All Forum Posts by: Chun Ju Chen

@Rich Baer

Thanks for the input. 

If I do get a real estate attorney invoked, do I pay upfront or can I reach an agreement with the attorney that when he/she wins the case, a portion of the compensation will be given to the attorney. Everyone seems to tell me that this should be an easy win, but I don't want to end up paying an attorney thousands of dollars, lose, then pay the other party.

This is also why I am waiting to see what the title company would act. If full refund and my itemized loss can be provided to me, I think I am willing to just take the money, learn the lesson ( even though it is not a really a lesson to learn except to be cautious about a seller fraud, which is very hard to believe when you think you buy a property from MLS and use all the formal channel), and move.

The tenants also agreed to terminate the lease earlier, and search for a new place.

This was part of the email the title company sent me back in Feb 6th.

"I have wired the money to the Short sale lender, XXXXX, three times and they keep sending the money back stating the short sale was not approved(but we have all the documentation stating it was approved). The first 2 times they said there was something dated wrong by the seller prior to closing and then they said it was fixed and go ahead and return the wire, but I just got the wire back today."

A few days after this email, the title company and the bank discovered that the fraud was on the approval letter, then the title company and the bank started to work on fixing the paperwork. However, on 4/26/17, the title company said to me on the phone, the bank wanted to go ahead and foreclose on the house, and the title company submitted a claim to the title insurance on my behalf. All I was instructed to do right now is wait for the foreclosure letter from the bank....

I don't even know what type of letter I will get and what time table and what sequence of event I am going to face and what would happen to my tenants. I already notified my tenants on the same day when I learn about this.

This story is real and truly one in a million. I bought this short sell from MLS listing and with a legit title company. There is no whole selling involved at all, everything is legit except for the fraud part where the selling side (still don't know who did this, the title company said its the seller's agent, the seller's agent said it's the short-sell processor) simply changed the original buyer name who backed out to my and my wife's name on the approval letter.

The title companies (both sides), took this fraud approval letters to process the sell and go through the deal and deed recorded.The fraud started to surface after my title company tried to wire my funds to the bank and got rejected. However, the title was already transferred to my name and tenants already in place at that point. The funds are currently still withheld in the title company.

Since the approved price is the same only the name is frauded,  the bank initially seemed to be OK to work with my title company to just tackle this from the paper work stand point. But 2 months later, I am informed that want to just foreclose on it.

If the title insurance is willing to the difference between the loan and my purchase ( I believed maybe in the 30-40,000 range or higher), it's fine with me. Otherwise my itemized cost is only about 15000 (a rather light rehab,insurance, warranty, repair, maintenance). So compensating me my own itemized cost may is more economical than pay the difference  far as the title insurance is concerned.  This option would also be quicker for me, the bank, and the title insurance.

Anyways, more advice is welcome. and let me know what you would do in this bizarre situation. I would appreciate more input to help my clear this mess in my head right now.

bought a short sell back in Jan 2017 using all cash 175000 plus all other short sell fee and closing expense. Title has been transferred to me not long after the closing. I immediately rehabbed the house to where it had no major issues and corrected all inspection findings and successfully rented the house out in Feb. Then came in the 2nd week of Feb, I was informed by our title company that the bank refused to accept our fund because apparently the short sell was not approved by the bank. It appeared that the seller side ( don't know whether is the agent, the seller, or the short sell processor) has frauded the approval letter to have this deal go through between the buying and selling title company and the deed was recorded. However, since the price we paid for was the same as the last person that the short sell was approved for, the bank seemed to agree to work with our title company to do extra paperwork and somehow have this deal closed, but going to a more lengthy process.

So over this time until now, I kept managing my property my tenants, paid whatever bill and expense I need to keep the property up and repaired. On April 25, I was told on the phone by my title company that the bank did not want to do the paper work route anymore, instead, they want to foreclose on this house because the bank thinks there is too much fraud going on.

For me, I did not want to bother getting a lawyer and tried to fight with the bank over another long legal battle to get the house bank. I am fine with the bank going forward foreclosing  on this house even though I am no fault at all. I followed all legal procedures to acquire this property, and all this happening is because of a paper work fraud committed by the selling side.

So I requested the title company to refund all my money and other cost to purchase the house.I also generated an itemized list that summaries every costs that I have incurred managing and running this rental property as well as include TBD numbers for renter's move out compensation and property appreciation. The title company will filed my emitted list toward my tile insurance claim.

If the title company and title insurance can cover the loss I specified, I probably would let this go and pursued no further action once the house was foreclosed. If my request not met, what should I do next ?
All my friends told me a case like this is an easy win for any real estate attorney, do you think I should bother to get one ?

I am just quite stunned at this point. I wold appreciate someone who can give good advice or even know some real estate lawyer that can help. I resided in St. louis MO.

Thanks

Rick