My husband and I were driving around in the community of Los Lagos in Fort Mohave,AZ. We came across a house that had a sign out front that read, “Rent to Own/For Sale by Owner”. My husband called right away as it was a beautiful home and it may be an opportunity for us to buy our first home. My husband called and a man named “John” answered the phone and they talked for a bit about price, payments, owner carry, etc. After a few more days of talking, John said his “dear friend Carla” would show us the house as John Strnad claims to live out of state in Oregon. We went to the house and met Carla Talamantez. She showed us the house and naturally my husband had questions/concerns as well as general information about the house. Carla replied with, “ I don’t know, I am not handling anything going on with this house, I am just a friend showing the house for him, you would have to ask John for information about the house”. After we saw the house my husband called John again to get all information and questions answered. Of course John had an answer for everything and his answers were as smooth as suede shoes. We went and saw the house again to make sure the air conditioner was working, appliances, etc. On that visit we met Carla at the house and she let us in. Not even 15 minutes later we had made our way upstairs into the master bedroom. I noticed that in the bathroom the tile looked wet but there was no water anywhere. I looked in the sink and saw that both sinks were filled to the brim with water. Around the toilet area there was water as well. We immediately called Carla and told her to get back over to the house because she needed to see this water damage. We went downstairs and sure enough the ceiling had water stains on it from the leak up above in the master bath. Carla showed up and immediately said, “I mean who would do this, someone sabotaged me.” Then she admitted to turning the water on and off in the house because she was trying to see why her water bill was so high. She also said she had “one of her guys” come into the house to do some work. My husband talked to John and Carla and said it was still not going to hinder us from buying the house.Even though, looking back now; Carla AND John OWN a cleaning and restoration business, so this was a set up. ServPro came out and checked the leak, they determined it to be fishy. Richard Chinn from ServPro came out the next day with a moisture reader and found that the upstairs floor had 97% moisture under the tile, which would have leaked through to the master floor down to the bedroom downstairs. The water would have to go through the ceiling and would have saturated the carpet in the downstairs bedroom. However, the moisture detector, detected that the carpet downstairs was 0%. This proves that Carla CAUSED the water damage. She turned off the water to her house and the water softener and when she turned the water back on the faucet was still on in the upstairs bathroom. The sinks were also plugged. Carla’s business AQ Services is a home cleaning/restoration business. She simply dried out the downstairs bedroom with her equipment from her business and left it for us to find and in turn to try and blame us for the user error that she caused. After that last visit John informed my husband that there was a couple in Montana interested in the house so we needed to decide so he could let the “couple in Montana know”. We talked about the house and John assured us it was going to be an owner carry contract. He informed my husband on May 4,2017 that he needed the earnest deposit THAT DAY before 5:00pm. It was already 4:00pm, so my husband said to drive down to Carla Talamantez place of business to drop off the earnest deposit of $5,000.00. Carla Talamantez business, AQ Services located at 2921 Friendly Pl. Suite #6 Bullhead City,AZ. I went into her business and had a check for the earnest deposit which was to be held for a title company. John was not sure if he wanted to use Chicago Title or Pioneer Title. Carla told me that John said to “leave the check blank”. We had to urgently give her the earnest deposit to show that we were really interested in the house and so no one else could put an earnest deposit down. Carla made a phony contract that only SHE signed. Why would she sign a contract and have no one else sign it? In her lame contract she stipulates that, “The non-refundable earnest money will be applied toward an executed contract.” Well, there was no contract executed so why is Carla keeping our money she stole from us!? Not even 24 hours had passed and Carla Talamantez cashed the check in HER NAME. She wrote in her name as the payee. I looked at the phony contract and realized at the bottom it said that the homeowner is none other than Carla Talamantez! Carla Talamantez, IS the owner of the house. This was the first of many red flags. When Carla showed us the house she claimed to know nothing about the house, come to find out she is the one who owns it, not John. We asked John about this and of course he had some very charming response. The next day John had accidentally texted my husband instead of Carla, it said “dont be nervous the deal will go through and don't worry about the 2nd on the house”. Once again my husband asked John what that was all about