{"id":75344,"date":"2025-12-08T10:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/75344\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T10:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:18:10","slug":"they-spent-everything-on-their-dream-retirement-homes-the-money-vanished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/75344\/","title":{"rendered":"They spent everything on their dream retirement homes. The money vanished"},"content":{"rendered":"

With its over 400 miles of canals and hundreds of waterfront properties, the sun-soaked, tranquil city of Cape Coral, Florida, was created to be an ideal retirement destination.<\/p>\n

Many, through the years, have bought into this dream. But some have paid a much higher price than others for it, ending up spending all their life savings and postponing retirement to see their forever homes in this \u201cwaterfront wonderland\u201d complete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All because of one man: Paul Beattie, a local developer who took millions from dozens of homeowners to build their dream retirement homes\u2014but failed, in many cases, to deliver a finished product.<\/p>\n

Among the homeowners left on the hook by Beattie\u2019s company, Beattie Development, are John and Mary Ann Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n

The married couple, who are ranchers from Northern California, hired Beattie Development to build a home in March 2022 because the company \u201cwas very well recommended in the community,\u201d Mary Ann Fitzgerald told Newsweek.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul Beattie had been building homes in Lee County for around 15 years, winning builder of the year for three years, and was, at one time, head of the Lee County Builders Association. Many subcontractors were familiar with him for years and seemed to have the same trust,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kristen and Matt Kramer had similar reasons to hire Beattie. The couple met in Key West, Florida, \u201ca long, long time ago,\u201d they said. They fell in love, married, moved across the country, had children, and raised them in Colorado\u2014but always had the deep-seated desire to return to the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

They were ready to make the big step in 2021, after their kids went to college. They decided to build their dream home in Cape Coral. \u201cWe saved all our money and we said, this is our plan A and there is no plan B,\u201d Matt Kramer told Newsweek.<\/p>\n

They looked for a reputable builder, and found Beattie\u2019s company. \u201cEverything that we read online was good. Everything that we heard, word of mouth, was good. He had all these awards. He was president of this association and that association. And he had the house we wanted. So we ended up signing a contract in October-November 2021,\u201d Kristen Kramer said.<\/p>\n

The Kramers sold their home in Colorado and moved into a rental with their two dogs, telling themselves they could wait around for those nine to 12 months they were told were needed to build their forever home. \u201cWe\u2019ll be patient and we\u2019ll make it work,\u201d Matt Kramer said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Another couple, Paul and Vivien Haynes, had also sold their home while waiting for Beattie Development to build their new, bigger property in Cape Coral. The Hayneses, who are British, have for years split their time between the U.K. and the Sunshine State.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They had owned a home in Cape Coral since 2007, but, after the pandemic, they decided to build a bigger one\u2014and hired Beattie to do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were told they would be able to move in within 10 to 11 months, but that was not the case. Not for the Hayneses, not for the Fitzgeralds, and not for the Kramers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a year, they still hadn\u2019t broken ground,\u201d Matt Kramer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hundreds of miles apart, another couple was experiencing the same problem. Roberto and Manuela Vissepo, who are originally from Puerto Rico and Germany, respectively, were living in Colorado when they hired Beattie to build their dream retirement home in Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their idea was to retire in the sun and be closer to Roberto\u2019s mom, who was living in Puerto Rico at the time. They contracted Beattie to build their home in September 2021, and he told them it would be ready in 10 to 12 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeedless to say, it took so long [to finish their Cape Coral home] that we didn\u2019t get to enjoy any time with her because she passed away last year, when we moved here. So we lost two years of spending time with her,\u201d Manuela Vissepo said.<\/p>\n

During the time that their house should have been built, the Vissepos were supposed to receive updates from Beattie on how the construction was proceeding. But the company didn\u2019t break ground until January 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"How A Dream Turned Into \u2018A Four-Year Nightmare\u2019<\/p>\n

As the months went by without progress, the Vissepos\u2014like the Hayneses and other homeowners involved\u2014kept asking Beattie what was going on, but they were told that any delays had been caused by Hurricane Ian, which struck Florida in September 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were going to fly down here to check to see what was going on, and we were told not to come because they need the space for their own people after Ian. That\u2019s what he called it. And we should just stay away,\u201d Manuela Vissepo said.<\/p>\n

By the time the couple made it to Florida, in 2024, Beattie had gone into liquidation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Hayneses were relatively luckier. As they were \u201cnomads,\u201d having sold their home, they were offered to stay with some neighbors in Cape Coral.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur neighbors were really good. We stayed over the road, which was a saving grace, because Beattie lived just down the road,\u201d Vivien Haynes said.<\/p>\n

