I saw janitor being interviewed. He's a millionaire, you know, because he worked at SpaceX and they gave him stock.

I mean, there's a saying that I'd rather be lucky than good.

Yeah.

And sometimes it just hits right. You know, people probably thought that whoever started these were crazy and they're like, you're gonna start a mobile home park? And they're like, yeah, we're just gonna do it. And then, you know, they put in like 30 years, blood, sweat, and tears. And then all of a sudden Warren Buffett comes along and says, we'll give you $100 million or whatever it is.

Is he still alive?

I think he is.

Yeah.

I think he stepped down from all of his stuff.

Oh, but he's still alive.

He's still going.

Oh, that's good.

Yeah.

550 residents.

Because I heard about how people here can't afford the basics like food, medicine, and some elderly folks have had to go find a job to try and pay for the massive rent increase.

Hi, Dan, how are you?

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

Yeah, so this is where the community gathers?

Yes, this is the clubhouse. This is our library. Then we have our card room, men's poker, mahjong, and they have a singles night and they play cards in here.

Charlene Cribble moved here in 2021 to enjoy her golden years after a 3-decade-long career in property management. Her husband is a U.S. Air Force veteran. Just a year after Charlene moved in, the park was purchased by Legacy Communities, a real estate investment firm.

It's kind of nice inside.

I know, it's really nice.

They own over 70 parks across the U.S., with almost half of them in Florida. And last year, residents got hit with a massive rent increase. When you heard that your rent was gonna go up that much, what went through your mind?

I have to go back to work. I felt like I needed to, to at least make up the difference of the rent.

Are you under the impression that when you reach a certain age, no matter what, you are— you deserve to not work another day in your life? Or is that something that's earned?

It's earned.

It's earned, right?

Yeah.

Because there's always these stories about it. This woman is a certain age and she has to go get a job.

But that— see, that's the, that's the problem with Social Security. Social Security. It's like it's supposed to be the blanket, but it's not a blanket. It's a sock.

It's government.

It's a sock that it's going to keep you warm, right? The sock's not going to keep you warm. You need the rest of the clothes on your body to keep you warm, which you have to plan for in your entire life. I mean, we started your brand new son with a Trump account.

Yep. Yeah.

Okay.

Happy birthday, America.

250.

Hello.

Yeah. You know, you gotta start.

You gotta start 'em when they're bored.

I mean, you'd be surprised.

Yeah.

And there's a lot of people that just think, I'm 65, so I'm never— I shouldn't have to work.

Mm-hmm. Do they go into the prices of these mobile homes or no?

Yes, they do.

Are they? Okay, let's go.

Let's keep going.

It costs $700 a month.

The rent hike forced Charlene to give up her arthritis medication because it costs $270 a month.

This is my fist. This is all I can do. So that's why it's hard for me to work, because I can't grab it. I don't mean to laugh.

It's just like they all know— they always get those type of people. Oh yeah, my fist only can go like—

okay, give me a pile of change, I wouldn't be able to hold it.

And oh yes, you would. The change, you would be able to hold it. Come on, would it help you?

I had a little more strength and I could close my fist.

What does that feel like to know there's medication that you could be taking but you can't afford it.

These newscasters, man.

Real estate companies.

Sometimes I cry about it. It's sad. It's sick.

I want to know how much that mobile home is worth.

She's the HOA president, so she knows her stuff.

There was a one-time assessment charge notice Legacy had sent us. They did not explain what it was for except for those She's—

timeout.

There—

is this in a park where they own the land underneath?

I don't know, actually.

Well, why would there be an HOA president?

True.

Maybe you do own the land.

Okay, so you own the land, but there's probably— you don't own the land. You don't own the land.

Well, it's like Sierra, but it's not like a regular park. I don't know, maybe like Sierra Don, where— yeah, you have an HOA and— yeah, yeah. Well, I don't know.

Maybe they're weird because why, why would private equity buy something like that if— I mean, they're going to raise the fees.

Oh no, because there is a lease. No, there is a lease. Yeah, there is a lease. Well, unless it's just HOA fees, which is happening all around the country.

Oh, there's, there's more to this story than they're leading on.

Okay, baffled about assessment. There was a committee that was formed to pursue Mediation, Legacy took away the $3,557.44 charge, but they also took away our CPI.

CPI, meaning their Consumer Price Index rent escalation clause, where rent increases are tied to inflation.

I think the committee was manipulated. I don't think they understood what CPI meant. Without knowing the details, I think they were pressured.

Legacy agreed to cancel the $3,500 fee, but only if the committee agreed to go to market rent. Residents are now in the middle of a lawsuit over the validity of the agreement, as hundreds of retirees saw their rent more than double overnight.

They know that the judicial system works slowly, and corporations oftentimes exploit that. But they know that by the time the legal system catches up to them, they already got away with it.

Community members are up against investors who are determining the value of a park not based on its current lot rent, But instead on how high they think they can push them. Legacy Communities is a major owner and operator of manufactured housing and RV communities, and almost half of the parks they own are in Florida.

It is a David and Goliath story, and it is incredibly predatory. I think the ugliest thing that we see is swift retaliation against residents who are trying to organize their communities.

