By ThinkPol Staff

A Vancouver speculator who tried to make a profit of $200,000 through an assignment flip is now suing the eventual buyer, who allegedly owes him $600,000 after being forced to sell the West Vancouver waterfront property for a loss.

On March 21, 2016, businessmen Andrew Collins agreed to buy the property located at 5930 Condor Place, West Vancouver, BC for $2,990,000 with a closing date of June 21, 2016, and put down an initial deposit of $200,000, according to court documents filed at the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver .

A month later, on April 21, 2016, Collins sold the right to purchase the property to Vancouver businesswoman Katie Schomaker for $200,000, the complaint shows.

According to the lawsuit, shortly before the closing date, Schomaker allegedly told Collins that she did not have enough money to complete the sale.

Schomaker allegedly advised Collins that she had negotiated an extension of the completion

date to September 5, 2016, but had to pay an additional $500,000 deposit to secure the seller’s agreement to that extension, the statement of claim states.

Schomaker allegedly asked Mr. Collins for $200,000 loan to be used to increase the deposit so that the purchase of the Property could be completed, according to court documents.

The lawsuit claims that Schomaker allegedly completed the purchase of the Property on September 5, 2016, but allegedly refused to pay Collins back the $600,000, made up of $200,000 reimbursement of Deposit, $200,000 consideration for assignment and $200,000 loan of the increased deposit.

The complaint accuses Schomaker of unjust enrichment.

Collins is seeking a certificate of pending litigation and a vendor’s lien against the property, as well as a declaration that Schomaker holds an interest in the Property in trust for Collins and judgment for debt in the amount of $600,000.

Meanwhile, documents sent to ThinkPol by a real estate industry insider who first alerted us to this case show that Schomaker attempted to sell the property herself on September 14, 2017 for $3,288,000 .

However, after getting no offers, Schomaker relisted the property for $2,998,000 on October 19, 2017.

Schomaker eventually sold it for $2,640,000 on November 10, 2017, but the buyer has yet to close the deal.

Including the $200,000 assignment fee, which she has allegedly agreed to but has yet not paid out, Schomaker would be incurring a loss of $550,000 on the deal.

The industry insider who tipped us off feels that this will end up being a nightmare situation for both Collins and Schomaker.

“When the buyer finds out that the property is now in the middle of a lawsuit, they will walk away and the sale will fall through,” they told ThinkPol. “Prices in West Vancouver keep falling, and seller will be lucky to even get $2 million in 2018. I expect both the flipper and the eventual buyer to lose a lot of money.”

The insider blamed the real estate industry’s unethical practices for putting many working Canadians into a tough financial situations.

“The sad part for me is ordinary Canadians are falling prey to number manipulation by the industry trying to keep up the perception real estate prices can only go up,” the whistleblower said. “The amount of deception, corruption and outright fraud in the industry is appalling and there is so much secrecy around the process of purchase and sale that the public is kept in the dark on just about every aspect of it.”