HouHou paid, on average, $35,500 per house in Buffalo. When selling to Kuwaiti investors, the recorded sale price averaged $42,500, The News found.

But Kuwaitis told The News that their purchase payments always exceeded the sale prices recorded with the Erie County Clerk's Office. The Kuwaiti buyers said they paid upwards of $100,000 to HouHou's organizations, sometimes more than twice as much as the real estate documents recorded as the sales price, The News found.

Buffalo, meanwhile, like other cities struck by HouHou's scam, continues addressing the fallout, dealing with houses like the one at 25 Mesmer Ave., which has sat largely vacant since HouHou bought and flipped it in 2015.

The house is headed for foreclosure, and likely demolition, officials said.

"HouHou never should have sold it," Alhasan said of the house his family bought from HouHou. "We cannot keep up with the financial burden of this house."

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