As far as I’m concerned they should’ve given him a lot more time in the big house. The guy was a real jerk, and the State’s Attorney General’s office finally got him corralled and locked behind bars. Thank God! I opened the Indy Star over the weekend and stumbled upon an article (see attachment) about David Garden getting locked up and let’s just say it put a big *** smile on my face.
You see, one day a half-dozen years ago, I got a call from Bank of America telling me they had a mortgage customer, Pam, who desperately needed help with a short sale. So, I called Pam and listened to her story. She tells me this David Garden character had talked her into doing a short sale and had told her she needed to move out of her house so he could get it done. That was red flag #1 as most of the time with short sales the homeowner was able to stay in the house until it actually sold. As I questioned further I realized that this Garden guy wasn’t incompetent. Heck no, he was a crook. I just didn’t know how big of one yet…
Pam told me that Garden had rented out her house and was collecting the rent. He wasn’t sharing the rent and after nearly a year the short sale was going nowhere. So I went over to the house to see about getting the tenant out of there so Pam could move back in while I went about the many months long process of bringing about a successful short sale. After a couple tries, I finally caught the tenant, Susan, at the house. We talked and she was nice enough. And then she told me her story. Well, actually it was Pam’s story! Garden had given her the same song and dance, and had moved her into Pam’s house where she was paying rent to Garden. Meanwhile, Garden had rented her house to someone else and (you guessed it) he was pocketing that rent as well.
With a little work and a whole lot of patience, I got the tenant at Susan’s house to move along, got Susan and Pam back into their respective houses, eventually sold both houses, and both women were able to move forward with their lives in an orderly non-stressed fashion.
Like so many people, they had the rug pulled out from underneath them during the Financial Crisis, losing jobs only to struggle to find employment at a lower pay scale. They could not keep their mortgages up. And while they were dealing with all of that, raising 
kids and grandkids, this predator David Garden was taking advantage of these women (and dozens of others like them). What a jerk! I am so glad he has finally gotten his just deserves.
If you’d like an ethical hand to help guide you around the predators, do give me a call.
“I work harder to make good things happen!” -Bob
Baby Boomers are not putting their big houses on the market and looking to downsize?
