Bought a House - told we were first owners, but we weren't

[cpombier]

I live in Michigan (Livingston County)

My wife and I purchased a home in late 2004, under the pretext that it was brand new and that no one had ever owned it prior to us.

The sellers were forthcoming in saying that someone had it built to their specifications, but that the deal had fallen through and that they never took possession. I ahd been suspicious of things for a while so, I finally reviewed the county records. What I found was that the home was legally purchsed and owned by someone else 5 months befire we officially bought it.

We do not know if the previous owners ever moved in, but we feel that the sellers were intentionally deceptive, and we probably would not have purchased the home, because we were specifically looking for something 'new' so that we could be the first owners.

Is there any recourse that we could take against the sellers (Centex Homes - now owned by Pulte)? I feel as if we were taken advantage of, because we were lied to, and the people we dealt with knew full well that we wanted to be the first owners.

 

[FlyingRon]

Nothing means anything that's not made to you in writing.

What "damage" do you think you have anyhow?

 

[nextwife]

What difference does it make?

FYI: in many areas, when a home is built, it is built on a lot BOUGHT by the party who contracts the new construction. MOST new construction around here is built AFTER the lot is purchased, thus virtually every newly constructed home, other than spec homes, had a "previous owner" regardless of whether they ever took occupancy. (turnkey is very rarely done here) And every lot out there had a chain of title with well over 100 years of previous owners. I am having trouble understanding why this makes a whit of difference.