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Updated over 11 years ago,

User Stats

11
Posts
9
Votes
Kate Elson
  • Weymouth, MA
9
Votes |
11
Posts

Wrong address on forclosure?

Kate Elson
  • Weymouth, MA
Posted
Last week one of my tenants called to ask if I was being foreclosed on. Someone had come to the house (Three family) and knocked on all the doors and told my tenants that I no longer owned the house. I told my tenant that this was not the case, this was either a mistake or a scam. I called all the residents of the house and let them know that I would be looking into this. One of them texted me a copy of the letter left by this man and I could see why they were upset. The letter stated that the house was sold at a foreclosure auction had the address of my house listed on it and stated that they were all being evicted effective immediately. I was very upset to read this as well I have never made a late mortgage payment, I certainly haven't missed any, and I was in the process of closing on another property so my credit had just been run and this would have shown up if the bank had made an error. I called the number on the letter and got a call back relatively quickly from the man who had been to the house. I assured him there was some kind of mistake and persisted that he give me more information. Eventually he "realized" he made a mistake and it wasn't #20 (my house) but another house on the street #241. I asked him to call my tenants back immediately to let them know his mistake, since he had just told them all I was essentially a deadbeat, which he did. This was a short lived but stressful couple hours and I thought all is well that ends well and no real harm done. Out of curiosity I tried to look up the house that was forclosed on and I can't find a #241 on that street. I'm a little worried that this might be some sort of scam and wonder if should I report it to somebody? For those of you deal in forclosures does this sort of thing happen? This was in Whitman a small town on the south shore of Boston, Ma

User Stats

123
Posts
13
Votes
Thomas Quinn
  • Residential Real Estate Agent
  • Uxbridge, MA
13
Votes |
123
Posts
Thomas Quinn
  • Residential Real Estate Agent
  • Uxbridge, MA
Replied

Did you do a search on the phone number seems weird they can't just evict tenants in a forecloser there are laws to protect them

User Stats

2,341
Posts
877
Votes
Shaun Reilly
  • Landlord and Rehabber
  • Newton, MA
877
Votes |
2,341
Posts
Shaun Reilly
  • Landlord and Rehabber
  • Newton, MA
Replied

Hi @Kate Elson

It sounds a little scammy to me. As @Thomas Quinn said they can't just evict tenants even if there was a foreclosure. If they have leases then they bought those with the property.

If you can't even find the address that they said they were supposed to be serving that makes it sound that much fishier. At least if you easily found #241 existed and was just foreclosed on you could see how it might just be incompetence on the guys part.

Don't know WHAT the scam might be and how you might be in danger though.

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User Stats

11
Posts
9
Votes
Kate Elson
  • Weymouth, MA
9
Votes |
11
Posts
Kate Elson
  • Weymouth, MA
Replied

The letter actually stated that if the property was occupied they would begin the eviction process immediately and if there was no response in 48 hours they would assume the property was vacant and change the locks.

It could have been an honest mistake, I'm not sure what the end game would be if it were a scam, but the whole situation was just very strange to me.

User Stats

2,341
Posts
877
Votes
Shaun Reilly
  • Landlord and Rehabber
  • Newton, MA
877
Votes |
2,341
Posts
Shaun Reilly
  • Landlord and Rehabber
  • Newton, MA
Replied
Originally posted by Kate Elson:
The letter actually stated that if the property was occupied they would begin the eviction process immediately and if there was no response in 48 hours they would assume the property was vacant and change the locks.
It could have been an honest mistake, I'm not sure what the end game would be if it were a scam, but the whole situation was just very strange to me.

Not sure what the scam would be either.

I will say is if this was just a mistake but this is how they want to proceed with taking over a property I would expect them to get hauled into court at some point.

Maybe trying to evict someone that had a lease they didn't know about would just get the action thrown out, but breaking into the tenants units and changing the lcoks on them I'd see getting them into deep do-do...

User Stats

1,769
Posts
369
Votes
Robert Adams
Agent
  • Real Estate Broker
  • Henderson, NV
369
Votes |
1,769
Posts
Robert Adams
Agent
  • Real Estate Broker
  • Henderson, NV
Replied

I agree that it could be a scam or could be an honest mistake but he whole thing is a weird situation.

  • Robert Adams
  • 702-349-9175