A year ago i inherited my dads house after he passed away. it is a very small place on a small lot. I work as a nurse and knew this lady who sat with some of my hospice patients. she seemed like a very nice old lady her self who needed a place to live so i decided to try to help her out. I wrote up an owner financed sale agreement and disclosed everything under the sun to her. We initialed and signed everything in front of a notary republic and the stamped behind us. That was as "legal" as it got. I did charge anything to move, no finance charge, no interest. Just $200 a month for 45 payments and i will sign it over to you. Now she has stopped paying and got ugly. I think i have to go through foreclosure and/or file for ejectment but im not sure. anyone out there that can advise me?
You tell us that you patterned this
"owner financed sale agreement" from a source that you "
downloaded" from the Internet. Also you ask if you can proceed with foreclosure. (Noting that Alabama's landlord tenant laws (ejectment) will provide no benefit to you.)
My questions then are, and it is essential to know:
Did the downloaded model recite your legal remedies as the seller in the event of the buyer's default and were those remedies incorporated in the signed document? (That language would be similar to the following
"Should the Buyer fail to pay any one of said installments on the day the same falls due and such default shall continue for thirty days - time being the essence of this the essence of this contract - this contract shall at the option of the of the Seller be terminated, and the Seller, her agents or assigns, may enter upon the said property and take possession thereof, and in that event, all rights and interests given to the Buyer by this contract shall cease and terminate, without any right in the Buyer for reclamation of any monies paid, or improvements made under this contract; but all monies so paid shall be and remain the property of the Seller and shall be held and retained by her as compensation for the rent or use and occupation of the said property, and the Buyer agrees to promptly and peacefully surrender possession of the said premises."
I will await your response.
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Incidentally, installment sales agreements of this nature are often referred to as "
Contracts for Deed", "
Land Contract" and in Alabama and some others "
Bond for Title". And although for you it is might late here is what Alabama's Supreme Court has to say about them:
Hicks v. Dunn, 622 So.2d 914 (1993)
"The use of a bond for title to convey land is an archaic means to transfer ownership of land. (Their use) is generally disfavored as dangerous and unsound because it is more likely to result in litigation than the use of a mortgage transaction. The use of a bond for title to convey land should be very carefully considered if not entirely abandoned. Citing Gay v. Tompkins, 385 So.2d 973 (Ala. 1980;