HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Homeowners in Harris County and across Texas are finding themselves in tough situations after signing contracts with MV Realty that they didn’t fully understand.
These agreements have left homeowners unaware that they were essentially giving up the rights to their homes for a few hundred dollars.
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KPRC 2 spoke with several Harris County residents who described their experiences with MV Realty’s contracts as deceptive, predatory, and misleading.
In July 2022, 71-year-old Glenda Hill Hood said she received an unexpected knock on her door. Next thing she knew, she said she was signing a contract and receiving $750 in cash upfront in exchange for granting MV Realty exclusive rights to act as her realtor if she sold her home at any point in the next 40 years.
What Glenda didn’t realize was that the deal placed a lien on her home, meaning MV Realty now held an ownership stake in the property.
A few days later, Glenda’s stepdaughter discovered the contract and delivered the news.
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In southwest Houston, Cassandra Gibbs shared a similar experience.
In July 2022, she said she received a random knock on her door. She said at the time, her husband had just been laid off due to COVID-19, and now she wishes she could return the $660 she received for her signature.
“I’m a little ashamed that I fell for it,” she admitted. “I shouldn’t have fallen for it.”
Cassandra said she is frustrated over the lack of transparency in the contract.
“Did they go over the 40 years? The lien? No, they didn’t,” she said. “For me to say I was putting my home on a lien for $600, I would never have done that.”
Karen Navarro, a Houston realtor with Vive Realty, shared that her elderly clients are also stuck after signing up for MV Realty’s program back in September 2022.
“It’s a hassle to want to move and sell your house, and you can’t because technically you don’t own your home,” she said. “They just want to get out of it, and this company is not responding. There’s no customer service; if you call, you have to leave a message, and they don’t call you back.”
These are just a few examples of the hundreds of MV Realty contracts signed by Harris County homeowners in the last three years.
They are not alone; seven states have passed legislation to crack down on such listing agreements.
MV Realty’s founder, Amanda Zachman, operates the company out of Delray Beach, Florida. The company employs local realtors and notaries to knock on doors, offering their Homeowner Benefit Program across the U.S.
“It was a very bad way to trick people to get money when they think this is the right thing,” Navarro said. “It’s just horrible what they’re doing to these people.”
Both Glenda and Cassandra admitted they didn’t fully read the contracts because they trusted what they were being told. Now, they want to see Texas cancel these contracts.
“It’s horrible,” Glenda said.
KPRC 2 reached out to the Texas Attorney General’s Office to ask about any potential lawsuits regarding this issue, but has yet to receive a response.
The Texas Association of Realtors acknowledged they were aware of MV Realty’s practices. It said two bills are currently in committee in the state legislature, both aiming to ban predatory listing agreements.
We reached out to MV Realty for comment on the contracts and received no response by the time our report aired.