It's just not fair. It's not right. People that only have one income coming in and paying that amount of rent, it, it, it's not feasible. I, I—

Well, I will say they do have to buy the homes even though it's on rented land.

Leased land.

Leased land.

Yes.

So it, you, you do get stuck and they can just raise the rent and then you're, you're evicted and foreclosed on at the same time.

Yes.

Because you can't take the homes. A lot of them have in their clause, you can't take the home with you. You can't just take it with you.

That, that's not good. But yeah, yeah, I've seen those.

Yeah, so it's kind of—

yeah.

I think they're just money grabbers. I don't know. I mean, it's a retirement community, 55 and, and over. Where do they think people get the money from?

Gail Berghold lives around the bend from Charlene. She lost her husband 2 years ago.

I have a car payment. I'm 2 months behind on already, so I don't have the money left in my account to pay it. A lot of people in here are just living on Social Security. It's just not right what they do.

And that's where private equity has people trapped.

Legacy's basically cut the legs right out from under us in terms of what home values are. We have no ability to sell. We paid $180,000 for our place, put another $40,000 I'll be lucky to get 30, 40 cents on a dollar.

Why is the value of your home half of what you paid?

Because of the rent. Because the rent doubled. We would love to sell it and get out, but we can't sell it because people are giving away their homes.

Charlene and her community have spent more than $50,000 in legal fees trying to fight Legacy. But the lesson here is that residents aren't giving up. They're organizing. And fighting back. And increasing rents and depreciating home values aren't the only issues that mobile home residents are facing.

Yes, she's my roommate now. She pays a certain amount and I cover everything else.

I saw this ad in the Nextdoor publication.

76-year-old Toni Corbett lives in Gulfstream Harbor, a mobile home park in Orlando owned by Sun Communities, a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. valued at over $16 billion. Residents have seen their lot rent go up almost 50% since Sun Communities took over the park in 2014.

Oh, she's gonna come right to you.

Okay.

Toni ran her own limousine service called West Wing. She laughs about how she somehow fit the stretch Hummer limo in her driveway. Did you think that this was going to be what life was like at 76?

Absolutely not. I mean, nobody Things like that. I was in business until I was 69, and then I sold my business and came here to live, and it's been hard, hard struggling. And they keep saying everything's going down, but it's not. Everything we see is going up.

With residents like Toni at Sun Communities feeling so hopeless, I wanted to know if any park was having success taking on these private equity companies, which brings me to the 3rd mobile home park I want to tell you about 1,400 miles away in Brunswick, Maine, where residents got wind of their park owner's intent to sell to private equity and faced a crisis over what they could do to stop it. Janet Fournier is one of the community leaders. Hey, Janet, how are you? What went through your mind when you heard that the park was going to be for sale? What was the worry that residents had?

For me, it was like, how do I fix this? I knew that if an out-of-state conglomerate came in and bought this property, that there was a high chance of many of those folks having nowhere to go because they wouldn't be able to afford the increase in rent.

The root of the problem is when private equity comes knocking on the door of mom-and-pop park owners who are ready to sell to the highest bidder. And in most cases, residents never even hear their park is for sale until the deal is closed. Luckily for Blueberry Fields, the timing was just right.

As residents, we had 90 days after the owner's notice to make an offer and to secure funds to purchase.

The state of Maine strengthened its laws in September 2025 to give mobile home residents the right of refusal, giving them a real shot at purchasing their mobile home park.

Is that good?

It's good. It's been around forever.

The right of refusal for renters?

Yes.

Yeah, on Muirlands. It's called Sesame Street, the park. It was private like 30 years ago. They went through the same thing. They found out somebody's going to buy it and all the park owners got together and bought it.

Huh.

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay. Like, where is this?

You know, mom and pop doesn't— it's on Muirlands near Los Alisos.

Sesame Street.

Sesame Street.

I haven't heard of that.

Yeah. Sesame Street.

Yeah.

Okay.

No, that happened like 30 years ago.

I mean, well, I talk to sellers and that, you know, sometimes they'll be like, well, the tenant's trying to buy it. And I, I never think that that's even possible. I mean, no, if you've been renting, I guess you're saving up your cash for this very moment. Or it's just if you're, if you have the ability to get a loan.

I mean, I don't know how they're going to do it, but other than get a loan to purchase the property, and then every unit owner has to pay monthly on that loan. You know, but at least they own it, right? You know, and, you know, they, they can limit the amount, uh, of, uh, the space rent going up every year.

Sure.

Other than, you know, for maintenance, why would it go up? Yeah, you have a certain amount, you're paying the bank every month for 20, 30 years, whatever the loan is. At that time, it's paid off.

I wonder who the operator is at that point.

Well, it'd be like an HOA.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you'd have to form an HOA. Yeah.

Interesting.

Instead of private equity, I asked Janet how residents on fixed incomes were able to afford to buy their park for over $26 million. She told me they got a loan and support from state and local governments along with community organizations.

It gives us peace of mind. We're in control of our own destiny.

Do you think that the new laws in Maine have discouraged more private equity companies from coming in?

I think so. I mean, it, it makes it more difficult for them. They've, they've got competition. They can't just come in with their checkbook and, um, you know, walk over folks.

