Hood Estate: 'The Game is to be Sold, not Told'

A real estate Web site, HoodEstate.com, claims to to offer "Truth for the Street" on topics ranging from credit repair and mortgages to flips and short sales.

Of course, this wisdom doesn't come cheap. The site promotes a Hood Estate book, dubbed the "real estate bible for the hood," that retails for $39.99 and supposedly will help its readers "go from ashy to classy."

A "credit restore" section at the Web site states that Hood Estate offers a three-step process to dispute the credit problems and that the company has lawyers who "will aggressively represent your best interests.” Also, the site suggests that "nine times of of 10, big companies ... (with) millions of customers are not going to show up in court for each individual collection accounts." And if they don’t show, "your collection account that’s being disputed is automatically thrown out."

Sounds a lot like those “fight a traffic ticket” pitches: “the police officer who gave you the ticket must show up for the court hearing. If he or she fails to show, your case will be dismissed.”

Hood Estate’s Web site also states that to perform this so-called “credit restore” process, the company charges the consumer for a “one year membership” that is not “reversible or refundable.”

The Hood Estate Web site states that Hood Estate LLC is related to Heaven Homes LLC, and that the company “formed when CEO/founder of both companies, Leonard Person Jr., came up with the idea to teach the younger generation and the urban communities the basics of the Real Estate Game. He named it Hood Estate because he will be teaching people from the ‘hood’ about real estate."

The site beckons: “Stop stressing for a second and listen. Why be a soldier when you could be a chief. Create your own Dynasty. CEO, Leonard P., knows better than anyone because that use to be him. The book is not here to discourage people from chasing their dreams but just to show them that there are other ways to help make your dreams a reality. It’s a Reality Check. The opportunities are endless if you want to make it 'Big' in life. Seriously. Instead of chasing the dream, why not control the dream. Only you can chose your destiny! Do you know what you’re destined to be in life?”

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