and he said oh don't worry about it. Every time we had a concern he would deflect the answer to something else and avoid it altogether. Three days later we received the “contract for deed” on Sunday night at 10pm and was urged to get it signed by 12pm the next day. We were very confused because this was to be an owner carry. We began to read further and further. It states that Carla can take a loan out on the house even though we “bought” the house. There is not only a mortgage on the house but a 2nd as well! The contract was so bogus and absurd you would have to be a fool to sign it. It was so unrealistic. My husband called John right away and said we do not want to go forward with the purchase of the house. The contract was nothing what they had been discussing in detail over the past 2 weeks. He sent the contract at 10pm on a Sunday night. He then had the audacity to tell us to read it over and have it signed and sent over to him by 12 the next day because he had “lawyer fees”. Another red flag. Trying to close the deal. He also informed us that he had 17 other people interested in the house and he “was just not going to call them back”, in a very scary, conning laugh. We feel we have been ripped off and scammed. According to Carla’s contract, it says that the earnest money is to be HELD and “the earnest money will be applied toward an executed contract”. Well, there was no contract executed. This is not fair as no contract was ever signed. Long story short; we asked both Carla and John for our money back because nothing was what it was made out to be. We finally put all the facts together and realized we had been victims of a scam. John gets you all excited about purchasing a home for the first time and knows all the right words to say. Then they get you to run down and make an earnest deposit of $5,000.00 to Carla Talamantez business AQ Services. THEN they send over the contract for the house days later after you have paid the $5,000.00 and they ALREADY cashed the check and ran with MY money. Once you see the contract, it is so bizarre that no one would want to sign it. They prey on you knowing that they can take the $5,000.00 up front. These people are not even realtors. They would not return the money that Carla fraudulently made herself as the payee on the check. I am trying to get the word out because I know we are not the first people these professional scammers have scammed. I have filed police reports and contacted my bank. John Strand also has an extensive criminal background. He has 5 cases in Arizona and 13 in Oregon. Here are the case numbers from the Arizona Supreme court website:
AQ Services Reviews
My husband and I were driving around in the community of Los Lagos in Fort Mohave,AZ. We came across a house that had a sign out front that read, “Rent to Own/For Sale by Owner”. My husband called right away as it was a beautiful home and it may be an opportunity for us to buy our first home. My husband called and a man named “John” answered the phone and they talked for a bit about price, payments, owner carry, etc. After a few more days of talking, John said his “dear friend Carla” would show us the house as John Strnad claims to live out of state in Oregon. We went to the house and met Carla Talamantez. She showed us the house and naturally my husband had questions/concerns as well as general information about the house. Carla replied with, “ I don’t know, I am not handling anything going on with this house, I am just a friend showing the house for him, you would have to ask John for information about the house”. After we saw the house my husband called John again to get all information and questions answered. Of course John had an answer for everything and his answers were as smooth as suede shoes. We went and saw the house again to make sure the air conditioner was working, appliances, etc. On that visit we met Carla at the house and she let us in. Not even 15 minutes later we had made our way upstairs into the master bedroom. I noticed that in the bathroom the tile looked wet but there was no water anywhere. I looked in the sink and saw that both sinks were filled to the brim with water. Around the toilet area there was water as well. We immediately called Carla and told her to get back over to the house because she needed to see this water damage. We went downstairs and sure enough the ceiling had water stains on it from the leak up above in the master bath. Carla showed up and immediately said, “I mean who would do this, someone sabotaged me.” Then she admitted to turning the water on and off in the house because she was trying to see why her water bill was so high. She also said she had “one of her guys” come into the house to do some work. My husband talked to John and Carla and said it was still not going to hinder us from buying the house.Even though, looking back now; Carla AND John OWN a cleaning and restoration business, so this was a set up. ServPro came out and checked the leak, they determined it to be fishy. Richard Chinn from ServPro came out the next day with a moisture reader and found that the upstairs floor had 97% moisture under the tile, which would have leaked through to the master floor down to the bedroom downstairs. The water would have to go through the ceiling and