All Forum Posts by: Tina Caroll

 this is the best response so far ;)

 When we thought he was a tenant, we were going to walk (not worth it if he's over 62) but in one of his allegations he states that he's a rightful owner because he didn't pay rent but gave her money for some general maintenance. Agreed, it would have been easier to walk away if he had been rent controlled/stabilized or a tenant in general.  As it stands, once the building is sold he's basically squatting.

The title is clean at the moment, but only as clean as his ability to refile notices.  We would have to have a very strategic sale- even though they keep getting dismissed (and will continue to be dismissed,) we obviously wouldn't purchase with a notice of pendency or anything else on the property.

If you couldn't tell, I love digging into these types of things. Even if it doesn't end up working out, it's interesting to investigate.

We're suspicious too, which is why we want to make sure that we uncover as many issues as we can... however, considering that they are both so old and have been fighting over the home they share for the last 5 years, it doesn't *totally* seem out of the realm of possibility that she just wants it over with.

He's tried to sue her for all sorts of things, and she has counterclaims against him in her defenses... it really just looks like an ugly situation that won't have an end until one or both of them are out of the building. And honestly, it doesn't look like he's legally entitled to anything, but it took a few hours of digging through court documents to figure that out (and I don't think most buyers are willing to put that kind of work in.)  Based on the court filings, the attorneys they chose don't seem super stellar either and they've probably already wracked up a good amount of debt just suing each other over petty things.  I think the discount is just to sell it as quickly as possible and to get the heck out of dodge.  

 I don't think they will deliver it vacant at the same price, that's for sure.  The reason it's SO heavily discounted (think 1/3-1/2 of market) is because of this issue.  If it was delivered vacant it would sell for MUCH more, which we are not interested in. 

Our agent is aware that an offer would be contingent on an inspection (the house has been occupied by this family for 45 years and while it's in pretty good shape, I don't know if they've ever really done much work on the guts of the house.)  I didn't consider eldercare programs, that's a great point. Someone else in this thread pointed out that we should approach this as a "parental" figure and try to convince him that we are trying to help, which is not really untrue.  My husband and I are looking for a long-term home to start our own family, we both have elderly parents and are not exactly ruthless businesspeople trying to build an empire. I think this man is going to get a WAY better and more compassionate deal from us than he would from 90% of other people looking at this property, many of whom I think would just move to evict him straight away.  

Buying time with a contingency on the inspection and title search may be a really good way to go, thank you for that suggestion! 

 Ugh, it's so sad that people actively try to screw each other over in these situations.  Remind me to never go into biz with family without signed contracts in place (although this woman has the clearest proof that she owns it- the mortgage, satisfaction of mortgage and the deed...apparently he's not convinced...)

 While I'm inclined to agree with you, this situation seems fraught with drama on both sides- the brother has sued the sister a few times, now she's trying to sell the place and he's actively trying to sabotaging the deal... I think the over-arcing scummy thing here is between the two of them, not the buyer who is trying to do the right thing.  We would absolutely buy him out with a totally fair offer if he would accept it, which is beyond our legal obligation and probably beyond what most people would do. 

Do you think that the legal owner of the building should be punished forever because her brother is angry that he didn't get deeded the property instead of her?  She's also somewhere around 80 years old and it sounds like she just wants out of the house as he's actively trying to make her miserable in the home on which she made mortgage payments and then allowed him to live in for free.

edit: for words.

Can we still RSVP? I'm in!

I'd love to go to a brooklyn meetup as well!

To expand upon this- for people who have done a cash-for-keys arrangement, how did you calculate your base offer?

edit- base offer to the tenant, not the building owner.

a few weeks.  They're requiring cash-only which is why I think the buyers' market is small.  I've used CL before for translation gigs, would def. do it again.  Not sure about the son, but I fully do NOT trust him to accurately translate for me as it's in his best interest to stay in the apt.