An elderly woman who knows "all the real estate lingo" and dresses like an affluent would-be buyer has allegedly talked Realtors in the San Francisco Bay Area out of meals, groceries, rides and a $1,300 Louis Vuitton purse.
"Realtors are like a taxi service to her," Realtor Thomas Nguyen told NBC Bay Area, inviting the TV station to follow along as he drove a woman "you might easily mistake for a sweet Chinese grandmother," to the dentist, a restaurant and a grocery store.
Nguyen and other Realtors say the woman is adept at cajoling favors from them by telling them she’s an investor from Taiwan, and wants to hire them to help her buy and sell property, showing paperwork that supposedly demonstrates she owns buildings worth almost $3 million and has another $4 million in the bank.
But the deals never materialize, and one Realtor has sent emails to colleagues and letters to the San Francisco District Attorney’s office to alert them of the woman’s practices, which some say have been going on for years.
The woman denies the accusations — including a claim by Realtor Amy Ho that she’s owed $1,300 for an expensive purse — but says she’s never bought or sold a home with a Realtor’s assistance. At least two tenants have won judgments against her in small claims court, NBC Bay Area reported.
"She might be 85 pounds soaking wet, but talk to her former tenants or the Realtors she’s called about buying and selling property, and you’ll quickly learn" that the woman "is not one to be taken lightly," the TV station reported.
