Buyer taking advantage of foreclosure,realtors lying is all legal?

[WakeMeUp]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey NJ

Hello.
I am disabled, husband lost long-time higher paying job earlier in year & was out of work for 9 months. Has had new job for a while but not making anything near pay of old job.

Put house up for sale in springtime, 2 brokers came out & one did sales pitch. They were aware of our financial situation from day one & that house had to be sold ASAP. Horrible experience with realtor (too long to post!), contacted agency manager & other broker complaining & requesting different realtor several times. FINALLY got different broker close to end of contract. Agency manager said the first realtor was "allowed to answer calls regarding our home & allowed to show house if she answered phone".

Buyer came in during last week of contract & signed as is contract. We were served forclosure procedure papers shortly after buyer signed. (Buyer told us to NOT do any more repairs to the house). Buyer's bank approved loan but not $ for repairs. Realtors could not get a hold of buyer for a while, turns out buyer waited until legal time ran out & claimed bank would not give mortgage at all. Realtors had suggested another bank but buyer would not listen. Buyer cancelled contract but still wanted "his dream home".

We were supposed to close Nov. 15, paperwork was all done on our end regarding dismissal of bankruptcy, etc.

Buyer is now going with suggested bank but paperwork shows the sale of the house including his closing costs ~ am afraid we will get taxed on full amount & not actual sales price.

Buyer kept hemming & hawing, bringing inspectors in (after 1st contract was signed). Brought fiance in on contract & kept changing terms of contract. We initially stood to gain apx. $90,000, now with all the time interest & lawyer fees have gone up, we have no idea (but it's WAY,WAY under that now, probably 1/2) ~ not including buyer's new demands). Our first agent is now buyer's agent because she showed him the house. Buyer is also friends with agent's son.

Went to sign 4th(!) contract last night & yet again buyer has changed terms! We were to receive $34,000 "exempt" amount up front at closing but buyer demanded $30,000 in escrow for repairs. Inspector & heater guy came in & said heater was too small for house, buyers agreed to have heater fixed ($725.00 estimate) now wants brand new heater + labor & us to pay for water testing AND reinspection of the work!(from a scructural engineer who btw was wrong about quite a few things!) This engineer has gotten our contractor so scared that we & the buyers have to sign a paper saying we won't sue him!

We do not know the exact amount of payoffs & 2nd mtg. is with Wells Fargo so we know that is going to be an arm & a leg. Realtor wanted us to sign contract without us knowing how much new heater & labor will cost!

Realtors have lied to us, we don't know when sheriff's sale will be, how much $ will come back to us after mortgages are paid off or if any of what is going on legal. We may not have a place to go if this goes on any longer.

Realtor has even said to us that if it were up to him "he wouldn't even take the commission" ~ which we know is crap because commissions are negeotiable (sp?) in NJ.

We were tentatively scheduled to have signed the contract on Sunday to close this week, realtor got angry because we were not home all day & now we don't know what the heck is going on! I got so angry & upset that we left the office without signing anything yesterday.

Are we to just keep agreeing to the buyer's every wish until there is no money left? Should we tell them forget it & go with an investor (even though we don't know how much time we have left before they take our house?) Should we sign papers without knowing how much the heater costs will be? The buyers just keep taking advantage of us & we are afraid they will keep doing it until there is no money left. We have been so afraid to say no but this is all too much.

There is so much more to this story but we really need advice. Hindsight is 20/20.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Should I be posting this in another forum?Sorry, new to the board.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by WakeMeUp

What is the name of your state? New Jersey NJ

Hello.
I am disabled, husband lost long-time higher paying job earlier in year & was out of work for 9 months. Has had new job for a while but not making anything near pay of old job.

Put house up for sale in springtime, 2 brokers came out & one did sales pitch. They were aware of our financial situation from day one & that house had to be sold ASAP. Horrible experience with realtor (too long to post!), contacted agency manager & other broker complaining & requesting different realtor several times. FINALLY got different broker close to end of contract. Agency manager said the first realtor was "allowed to answer calls regarding our home & allowed to show house if she answered phone".

Buyer came in during last week of contract & signed as is contract. We were served forclosure procedure papers shortly after buyer signed. (Buyer told us to NOT do any more repairs to the house). Buyer's bank approved loan but not $ for repairs. Realtors could not get a hold of buyer for a while, turns out buyer waited until legal time ran out & claimed bank would not give mortgage at all. Realtors had suggested another bank but buyer would not listen. Buyer cancelled contract but still wanted "his dream home".

We were supposed to close Nov. 15, paperwork was all done on our end regarding dismissal of bankruptcy, etc.

Buyer is now going with suggested bank but paperwork shows the sale of the house including his closing costs ~ am afraid we will get taxed on full amount & not actual sales price.

Buyer kept hemming & hawing, bringing inspectors in (after 1st contract was signed). Brought fiance in on contract & kept changing terms of contract. We initially stood to gain apx. $90,000, now with all the time interest & lawyer fees have gone up, we have no idea (but it's WAY,WAY under that now, probably 1/2) ~ not including buyer's new demands). Our first agent is now buyer's agent because she showed him the house. Buyer is also friends with agent's son.

Went to sign 4th(!) contract last night & yet again buyer has changed terms! We were to receive $34,000 "exempt" amount up front at closing but buyer demanded $30,000 in escrow for repairs. Inspector & heater guy came in & said heater was too small for house, buyers agreed to have heater fixed ($725.00 estimate) now wants brand new heater + labor & us to pay for water testing AND reinspection of the work!(from a scructural engineer who btw was wrong about quite a few things!) This engineer has gotten our contractor so scared that we & the buyers have to sign a paper saying we won't sue him!

We do not know the exact amount of payoffs & 2nd mtg. is with Wells Fargo so we know that is going to be an arm & a leg. Realtor wanted us to sign contract without us knowing how much new heater & labor will cost!

Realtors have lied to us, we don't know when sheriff's sale will be, how much $ will come back to us after mortgages are paid off or if any of what is going on legal. We may not have a place to go if this goes on any longer.

Realtor has even said to us that if it were up to him "he wouldn't even take the commission" ~ which we know is crap because commissions are negeotiable (sp?) in NJ.

We were tentatively scheduled to have signed the contract on Sunday to close this week, realtor got angry because we were not home all day & now we don't know what the heck is going on! I got so angry & upset that we left the office without signing anything yesterday.

Are we to just keep agreeing to the buyer's every wish until there is no money left? Should we tell them forget it & go with an investor (even though we don't know how much time we have left before they take our house?) Should we sign papers without knowing how much the heater costs will be? The buyers just keep taking advantage of us & we are afraid they will keep doing it until there is no money left. We have been so afraid to say no but this is all too much.

There is so much more to this story but we really need advice. Hindsight is 20/20.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Should I be posting this in another forum?Sorry, new to the board.

Cut this in half.

Leave out editorial comments.

Ask three questions.


(I did read the whole thing and are unclear what you really need to know.)