The “We Buy Ugly Houses” name is suddenly getting a lot more attention for a reason that has nothing to do with a normal lowball cash offer.
On September 23, 2026, former Dallas real estate executive Charles Carrier was sentenced to 188 months in federal prison after admitting to a multimillion-dollar real estate investment fraud scheme that prosecutors said involved more than 80 investors and nearly $40 million. Carrier had operated a large HomeVestors franchise using the well-known “We Buy Ugly Houses” brand. The U.S. Department of Justice says he was ordered to pay $24,416,911.16 in restitution.
But there is an important detail that can easily get lost in the headlines. The federal case was an investment fraud case involving a former franchise operator and people who invested money with his business. It does not mean that every We Buy Ugly Houses franchise is fraudulent, nor does it mean that every homeowner who sells a house through HomeVestors has been scammed.
At the same time, the case is serious enough that I think anyone researching the company deserves to know exactly what happened, especially because it comes on top of previous controversy surrounding some HomeVestors franchises and the way certain homeowners were treated.
What Happened With We Buy Ugly Houses in Dallas?
According to the Justice Department, Charles Carrier was the president of C&C Residential Properties, a Dallas-based real estate investment company. From at least 2018 through 2024, prosecutors said Carrier solicited money from more than 80 investors by telling them their funds would be used to buy, renovate and resell specific residential properties.
The problem was that prosecutors said those representations were false.
Carrier allegedly told investors that their loans were secured by first-position liens on properties. According to the Justice Department, he frequently failed to record the promised deeds of trust, placed multiple deeds of trust on the same properties and concealed overlapping claims against the properties. Prosecutors also said he sold properties without informing investors and used forged or unauthorized lien releases to complete some sales.
The government says the total amount Carrier intended to defraud investors out of was $39,514,300.
He pleaded guilty to wire fraud in October 2025, and his sentencing came this week. The judge sentenced him to 188 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay more than $24.4 million in restitution.
That is not a small customer-service dispute or someone complaining about receiving a low offer for their house. It was a federal criminal case involving millions of dollars and more than 80 investors.
Where Does “We Buy Ugly Houses” Come Into This?
This is where the story gets complicated.
Carrier’s company operated as a HomeVestors franchise. HomeVestors is the company behind the familiar “We Buy Ugly Houses” advertising brand, which is used by independently operated real estate businesses around the country.
Carrier’s Dallas operation was reportedly one of the largest and most successful franchises in the HomeVestors network before the company terminated his franchise in October 2024 after receiving information about the alleged fraud. ProPublica reported in 2025 that HomeVestors subsequently sued Carrier over trademark issues and that the company denied responsibility for his alleged actions, emphasizing that its franchises are independently operated.
That distinction matters because someone searching Google today might see the headline “We Buy Ugly Houses scam” and assume the federal government has declared the entire HomeVestors business a scam.
That isn’t what happened.
A former franchise operator was convicted and sentenced for his own fraud scheme while operating a business associated with the brand.
How Did the Alleged Investment Scam Work?
The investment side of Carrier’s business is particularly disturbing because investors were not simply handing over money for a house and hoping for the best.
According to court documents summarized by the Justice Department, Carrier told investors that their money would finance the purchase and renovation of specific properties. Investors were allegedly promised security through property liens and were told they would receive returns on their investments.
Instead, prosecutors say Carrier repeatedly took on overlapping debt against properties, failed to record promised security documents and used investor money for purposes that had nothing to do with the properties investors believed they were financing. Some of the money was allegedly used for personal expenses, unrelated business costs and payments to earlier investors.
ProPublica’s earlier reporting described a similar pattern, saying investors were promised ownership interests in properties and regular returns while Carrier’s operation increasingly took on multiple loans against individual properties. The publication reported that individual investor losses ranged from $35,000 to $11.6 million.
This is why the current controversy is much more serious than the usual complaints you see about cash-home-buying companies.
Was HomeVestors Itself Convicted of Fraud?
No.
The person sentenced this week was Charles Carrier. The federal case described by the Justice Department concerns his conduct and his real estate investment operation.
HomeVestors has said that its franchises are independently operated. ProPublica reported that HomeVestors terminated Carrier’s franchise in October 2024 after receiving a tip about the alleged fraud, and the company later sued him.
So it would be inaccurate to say that HomeVestors or every “We Buy Ugly Houses” franchise has been convicted of running a $40 million fraud scheme.
What the case does show, however, is that a business operating under a recognizable national franchise brand can still have an independently operated local franchise whose conduct becomes the subject of a major criminal investigation.
For anyone dealing with a local franchise, that makes checking the actual company and people behind the transaction especially important.
But This Isn’t the First We Buy Ugly Houses Controversy
The Carrier case is not the first time HomeVestors has faced public criticism.
In 2023, ProPublica published an investigation into several homeowners who had dealt with HomeVestors franchises. The investigation described cases in which homeowners said they became trapped in unwanted property deals or faced significant costs after trying to get out of contracts. ProPublica also reported that some of the homeowners were in vulnerable financial or personal situations.
