Big Problem.. Seller reniged on contract.. and problems with lawyers.. What to do

[mgigante]

Ok about 2 years ago, my brother and I gave a deposit and had a contract drawn up, got all signatures on a duplex for $210K, it appraised for $270K but needed some work and we personally new the seller.

My brother and I get our loans in place, money is in escrow, and then the seller says he doesnt want to sell to us (reasoning was he had higher offer) didnt actually say that though.. we went to closing, he didnt show up.

The title company needed the seller to show that a mortgage he had from some bank for 20+ years ago was paid off, because he had 2 mortgages that they found. he wouldnt show anything and said find it your self. pushing past the 30 days.

We couldnt close because he would have to escrew 30K of his profit until he could show that the other mortgage was paid off.

He would not come to closing and lose 30K...

With many suggestions to put a lis pendens we hired a lawyer and sued him.

its been 2 years, just a couple months back we had hurricane wilma and the house has some damage now, and at that time we were to go to court, but it got delayed because of the hurricane. after hurricane gone and power back, maybe 2 weeks later we started calling our lawyer daily, and atleast weekly, they would not return calls or anything HORRIBLE!, so today, My brother called the lawyer and our lawyer said Last week the defendant with his lawyer went before judge and asked for dismissal because this is a defect in the title, and judge 2 days later granted it.

1. (Now granted we are pissed off because #1 we are on offence here, and lawyers been ignoring us and we had to call them and find out we pretty much lost a week before)

2. We already paid our lawyer about $10K and now we will more then likely have to pay all his lawyer fees.

3. Our option now from our lawyer is they can file an appeal, because the loan they wanted to see was settled is not considered a title defect and the judge mis understood that...

I am lookin for answers for number 3 that our lawyer is correct this is not a defect with the title... we sued for backing out of contract and for specific performance.

What can I do to fix this? do I go after my lawer and just give up on the house? because they never followed up with us?

Do I go for the appeal and hope to win?

Thanks for any advice

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by mgigante

Ok about 2 years ago, my brother and I gave a deposit and had a contract drawn up, got all signatures on a duplex for $210K, it appraised for $270K but needed some work and we personally new the seller.

My brother and I get our loans in place, money is in escrow, and then the seller says he doesnt want to sell to us (reasoning was he had higher offer) didnt actually say that though.. we went to closing, he didnt show up.

The title company needed the seller to show that a mortgage he had from some bank for 20+ years ago was paid off, because he had 2 mortgages that they found. he wouldnt show anything and said find it your self. pushing past the 30 days.

We couldnt close because he would have to escrew 30K of his profit until he could show that the other mortgage was paid off.

He would not come to closing and lose 30K...

With many suggestions to put a lis pendens we hired a lawyer and sued him.

its been 2 years, just a couple months back we had hurricane wilma and the house has some damage now, and at that time we were to go to court, but it got delayed because of the hurricane. after hurricane gone and power back, maybe 2 weeks later we started calling our lawyer daily, and atleast weekly, they would not return calls or anything HORRIBLE!, so today, My brother called the lawyer and our lawyer said Last week the defendant with his lawyer went before judge and asked for dismissal because this is a defect in the title, and judge 2 days later granted it.

1. (Now granted we are pissed off because #1 we are on offence here, and lawyers been ignoring us and we had to call them and find out we pretty much lost a week before)

2. We already paid our lawyer about $10K and now we will more then likely have to pay all his lawyer fees.

3. Our option now from our lawyer is they can file an appeal, because the loan they wanted to see was settled is not considered a title defect and the judge mis understood that...

I am lookin for answers for number 3 that our lawyer is correct this is not a defect with the title... we sued for backing out of contract and for specific performance.

What can I do to fix this? do I go after my lawer and just give up on the house? because they never followed up with us?

Do I go for the appeal and hope to win?

Thanks for any advice

Do I go for the appeal and hope to win?


You've spent years with lawyers and tons of money too and you expect this question answered on an internet forum?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by seniorjudge

Do I go for the appeal and hope to win?


You've spent years with lawyers and tons of money too and you expect this question answered on an internet forum?

**A: what's the matter SJ, your crystal ball broken or what?

[mgigante]

ok let me rephrase what I need to say, got a meeting scheduled for tomorow we will appeal it.,. but what are chances of winning appeal? any clue? any one run into this?

also the defendant asked for judgement in beginning of whole thing and was denied because we had a good case..

not sure why it would get approved now? different judge? very odd..

but we are going to continue with suit.. just wanted some opinions.