While lawmakers in Maine have stepped up to help protect residents, Florida leads the nation with the highest number of mobile home parks that have been purchased by private equity firms. firms and out-of-state investors. Florida has no cap on lot rents or how often they can be raised, and a Florida law passed in 2023 prohibits local governments from being able to implement any kind of rent control measures. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in on it too. His campaign has raised millions with major support from private equity, including the owners of the parks we visited. I asked the residents at Legacy Communities Park directly about the DeSantis ties. Residents were frustrated by the governor's lack of response to their concerns.

I've never heard a word from anyone.

Nothing.

An email, writing, nothing.

Phone call, nothing.

And ironically, DeSantis—

The governor hasn't called him.

Some state employee retirement money into private equity firms that have donated to his campaign.

I keep trying to call Trump and he never calls me back.

Not even an email.

Nothing.

And how their investments contribute to that.

This has only emboldened private equity firms to go to even greater lengths to turn a profit. I wondered what lawmakers in Florida are doing about the crisis that is affecting so many of their constituents.

Hey, how you doing?

At the state government level, not much. But some national lawmakers like Congressman Maxwell Frost are paying attention. Congressman.

Hey, how you doing, man? Nice to meet you. Good to meet you.

Yeah.

Welcome to Orlando.

Thank you.

Part of the issue here is that residents are kept in the dark. They don't know what's going on. And there's also a bunch of rules and regulations that government has put into place that actually makes it damn near impossible for them to even put up a bid as a community. That's wrong.

I met up with him at the Sun Communities park in his home district in Orlando. He's recently introduced a federal bill that will give mobile home residents around the country a chance to buy their parks, like they did in Maine.

What our bill does is give states large sums of money through federal grants and says, if you are able to increase the number of manufactured communities that are owned by the people who live there, you're able to qualify for these big sums of money that we'll give you.

When doubters in Congress might say—

Ooh, you know what comes with big sums of money from the government, don't you?

Kickbacks.

Somebody gets a little extra, just a little off the top. Most of it's still there. It's just a skim.

Just kickbacks.

Just like off the cappuccino.

Yeah, donation to his campaign.

Yeah, I wonder if they have anything like that in California where if we start building mobile home parks but never actually finish them, but we keep getting grants.

Oh, that's the industrial homeless complex idea.

Yeah, and we build like 1 or 2 a year and it's like, it's really hard with the weather and climate change.

Yeah, tiny houses.

Tiny houses.

Yeah, stretch.

I say the only reason it's a stretch is because you just said it is. We're literally the ones writing the legislation. We're the ones here writing the rules for the nation.

For residents I met already under private equity control in Florida, they know it's an uphill battle and long for better days that existed before private equity took over their parks. But they aren't giving up.

What do you think would solve this?

This makes Legacy honor our original perspective: CPI plus two percent.

Okay.

That's it.

That's what we all signed for and agreed to.

Do what you said you're going to do.

That's all.

Both Sun Communities and Legacy are two of the six private equity firms named in a congressional probe launched by New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan into the business practices. that are having a harmful impact on residents nationwide.

Okay, see you.

I'll see you after a while.

Going to book club.

Okay, going to book club. Bye, Ellie.

Spending your golden years in the sunshine used to be an iconic part of the American dream. Now greed has created a new reality for Florida's working class. Seniors are being forced to live with roommates again and even skip important medication. But people like Janet and And her fellow residents in Maine are showing us it's possible to restore that dream. It means rebalancing affordable housing towards tenants, not investors.

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean, it's like—

That's fine, let's do that. You know?

But it's like—

Let's come back in 10 years and look and see what happened. Like, what has that park turned into in 10 years?

Right. They're like, we don't have enough money for the— our roofs are caving in.

Yeah, yeah.

And Janet needs a new roof.

What about my roof?

She's on the board, her roof gets fixed right away.

What about mine? You've been there, huh?

Yeah, I just know about HOA squabbles. Yeah, the HOA— whoever's on the HOA gets their stuff fixed right away, and then the rest of the tenants, even though they have nothing broken, are pissed off about that.

Correct.

Um, yeah, I mean, it's like, okay, so who took that raw piece of land and created the, the mobile home park in the first place? It wasn't a bunch of tenants that got together. It was an investor, a mom-and-pop investor with the dream, I'm assuming, of exiting. And all their hard work finally paid off, and they were the ones that dedicated their lives for 20 years. But no.

Yeah.

We got to give it to the people that, you know, at the last second was like, oh, I'm retiring. You know, like the last-second retirees are the ones that are always in.

Don't wait, get your Trump account today.

I know, I know. There's a— there's another YouTuber who, he— I mean, he always brings this up and he's like, I bet you if I went through their whole spending of their whole life. They just pissed away so much money and didn't save for their retirement. But they're always gonna— there's always gonna be a new story.

The lady had a business.

No, I know.

Like, lady, aren't you saving for the future? I mean, you're, you're smarter than the next-door neighbor who did not have a business. You've got to be.

No, unfortunately the spending is out of control. It's something you got to watch all the time.

Yeah, she— I mean, one of the pictures that she had in the background of herself when she was younger, she looked like she was having a good time.

Exactly.

She definitely looked like she was having a good time.

Exactly.

She remembers the '80s and '90s very well.

Very well.

Yeah, especially down in Florida. Oh my God.

