We’ve known about the problems at the Lexington condo hotel (downtown Orlando) for a some time now, and I recommended to one potential client that he give his particular condo hotel project a wide berth. For reasons that I’ll never understand, he refused to believe that my adivice was anything other than genuine or based simply on my knowledge of who the lemons were in the market - and he purchased one anyway.

His view was that getting his deposit money back in the mail would be the worst case scenario if the project failed. Unfortunately, The Lexington Hotel filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2007, and so now this buyer is one of 107 other would-be buyers who has until March 21 to claw as much of that back as he can - from the bankruptcy judge.

According to a recent piece in the Orlando Business Journal, the deposits amount to some $1.4 million, and the unlucky buyers aren’t the only folk competing for the funds. At least 7 other parties have registered an interest.

I’m not gloating here. I’m not happy about that. I’m not tooting my own horn. But Realtor’s don’t just help you find the condo you want. A good specialist agency like Condo Metropolis with inside local knowledge will also help you avoid being shafted – sometimes painfully. And that’s no bull.