Has this ever happened to you?
One sunny afternoon I jumped in the car as a friend said she wanted to buy a home for her daughter. It would be a starter home and hopefully help to teach her daughter about responsibility and home ownership. Yeah! I was the lucky chosen one!
We conducted a search and eliminated all but 4, selected one to see [her choice] scheduled the appointment and wrote the offer. The house sat on one lot and there was a vacant lot in the rear. All total .25 acres. Being told there was another offer coming in, the buyer wanted to offer a couple thousand over asking to make sure she was the winning one. - Wow! They responded so quickly - I was amazed - but not so much when I found out the second really didn't write - it was a verbal offer that must of fizzled out, he said.
Well, now that we were the highest CASH bidder, and arranged for a 15 day close - we thought we'd speed it up. The offer was written on the 7th of June and instead of closing on the 21st, we thought we'd move it up to the 15th and be done with it. OH, did I mention there was a 2k earnest money check - the sale was part of a trust and they wanted solid offers only - no inspections were asked for.
One day after the accepted offer was returned to us, the agent calls to say there may be a 'bump' in the road. He said there was a daughter of the deceased, living adjacent to the vacant lot behind the home, who claims dad verbally told her she could have the lot and while she had nothing in writing - she might cause a stink but assured us if we close quickly, we should have no problems.
Initial title search was done and no clouds found on the title, no liens against the house made me feel a little more at ease - until we tried to file on the 15th. At this time, a co-trustee informs the title company an injunction was filed against our close, we'd close albeit delayed.
The 16th I received an e-mail from the Defendant's attorney, who I come to find out is also a 'co-trustee' in the trust who said my buyer would be calling me as some papers were sent to her from the courts, about the injunction details.
On the evening of the 16th [how fast was this] my buyer called me to ask about some papers she was served with; a Summons to appear, 100 pages of the complaint [about the families business] and a restraining order - ?
The daughter of the deceased, now a complainant, is suing the trust for her promised property and[my buyer] is now named as a 'Defendant- [along with 15 others], now a little unnerved at the attempt to be used as a pawn, we initiate a Mutual Release, since we're not closing on the 15th [they can't even perform by the original closing date 21st] and the seller wants to change the verbiage to state that the release is one sided - the seller doesn't want to release but instead only the buyer, to prove to the courts that they could of sold the land but were prevented by the daughter of the deceased so they might keep my buyer on the hook for the future lawsuit.
CAN I ASK YOU THIS?
Should the disclosure have stated there was a boundary dispute? The lot wasn't listing but instead, stated in the mls - Is this considered a material defect, which should be listed as 'honorable mention' on the property disclosure?
I find it hard to believe that someone didn't know about the Hatfields and McCoys battle we were innocently pulled into and furthermore, the listing agents duty was to disclose something, anything, on the mls listing or in the disclosures.
My buyer doesn't want to move forward with this purchase, even if they could close - and have her daughter live amongst the family that is eating it's young. Just a plain unhealthy environment.
Why didn't I see it coming? How could I have protected my client? How can we really protect our clients when agents don't disclose? LA didn't know about it,? I find this hard to believe. When we list a house we should be intimate with it and it's history.
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