With the limo business?

Florida was crazy in the '80s and '90s. Oh yeah, that's right. Oh my God.

Wild West.

Just, it was drug capital of the world.

Cocaine Cowboys.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like, and she had a limo service and who do you think she was shuffling around?

Exactly.

You know?

Yeah.

Wow.

Interesting. But then they'll just, you know, then Ethel has to go work at the grocery store again and it's sad every time, but it's like, did she just party the whole time?

I don't know.

Maybe I'm the dick for even asking. I, I don't know, but I don't know. Yeah. It's, it, it's always one or the other. Greed is the investor, the tenant. deserves more rights.

Yes.

But it's just like giving the company to the workers. You're like, that doesn't even make sense. If you were, if you were a worker and not the CEO, like, you— they're the worker for a reason, and the CEO is the CEO for a reason. But I don't know, I don't want to get into it too much. But yeah, it's kind of interesting. I mean, I will say that I have seen firsthand how these parks screw over Elderly people.

True.

Straight up. There's one in Hemet that is notorious that we've tried to help people that are behind on their payments and it's like they will do nothing. They will help them in no way. We're like, oh, well, we have a buyer that can come in right now. Nope. We have to approve them. If they're not approved, sorry. And then they immediately go and just evict them. And I don't know where they go at that point, even though they've paid somewhere around $200 grand for these houses.

Right. So no, no. Yeah, there's some predatory stuff going on even here in California.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's pretty bad. So interesting. But that's private equity in a nutshell. I'm sure some finance guy could tell me about how they've— how it's good, I, I guess.

It depends which side of the coin you're on.

Well, yeah, I would like to see like what, what would he— what would that person say? What would the finance guy say about private equity? Well, we've invested in companies that were otherwise going down, and we've— we built the railroads. I don't know, what would they say?

What's a railroad?

Yeah, exactly. Oh, I've been watching these old YouTube videos, or these videos that have, um, they were created by the railroads for like the night from the 1950s, and they're like, come to sunny California and take the Santa Fe Railway Express. And it's like these tourist videos, and so you can see how it was back in the day, and LA was so clean and nice. It's crazy to see, but they were, they were produced by the railroad company because they wanted people to—

Absolutely, yeah, make it look really nice.

Yeah, it's kind of interesting. Yeah, but, um, yeah, so I don't know, I don't know, private equity, good or bad? What is your thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Um, I'd like to remind you guys that this is live, so go ahead and jump in the chat and let us know what you think in real time. Um, so yeah, I mean, that's kind of just a sad story, I guess. You don't feel good after watching that, right?

No, you don't.

No, you don't. I mean, yeah, um, I mean, what's your thoughts on private equity? Like, what would— I mean, can it be stopped? Now they're all getting into AI.

Now it's all— No, no, no, no. I mean, you can't blame the boogeyman, you know, for everything that goes wrong in your life. It is your life.

It is your life, you know.

You can take it in whatever direction you want to take it. That's what's nice about this country. You're free to do as good as you can, or you know what, you can join the homeless camp in LA. Yeah, your choice. Nobody else's choice. Your choice.

That is true.

It is. Yeah, it's your choice.

Okay. Um, the next topic we have is There's actually a UK mobile home investor. They call it a caravan over there. And he was worth about $2 billion. Maybe— no, his company is worth about $4 billion. He got there by taking investor money, and he was basically going around the world flaunting himself about how he had all this money. Apparently it was all bullcrap. And he built all these mobile home parks without permits and without actually having any, any sort of, uh, I don't know, I guess just he just kept borrowing money, kept borrowing money, and eventually it just took a dump. And so yeah, similar to a Ponzi, he was taking money from, um, organized crime at 100%.

That's risky.

Yeah. And so it kind of, um, it all crumbled at the end of the day, as you can imagine. But, uh, so here's kind of the story.

Bull made his fortune when he transformed vacation trailer parks into housing villages, but accumulated massive debt in the process. He had 22 loan agreements for his company, Royale Life, and made personal guarantees to multiple lenders. The company once had a value of almost $4 billion.

Wow!

But when it collapsed, Bull owed $920 million. The amount of debt he had accumulated made his 2016 bankruptcy seem like peanuts. Because this guy has been bankrupt more than once. Years before Royale Life went bust, Bull faced bankruptcy. As a result, he fell into a deep depression and was out of work for months. But he didn't learn his lesson and was soon reaching out to lenders to help him with his latest venture. So he found a business opportunity in the housing market. He turned trailers used by people on vacation into tiny houses, each with its own driveway, backyard, and shed. The communities he built were for people who wanted to downsize and made Bull very rich— for a while. Then this guy, Tony Barney, sued Bull for $40 million. It was money that Bull owed Barney's 2 companies, Baslow Parks and Baslow Holding Developments. Barney was one of many lenders to demand repayment from Bull, who hoped to reach an agreement to pay his debts off. Seriously, does this guy sound like some kind of TV billionaire bad guy? Bob Bull? That's a bad guy name if we ever heard one! 4 Wrongfully Seized.

So that's kind of his story.

His name was Bull?

Yeah.

That's like, it's like, why would you invest with somebody with the last name of Bull?

Yeah.

And made off is another one.

I know.

It's like, it's right there, dude.

