Memorandum on my property

[Nelline H.]

Can someone please give me some advice before I spends thousands on an attorney. I signed a purchase agreement with a seller thinking he was the end buyer, turns out he is a wholesaler and went past our closing date without finding a buyer. Our EMD was only $20 since we signed the first day of meeting and going to my property. He then proceeded to put a lien memorandum on my property and refuses to release it without me paying an outrageous amount. Is there a way I can get out of this if he refuses to sign a release? He says that he just needs to keep pushing the closing date and even lied to me about filing an addendum with title (which I called and they said they needed both of us to sign and he never filed). I found another buyer which he knows about now so he won't free up my property without a cut. An outrageous cut that I'd be paying out of pocket for even after closing on my property if he did release the lien. Please help. How can I get out of this? It's going on 3 months he's had me move out of my property and renting thinking I was going to sell this house.

[Tom Gimer]

Without the contract etc. all we can do is talk hypothetically. So if something like this happened to me, I would do the following immediately.

Send/deliver a letter to the "buyer" (with proof of delivery) advising that the contract is void due to his fraud in the inducement (cash buyer without cash); that I am preparing to file a lawsuit for slander of title (and other causes of action) and pursuing compensatory as well as punitive damages; and that unless the cloud is removed within X days, I am contacting the attorney general of the state as well as the real estate commission to report the fraud.

If the cloud was not timely removed, I would hire an attorney and do exactly what I said I was going to do.