If you did not read the first part of this story I would encourage you to do so. Here is the link and I have to say that I did not see this coming. 15 years in real estate and I never would have anticipated this before it happened to me. Here is the link to part 1.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/3074660/a-short-sale-nightmare
Now I was sitting in the buyers living room. The entire house was packed with boxes ready to put on the truck. I was explaining to the "lucky" new homeowners that their "new tenants"...the previous sellers, were going to have to be evicted. If they wanted them out, they had to serve them a 3-day notice to quit, and go through the long process of the court system in order to take back their property which probably would take 4-6 months. They sat there on their couch with faces like they just have been kicked in the gut. They went from the high that comes with closing on their dream house, to the legal headache that comes with dealing with California tenant laws in 6 hours. Possession is 9/10 of the law! I must have heard that term 20 times from the police. They had zero interest in getting involved.
We all sat there trying to come up with a quick solution. We came up with some ideas, mostly bad ones.
Did you know that if you’re the owner of a property, you cannot turn off the utility’s? Only the occupant can do that. That was a bad one.
What came next was not a suggestion that came from me, but from their 19 and 20 year old boys. They said, "let’s move in to our house now". Risky and not advisable was what I expressed professionally, but personally, I was pulling for them.
So that’s what they did. While the sellers/tenants were at work, the buyer/newlandlords changed the locks back and moved the remainder of the sellers belongings into the garage. They moved as much of their furnishings in as they could and "set up camp". The next day they moved the stuff that was in the garage into a moving container. I told the sellers' agent that the sellers' abandoned furnishings would be delivered to their new location by a moving or storage company in 2 weeks time.
The buyers simply ignored the fact that they were even aware of the seller intentions of squatting, and moved in as if nothing happened. The plan's simplicity was brilliant.
This one worked out, but it could have gone very badly. I am so glad it did not. I would always suggest having the sellers out before you close on a short sale. Have the locks changed. And if you suspect something like this is a possibility...have a plan. Inform your buyers, have them move a car into the driveway. Post a "Beware of dog" sign, and work with the other agent to see if they can help in anyway.
If you want to see available Anaheim houses for sale that are not short sales click on the blue link. This info is undated hourly. You can find short sales there also.
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