{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-lawmakers-probe-real-estate-firm-easyknock-after-abrupt-closure-demand-answers-for-customers", "Warren, Lawmakers Probe Real Estate Firm EasyKnock After Abrupt Closure, Demand Answers for Customers", "2024-12-17", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", "warren", "https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Warren, Lawmakers Probe Real Estate Firm EasyKnock After Abrupt Closure, Demand Answers for Customers\n\nEasyKnock bought people\u2019s homes, turned customers into renters on the promise they could buy their homes back, and then often left customers worse off.\n\nText of Letter (PDF)\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, led a letter to the Founder and CEO of EasyKnock\u2014a real estate company that bought people\u2019s homes and turned them into renters\u2014probing the company\u2019s allegedly deceptive and predatory business practices and their impacts on customers after the company abruptly closed its doors on December 5, 2024. The letter was also signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).\n\nBefore its recent closure, EasyKnock purchased homes from financially distressed homeowners through its \u201cSell & Stay\u201d program, promising they would \u201creceive 100% of their home\u2019s value without having to move.\u201d However, consumer lawsuits and multiple state attorneys general have alleged that EasyKnock\u2019s deceptive advertising and business practices often left former homeowners far worse off than they were before the company found them, causing homeowners to lose cherished family homes and much of the equity they originally had in them.\n\n\u201cWe are deeply concerned about EasyKnock\u2019s lasting impact on vulnerable homeowners, including homeowners with pending residential sale-leaseback agreements with your company, and the extent to which the company will be handling these agreements in the wake of its abrupt closure earlier this month,\u201d wrote the lawmakers.\n\nAccording to reports, EasyKnock customers rarely received anything close to the full market values of their homes, and the company employed predatory tactics, such as consistent rent increases in spite of a lack of improvements to properties, placing customers in financial positions where they could no longer repurchase their homes.\n\n\u201cAcross America, the allegations against EasyKnock followed a similar pattern: EasyKnock made misleading statements about services to entrap vulnerable homeowners only to break its promises at the expense of working families,\u201d continued the lawmakers.\n\nIn December 2023, the Massachusetts Attorney General\u2019s Office entered into a settlement with EasyKnock in which the company agreed to permanently halt sale-leasebacks in Massachusetts and make changes to its business practices.\n\nThis month, EasyKnock abruptly shut down. According to public reports, customers, shocked and confused by the news, were given little explanation of the closure, with one customer reporting that she was notified that a company called NESE Property Management now manages her home.\n\n\u201cEasyKnock\u2019s decision to 'shut down\u2019 raises even more questions about how it will handle ongoing agreements and properly compensate homeowners who were negatively affected by the company\u2019s actions,\u201d concluded the lawmakers.\n\nThe senators are requesting information about EasyKnock\u2019s past business practices and its abrupt closure by December 30, 2024.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-lawmakers-probe-real-estate-firm-easyknock-after-abrupt-closure-demand-answers-for-customers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3960630167275667, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}