Home | News Graphics

You need to upgrade your Flash Player to properly use this content.

Get Flash

Start Update | Cancel

If you think you may have reached this message in error, you can bypass the detection.

A little real estate empire, gained and lost

Published Saturday, June 09, 2007

It took less than 90 days for Irene Thomas, 23, to buy 10 houses with no money down. She didn’t use a real estate agent, but instead relied on the advice of a friend and employees of a mortgage brokerage and closing firm, Universal Mortgage Inc. of Brooklyn Park. Four of the houses Thomas bought belonged to Universal owner Donald Walthall and five were owned by company manager Marlon Pratt. All of Thomas’s houses have been sold at foreclosure.