Old Seller Scam! What happened here?

[Gary Dezoysa]

These are the details given to me by a friend of a scam that happened to his friend (not recently):

- Friend of my friend buys a house from an 82 year old lady. There were terms but I don't know what they were other than owner financing was involved.

- The lady wants to stay in the house for a while longer, which is fine by the buyer. The buyer proceeds to work on house to the tune of $10,000 in work, while the seller still lives there (this was his big mistake).

- On the day of the moveout the buyer goes to the lady's house and sees her still there, on her porch. He brings up the agreement and then she says "what agreement" and then shows him a legal book of some sort. The buyer realizes that the old lady is trying to swindle him and leaves the property.

- Upon consulting with a lawyer he learns that he has no recourse due to the lady's old age.

Does anyone know how this swindle worked? It seems to have an age component.