All Forum Posts by: Justin Abdilla

@An Lam

I think if the scam had caught you, you’d have to sue the title company for negligence for failing to keep the emails of the transaction safe and causing you to fall prey to a malicious actor.

You would NOT be covered by FDIC but the title company might choose to cover you because they'd be very likely to lose that lawsuit.

@An Lam

The title company ended up covering the transaction based on their other role as a settlement agent. The home buyer, under those facts, was protected.

@Joshua Villafranco

Cash for keys is a good strategy, as mentioned previously, but there are other things you could do. You could pursue a quiet title action or attempt to buy the taxes for the property at auction whenever that day comes. I would tell the aunt that you want her blessing and you’d like things to be easy, but that you don’t need it.

Good luck on this property, sounds like a great investment.

The title company I use in Chicago got hit on this one last year. $370,000 gone in an instant. From that day on, we’ve begged everyone to voice verify. It’s so easy for the scammers to do it! Glad you got out safe!

@Ligaya Bales

That’s high for an eviction. I charge $750 plus costs (usually about that $360 number you were quoted). I can say from missed payment to out-date we normally are looking at 120 days, but that’s in the most tenant friendly market in America.

33 days to get it filed is not unusual. Many jurisdictions require a 30 day notice to get to court, and that has to be placed before you file. So it may be that he got on the work 3 days after you hired him but then couldn’t do what you wanted until after 30 days passed.

Hope that helps. Best of luck!

If it helps, in seven years of practicing real estate law I've never had a case where one agent sued another for interference in a real estate transaction.  I think if your client tells the managing broker that she wants out, the managing broker will most likely cancel the agency agreement.  Best to not risk a million negative yelp, google and realtor-dot-com reviews.

If not, surely these agreements are of limited duration?  The standard ones I see are 90 days here in Illinois, so worse-comes-to-worst, let the holidays pass and take over the listing after the first of the year.  

It's nearly always best to go as an S-Corp or LLC. They're likely not going to ever publicly trade their company, so C-Corp wouldn't make much sense to them. It's usually better, in my experience, to rent equipment, because then someone else has the liability to make sure the equipment is in good working order. The separate location for business is rarely needed, and wouldn't be needed in Illinois. The only red flag I see if that a construction company is going to have strict liability and will need to have some surety posted with a reputable insurer before opening shop.

Your business desperately needs a lawyer to open it.  With the kind of liability construction could have, you want to make sure that it's all LIMITED liability.

I don't know the law in North Carolina, but in Illinois this wouldn't be a discrimination lawsuit.  You have a legitimate reason to question the ability of the tenant to pay rent, and occupy the premises safely without being a nuisance in the neighborhood.  I think the criteria you're using are criteria you're applying to all people.  You're asking everyone to come with FICO over 550 and with a decent criminal background check.  I can tell you those are the only two things landlords in my area ever ask about, and I don't know anyone who has had a suit in a long time.

Rob from Chicago makes a great point, you don't know if they're married or what their domestic situation looks like. Someone on base should be able to make a Power of Attorney happen here so that you can bind the both of them with one signature. Otherwise, things will get dicey if something goes wrong. I think the chief concern here is making sure you have two tenants to go after if the rent remains unpaid, and the only thing I know that accomplishes that is a POA.

I'm an attorney in Illinois, and I can tell you that in my experience that the seller's attorney will usually put together the contract and the promissory note terms.  A great place to start for this would be contacting the local bar association for your area and seeing if they have a template form sitting around for these documents.  That's what nearly all of us in Illinois use as a first step.

I hope that helped.