A FORMER south-west man plans to pursue legal action after being portrayed as a shonky real estate agent in a piece aired by
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Andrew Allan, formerly of Framlingham and Warrnambool, now lives in Orlando, Florida and is the founder of MyUSA Property, an American-based real estate company that specialises in finding cheap properties in the US for Australians.
On Tuesday night,
The Standard
He said he did not wish to comment on the allegations publicly except to say that the matter was with his solicitors and that he would be exploring the possibility of a defamation lawsuit against a former client quoted in
“I’ll be defending (the allegations) through legal avenues — I’ve only just (discussed) it with my solicitors,” he said.
The Standard
Mr Allan did not respond to the ABC’s requests for an interview and declined to comment further to
The 7.30 Report
Some of the story centred on former MyUSA Property client Gavin Hicks.
According to The 7.30 Report, Mr Allan invested Mr Hicks’ $65,000 savings in small apartments in Ohio and a home in Detroit, but Mr Hicks claimed the properties turned out to be bad investments.
“Even though the house looked fine, the actual neighbourhood ... it wasn’t a good idea,” Mr Hicks is reported saying.
“It was pretty silly but I was going through what Andrew was saying basically and I had faith in what he was selling. Even if I don’t get my money back I want to see Andrew Allan held to account for what he’s done.”
The 7.30 Report
The MyUSA Property website features the following disclaimer: “There are a number of factors investors must take into consideration when buying in the USA as it is very different to the Australia property market. Investors must consider the areas, property type, vacancy rates, socio economic demographics and future potential of the market before purchasing.”
The news story did state that “MyUSA Property does have some contented customers like Brisbane surveyor and town planner Steve Cooper who personally surveyed his properties before purchasing”.
Mr Cooper is quoted on
The rest of the testimonial, which was not shown in the program, featured on the MyUSA Property website goes on to say, “we looked at a lot of people and Andrew and his company are the only people we’d consider investing with”.