He's gonna make off with your money. It's like he's telling you up front.

Yeah.

Or, and he's telling you it's bullshit.

Bankrupt Freed or whatever. Like, yeah, right.

Bankman Freed.

Bankman Fraud.

It's like, it's like, people, come on.

Yeah.

And of course he's done it once and he know he's, you know, necessarily got away with it.

Yeah.

He's gonna do it again.

He's gonna do it.

Why would you invest with this guy?

He's a smooth talker, apparently.

Apparently. I mean, look at the woman that he was with. Obviously smooth talked her. Yeah, you know.

Well, that just cost money, I think. But if you really—

there was no love there. Come on, Alex. Come on. I can just see the love there between you.

Yeah, they are at the Eiffel Tower. That is nice.

Yeah, bald head. But yeah, overweight.

Apparently he has this like 30,000, uh, 30,000 square foot mansion that's just sitting empty now.

Nice.

And people are just like going in there and— but it, you know, here's the problem. When you get this money, then you start doing this and posting it on social media, posting this, and your investors are wondering where their returns are.

Last story we did. Yeah, I talked to one of my billionaire friends. We went to Hawaii. We were sitting in a hot tub. Yeah, I know I lost, uh, what was it, $15 million? Yeah, $15 million. But yeah, he told me to stop talking. No shit, stop talking? Jesus.

Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, all the signs are there, but I just don't get how— I mean, these guys can just I don't know. They just smooth-talked their way into it. And I mean, the idea is—

How old is this guy?

I think he was like 46.

He's a millennial.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, they live their life on social media. They've gotta, you know, tell everybody how good they're doing.

I know.

Until their downfall.

Yeah.

And then nobody looks at the downfall stuff.

Yeah.

You know, do they have any pictures of him in jail or anything like that? Did he even go to jail?

I don't think so.

Not yet.

He's being sued and he just is filing for bankruptcy.

And when's this?

Um, this was a few years ago.

Oh.

I, I, I'm— well, they just— Bloomberg just came out with this big, like, hit piece on him, but, um, so it's like got the update and everything, but it's behind a paywall, so I didn't read it.

So sorry, but I thought it was an interesting, uh, story.

But, um, yeah, it just, it just kind of shows you that I will say he did find a gap in the housing market, which led him to, you know, build what is essentially a mobile home park for people that want to downsize. And I guess in the UK, they don't have a lot of those.

So.

You know who does not have any mobile home parks? And I found this out at the last BiggerPockets convention. Hawaii.

Hawaii.

I know. You know, I asked the guy that was a real estate agent, I asked broker, I asked him, where the hell do you put the old people? He goes, we put them with other old people in places, you know, single families and stuff like that. But no, they don't have mobile home parks.

Seems like it would be a good place for that.

I would think so. I mean, maybe not because the land is so valuable over there. You've got beach views from wherever, especially on top of the volcano.

There's beach views from there too.

The land's not worth much, but Yeah, you do have a nice view from up there.

Yeah, that is true. Yeah, that is strange. There's yeah, there's got to be a reason.

But let's go find out.

Let's find out. Let's ask. Yeah, I'm sure people.

We don't need to ask. We need to go there.

We need. Oh, that's true. We need to boots on the ground.

Absolutely.

So that's the only way to do the real due diligence. Yeah, yeah.

Tell the wives we're going for a Hawaii investigative trip and they're not invited. How's that gonna go over?

Um, not too well with a 3-month-old, but—

I need to find somebody else then.

Yeah, let me, let me— okay, what is— what does this say? Um, Hawaii effectively has no traditional mobile home parks due to a combination of extreme land costs, regulatory hurdles, and logistical barriers. While not explicitly banned across the entire state, they just don't want them. Yeah.

They don't want them, period.

Yeah.

You know, and then there's some states that put them in, uh, Hurricane Alley.

Yeah, I know.

It's like, yeah, let's, let's let them do it here. And then the hurricane comes and wipes everybody out and they go, oh yeah, we'll just start all over again.

I know.

You know, that, that's kind of what I picture people picture when you say mobile home. It's like Twister. It's like, yeah, mobile home, single wide. Yeah, tin just flying in there. Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

Dorothy.

They're— yeah, Dorothy, Dorothy. They're different now though, folks. They're different. Yeah, um, I think more people are coming around thanks to us. But, um, yeah, so another one bites the dust. Bob the Builder is what they're calling him. Mobile home billionaire bankrupt. Now he has nothing.

Just another guy we're talking about?

No, this is the same guy. Same British guy.

British guy.

But oh yeah. Bob the Builder. That's what they called him instead of Bob Bull. But, um, let's see here.

Yeah.

And then our, uh, our kind of our, our final story here is, um, it's, uh, Ken Matson. Have you heard of him?

Sounds familiar.

It does, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. Ken Matson. Well, he's— yeah, he shocked, um, California investors. He raised money through his church. Um, and apparently he— it was, it was all a scam. Um, and so yeah, he, he raised a bunch of money and he amassed over 100 Sonoma properties over 9 years to add to his $500 million real estate empire. Um, and he gets, he gets arrested there in Sonoma, but apparently he stuck around in, um, the town. And now people are, you know, they're saying he's just kind of rubbing it into his face. But, uh, you know, like for one, one example, one Sonoma couple in their 80s invested $500 million with Mattson after he promised the investment would ensure their disabled daughter $2,500 per month for the rest of her life.

