HAYS COUNTY, Texas — With inventory increasing and home prices decreasing in the Austin area, market conditions are more attractive for buyers.
But the KVUE Defenders spoke with a Hays County woman whose homebuying experience may have you thinking twice about sending checks by mail.
The woman told KVUE that she's out tens of thousands of dollars – and she believes there may be more victims out there.
She said she couldn't wait to start fresh.
"We're going to start a new life in Buda," she said.
That new life included a new home for her and her daughter.
"We were really excited ...we picked out things at the design center," she said.
Design upgrades increased the home price from $644,000 to around $720,000.
But she said the extra $76,000 was worth it.
"We were making plans to make it our home," she said.
Between November and December of 2021, she wrote four checks and mailed three of them to Perry Homes. The checks covered the upgrades and a deposit.
But nearly a year later, in October 2022, her new home plans came to a halt.
"I got a phone call that, you know, 'Actually your debt-to-income ratio is now considered to be too high because the interest rate is double and your payment is higher. So there's a problem,'" she said.
She could no longer afford her dream home.
"It was really frustrating and sad," she said.
But her frustration only grew when she tried to get all her money back from Perry Homes.
"We had put $51,000 into this house," she said.
She discovered she could only get some of it back.
"They said that the biggest check, the $31,800 and something dollars, they said that they didn't receive that one," she said.
But according to a deposit log she shared with the Defenders, all four checks that she wrote to Perry Homes were received.
"And I said, 'Yes, you did. Here's the check that was cashed. It says that it's cleared. It's endorsed, everything," she said.
She got a copy of her check from her bank and noticed something suspicious.
"Somebody added like, a little kind of a dash on top of my 'm' on 'Homes,' and so it kind of looks like it says, 'P Holmes,'" she said.
She said the check, which she made out to "Perry Homes," now appeared to read "Perry Holmes."
She said the check was cashed at Regions Bank a few days after she mailed it.
"It's the perfect crime," she said.
It's unclear what happened to her check, but the Austin Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit is investigating.
What is clear is that mail theft-related check fraud is a crime on the rise. According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, check fraud is the largest source of illicit proceeds in the country. Earlier this year, the group issued an alert to financial institutions to be vigilant in identifying and reporting check fraud.
From March 2020 to February 2021, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service received 299,020 mail theft complaints – an increase from 114,456 during the same time period the year before.
"I've learned that, basically, it's the perfect crime. That somebody can take your check, it can be deposited and then you can be told that you have this credit with the builder for a year," she said.
She said that credit can be seen on the Perry Homes deposit log dated March 2022.
The woman said making matters worse, she learned about the check issue nearly a year after she wrote it and after she had discussions with her lender to make sure her finances were in order.
Had she known sooner, she said her bank, Bank of America, could have taken action.
"They said too much time has passed. 'You should have told us within 90 days,'" she said.
The Defenders emailed several questions to a Perry Homes spokesperson, but none of our questions were answered. Instead, a spokesperson offered this statement:
"Due to the nature of the ongoing investigation, we're unable to share details at this time. However, we continue to be willing and cooperative partners with law enforcement and the financial institutions as they pursue a criminal investigation against the bad actor that intercepted and deposited Ms. Kilpatrick's payment."
So we turned to real estate attorney Julia Null. She is a partner with Clayton Ramirez Law, a practice that specializes in real estate, estate planning, probate and guardianship.
"We represent everyone from builder companies to developers to just homeowners that are having issues with their builders," Null said.
She said when purchasing a home, "it is always the homebuyers' responsibility" to stay on top of finances.
"So, a builder is a seller and so they have no obligation to give any disclosures when it comes to approval processes because they are not a lender," Null said.
So, under Texas law, what is the builder's responsibility to a homebuyer?
"A builder's responsibility to the homebuyer is to abide by the contract, and everything [that] is within that contract, and also to build it within all the specs and requirements under Texas law," Null said.
Null also said there are state and federal laws protecting homebuyers.
"You cannot force them into the contract saying that, 'If you don't sign this upgrade for an increase in price, we're going to get rid of the home and you lose all your money,'" Null said.
But Null said it all comes down to the contract.
"When it comes to their contracts, as long as the contracts are legally allowable, there's not going to be extra protections because you, as a buyer, it's always the buyer's responsibility," Null said.
Null also said to always have an attorney look over the contract.
In the meantime, the victim isn't giving up.
"I want my money back," she said.
She's exploring her legal options.
"It's very possible that this could be happening to other people," she said.
The woman, who has been a realtor of 20 years, hopes her story will help others because she said if this can happen to her, it could happen to somebody else.
"It takes a lot of work to try to get someone to help you, and you can easily give up," she said.
The Defenders reached out to the APD Financial Crimes Unit detective working on the victim's case, but she and an APD spokesperson would only confirm an investigation is underway.
A spokesperson for Regions Bank said they cannot confirm or comment due to customer privacy laws. A spokesperson for Bank of America said the same.