Double Closing Disaster Cobb County, Georiga

[Kalimah Jenkins]

Just thought I'd post and tell about a double closing gone wrong.  Not sure how this situation could have been avoided.  But, this does give another perspective.  I contracted with the wholesaler to purchase a property.  Instead of an assignment, we did a double closing.  We used his attorney because my attorney does not perform them.  Property was advertised on CL and we purchased it sight unseen as to the interior.  The property also had a tenant living in it and price was reduced accordingly.  Closing occurs and I immediately serve tenant with notice to pay or quit.  Two days later, no payment, so I file and serve the dispossession.   No answer from tenant, so a week later, judge signs the writ of possession.  I pay the sheriff and eviction to occur tomorrow.

Well, on Friday, the sheriff calls and says the judge stayed the writ.  Huh?  Yep, we have information that the underlying transaction A to B was illegal.  In other words, the original seller had no authorization to sell the property (she had a power of attorney from her husband who is in prison) and she apparently cashed the check and ran off with the money.  So, the eviction is stayed pending our investigation which is also tantamount to saying we don't own the property.

At this point, everything is kind of a mess.  In any event, that's where we are. Yesterday, I contacted the title insurance company and put in a claim.  I figured that 1) I am obligated to let them know ASAP and 2) I paid for the policy, so, rather than me running around trying to get answers, I might as well let them work for the money I paid and 3) I am sure that they don't want to pay out on a policy that they wrote two weeks ago so they will advocate for a clean sale.

Much more to the story, but that's it in a nutshell.