would have saturated the carpet in the downstairs bedroom. However, the moisture detector, detected that the carpet downstairs was 0%. This proves that Carla CAUSED the water damage. She turned off the water to her house and the water softener and when she turned the water back on the faucet was still on in the upstairs bathroom. The sinks were also plugged. Carla’s business AQ Services is a home cleaning/restoration business. She simply dried out the downstairs bedroom with her equipment from her business and left it for us to find and in turn to try and blame us for the user error that she caused. After that last visit John informed my husband that there was a couple in Montana interested in the house so we needed to decide so he could let the “couple in Montana know”. We talked about the house and John assured us it was going to be an owner carry contract. He informed my husband on May 4,2017 that he needed the earnest deposit THAT DAY before 5:00pm. It was already 4:00pm, so my husband said to drive down to Carla Talamantez place of business to drop off the earnest deposit of $5,000.00. Carla Talamantez business, AQ Services located at 2921 Friendly Pl. Suite #6 Bullhead City,AZ. I went into her business and had a check for the earnest deposit which was to be held for a title company. John was not sure if he wanted to use Chicago Title or Pioneer Title. Carla told me that John said to “leave the check blank”. We had to urgently give her the earnest deposit to show that we were really interested in the house and so no one else could put an earnest deposit down. Carla made a phony contract that only SHE signed. Why would she sign a contract and have no one else sign it? In her lame contract she stipulates that, “The non-refundable earnest money will be applied toward an executed contract.” Well, there was no contract executed so why is Carla keeping our money she stole from us!? Not even 24 hours had passed and Carla Talamantez cashed the check in HER NAME. She wrote in her name as the payee. I looked at the phony contract and realized at the bottom it said that the homeowner is none other than Carla Talamantez! Carla Talamantez, IS the owner of the house. This was the first of many red flags. When Carla showed us the house she claimed to know nothing about the house, come to find out she is the one who owns it, not John. We asked John about this and of course he had some very charming response. The next day John had accidentally texted my husband instead of Carla, it said “dont be nervous the deal will go through and don't worry about the 2nd on the house”. Once again my husband asked John what that was all about and he said oh don't worry about it. Every time we had a concern he would deflect the answer to something else and avoid it altogether. Three days later we received the “contract for deed” on Sunday night at 10pm and was urged to get it signed by 12pm the next day. We were very confused because this was to be an owner carry. We began to read further and further. It states that Carla can take a loan out on the house even though we “bought” the house. There is not only a mortgage on the house but a 2nd as well! The contract was so bogus and absurd you would have to be a fool to sign it. It was so unrealistic. My husband called John right away and said we do not want to go forward with the purchase of the house. The contract was nothing what they had been discussing in detail over the past 2 weeks. He sent the contract at 10pm on a Sunday night. He then had the audacity to tell us to read it over and have it signed and sent over to him by 12 the next day because he had “lawyer fees”. Another red flag. Trying to close the deal. He also informed us that he had 17 other people interested in the house and he “was just not going to call them back”, in a very scary, conning laugh. We feel we have been ripped off and scammed. According to Carla’s contract, it says that the earnest money is to be HELD and “the earnest money will be applied toward an executed contract”. Well, there was no contract executed. This is not fair as no contract was ever signed. Long story short; we asked both Carla and John for our money back because nothing was what it was made out to be. We finally put all the facts together and realized we had been victims of a scam. John gets you all excited about purchasing a home for the first time and knows all the right words to say. Then they get you to run down and make an earnest deposit of $5,000.00 to Carla Talamantez business AQ Services. THEN they send over the contract for the house days later after you have paid the $5,000.00 and they ALREADY cashed the check and ran with MY money. Once you see the contract, it is so bizarre that no one would want to sign it. They prey on you knowing that they can take the $5,000.00 up front. These people are not even realtors. They would not return the money that Carla fraudulently made herself as the payee on the check. I am trying to get the word out because I know we are not the first people these professional scammers have scammed. I have filed police reports and contacted my bank. John Strand also has an extensive criminal background. He has 5 cases in Arizona and 13 in Oregon. Here are the case numbers from the Arizona Supreme court website: