[Photo Credit: Yahnyinlondon via Flickr]
Giving new meaning to the term creative real estate investments, from Inman News (subscription) and the Sacramento Bee:
An up-and-coming California real estate agent reportedly acted as a buyer's agent for 16 Sacramento-area homes that were allegedly converted into indoor marijuana-growing operations... Kevin Parker, an agent with Prudential California Realty, was the 2004 Rookie of the Year and a top producer in 2005 at the company's Antioch office, according to his home page on a company Web site... But a DEA raid of 21 Sacramento area homes that were converted into pot growing operations has the news media -- if not law enforcement agencies -- raising questions about some of Parker's most recent deals.Apparently the authorities were tipped off to Parker's involvement via non-public MLS information that could only be provided by another agent. The homes were purchased with interest-only loans, and one wonders if the owner's accountants went after farm tax credits. And in what's described as an "environmental disaster", millions of dollars worth of pot plants were seized in the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. The 22,740 plants (but hey, who's counting) were scattered through the park lands in terraced, irrigated plots, along with discarded fertilizer and rodenticide containers. Which means that this weed would not be certified organic.
· Pot raids hit six more houses [SacBee]
· Pot Farms Ravaging Park Lands [SF Gate]