SEAN KENNY'S BIG DEAL

How he robbed an elderly lady.

Sean Kenny

UPDATE - Monday October 22, 2007.  Sean Kenny's big deal was front page news on the weekend. To read the story from the Northern Star, please click here.

As well as local interest, Sean's big deal also seems to be attracting national attention.

Tonight, at 6.30pm, Channel Seven's Today Tonight and Channel Nine's A Current Affair may be covering the story of Sean Kenny's big deal.

Meanwhile, Sean Kenny's lawyer, Peter A Smith, has sent a threatening letter to Neil Jenman wanting a retraction and an apology. Neil Jenman's reply is: In your dreams.

And my four-word message to Sean Kenny is: GIVE THE MONEY BACK. I hope many other Australians will send the same four-word message to Mr Kenny. The elderly lady and her family are deeply distressed to learn of his big deal at their expense.

 ***************************

by Neil Jenman

His full name is Sean Francis Xavier Kenny. He lives in the northern NSW town of Bangalow and he runs a real estate agency, Sean Kenny Real Estate, in nearby Mullumbimby.

Like many agents, Sean Kenny is full of praise for himself. He describes his real estate office as "Number 1 in Mullumbimby".

As he drives around in his black Range Rover, Sean seems quite pleased with himself. He's an imposing local figure.

But, right now, Sean Kenny's feeling a little more pleased than usual. He's just pulled off a rather nice deal for himself. It's a big deal, even for Sean. So big, in fact, that he's likely to earn in a few hours what the average Australian earns in about six years.

Sean Kenny is in the process of doing a deal which will earn him a quick $300,000.

How did he do it?

Simple, he robbed an old lady.

Now, for sure, Sean Kenny is likely to take offence at the word "robbed". He probably sees himself as sharp or shrewd. He was recently described by one observer as "smug".

When we asked him to comment for this article he said, "I haven't f---in' done anything wrong."

So, what exactly did he do?

Well, he bought a property from a near-blind old lady for $350,000. And now, a few weeks after buying this lady's home, he's selling it through his agency for $658,000.

That's a quick $308,000 profit.

Nothing wrong with that, according to Kenny. It's just business.

When questioned about this deal, Kenny said that "a company had bought the property" from the lady. Yes, that's true. The company is Bale Building Company Pty Ltd and the directors of the company are Sean Kenny and Glenn Maxwell (a salesman in Kenny's office).

When Kenny bought the elderly lady's home it was just her selling to his company - nothing to do with his real estate office.

And now that he's selling it through his office, his advertisement carries the two-word disclosure "agent interest". Yep, that's all it takes in New South Wales for agents to be able to sell real estate through their own office. Just two words of disclosure. They do not have to disclose if they have just bought the property from an elderly lady for about half its value.

And, as for the lady herself, well, she says she's perfectly happy. All she needed was $350,000 to cover the cost of moving into a retirement unit. At her age, money's maybe not that important.

As another agent once said when asked to justify buying elderly people's homes for way below their real value, "They'll be dead soon. They don't need the money." Charming stuff.

Yesterday, when Sean Kenny was told that an article was being written about how he had bought an elderly lady's home and was now re-selling it for more than $300,000 profit, his exact response was, "F---in' who cares."

Well, Mr Kenny, most decent Australians care about exploiting the elderly.

Sure, you may not have done anything illegal (as incredible as that seems) but most ordinary folk are likely to look upon what you are doing in rather simple terms.

Sean Kenny, you robbed an old lady.