TRUST ME, I'M AN AGENT & POLITICIAN

With my high-pressure skills, I make big bucks.

UPDATE. September 14, 2006: Yesterday, Robert Langer, the brain damaged man at the centre of this story, received a threatening legal letter via his lawyer.

The REIV agents, Castran Gilbert, are demanding that he pay-up and shut-up. They want commission of $26,950.00 and they want him to retract his statements about salesman-cum-politician Mark Forytarz and the agency.

Robert was given a deadline of 4.00 pm to pay-up and agree to shut-up; if not, he will face legal proceedings without further notice.

Late last night, a distressed Robert said, "These people are bastards. I want to expose them to the world."

***************
by Neil Jenman

In 1985 Robert Langer was a 26-year-old train driver with the Victorian Railways. He was a bright young man with a future full of promise.

On March 29, 1985, on his way home from work, Robert suffered serious head injuries in a road crash. He was in a coma for two months. His mother, who had raised him alone since his father died when he was five, sat constantly at his bedside.

After six months in hospital, Robert spent twelve months in rehab. Although he had survived, his brain injuries were severe and permanent.

Finally, he went home with his mother who took care of him. He would never again be able to work in a normal job. He can't think clearly under pressure.

In 1988, in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Robert was awarded $500,000 by way of 'Order Approving Compromise of Claim by a Handicapped Person'. His mother, who managed his financial affairs, used this money to buy a family home on a double-sized block of land on Burwood Highway, Burwood. They lived there together, quite happily under the circumstances.

In 1992, Robert's mother was diagnosed with dementia. As she began the slow slide towards the end of her life, the roles between mother and son were reversed. Robert became the carer.

Over the years, considering his mental health, Robert did well. Sure, he neglected his financial affairs (such as failing to lodge a tax return for ten years) but he never neglected his mother. He did the shopping and eventually, as her illness worsened, he washed and dressed her. He was a good son to a good mother.

On Boxing Day 2004, Robert's mother died and he was completely alone.

In September 2005, Robert met Mark Forytarz, a real estate agent-cum-politician.

Forytarz, 35, is the sales director of Castran Gilbert Real Estate. On the agency's web site, he says he enjoys "being involved in a political organisation" (the Liberal Party). He boasts that he "has been elected to the position of Victorian State President and the Federal Executive."

In September, Robert Langer contacted Castran Gilbert to enquire about house values in the area. Robert swears he had no intention of selling.

But Robert Langer's lack of motivation to sell was no match for Mark Forytarz's determination to persuade him to sell.

Over the next few weeks, in a series of phone calls and visits, Robert Langer was subjected to the full force of Mark Forytarz's high-pressure persuasive skills.

No matter how often Robert insisted he didn't want to sell, no matter how many times he refused to return calls, Forytarz was relentless.

Robert was told that he would be crazy not to sell, that one developer was willing to pay well over a million dollars, that he'd never get another chance like this because the price would go down in the future, that he could easily buy a better home in another area.

Instead of telling Forytarz to get lost (the best way to handle high-pressure sales spivs), Robert hummed-and-hahed. Sometimes he said no, other times he said maybe. One time he even suggested more money hoping this would get rid of the agent.

But, no, this agent was not going away. With the scent of big money in his nostrils, Mark Forytarz was closing in on Robert Langer - fast.

On top of the badgering pressure, came the guilt pressure. Forytarz told Robert that the developer, Peter Arundel, was getting annoyed. "This guy is getting really pissed off. He thinks you are jerking him around," said Forytarz.

"What should I do? What should I do?" wailed Robert.

"If you are not in my office by 5pm, the money will be gone," said Forytarz.

Robert didn't show. He hoped that would be the end of it. No chance.

After ratcheting up the pressure even higher, Forytarz finally persuaded Robert to come to the office to sign the papers. When he arrived, Robert was too scared to walk through the agent's door. And so Forytarz came outside and met him at a sidewalk cafe.

Never in his life had Robert felt such pressure. He cracked and signed the papers.

The deal was done. And Robert Langer was distraught.

"When I came home, I realised what I had done. I didn't want to sell. This is my home. I'm happy here," said Robert. "I can't think under pressure."

A few days later Robert met the developer, Peter Arundel. Robert explained that he did not want to sell his home, that he had been pressured by the agent. Incredibly, he offered to pay Arundel a hundred thousand dollars if he could have his home back. No deal.

Apparently, once Robert's home is demolished, the land, for which Robert is being offered $1.225 million, will hold up to 80 units.

Mark Forytarz admits his agency will be re-selling the units for the developer. His share of the commission (for putting the deal together) will be at least $200,000.

Robert's psychiatrist says that "Robert's presentation is very childlike and immature and he is very naive and suggestible."

Anyone who spends more than a few minutes with Robert Langer can clearly see that something is not right. As his psychiatrist said, "Robert suffers obvious disabilities."

But not to some people.

The real estate agent, Mark Forytarz (the same man who claims to have been elected Victorian State President of the Liberal Party) and his co-directors at the Real Estate Institute of Victoria accredited agency, Castran Gilbert, claim they did not notice that Robert Langer was mentally handicapped.

In a letter to Robert's lawyer, Denis Gilbert (Joint Managing Director of Castran Gilbert) wrote of Robert Langer, "In all our dealings with him we found him to be clear, concise and cautious."

Such an explanation can only mean that Mark Forytarz and his pals at Castran Gilbert are suffering from an astonishing lack of ability to detect the obvious.

Either that or they are prepared to bully a brain-damaged man into selling his home to a property developer in order to pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars for themselves.

When asked yesterday if he felt any guilt, Forytarz said, "I'd be worried about your business if I were you. Obviously you must be pretty bored to hassle me about this because I am not going to comment."

Robert Langer is a simple man; he's also a lovely man. His round face looks like it should be smiling. But it's not. He has the darkest and saddest eyes, as if the threat of losing his home has extinguished the fire in his soul.

Clearly, he needs someone to take care of him and his financial affairs.

But first he needs to be rid of this agent and this developer. He needs to know he can keep his home.

He needs help.


***************
Click here to meet Mark Forytarz.