Ok, I have a wild story. For the past 5 years, a so called friend (realiter) kept trying to get me to buy a house. I always said no cuz I was scared. After the big house boom in California, I thought I better get in on it. My friend said if I buy a house through him, we'll rent it out and he'll split the difference from the rent to the mortgage with me in exchange for half the profit. I said why take the gamble with one house, we should get 3. He agreed, under the same situation as above. So I applied for 3 houses through 3 different banks all at once. All owner occupied. I was clueless to realestate before this and did not know this was illegal. He had me add his wife to title to protect his investments. He had me sign a contract stating our profit splits, and stating he gets to sell them all when the year is up as agreed upon both of us. I have paid my share each month on time and he's always late. He caused me a 30 day late last month and I'm about to hit a 60. I have had perfect credit for 11 years and now he's screwing it up. We put all 3 on the market and I'm beginning to think that he's not gonna pay up because he doesnt care about my credit and he's gonna get his comission when the houses sell. To top it off, in the end, I dont even think I'm gonna get my money back that I put into them. He's made his commission selling me them and gonna make it again selling them. I went over my loan docs and found that he lied on them. I didnt read the docs when I purchased them, I just rushed through and signed them. I feel extremelly taken advantage of. Is there anything I can do ? I would appreciate any advice.

I don't know what to tell you. See if you can get another realtor to handle the sale of the properties and be free of them all asap. I also suggest strongly that you consult a real estate attorney to figure out how to get out of this fast and as cleanly as possible.

Can any one suggest a good realestate attorney in Southern California ?