No, not $500 million.

No, no, no, $500,000. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I didn't mean $500 million.

Why would they even I'm gonna be talking to this guy.

$500,000. Yeah, so, um, this one just hits home because, yeah, he, he apparently ripped off, you know, yeah, just, just old folks and church folks.

They could have put it in the bank and got that return easily.

I know, right? You know, but he, you know, you work, you work the church crowd. Um, so yeah, apparently the scheme operated for at least 15 years.

Wow.

Started in 2009, you know, right after the crash. It was probably like, oh, I can pick up these properties for dirt cheap, all the way to 2024, um, where he sold ownership interest, um, that he did not actually control, commingled investor funds with personal accounts, paid early investors with money from new victims.

Hmm.

Uh, the investors were never recorded as partners, meaning they had no legal claim to the properties that They owned. So yeah, it's kind of a tough one.

Because those promises were allegedly lies. According to a federal indictment unsealed that same day, Matson never actually gave these investors any real ownership. Instead, he kept them off the books, not recorded in the official records of the partnerships. Their money was never truly invested. Some were paid returns, but prosecutors say it was all funded by loans, Matson's own assets, and new investor money— hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme. One example: Divi Divi Tree LP, a company supposedly owning apartments in Riverside County. Matson collected millions in retirement funds from people, but those people were never actual partners in the company. He did the same with Heacock Park Apartments and others. Raising at least $28 million between 2019 and 2024. In 2021, Matson sold the Heacock Park property and made over $8 million.

Yeah, he teamed up with some, like, apartment, um, like, investor firm that raises money for apartments and somehow was like, hey, join us up here. And then, yeah, screwed over those people too.

Do you think Ponzi has any relatives that are still alive?

Yeah, probably.

Yeah?

Yeah.

They might have changed their name along the way.

Probably a good idea. I mean, if I ever met a, you know, George Ponzi, it's like, dude, are you like related to the original one?

That would be kind of funny to do. But you said, I don't know, is it spelled with a Y or an I? Ponzi?

P-O-N-Z-I.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, P-O-N-Z-I. So then you do P-O-N-Z-Y, Ponzi Investments, and you just go around, you're like, no, no, it's just a coincidence. But then at the end you're like, I pretty much told them what I was doing. Yeah, investments.

Yeah, exactly.

That's a disclosure.

That's a good idea.

That's—

there's a plan. There's a plan.

That's a disclosure right there.

Go, go to the, the church members.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, they're, they're very giving people.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. That's a lot of predators are in there. God.

No kidding.

Million dollars. But he didn't inform his off-books investors. Instead—

This is what's crazy. I mean, and it's, it's just people being not sophisticated. They're just— he's like, here's the wiring instructions, just send your money here, I'll give you the returns. They're like, oh, okay, it seems pretty easy.

Yeah.

They're not like, am I, you know, on the title? Am I?

Yeah.

Even though—

Am I on the deed?

Am I on the deed? Even though I'm finding that, you know, you could put anybody on in a lien position, they could be 300th in lien position. So that's very true.

It's like, oh yeah, that's when you have to do your due diligence and check. Good luck. How many people are on this lien before me? 299. Oh, okay. Yeah, I think I'm gonna pass.

Yeah.

Oh man.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, I think— I don't know. I mean, I don't know what the answer is. Is it like that more regulation from the SEC? That's never the answer. But because there's the 503, the 503, Reg D.

Yeah.

I'm starting to learn about all this stuff where you can— some of the people are accredited, some of them aren't accredited, but you can't know them personally and you have to There's like all— but you're self-reporting.

It's a lot of rules that have gone on in the last 40 to 50 years.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But it's all like self-reported. And then, then once somebody kind of blows the whistle on it, is then they get involved and they're like, all right, let's take a look.

Yeah.

But, um, yeah, I don't know. You can get away with a lot of stuff.

Kept raising more money from new victims, pretending the asset was still unsold. Then, in April 2024, the SEC began investigating. Rather than comply, Matson allegedly deleted thousands of files after being told to preserve them, an act that led to an obstruction of justice charge. On May 13th, 2025, a grand jury filed a 9-count indictment against Matson, which includes 7 counts of wire fraud, One of money laundering, and one of obstruction of justice. He now faces up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud and obstruction count, and 10 years for money laundering. Matsson is scheduled to appear in federal court on May 23rd, 2025, before Magistrate Judge Alex G. See in San Francisco.

Do we know what happened?

May 23rd?

2025.

Yeah.

Do we know what happened?

Um, I think he's out still.

Um, okay.

I, I should have done a little bit more digging here.

This case highlights the devastating impact financial fraud can have, especially on those who can't afford to lose what they've spent a lifetime building. Thanks for watching.

That's, that's, that's the worst part. It's just like people's life savings. Um, but here's an interesting sort of, uh, like people are, um, oh yeah, so, so they started auctioning off The, uh, a Sonoma man is suspected of running a real estate Ponzi scheme in the North Bay, and the properties he allegedly bought with other people's money are now going on the bankruptcy auction block. John Ramos reports on how the alleged scheme has impacted the entire town.