This proximity, she said, pushed Beattie to make more progress on their home than on others. Still, the couple ended up using extra funds to finish their unfinished dream home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve ended up having to put an inheritance we didn\u2019t know we were going to get from a cousin of Vivien\u2019s and my mother\u2019s inheritance,\u201d Paul Haynes said. \u201cThey\u2019ve all gone just finishing this house,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoney we had already paid. And we ended up paying again,\u201d Vivien Haynes said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

They were initially told they would spend $360,000 on their home. Then they were told $460,000, as home values had gone up during the pandemic. \u201cIt did end up being just over $600,000, by the time we ended up adding extras we thought we had money for,\u201d the couple said.<\/p>\n

After the pandemic home price growth in Florida, building their dream home in Cape Coral still made financial sense for the Hayneses. But as prices have fallen in recent months, that is no longer the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I think it\u2019s probably not worth what we\u2019ve paid, because the price of properties dropped, it\u2019s actually not quite worth what it cost, but we\u2019re not looking to sell it in the next 5 minutes,\u201d Paul Haynes said. \u201cSo it doesn\u2019t really matter. It\u2019s just a beautiful home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dozens of Beattie Development customers lost money in building their dream homes.<\/p>\n

When it became clear that Beattie Development was having huge money problems, in June 2024, the Fitzgeralds\u2019 home was 46 percent completed, even though they had paid all but the last 6 percent of the amount due.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Fitzgeralds, who are in their 60s, had \u201cworked hard\u201d their entire lives to get to the point where they could afford to retire in Florida, \u201cgetting up at 4:30 a.m. weekdays to feed our cattle, then both going to their full-time jobs in town,\u201d May Ann Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contractor went out of business, leaving us on the hook for just shy of $400,000 to finish,\u201d John Fitzgerald told Newsweek.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the nearly 100 homes that we estimate were in contract to build at the time our was being built, the amount of money we spent was enormous,\u201d Mary Ann Fitzgerald said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even after realizing something deeply wrong was happening, many homeowners were stuck.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took us a while to figure it out,\u201d Kristen Kramer said. \u201cWhen you put everything together, it\u2019s like, Oh my gosh, we are\u00a0so foolish,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The experience has had a heavy emotional toll on the couple, but they are fighting to break the stigma around it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will say to us, Well, you should have done your homework. You wouldn\u2019t have gotten into this if you had done your homework,\u201d Kristen Kramer said. \u201cBut we did do our homework, we\u2019re smart people, you know, you\u2019re investing this kind of money. But there was no way to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting out of the contract with Beattie was not a straightforward move. The Kramers\u2019 attorney suggested they waited a full year until the contract was null to avoid more troubles and more expenses instead of ending straight away. \u201cIt was very stressful,\u201d Kristen Kramer said. \u201cWe had all our staff in storage for three years. We had no house, no money left.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Kramers had to come up with another $330,000 in cash to finish the house that Beattie had left 60 percent completed. On top of that, they had to pay attorney fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur liquid savings are gone, it probably put us another two or three years behind in terms of retiring,\u201d Kristen Kramer said. \u201cOr we could retire for like 10 minutes when we are 93.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Hayneses also had to continue making payments for things they knew they would not be delivered to avoid being put into a legally vulnerable position.<\/p>\n

The Vissepos found another builder to finish their home, which was 65 percent completed when Beattie went into liquidation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know where the money went. Our initial price for the home was $474,000, and we paid $700,000,\u201d Roberto Vissepo said. \u201cAnd that was without the lot because we already owned the lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While the Fitzgeralds, the Hayneses, the Kramers and the Vissepos all live in their now-finished homes in Cape Coral, others are still out of their properties.<\/p>\n

Courtney Dellinger-Porter told Newsweek that, to this day, her family does not have a Certificate of Occupancy that allows them to live in the home they paid $300,000 out of their retirement savings to finish after Beattie Development left it \u201cincomplete and uninhabitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

She described the whole experience as \u201ca four-year nightmare filled with empty promises, repeated delays, and ultimately, financial loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Beattie Development case was also particularly devastating for the Owens, a couple from Kansas. A few years ago, Wes Stuart Owen was diagnosed with a genetic error and neurological condition that causes his muscles to atrophy and which means that he will lose much of his mobility over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For this reason, he and his wife Kim decided to retire in mid-2020 and move to Florida, with the idea of enjoying his last years of mobility in a house with a pool and in a city where he could continue playing his beloved pickleball. In October 2021, they hired Beattie Development to build it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As in all other cases described here, Beattie told them it would take 10 to 12 months to finish the home. \u201cThey didn’t even break ground until February or January 2023,\u201d Wes Stuart Owen told Newsweek.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were only able to move into their home after paying to finish it with another developer last year. When Beattie Development went into liquidation, the showers weren’t completely tiled, there was paint on the floor, the doors had no handles on them, \u201cthings like that,\u201d Wes Stuart Owen said.<\/p>\n

