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.

[Gordon Vaughn]

Kalimah - You are absolutely right about the eviction judge's jurisdiction. This judge has absolutely no authority to stay a writ of eviction unless there are clear violations of the lease agreement or tenant-landlord laws that can be made against you. These Cobb County judicial people think they can do whatever they want & make up the rules as they go, which is why Cobb County is always ranked among the very top most corrupt counties in the entire nation year after year. 

Georgia intrastate laws prohibit the sale or transfer of title for real estate without clear and marketable title. Therefore regardless of the authenticity of the POA this is all going to fall on the closing attorney that performed these transactions, and this attorney unequivocally knows it. The biggest problem is that now the eviction judge is awaiting evidence of clear and marketable title from the tax commissioner's office, which will be their sole source of verification in lifting the stay unless you continue to be proactive in resolving this situation yourself. If the double close was just performed, chances are that this transaction won't appear on tax record for another 1-2 months. My bet is that, in lieu of what's transpired, if the closing attorney hasn't mailed title they probably won't until your title insurance company can get a quick indemnification letter out to the closing attorney prior to recording which helps save his own a**. An indemnification letter is basically the title insurance company sweeping the situation under the rug by making an additional insurance guarantee on the title so that a sale can move forward, but it doesn't solve the title issue itself. This will buy the insurance company and closing attorney some time to properly resolve and /or avoid potential lawsuits, but does nothing for you and your situation as you sit around for the next half a year waiting for something to happen. Bottom line is continue to be proactive. The eviction judge will do nothing until title is recorded and properly documented which at this point could take a long time unless you do something about it. File for a pre-motion hearing with this judge immediately, and make it for the soonest available day on the court schedule. Bring all the evidence of the transaction, every bit of it to the hearing. Get copies of all closing docs, POA's and funds transfers for BOTH transactions. If lawyers, sellers, and birddogs don't give it to you, have them legally subpoena'd on proper court documents, cc everyone involved in the transaction and list all of their names on all court documents you record with the eviction court. Remember, the eviction court is still a court of law. Use the system to let all parties know that you mean business and this is going to get resolved now. The eviction judge can make a sole ruling on this case & he will not want to deal with a growing legal situation that continues to escalate, and may choose to lift the stay even if the title hasn't been recorded. Go after all of them!!!! Then afterwards, stay far away from these double close bird dogs.