Thanks

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by mgigante

ok let me rephrase what I need to say, got a meeting scheduled for tomorow we will appeal it.,. but what are chances of winning appeal? any clue? any one run into this?

also the defendant asked for judgement in beginning of whole thing and was denied because we had a good case..

not sure why it would get approved now? different judge? very odd..

but we are going to continue with suit.. just wanted some opinions.

Thanks

Q: ok let me rephrase what I need to say, got a meeting scheduled for tomorow we will appeal it.,. but what are chances of winning appeal? any clue?

A: Yes, I do. It is the same on any court action: about 50-50, more or less.

[mgigante]

Thanks for the response I guess was shocked as lawyer told us over and over its not a title defect... and then they get judgement saying it is a title defect.

Go figure

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by mgigante

Thanks for the response I guess was shocked as lawyer told us over and over its not a title defect... and then they get judgement saying it is a title defect.

Go figure

An unreleased mortgage is a lien; I am shocked your lawyer did not know that.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by seniorjudge

An unreleased mortgage is a lien; I am shocked your lawyer did not know that.

**A: that lawyer has a defect.

[mgigante]

[url]http://www.secured-title.com/unreleased_mortgages.htm[/url]

I understand what an unreleased mortgage is. however, our argument is more to the fact that the seller said the mortgage in question was paid, and there was only 1 mortgage on the house.

The title company wanted to hold 30K in escrow unless he showed paperwork showing the mortgage was paid off. he said Well I dont have the paperwork and you can find it your self.

The reason why is because we were into contract for the house for 210K and by the time closing came near, he had an offer for money on the property as other houses were going for 300K.

In essence isnt this clear that he may actually have proof or actually paid off the mortgage but it was not recorded correctly?

And if so, then we need to find the information to show that he actually doesnt owe that money, correct?

Any help as how I can do some research or where to look first?

Thanks!


Also... the lawyers in the beginning before we took him on and started the suit said "oh this is a straight forward case, we will have no problems..."
Depositions came... "Everything is going great, we have this no problem" and told us that we will win and they have no case. and also told us it is not a title defect from the first day we talked with him.

$8500 and 2 years later he gets judgement based on a judge saying it is a title defect, the lawyer then said the judge is wrong we can win in appeal court. A week went buy and they asked for $7500 and no guarantee it could go either way.

Were we misrepresented? *edited* so no one takes offense

I have a meeting tomorow at 3pm with lawyer, I am going to ask him a lot of questions.

The other thing we did was, we told our lawyer last week to call there lawyer and say that we will appeal it however, we are sick of this and would rather just drop the case and let him take the win. we will back off and he gets house and we both eat our own lawyer fees.

This guy does not have a lot of money but what would make his lawyer tell our lawyer that no we will not take the offer we will take you for lawyer fees and get the house?

That is what bugs me most and that is the biggest question tomorow for our lawyer,,, "if we have a 50/50 chance, why would this guy risk losing his house which is worth 400K now vs. losing 15K in legal fees."

I have backing money wise, but I dont want to chase my own tail.

Thanks

[pojo2]

Dont make stupid comments, I dont come here to hear you got screwed 3 word post, I come here to see what you all would do or say?

All that anyone here can say to you HAS been said without seeing every document signed and knowing the EXACT details of all those Atty meetings.

How in the heck do you realistically expect someone to come up with an answer when the Attys you have been using, with all the relevant facts in hand, can not resolve this issue in over 2 years?

[mgigante]

Well I dont expect an answer to the whole case obviously...

I am looking for some type of opinion as to what happens if an attorney misrepresents you. or is not upfront about something, or is completely wrong about the law and basically lies to you so he can make a fast buck?

and if some one was with holding information so they can get out of a contract. my new post makes more sense then the previous posts i have put.. problem is now every one will only see the one line that you quoted, not your fault.. but honestly i am not lookin for a one line answer. just lookin for some info as far as if some one here understands that we may have hired a lawer that is a dumb**** and now we get screwed and the lawyer walks away with our 10 grand and we half to pay the other guys attorney fees. Or.... the person selling the house actually does not have a second mortgage and can prove it but just doesnt want to so he doesnt have to sell the house to us. because in the beginning he claimed there wasnt a problem and then he used the problem to get out of the sale.