Little Tanner Griffith may never know the full story of his tumultuous birth. His world could have been much different. The Griffiths had to hastily move out of this house last summer -- Leann still four months pregnant with Tanner.
Their landlord hadn't been making house payments. So they found a default notice on the door of their rental the day they got back from their honeymoon.
"The day we get back. The day that we got back, we got the letter from the UPS," said Leann.
The Griffiths say they were caught up in the plans and desperation of Cynthia Glickman. She is a local realtor with eight different properties, all going through some stage of foreclosure in the last year and a half. The Griffiths were renting one of them.
"She informed me it was incorrect. It was a mistake -- an error by the bank," said Rory Griffith.
Right now, knowingly renting out a foreclosure to unsuspecting tenants is not a crime. But a new law working its way through Carson City will make that illegal.
Glickman gave them a lot of broken promises and few answers -- the runaround, they say. If the story sounds familiar, that's because it is.
Lisa Zoellick had the same thing happen to her, at the same house, just a few months after the Griffiths moved out. The foreclosure was never resolved. Glickman never told her the house was in default.
"It's fast money to rent out a house, collect that rent, and then not make your payments," said Metro Lt. Robert Sebby.
Lt. Sebby is with Metro's Financial Crimes Division. He says until the new law is passed, Glickman doesn't have to disclose the foreclosures. She does, however, have to give back the security deposits. "That is when it turns from the gray area to criminal," he said.
Renters have a right to get their money back after a house is foreclosed and sold to the bank. If Glickman doesn't meet their demands, it's a felony. "Obtaining money under false pretenses or theft," said Sebby.
The Griffiths had to use all their wedding gift money to move and prepare for Tanner's birth. An extra $1,500 could help now. The Griffiths are in a new house, but still smarting from being made a victim. "It's definitely not something that anyone should have to go through, and it's definitely not something that anybody should be able to get away with," said Rory.
Glickman has not returned calls and emails about this situation. At last check, she blames her staff for twice renting out the foreclosed house. The Griffiths do plan to write that letter to get their deposit back.
The Nevada Real Estate Board and Metro Police have been notified of Glickman's activities.
Realtor Cynthia Glickman
