Posted on 09/09/2023 3:25:15 PM PDT by lowbridge
A builder in Colorado owes $6 million to customers who never received their promised tiny homes after he allegedly blew the cash on race cars, real estate and lavish trips, according to new bankruptcy filings.
Matthew Sowash, the president and CEO of Holy Ground Tiny Homes, failed to deliver tiny homes to 189 buyers while spending hundreds of thousands on seemingly personal purchases, KDVR reported.
The nonprofit company spent more than $400,000 to buy and repair race cars and other vehicles in addition to $35,000 in real estate in Colorado and Alaska, according to an 81-page report filed Friday and obtained by the local Fox affiliate station.
It spent another $32,000 on meals and $55,000 on travel to Las Vegas. Just $10,000 of the travel expenses “appear to be related to the delivery of the tiny homes,” according to the court filing.
Sowash’s legal team claimed the Vegas trip was part of an “employee appreciation benefit.”
The spending spree happened between October 2020 and August 2022, the same time the nonprofit was collecting deposits from customers for tiny homes they never received, KDVR reported.
Holy Ground Tiny Homes filed for bankruptcy in October 2022 and Sowash now has until Sept. 22 to submit a plan for how he will turn the company around, according to the outlet.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
My company is a non-profit.
.
.
It wasn’t meant to be...
;)
Why hasn’t all of his assets been ceased? Cash them out and return them to the buyers. Then give the guy 30 years in prison.
Website has the guy’s face, looks like a psycho shyster, just saying.
They’re cute but could never live in one. It irks me when I see families moving into one - I feel sorry for the kids, especially the teens. It would be nice if you could find free property to put the house on. Sell your expensive home and buy a small house for 35,000 sounds nice. Great for retirees if they put the bedroom on the first floor but takes up more space. The lofts are impossible to get to on a ladder for us older folks.
When I was involved in a start up non profit, the lawyer informed me that in Iowa, no one had successfully sued a non profit.
https://holygroundrealestate.org/live-big%2C-go-tiny
‘Live Big, Go Tiny” is a television series that talks about what it’s like to run a tiny house business through the eyes of Matthew Sowash, President/CEO of Holy Ground Tiny House Manufacturing.
This company has seen it all and Matt is the one to tell you all about it. With a sprinkle of satire onto the truth of running a business, this show offers informative entertainment on the ever growing Tiny House Industry!
That’s pretty bad. A building contractor should be the one person who understands the increase in building costs and the reason those “tiny homes” are needed in the first place. Families are purchasing them for their children, parents, or other relatives who can no longer afford the costs of a home due to inflation and high costs of home ownership. Cities are purchasing them for the ever-increasing homeless population (which is being created by democrat party policies).
For families, we are returning to the era of a “big house” on a piece of property where the rest of the family members come together for a big meal, to have “wash day”, or to have an evening of entertainment. Family members can then retire to their one or two room tiny home for the night located on the same property. A place where the occupants lay their head at night and where besides the bed and a dresser, the coffee maker, hot plate, and “wash bowl” is used for immediate needs and small meals.
People need to stop worrying about a recession and start preparing for the depression to come.
-----
I suspect many small business owners are in the same boat (or tiny house--whichever the case may be) and are just treading water hoping that rescue from democratic policies is just a year or so away.
22 bucks a sq ft.
“Oh, you wanted wiring, kitchen cabinets, plumbing, toilets, sinks, doors, switches, a stove, a microwave, and light fixtures with that? Let me show you my upgrades list.”
Those shanties would make swell shooting galleries.
And not the NRA kind.
Build him a tiny jail cell and throw him in.
He should have invested in coccinellids and hookers
But hey, let's go racing in Vegas.
Maybe he just made the houses very, very, very tiny ...
“Home depot sells large “garden sheds”. I have seen some youtube channels where these “sheds have been converted into tiny homes.”
i was thinking along the lines of a tuff shed:
https://www.tuffshed.com/products/#/all/
Had a neighbor that lived on a hundred acres plot that lived in a Payless Cashways setup. He’s still there.
The rest of the money he just squandered.
I moved to the great city of Tool, TX and paid 8 per square ft.
Don’t relocate here, we are out of room
Payless Cashways owned a small chain in the denver-metro area that had that exact same arrow logo, except it said “Hugh M. Woods” on it ... the store nearest me was the only “big box” hardware store and lumber yard near me for many miles and many years, well before lowes, home depot or eagle hardware ... when that store closed in bankruptcy in 2001 along with all the Payless Cashways, the property sat abandoned for over a decade ... i still have items in my workshop with Hugh M. Woods stickers on them ...
a man’s body was found there many years ago, and it turns out he was living in one of the old wood sheds and receiving mail in the old mailbox, and i asked my deputy sheriff buddy about what address was on the dead guy’s drivers license, and my buddy said “Hugh M. Woods” ...
That’s not creepy at all...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.