All Forum Posts by: Tom Gimer

Yeah, I should have included a smiley. Quite a tough sell to wait 8 years only to make the claim you didn't receive notice. If borrowers were entitled to actual notice of foreclosure they would simply hide forever.

Hmm I wonder what occurred to change the borrower's mind about keeping this property in between 2008 when the default occurred and 2016 when suit was filed.

Whether your listing agreement is valid depends upon how the property is titled. Pull the current deed. If the two owners held title as (i) tenants by the entirety or (ii) joint tenants with the right of survivorship, you have 100% of the property accounted for. If not, you have a problem as your listing agreement would only be for 50% of the land (or some other percentage if stated in the deed).

If you can get past that hurdle, whether your contract is enforceable at this juncture would depend upon whether it is binding on seller's heirs, personal representatives, successors, etc. The answer to that may be "yes" even if the agreement doesn't contain that specific language, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. As a realtor I assume you're using a standard form and this will be easy to determine. 

Get your broker involved.

“As per zoning”?

So the buyer was aware of the issue and closed anyway. These things matter in lawsuits.

This is 100% wrong. It has nothing to do with the title company and this is certainly not a matter an owners title insurance policy would respond to. While a title company may be able to assist in obtaining a release for a loan they paid off, they have no obligation to do so and zero potential liability.

The obligation to release a mortgage or deed of trust once paid in full falls on the lender. If the instrument is a deed of trust and the lender or its successor cannot be found, reach out to the trustee named in that instrument to have him/her execute a valid release.

@Levertis Brock The law firm can certainly pursue you for the reasonable value of services rendered, such as title search, lien search, doc prep. And if you or your agents (such as inspectors) damaged the property, yes the seller can pursue you for repairs.

But like @Wayne Brooks said ... what the seller can pursue you for as a result of what appears to be a clear breach of contract, that should be clearly spelled out in the purchase contract. But that's not always the case and if the seller's relief in the event of a buyer breach are not limited to a forfeiture of the EMD or some other fixed liquidated damages amount, then the damages will be determined by doing some math -- take the contract price you agreed to pay ($250,000) and then compare it to the contract price the subsequent purchaser paid and then add in the expenses incurred by the seller in connection with the resale. Yes, contract damages such as this can add up when the market is declining. Of course if the seller quickly resells for more $, they have no damages.

@Jay Hinrichs From some recently advertised terms of sale in DC:

"Purchaser will take title to the property subject to all real estate taxes, water and sewer charges, and any other municipal or utility charges senior in priority to the Deed of Trust, if any."

@Jim L. The only way to find the total debt owed is to have a full title search conducted and obtain payoffs for every lien on title. Its dangerous to assume you're only dealing with a single mortgage lien. In many cases you would need the owner/borrower authorization to obtain payoffs, so for the most part you have to estimate based upon worst case scenario. For example, if a first trust is being foreclosed you can quite easily assume that any junior liens have not been being paid since before the first went into default. Same for dues and assessments.

If there are enough unknowns many investors will simply choose to bid at the auction sale where the property can be obtained free and clear. 

Enough time for interested parties to review and respond to the motion plus mailing turnaround. A good estimate is 21 days (with no objections to the relief sought) but since COVID everything seems to be taking longer.

 OK maybe they turn out to be a legit company. But if they are marketing an opportunity as secured when it isn't... that's a problem. Good luck.