Have assignment, wholesaler lying help?

Question

I am reposting this here after no action in the general forum:

Wholesaler went into a deal with seller- contract specifies it is assignable.

I went into contract with the wholesaler.

Wholesaler contacts me and says the deal is dead that the seller backed out.

He is a bit shady and I smelled a fish so I contacted selling agent- agent says they close in a few days and that its the same person who was in contract from the start.

What do I do?

Tom Gimer · Answer

Somebody needs to alert those involved (especially the closer) of the cloud on title. The title company may not update their search before closing so don't expect them to just discover it.

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Jackson Long  If you want to pursue this, contact an attorney ASAP - but be prepared to spend significant money on it.

Your attorney might file a lis pendens to cloud the title, preventing the closing - assuming that the buyer's title company / closing attorney is on the ball.  As I understand it, a lis pendens requires that a lawsuit is actually pending, not just threatened - but that's an attorney question.

I'll just note that if the agent is the one doing the screwing here, that you can file a complaint of fraud with the real estate board / commission.  You might tell him that you intend to do exactly that and see if he changes her tune.

If not, I'd contact her broker right away.  The broker might talk some sense into her.

Lydia R. · Answer

@Jackson Long Wait you said wholesaler and you said agent. Is the property listed with an agent or being marketed by a wholesaler? Did you put up an EMD? If so at the very least you should be able to get it back. But this whole thing sounds very shady. You probably dont want to be anywhere near it.

Jackson Long · Answer

Okay guys- here is the update and man is it a hot mess.

@Tom Gimer I hadn't spoken with the closing company out of ignorance.  Had never done a wholesale purchase before.  And all of this happened in a very short time frame.

So then I did go to the closing office and showed them my assignment.  Closing guy said that the language in the main contract that referenced the assign-ability was ambiguous but he felt that the take away was the assignment wasn't valid.  However, the good faith spirit of the language was clear.  So I took the assignment to the register office to get it recorded.  They would not file it because I had a copy not the original.

I went to my closing guy and he prepared an affidavit of interest where we attached the assignment as an exhibit.  I registered this then took a copy to the original closing company (had to leave with the receptionist).  I then attempted to contact the agent again.

The agent and the closing guy both proceed to completely ghost me.  Will not answer or respond to voicemail, text, or email.  The original closing was set for the 25th of last month.  I finally cheated and had a friend call the agent and she, of course, answered the phone right away.  He inquired about the house and was told it was closing this week and she would not accept a backup offer as the deal was "very solid".

What do I do now?

Tom Gimer · Answer

Something isn't adding up here. Why haven't YOU been the one in contact with the seller, agent, and title company about closing? If it was properly assigned, this is YOUR deal.

Carl Fischer · Answer

@Jackson Long

What’s your contract say? Any money change hands? Bright side is you learned early to work with honest, transparent people and Stay away from the slime balls.