The Owens said they were, however, luckier than other families, as they saved at least $95,000 when Kim said they should not give any more money to Beattie. \u201cThat\u2019s what allowed us to finish the house,\u201d Wes Stuart Owen said. \u201cThe bank, though\u2014I had to fight them for weeks, months, to get the money out of the loan to finish the house. They said they could only give the money to Beattie.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the Owens love their home now, the experience has taken something away from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like Paul Beattie and all these people just stole two years of my mobile life, because right now I\u2019m pretty much having to give up pickleball already,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m playing [Italian] bocce ball, though, and I really enjoy playing down here,\u201d he said, undefeated by the mess his life was dragged into.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u2018Where Is The Money?\u2019<\/p>\n

Multiple lawsuits were filed over the past year against Beattie Development, accusing the company of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from homebuyers without ever actually completing the work they were hired for, or paying subcontractors.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2024, the offices of the Cape Coral-based homebuilder were raided by law enforcement,\u00a0as reported first by local TV channel WINK<\/a>\u00a0News, which had been following the issue since the very first claims were made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few months later, Beattie Development liquidated all of its assets to pay what it owed to 288 among homeowners, companies, subcontractors and others. While the company didn\u2019t officially file for bankruptcy, the process of liquidation works very similarly, with the main difference of running through state courts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to court filings mentioned by WINK News, Beattie Development was $11.5 million in debt\u2014though documents didn\u2019t even include all homeowners who said they had hired the company to build their dream homes.<\/p>\n

Beattie did not go to jail, though he was stripped of his license\u2014which means he can no longer build homes in the state of Florida. <\/p>\n

In May, attorneys for Beattie Development filed to close the liquidation case, revealing that homeowners affected would receive a $240.36 payout. <\/a>The sum was later doubled, but homeowners told Newsweek that it was still ridiculous, if not outright offensive.<\/p>\n

Many feel there should be harsher legal consequences for Paul Beattie, the company\u2019s owner. At the liquidation court hearing in October, Beattie blamed the company\u2019s chief finance officer for what happened. Cape Coral police are investigating what happened at his company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In June, when Newsweek first contacted them, the Cape Coral Police Department said that the investigation into Beattie Development was still very active. \u201cDue to the nature of the case, we cannot provide further information at this time, but I can promise you our detectives are diligently working this case,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the homeowners whose lives have been turned upside down by Beattie have a theory about what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe mismanaged the company completely. He wasn\u2019t paying any attention. He was just living the good life,\u201d Roberto Vissepo said. \u201cHe lost control completely. He told us that twice in a conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he lost control, and somebody else supposedly took the money; we don\u2019t know what happened. All we know is that we wired the money every single time he said a payment was due,\u201d Manuela Vissepo said. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s like, why can they find the money?\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeowners were told that their case had reached the Florida Attorney General, \u201cbut nobody\u2019s ever contacted us in the 15 months since we filed this police report to tell us or ask us any questions,\u201d Roberto Vissepo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s proven that he owes $22.6 million. That\u2019s a lot of money,\u201d Manuela Vissepo said. \u201cThe money is gone. They can\u2019t find it. And we feel like nothing is happening, that nobody is looking for that amount of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Many feel they were taken advantage of because they were out of state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe 80 percent of us were out of state or out of the country and we couldn\u2019t be here back and forth, checking every weekend on the progress of our homes,\u201d Roberto Vissepo said.\u00a0\u201cI say, about 80 percent of us are senior citizens\u2014that\u2019s a federal crime in this country. I\u2019m a minority for being Hispanic\u2014that\u2019s a federal crime in this country. And the attorney general is doing nothing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis builder is still not in jail, and has paid zero to any of us, as of now,\u201d Mary Ann Fitzgerald said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did the builder abandon us, taking all of our life savings, but the lack of action by our elected officials and law enforcement forced us to take out a loan to finish the home on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some are angry at their lenders as well. \u201cLike many families, we trusted that a reputable builder and our lender, Lake Michigan Credit Union (LMCU), would work in tandem to ensure the project was completed responsibly. Instead, we\u2019ve been left with a house that\u2019s unlivable\u2014and a construction loan with $56,000 still outstanding,\u201d Dillinger-Porter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has not only been a financial disaster\u2014it\u2019s been years of emotional strain and uncertainty,\u201d she added. \u201cWe trusted this company to build our home and protect our investment. Instead, we\u2019ve been left picking up the pieces while Beattie Development appears to move on with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsweek contacted LMCU and the Florida Attorney General for comment by email on Wednesday, December 3.<\/p>\n

