Shady deed transfers on the rise in New York

New York

PARTIALLY paralysed and reliant on a wheelchair, Ozella Campbell spends a lot of time watching television. It was under those circumstances in February 2014 that she saw a commercial urging her to call MyHouseIsADump.com, a company that offered to buy houses in as-is condition, in cash, and to close the purchase within seven days.

She called the toll-free number and within hours, she said, a well-spoken young man appeared at her brownstone, a long-time family home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a Brooklyn neighbourhood in the throes of transformation. The next day, the man's associate arrived.