All Forum Posts by: Mijeong B.

Sounds like someone realized the change in status is a real one :-) You may want to consider calling the local police department and asking them about a courtesy escort.

Since you're not evicting and don't have any legal rulings or judgements they won't have any sort of use in actually putting the squatters out, but their presence will likely be enough to prevent anyone trying anything stupid. And yes police departments will drop officers by for situations like this to assist in keeping the peace.

Yes!!! The agent will call the police. i will update later.

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Originally posted by @Matt Devincenzo:

Obviously this not legal advice and you may need to get some, but here's my take.

No matter what the "status" of the property is listed as, the physical status has materially changed since when you signed the contract. The listing "condition" doesn't matter as much as the actual condition upon contract acceptance. It is the same as if you were pursuing a REO that was sold "As is" as most are, and before closing additional damage was done. The fact that the property is sold as is, does not free the seller from presenting the property to you on the day of closing in the same condition as when you agreed to the purchase price.

"As is" just means that they won't do repairs so you are agreeing to a price based on the current physical condition. If the roof caves in tomorrow, that is a new condition and opens the contract up to be renegotiated, or cancelled. The price was agreed upon based upon the condition at the time of acceptance, not what the listing states.

So that said, your EM should be returned if you decide to back out. If you had agreed to the purchase with a tenant in place, even still material conditions have changed as that original tenant is not the one that is currently moving in. I'd play hard ball on this one with the listing agent and let them know that. They likely understand very well that material conditions have changed, and maybe you reminding them of that is what they need to hear.

Update: Our agent will meet them at the house and let them move the furniture out. We will see if they appear and agree to move their belongings as they promised. The bank offered $2K if we close by tomorrow. With the squatters' stuff in the house, we are not planning to close.

Mijeong

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Thank you for your advice, Jeff. Initially we thought them as victims too, but they don't show the lease or any record of payment. It is a good advice at we should not allow them to stay in the house. The biggest problem now is the listing agent who does not meet them and let the buyer's agent do all the work.

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Hi. We are in a very difficult situation and hope someone can help.

My husband and I have just started investing in real estate in St Petersburg and this is our first flip project. Currently we are under contract expecting a closing some time this week . Yesterday my husband was driving by the house and found that a woman (with two kids) were moving furniture into the house. Of course, my husband was puzzled and asked what's going on. The woman said that she rented the house from somebody named Juan Garcia (which sounds like a random name) and paid $1,250 to him and claimed that her husband had the lease agreement. But her husband was not there on the property. At first, my husband thought that they were victims of some sort of rental scams.

When my husband informed the listing agent of the situation, the agent went to the house and changed the lock while those people were out of the property (There was no utility service connected as of yesterday). The woman called my husband last night and complained that she was locked out of the house while her personal belongings were in the house. My husband told her that there was nothing he could do, as he was not the owner of the property. We though that it was the seller (the bank and the listing agent)'s responsibility to handle the issue.

Surprisingly, however, the listing agent informed our agent today that he would not deal with the situation, so our agent and we should take care of the squatters. The listing agent's argument is that because the status of occupancy on the contract is "occupied" (the property had had tenants but they apparently moved out about 2 months ago), they are not responsible for the squatter problem. We think it is so ridiculous that the bank and its agent put all this burden on us, even though we do not own the house.

We are considering walking away, but the problem is our earnest money deposit. It seems clear that the bank will refuse to return our money back based on the fact the contract has the "occupied" status. The squatters are not occupying the house now, but their belongings are still in the house. What's the best move for us? Can we get the earnest money deposit back if the bank does not vacate the squatters' belongings?

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All Forum Posts by: Mijeong B.

Mijeong B. has started 1 posts and replied 14 times.

Post: Under contract on REO property, I found squatters moving in.

Post: Under contract on REO property, I found squatters moving in.

Post: Under contract on REO property, I found squatters moving in.

Post: Under contract on REO property, I found squatters moving in.