Simon A. Gaugush, who represented Beattie in the liquidation case, told Newsweek in a statement in June: \u201cThe insolvency of Beattie Development Corporation (BDC) is an unfortunate reality of the business world.<\/p>\n

\u201cBDC enjoyed success for many years. Since 2009, BDC and Paul Beattie built or remodeled over 2,800 homes in Southwest Florida,\u201d Gaugush added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut with COVID-19\u2019s detrimental impact on the economy, soaring labor costs, labor shortages, supply scarcities, increased supply costs, and Hurricane Ian\u2019s devastation to southwest Florida, BDC suffered financially. Its collapse was an unfortunate side effect of these uncontrollable market conditions,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that customers have been deeply affected by BDC\u2019s insolvency. Every day that weighs heavily on Paul Beattie, who took pride in delivering quality housing for thousands of customers for years and enjoyed an impeccable reputation in the housing industry and the community. This matter is now in civil court where it belongs. We need to allow that process to take its course.\u201d<\/p>\n

This statement, when read to homeowners affected by the developer\u2019s liquidation, was infuriating. \u201cHe never apologized, he didn\u2019t think he was wrong at all. He blamed everyone else for his misfortune, that\u2019s what he called it,\u201d Manuela Vissepo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I just don\u2019t want this to happen to other people because we all work hard for our money and we save and so we can finally, you know, retire. We know a lot of people who said they couldn\u2019t retire, they have to keep working now because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaugush did not respond to a further request for comment in November.<\/p>\n

A Happy Ending Of Their Own Making<\/p>\n

The Fitzgeralds, the Hayneses, the Kramers, and the Vissepos are all now part of a group of about 80 former Beattie Development customers who get together to help each other finish their homes and encourage optimism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe friends that we\u2019ve made through this entire ordeal are amazing, just like the best friends in the world. And it\u2019s people who just get it,\u201d Kristen Kramer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t say it, but I feel embarrassed that he took advantage of us,\u201d Roberto Vissepo said. “We\u2019re professionals, all of us. Presidents of companies, CEOs, lawyers from Europe. We know what\u2019s happening. And he took advantage of all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

This embarrassment and shame are shared by many former Beattie Development customers\u2014but together, they are determined to move on and enjoy the life they were dreaming of in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s great now is when we all get together, we don\u2019t talk about it anymore. We\u2019re just living life and I\u2019m enjoying this wonderful place,\u201d Kristen Kramer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if the cabinet doors don\u2019t shut, right, or the garage door doesn\u2019t close. We\u2019ll deal with those kinds of things, we\u2019ll just rise above and just enjoy it,\u201d Matt Kramer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat experience was awful. Some judge will say whether or not that money was truly stolen from us, but he will not steal my joy. We love this home. We love the friends that we\u2019ve made. We love that view that\u2019s right there,\u201d Kristen Kramer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely love this home. I love Florida now,\u201d Wes Stuart Owen told Newsweek. \u201cAnd I think that literally spending hours here, weeks at a time, scrubbing the floors, putting the doorknobs on, finding the vendors, overseeing them, doing all that\u2014I took a great sense of ownership in the home,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Kim Owen has a different story to tell. She started a full-time job the moment she arrived in Florida, and did not have the time to put into finishing their home, so she does not feel that same attachment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never build another house in Florida ever,\u201d she said, drawing her conclusions from her experience with Beattie Development. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing, consumer protection down here, it\u2019s just not there,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a background in real estate. I sold in the Midwest for almost five years. I\u2019ve had relatives that have sold real estate in Georgia and I have family members that also were mortgage brokers,\u201d she said. \u201cSo in all of that experience in history, this is like\u2014you know, they can\u2019t believe that I had to go through this. So it\u2019s just, you know, we did and we survived it, but it should have never happened like that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With its over 400 miles of canals and hundreds of waterfront properties, the sun-soaked, tranquil city of Cape…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[42692,209,211,210,1127,5225,28,1644,4918,12297],"class_list":{"0":"post-75344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-beatty-development","9":"tag-cape-coral","10":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","11":"tag-cape-coral-news","12":"tag-construction","13":"tag-developer","14":"tag-florida","15":"tag-housing","16":"tag-housing-market","17":"tag-retirement"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}