Old Seller Scam! What happened here?

Question

These are the details given to me by a friend of a scam that happened to his friend (not recently):

- Friend of my friend buys a house from an 82 year old lady. There were terms but I don't know what they were other than owner financing was involved.

- The lady wants to stay in the house for a while longer, which is fine by the buyer. The buyer proceeds to work on house to the tune of $10,000 in work, while the seller still lives there (this was his big mistake).

- On the day of the moveout the buyer goes to the lady's house and sees her still there, on her porch. He brings up the agreement and then she says "what agreement" and then shows him a legal book of some sort. The buyer realizes that the old lady is trying to swindle him and leaves the property.

- Upon consulting with a lawyer he learns that he has no recourse due to the lady's old age.

Does anyone know how this swindle worked? It seems to have an age component.

Jon Holdman · Answer

A sale/leaseback can be converted into a loan. A judge could decide the sale and lease back, especially if there is any sort of repurchase clause, was in fact a loan. That can turn an eviction into a foreclosure. Depending on the amounts involve, the interest rate on the loan can be usurious.

There are also laws to protect against elder abuse.

Overall, though, if the guy took this to a lawyer after the fact and the lawyer said there's nothing he could do, then I'm thinking the FOAF messed up somewhere along the line.

Xing Zhu · Answer

A contract can be voided based on Mental Incapacity. This old lady's problem might not just be her age.

Gary Dezoysa · Answer

Thanks; I had the same reaction. I don't hang out with scammers though so I doubt the friend of a friend was doing anything wrong, but you may be right. What really struck fear into me was the detail of her age allowing her to play dumb and void the agreement in some way.

If anyone knows anything about that detail please let me know what special protections very old or handicapped buyers have (if any).

Jon Holdman · Answer

I don't buy this. At least not fully.

If the transaction was done legally, with a title company and full documentation, how can it be unwound? I'm not saying that it absolutely cannot, but what was the basis for the seller being able to claim the transaction was null and void? You're provided insufficient details to really understand the situation.

I could take this as the friend of a friend doing a shady transaction attempting to scam the "old lady" out of her house. The old lady, being smarter than your friend though, realized the transaction was illegitimate for some reason and wouldn't stand up if the friend of a friend tried to actually take possession. She also realized the FOAF didn't realize their error and was trying to scam her. So, she decides to scam the scammer and lets them do the work. Then, when they try to take the house, she says "aha! gotcha!" and reveals their error.

No idea what really happened here. Age isn't an excuse for "scamming" someone, by itself. If the FOAF consulted with a lawyer who said there was no case because of age, there must have been some statue he violated.

Xing Zhu · Answer

How scary!

Old Seller Scam! What happened here?

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