House closing

[Kelli25]

Seller gets shot before I close/ What are the chances?

O.k. here it goes....believe it or not. In Oct. 2000 I signed a contract to purchase a house. It stated that the seller would pay 10% down for the down payment and I would pay the closing costs. This contract was void after 45 days. The seller said that I could take imidiate possesion of the house before we closed. I moved in the first of Dec. 2000. The closing which was supposed to only take 3 weeks ran into 2 months. The first week of Jan. the week I was finally going to close, the lady that was selling the house was shot by her business partner. The lady who was shot not only was selling the house to me but she owned the realty company that I was going through and the company _______ Properties which owned my house (The two owned this company that bought houses fixed them up and then resold them.) She survived but everything was tied up in the courts until her partner pleaded. Her trial is now over but the house that I am living in is still under mortgage. Her partner supposedly shot her because I was closing on the house and she knew that the seller would know that the house was not paid for (her partner kept the money that was supposed to be used to pay for the home for herself). The real estate company would call me about every 3 months and would say it's just going to be a few more weeks hang in there. It has been a year now and the seller says it could be another year. Now the seller wants me to pay rent until she closes on this house. She is making me out to be the terrible person who hasn't paid anything for a year but they are the ones who lead me to believe that it wasn't going to be much longer. I told the company that I would be glad to pay rent if it went towards my closing costs but she won't hear of it. I don't want to pay rent on a house that I was supposed to buy over a year ago! I don't feel that this is my fault. I think that I have been patient enough. What do you think. How could I make this brief?

 

[HomeGuru]

1. there is some confusion as to who has title to the property. Is it the lady or her real estate company, or both?
The reason I bring this up is that all parties in ownership must agree to sell.
An attorney needs to review the purchase contract.
If the lady is legally the owner then you should have filed an action for specific performance. The real estate closing (civil issue) has nothing to do with the shooting criminal action case.

2. The bottom line is if you have not paid anything, you either need to be paying a monthly payment which is based on the Seller's mortgage payment including real property taxes, insurance etc. or be paying rent. You just can't live there free of charge.

 

[Kelli25]

I don't know who holds the title on the home. At the time the lady who was shot thought that her business owned it. On my contract which I signed it said the owner listed was ______ Properties which is the company that was owned by both the shooter and the shooted. I was told that all unfinished business transactions prior to the shooting was put on hold but everything was still going to go through. I don't want to stay there for free. I want to close ASAP on this home. I was told closing would take 3 weeks. I could have already been paying on my loan for a year now and it may be another before I actually make my first house payment. I was told this past Oct. that the only thing left to do was give the lawyer time to sign the papers and we would be closing in about two weeks. I think that they were not being very truthful during this whole situation. Yesterday was the first day that I had even heard that _____ Properties were not the owners. I have always been told that the courts have this on hold. I would have left a long time ago if I knew this was all going on but I was lead to believe that it wasn't going to be much longer.

 

[HomeGuru]

That's the probem. You have been listening to idiots, scam artists and killers.
If you got an attorney to help you there would have been a title reprot ordered soon after you entered into the contract. The title report would have stated the legal owners and if there were any liens on the property.
At this point and over a year now you have had no clue and still don't.
Are there any tax liens or judgements on the property?
Is there building permits for the improvements and is everything to code? Were exactly are the property boundary lines as confirmed by a survey and staking?
are there any environmental hazards such as lead paint, asbestos, radon, toxic mold ect. in the home? What is the condition of the plumbing , electrical and HVAC systems. Is there a sewer line or cesspool/septic system?

For over a year, you keep depending on people that you know you can't trust.
Stop listening to liars and start taking matters into your own hands. Get to the bottom of things and discover the real facts by getting the real facts. Stop believing the BS already.
The truth is out there.

 

[Kelli25]

I will. This was my first go around at purchasing a home. I was young, naive, and on my own. I didn't know a lot about the legal process of purchasing a home. I was raised to hold people to their word. A person's word just doesn't hold up in business situations. As far as I knew we were supposed to have the same lawyer so it would go quicker. I still don't know anything about all of this legal stuff but I'm going to learn fast. Thanks

 

[HomeGuru]

The Buyer and Seller can't use the same attorney because it is a conflict of interest.
You are learning fast.
Keep it up and keep us posted.