HomeVestors disputed aspects of the reporting and said the cases represented a small fraction of the homes purchased by its franchises. The company also said it had removed several franchises from its system and was investigating the situations described by ProPublica.
The company later changed some of its policies. In January 2024, ProPublica reported that HomeVestors would require its franchises to give prospective sellers a disclosure that included a three-day window to terminate a sales contract.
So the current controversy didn’t appear out of nowhere. There has been public scrutiny of the franchise network for several years, although the nature of the Carrier case is different because it involved investors and a federal criminal fraud prosecution.
Does This Mean You Shouldn’t Sell Your House to We Buy Ugly Houses?
Not necessarily.
The actual cash-home-buying model is legitimate. A company buys a property below the price it believes it could eventually sell it for, takes on the repairs and other costs, and hopes to make a profit. That’s how the business works.
The problem is that homeowners sometimes hear “cash offer” and assume they are being offered something close to the property’s full market value.
That is generally not the point of the model.
A buyer who purchases a house as-is, handles repairs, closes quickly and takes on the risk of reselling it needs room to make money. The offer may therefore be substantially lower than what the homeowner could potentially get through a traditional sale.
A low offer isn’t evidence of a scam. If you don’t like the number, you can reject it.
The more important issue is what is written in the contract and who exactly is buying your property.
What Should You Know Before Signing a We Buy Ugly Houses Contract?
This is where I would slow the whole process down.
Don’t let the promise of a fast cash payment make you feel like you have to sign immediately. Find out the name of the actual local company making the offer, who owns it, whether it is a HomeVestors franchise and exactly what the contract says about cancelling the agreement.
Also find out what your property could realistically sell for through a traditional listing. You don’t have to hire an agent just to get some basic information. Look at comparable properties in your area and, if necessary, get another professional opinion.
If one buyer says your house is worth $150,000 and another says $250,000, that is worth investigating before you sign away the property.
And if you’re being asked to sign something you don’t fully understand, get independent legal advice. A real estate attorney may cost money, but that expense can be tiny compared with the consequences of signing a bad property contract.
What About the “We Buy Ugly Houses” Reviews?
Reviews need to be read carefully because “We Buy Ugly Houses” isn’t one single local office.
HomeVestors operates through independently owned franchises, so the person dealing with a homeowner in Dallas may not be the same type of operation as a franchisee in another state.
That is also why I wouldn’t look at one five-star review and conclude that everything is fine, just as I wouldn’t look at one angry review and conclude that the entire company is fraudulent.
The recent federal case is different because there are actual court proceedings behind it. Carrier pleaded guilty, and the Justice Department has now announced his sentence. That gives consumers something concrete to examine rather than relying on anonymous reviews.
There are also currently complaints listed on the Better Business Bureau’s corporate HomeVestors profile, although those complaints should not be treated as a complete record of every franchise in the network. The BBB profile currently lists 27 complaints over the past three years, with customer service and sales/advertising among the complaint categories.
We Buy Ugly Houses Scam 2026: The Part People Are Missing
The most important thing about the current controversy is that there are actually two different stories getting mixed together online.
One is the legitimate but sometimes unpopular business model of buying houses quickly for less than their potential retail value.
The other is the criminal case involving former franchise operator Charles Carrier, whose investment operation prosecutors say defrauded more than 80 people of nearly $40 million.
Those should not be treated as the same thing.
Carrier’s case is real, serious and now has a federal prison sentence attached to it. The Justice Department says he used the “We Buy Ugly Houses” brand while soliciting investments and ultimately intended to defraud investors of $39.5 million.
But that does not establish that every HomeVestors franchise is fraudulent or that homeowners who receive a cash offer are automatically being scammed.
What it does demonstrate is why people should look beyond the recognizable name on the sign.
Is We Buy Ugly Houses a Scam?
The latest controversy is not a story about the entire We Buy Ugly Houses network being convicted of fraud. It is the story of a former franchise operator, Charles Carrier, who was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud in a scheme that prosecutors say targeted more than 80 investors and involved nearly $40 million.
That is serious enough to deserve attention, especially because Carrier’s business operated under the HomeVestors franchise system behind the “We Buy Ugly Houses” name.
At the same time, it would be unfair to take one criminal case and use it as proof that every local franchise is running the same operation.
If you’re a homeowner thinking about selling, the bigger lesson is to investigate the specific buyer standing in front of you, not just the national brand on the advertisement. Find out what the property is worth, compare offers, read the contract carefully and don’t sign something you don’t understand simply because you’re being promised a quick cash closing.
And if you’re seeing the phrase “We Buy Ugly Houses scam” trending because of the latest news, the reason is legitimate: a former franchise operator has now been sentenced in a major federal fraud case. The important part is understanding exactly what that case involved instead of assuming the headline tells the whole story.
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