Help Save John Priest's Land and Farm
Donation protected
My 75-year-old dad John Priest, bought 14 acres of land along a river near Paonia Co. 25 years ago for $90,000. There he realized his dream: building his own home, tending his orchard and growing his own food. Two years ago, he got involved with people who mislead him and now have control of his land and are threatening to evict him. He has paid $14,000 in lawyer fees to date and now needs urgent financial help to take the fight to court. This winter he drove an hour each way to work construction with my brother to make money for his legal fees. He is now waiting for hernia surgery from the over-exertion and is unable to work.
This is the story of how he got here:
- In 2021, my dad’s mortgage was bought out by a bank that changed the pre-existing terms of his loan without notification. They sent a notice calling him out on a technicality of the new terms (of which he was unaware) and told him he was in default. He diligently tried to sort it out but the bank issued a notice saying he needed to pay the balance of $62,688 or risk foreclosure.
- Fearing he would lose the property, he starting started reaching out to investors. His tenant set him up with his good friends who wanted to invest in the property as a retirement location. They came to an agreement stating they would pay off my dad’s mortgage, and when he was ready to leave the property or died, they would pay $237,332 (total sales price of $300,000 with the mortgage payoff) to him or his estate. My dad signed papers via DocuSign on his tenant’s computer with his tenant's help. My dad does not own a computer and did not have an email address at that time. I asked to see these documents and the tenant sent them to my email. These original documents are crucial for what happened next.
- The investors used a sales agreement given to the title company saying my dad sold the property to them for $70,000. The agreement was signed via DocuSign on the tenant’s computer. The tenant received free rent from the investors in exchange for being the “property manager.”
- The title company prepared the closing documents based on that agreement and removed my dad from the title. My dad had a real estate agent do a market analysis of the property to see how much it is worth. The agent discovered this sales agreement in the title company folder when doing his professional estimate. The agent put the value of the property at $417,000.
- When my dad asked for copies of all documents, one of the investors sent me a document stating the sales price was $170,000 rather than the $300,000 in the original agreement. We questioned them and they responded saying that was the original document. They did not know that I had the original documents. The signature did not match my dad’s.
- I remember clearly the stress of those months as we researched and failed to find pro bono organizations that could help. We also reached out to the district attorney and a local detective to no end. My dad finally retained a private lawyer and got approved for financing. The lawyer sent multiple offers to buy the property back and helped put a stop to the investors starting construction of their personal houses on the land. That lawyer was not able to take the case to court and referred my dad to his current law firm.
- In late April, my dad’s current lawyer sent the investors a letter that had a final offer to buy the land back. All attempts to come to a peaceful agreement have been ignored or countered with denial and threats of eviction. Also in early June, one of the investors came to the property and put their RV on the land.
The next step is to take them to court and expose their actions. Before this happens he may have to fight off an eviction notice. He has been threatened with this but has not received a formal notice yet. To start court proceedings they need to be paid a past due bill of $10,000 for pre-trial prep and to receive a $15,000 retainer that renews monthly. My dad is out of any savings he had and as much, as I would like to help him our family does not have the means to pay for all of this.
I have never seen my dad so upset and unsettled. His entire life savings is invested in the land and we are trying everything we can to get it back for him.
This is where you come in. If you can contribute funds and/or share this with your network, we would be so grateful. Once the funds are raised, the lawyers are ready to take this to court, defend him from further legal attacks and return the land to the man who built his dream there.
Organizer and beneficiary
Rebecca Priest
Organizer
Paonia, CO
John Priest
Beneficiary