photo credit: johnnyalive
A reader has some news, potentially about Rudie Visagie and another Rudco-style plan. Neither I nor the reader are sure about the details yet, but the story sounds all-too-familar.
I read your article on the web when i googled Rudy Visagie.
How very interesting to note all concerns people are having about “RUDCO”.
So i guess the guy is using a different company name.
I just wanted to share with you what is happening in the area in live.There is a company by the name of Grande Properties, owned/directed by RUDY VISAGIE. He is also offering low-cost middle class houses in Kimberley, Northern Cape. Houses range from 2-3 bedroom, fixed interest rate on 8%, 10,000k deposit for securing your plot. For a 3 bedroom you will be paying bond instalment of 2,000k fixed for 20 years at that interest rate, for a 3 bedroom at a price of 450,000k, 3,000k fixed for 20 years.
Concerns are many and most are the same as of the people in your articles, like:
- no office setup
- no landline
- no working website
- no proper indication of board of directors of this company
- fakelike letterhead
- approval of almost every one despite their credit status,
- How can a property developer finance itself, and why is there no financial institution working with them
- After depositing your 10,000k, you don’t get a document as proof rather they just put you on a list of people getting plots then wait till they start building the house then you’ll get a contract
- the land they apparently bought from our municipality was cheap but the agreement was that houses should be priced low for people on middle-class. Anyway they themselves bought it very cheap. The 450,000k is overpriced
- interest rates that are fixed for 20 years
There are still many questions, some were posed but still no clear answers was provided. I think something needs to be seriously done about this guy cause if its really a scam almost 310 people by today and still increasing have paid 10,000k = 3,100,000 so far pocketed (or he disappears).
Many will be left broke than ever before.
Where this all started
As readers may recall, my interest in Rudco started from a purely financial risk perspective (most of what is on this blog). The offer he made seemed too good to be true and didn’t make financial sense. The risks were too high to him and the rewards too low – unless there was something else going on. Rudco and their low, fixed rate mortgages were shutdown in the end due to lack of regulatory approval. Several readers have described how they ended up out of pocket.
Is their financial risk here?
The pure financial risk part of this story is less clear. The lowish fixed rate mortgage sounds a little suspect, but there could be sufficient other sources of revenue and profit within the business model to make up for that. The concerns raised by the reader above relate more to the potential for budding home-owners to be overpaying for property, and by paying a deposit upfront may also end up out of pocket.
What we know
- Grande Properties has a website, presumably related to the company in question. It is still “under construction” but does include some contact details.
- The website was originally registered in 2006. The current registrant is Megaserve Technologies, which sounds like an ISP rather than the end user.
- I can’t seem to find any associated registrant with the NCR
If anyone else has any further info or details on this, please comment below or email me.
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