Why You Should Avoid Rick Pregent At All Costs

If you're in the market to buy or sell your home, avoid Rick Pregent at all costs. If I would have known to avoid this man, I would have saved myself $15,000, more than the downpayment on my home. If you're a buyer, expect that Rick will not disclose all material facts about the home you're interested in. If you're a seller, know that Rick may open you up to lawsuits, such as the one I'm working on bringing against him and his seller as I type this.

I began looking for a home near Orlando in June of 2023 as my company is soon to have an office in east Orlando. I started looking in New Smyrna Beach at the recommendation of multiple people I had talked to in the area, and upon visiting the small coastal town, I decided this was a place I could call home. This was my first home purchase, so I was also excited to finally be a homeowner in a world where it's becoming increasingly difficult to do so.

I found a home in New Smyrna Beach in the Sugar Mills area, and I put in an offer. Eventually, the offer was accepted and the home-buying process began. As recommended by any realtor, I got a home inspection, which came back mostly good, but not 100%. The home inspector found that the garbage disposal was not working, the water heater was quite dated, and the roof had 0 years of life left. My realtor brought these concerns to Rick, and he said the seller would give me a small concession for the broken items inside the home. He also reassured me that the governing HOA would be replacing the roof within a month or two of closing. Based on the small concessions and Rick's reassurance regarding the roof, I decided to move forward with the purchase.

Most everything went as you would expect it to up until closing, or at least so I thought. I closed on the home on September 5th, 2023. A few days later, when I was finally able to get on the HOA online portal, Townsq, I found a letter that was sent to all owners on August 29th, 2023, prior to closing on the home. The letter detailed a construction project to be done on all of the homes in the community. The letter stated that there were defects in the homes as a result of a contractor that essentially cut corners when building the homes. The letter went on to say that the HOA had sued the contractor and gotten some money from a settlement. However, the letter also stated that the settlement funds would not be nearly enough to cover the cost of the construction project. In fact, the letter stated that the likely cost to owners in the community would be $15,000 each, to be assessed to all owners in the near future.

As you might imagine, I was shocked to see that letter. It didn't feel real that I just bought a home that had a $15,000 time bomb in it set it go off almost immediately after closing. As soon as I confirmed the details in the letter were accurate with the HOA President, I went on to contact Rick Pregent through my agent in the transaction. Rick stated that neither he nor the seller were aware of the assessment despite it being communicated to them in writing. As the seller has an obligation to disclose material facts about the home, I decided to contact a lawyer to see what my options were. In the meantime, I also tried to resolve the situation with Rick (he was the Power or Attorney in the transaction as well), but he had zero interest in discussing the matter, electing to not respond to most of my attempted contact. Our sales contract states that the parties in the transaction must attempt to resolve any disputes through mediation before going to court. Rick refused to mediate, so I am now at a point where I will be forced to take him and the seller to court.

Win or lose, I want to ensure that this matter isn't just swept under the rug. Rick collected thousands of dollars in commission off of a purchase where he failed to disclose a material defect of the home. His argument that he and the seller didn't know about the assessment despite it being communicated to them in writing is akin to a child putting their hands over their ears and incessently yelling "I can't hear you!". It's a pathetic argument, and I hope that the judge sees it that way. Not only did the defect go undisclosed, but Rick also reassured me that the roof would be replaced by the HOA without telling me it was part of this project that would cost me $15,000 out of pocket.

So not only did Rick Pregent fail to disclose a material defect of substantial nature, he also specifically sold me on the outcome of the project while leaving out the cost of the project. I think those facts point to outright fraud at worst or gross negligence at best. Rick Pregent has taken up a stategy of ignoring my attempts to contact him, and I'm sure he will continue to do so until he is forced to respond in court. I'm sure he will also try to paint me as a bad guy for bringing this to light, but I'm not going to allow this misdeed to go unnoticed.

At the time of writing this, Rick Pregent is a licensed broker at Keller Williams in Port Orange, FL.