Scheme—

that's it.

In about 2021, people began noticing that a real estate investment company was buying all kinds of properties in the town of Sonoma, often Leaving them vacant. Now we know that company was a house of cards, and now that it's collapsed and the bankruptcy sales have begun, it's leaving both the city and the investors wondering what the future holds for them. His name is Ken Mattson. He and his business partner Tim LaFever began buying up dozens and dozens of homes and commercial properties in and around the town of Sonoma. And he didn't seem to mind paying more than market rate for a lot of them.

His plan was to, you know, tear it down and rebuild something, promising that everyone can come back after it was rebuilt. But it's just been sitting vacant.

David Eicher and Lisa Stormont smelled a rat and started a group called Wake Up Sonoma to investigate the matter.

So he's buying property over value, and then it was like, How can he be making money off of these things if he's paying so much for them?

It turns out he wasn't. His investors, many who were elderly and recruited through churches, were sending LaFever-Matson money that they will never get back. When the company collapsed, Maria Crane lost virtually everything she and her husband had saved for their retirement.

So we got statements saying our increase, and he was making up that money, those— that information. But we, we thought we were safe. We're getting statements. They were our financial advisors, and we thought we were planning well. And now we are scrambling to make ends meet.

Now she's gone back to teaching, and her husband, at age 70, will have to keep working as well. The town has also paid a price.

Many of the properties and likely their names tied up in the courts.

One familiar business, the cheese factory, has since reopened under a new buyer.

Looks more like the beloved cheese factory that we used. to know and love.

But when it was owned by Matson, the once popular specialty deli was hit with a boycott from the community.

I mean, if the right person takes ownership of some of these beloved historic buildings, they can— they'll get a lot of community support.

Matson is facing criminal charges, and there's also a bitter irony in that for the investors. Because he too is a co-owner of some of the properties, he stands to get a portion of whatever is generated through the bankruptcy property sales.

And whatever Ken uses for his own legal defense comes out of whatever pot is left that could go back to investors and creditors. So of course, we're like, we don't want to pay for the defense of the man that has committed a crime against us and stolen our livelihood.

So far, 6 LaFever-Matson properties have now been sold out of bankruptcy, with dozens more to follow. And just as their initial purchases artificially raised the price of real estate in town, Now their deflated sales price are likely to bring down the value of their neighbors' homes.

Geez, show Pete. That's crazy. But yeah, he's, um, he's still walking around. Uh, yeah, here, this thing we were watching this earlier. It's kind of interesting that he's— I mean, I guess if you live there and your whole life is there, it makes sense.

I had an interview with the investors and they were heartbroken. Just wondering, um, do you have any comments? I find it really interesting that you're still living in Sonoma, which is a place that you've basically really taken advantage of. People are pretty upset with you. I mean, I don't really know how you can You can still show your face around here.

Surprised no one's like— I guess because they're all church people.

Ted's wife.

It would be great if you would make some sort of statement as though you're not in hiding all the time.

You could just—

Mr. Matson, can I just give you a card? I'm hoping you would Sit down with the Press Democrat for an interview?

Yeah, right. Let's do that.

I think it would really go a long way to, uh, soothing some of the concerns your investors have.

Yeah, right. That's what I want to do.

Press Democrat. Crazy, bro.

Ken, I would welcome an opportunity at any point just to sit down and talk to you.

Yeah, I wouldn't really be—

Let's go.

I wouldn't really be, you know, going around town. Um, I would do some sort of religious angle, and you just be like, look, I've been praying on it, and I mean, uh, God's forgiven me. I hope you can.

I mean, are you practicing for the future? No, no, no, no, no, no.

I would rather it just take longer. I don't know, these guys need to somehow— I mean, it took them 15 years, but I, I don't know what it is. It's just like intoxicating that you just keep skimming money off the top and then your lifestyle creep goes up.

They ought to just put him in jail for the rest of his life, period. You know, how many people do they have to put in jail like this and make it public Especially in our age, you know, where everybody's online anyway, seeing all this stuff. It's like, dude, this guy was— this guy went to jail for the rest of his life. Look at Bernie. Bernie went to jail. What happened? He died.

Yeah.

I think he— didn't he kill himself in jail?

I don't know.

Yeah, I think he killed himself.

Might've been an Epstein job.

Yeah, it could have been. Was Hillary involved?

Let me see, actually. Yeah, it's just it's not it's not a good look. You can't be doing that to the church folk every now and then. Come on, everybody! People's like retirements. Did Bernie made off? Whoops! Don't say. Can't say that on YouTube. Unalive himself. No, he died of natural causes.

Oh really?

Yeah.

I thought he—

2021.

Did the S.

While serving his 150-year prison sentence.

Oh, he could have survived that. He could have survived it.

With the right medical— oh man. Oh no, his wife did. Oh, his wife did on Christmas Eve 2008.

Yeah, that's who did. They made a movie. Yeah, yeah, it's actually a pretty good movie. I thought it was. Pretty good movie. And didn't he— maybe one of his sons did the same thing?

His—

her, uh, his Madoff sister and her husband died in an apparent MS.

Oh yeah.

Um, yeah. Oh wait, his son, his son, his son, right? Yeah, Manhattan apartment. Yep. Yeah, 2010. Oh gosh. Oh gosh.

