Memorandum of Affidavit - A must to protect yourself

[Nadia White]

If there is a lesson I have learned in REI it is that you cannot trust all the people you are working with. I used to be a very trusting person and went by "gut feeling" that people wouldn't pull a fast on me.

That has changed over time. 

One example (true life, happened to us): we sign a contract with a seller to buy their house of $X. Those people are in their 70's, nice, well established people. They are happy to get rid of the house because it belonged to Mom who has been in a nursing home for 12 years and passed away a few months ago. For all those 12 years, they took are of the house and it was a burden. They make that abundantly clear to us.

We flip the contract to a real estate investor (who is known in the county and owns 15 houses). After negotiation, we agree on a price and on a closing date. We also agree that, since he doesn't care who does the closing, we would use our attorney, who can close in less than 5 days. We get proof of funds and start the process.

The very next day, we get a phone call from his attorney telling us that he takes care of the closing. First hiccup, but we didn't think too much of it, eager to please him and get to business.

Th day before the closing has to take place, we get informed by the attorneys that the closing is postponed because our buyer (to whom we had assigned the contract) contacted the sellers and tried to negotiate with them, behind our back.

Fortunately, we had filed a Memorandum of Affidavit and in doing so we clouded the title. 

My point in telling you this story is that, no matter how you trust people, how good your gut feeling is, never deviate from your business principles. Make it a policy to protect your business in any way you can. It's worth it. You are working for it!

I wish you good business out there! :)

[Account Closed]

Nadia, 

Do you do this on all your contracts?

I have had two sellers that wanted to get out of contract in the last 5 months. They didn't really give me a good reason, but I let them off the hook any way. One of them said they didn't want to sell after all and the other didn't give a real reason but they were super old. Maybe I should of filed a memorandum of affidavit just in case they wanted to sell after all.  

[John Webster]

you dnt have to do on all deals. I have buyers paying full price and above chances Of somebody going around me are slim to none lol. 

[Jesse Anguiano]

I have a question when did you see if somebody was willing to help me out. So I have a friend that her mother passed away with property that was willed to the sister. Sister passed away a few years ago. No other siblings. She was told that she HAD to go to Probate Court is this true? Or can I just have her fill out an Affidavit of heirship? Thanks in advance

[Mark Pedroza]

Originally posted by @Jesse Anguiano:

I have a question when did you see if somebody was willing to help me out. So I have a friend that her mother passed away with property that was willed to the sister. Sister passed away a few years ago. No other siblings. She was told that she HAD to go to Probate Court is this true? Or can I just have her fill out an Affidavit of heirship? Thanks in advance

 Yes, it's true that the property will have to go through probate. In order for the property to legally transfer there must be clear title on the property..

[Rhys Royales]

@Nadia White Would you be so kind to send me a copy of the Memorandum of Affidavit you used?  Thank you much,

[Nadia White]

@Rhys Royales, unfortunately, we do not share the documents we use (for liability purposes). But there are a lot of examples on the internet. I would recommend you pull one from there, modify it to your needs and submit it to your attorney before you use it.

[Wayne Brooks]

“Memorandum Of Affidavit” is an odd/incorrect term. Typically it is:

Affidavit of Interest

Memorandum of Purchase Agreement

Affidavit and Memorandum of Purchase Agreement

[Felicia Whitehead]

Some localities are no longer allowing you to file the memorandum of purchase  without prepaying for the taxes on the property in the amount of the contract. Has anyone else come across this issue, if so, how did you get around it?

[Effie Du]

How long does an affidavit of interest last? AKA, does it only last and cloud the title when the seller trying to sell within the contract closing date? 

[Mitchell Howe]

How do you cancel one?

[Wayne Brooks]

@Mitchell Howe To have to record a Release/cancelation.