This real estate company trapped nearly 700 Oregon families in 40-year contracts that even affected their children, officials say

Nearly 670 homeowners in Oregon whom the state says were locked into “deceptive” 40-year contracts with a real estate company will be freed from their contracts as part of a settlement , the state announced Friday.

MV Realty set out to use the lengthy contracts to extract thousands of dollars from each of the homeowners, or their children, according to the Oregon Department of Justice .

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield called MV Realty’s contracts “an outrageous scheme,” adding that the settlement ensures that the homeowners “don’t owe MV Realty a dime.”

The Oregon Department of Justice says MV Realty paid the owners of 669 homes in Oregon as little as a few hundred dollars to sign contracts known as “Homeowner Benefit Agreements.” In exchange, the homeowners agreed to list th