If you don't know what that is, comment and we'll comment in the comments. Yeah, we'll tell you what it really is.

Oh, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.

Oh yeah. Why?

Why? It's just sad.

He had a good time while he was out there, so, you know.

Yeah. Um, oh, we had some comments. Uh, Liz says, hi, land and build out a mobile home park. Would either of you buy LA?

No.

100% no. No, the people that got their houses burned down are still— they're, they're being arrested for, for going up by the Palisades.

Seriously?

Yeah, they're like, because they want to like see their lot and now it's all overrun by vagrants and stuff. If they go up there— or no, no, what they're doing is they're writing tickets for, um, like not having your seatbelt and like all this random stuff. Oh my God. Yeah, it's pretty bad. So it's crazy. I don't know what's gonna happen with that. I have no idea. LA, LA, LA, LA, come on. Um, that was fun. A little bit of a depressing show. I always forget that these stories are actually very depressing.

Are they?

When I do them, I mean, kind of. I would think so. People losing their life savings and then these white-collar crime guys True. He gets 10 years for the, for the actual crime, but he got like 20 years per wire fraud or per—

yeah, but we don't know that that's what he got. No, we have no idea.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

This is—

yeah, we got to do some live digging here.

Yeah, let's, let's get an update.

Um, uh, what charges or no? Verdict, verdict, verdict. Twenty twenty five. It's got to be. It's public, right?

Oh, everything's public.

There's no verdict in twenty twenty five. He was indicted in May twenty twenty five and pleaded not guilty to nine felony counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice.

So when's the next?

Oh, he initially signaled an intent to plead. Guilty to one count of wire fraud in April 2026, with prosecutors proposing a 12-year prison sentence. But he withdrew the offer in June 2026. Yeah, so I did actually read this a couple days before they were supposed to have his plea in or his offer or whatever you call it. He changed it to not guilty, which probably pissed off the prosecutors. He has reverted to a not guilty plea, and his trial is scheduled for April 2027. We'll be following along live. in the courtroom if you guys want to join us. April 2027, uh, prosecutors allege he operated a classic Ponzi scheme, defrauding hundreds of investors over $100 million. So, um, tune in live. Joe and I will be in the courtroom.

We'll do a podcast from there.

Yeah, we'll be in the back like, can you believe this a-hole?

Um, I'll be a year older then.

Then Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we all, we all will.

Um, is that how it works?

Yeah, it's crazy.

Everybody ages?

Everybody ages.

I thought it was just me.

It's nuts.

Damn.

So they float a 12-year prison sentence after all that.

Wow.

I mean, geez.

Wow.

Geez. And then he gets to pay for his defense with the funds of the properties that get sold off. Oh man.

Nice.

Kenny boy.

Wow. I'd take— I'd probably take the 12 years because if he goes to court, he's going to get way more than that. There's no doubt.

Yeah, yeah. You don't want to go to trial.

Yeah, maybe before then they're going to say, okay, we'll settle for 10, and he'll say yes. It's like—

Oh, and he's got a $6 million home in Piedmont, which is like I think that's like wine country. I think it's like a wine estate. He's got a $6 million home. That's the problem with these guys. You should just—

I hope he has a lot on the hook for bail, you know, because why not take off? Hey, oh, there's an island for sale, I heard.

That's right.

Maybe he can buy Epstein's island.

There you go.

Yeah, yeah. And then what do they do?

It's probably got good security on there.

Yeah.

At least some cameras here and there. Mattson ordered to hand over deed to house.

The hits keep coming.

Come on, guy. I don't know, but you know what, after the 12 years everyone forgot about what he did and he comes out and he starts a new company.

Yep.

And he goes to— basically he goes to white-collar college.

Yeah.

Inside.

Same thing.

Learns all the tricks.

Learns how to do it all over again.

He's like, you know, some guy in there is like, you know what you did wrong with the wire fraud?

Yeah.

You gotta make a separate email. Doesn't come back to you.

Yeah.

Oh God, I don't know.

Okay.

Yeah, so anywho, um, be on the up and up. Overall, that's what we say here, and it's better to just be truthful and do what's right. That's what we like to talk about.

That's right.

We are against fraud. And, um, if you know anybody that— well, we should have a tip line and then we can start investigating ourselves.

I thought you were gonna ask people if you know anybody that needs to sell a mobile home.

Okay, yeah, that's, that's better.

You know, Yeah.

I'm not a—

or even a mobile home park. We'd look into those too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We should, should start doing that.

Let us know.

Let us know. We're coming back next week with actually my buddy who is a capital raiser. So we're going to need to— we're going to need— I got some questions for him.

Okay.

I'm going to need— I'm going to have him open up all of his accounts.

Okay.

Make sure nothing's commingled. Make sure no wire fraud's going on. And then I'll give them the seal of approval.

You gonna get your FBI badge out or something?

No, this is just citizens— citizen journalism.

Okay.

Yep. So as long as you're a journalist, you can do whatever you want, apparently, under the First Amendment.

Okay.

God bless America. Happy birthday. And we will be back here next week.

We'll see you next week.

See ya.

If you want some more advice on real estate investing, reach out to us one-on-one.