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You have a contract to purchase a home. During the title search it comes to light the seller is missing a trust document needed to satisfy the title insurance company.
The contract states the buyer must give the seller 30 days to cure the defect. That period expires soon and it looks like the seller will need more time. A previous court case ruled the property belongs to the seller but the title company still wants to see the trust. Everyone involved say it's just a matter of time.
The property fits our wants and needs and is within our budget. We have found nothing else on the market even close to this. The seller has offered an additional $15K reduction.
The seller's attorney says it could take another 5 months. The attorney for the title company thinks there's a possibility one of the other heirs he has already contacted might come up with the trust and a court action may not be needed.
When the 30 days are up, would you ask for your earnest money back ($10K) and tell the seller to call when the title defect is cured and keep looking, or would you extend the cure period another 30 days?
I thought in that thread you said that none of the other heirs had a copy of the trust. If you are interested in it I think you just have to 'ride it out'. Maybe you could rent it from the current owner while the process is going on (maybe with a rent to apply to purchase?)
I would be concerned that this is the middle of a family squable and it could go on for a while if someone contests the resolution of the issue.
This is confusing. If there was a court case that decided ownership another court case will not fix this issue. If title company A won't insure over this without a copy of papers that a court has already ruled on (also they should be on file as part of the records of the court case, iirc) you may be able to find a private attorney that will close over it with his E&O. See if there are any private RE attys "approved" by your lender.
It is debatable whether this is an issue with your title company being unreasonable or with the seller actually needing something he doesn't have. If it is your title company being unreasonable you have no reason to expect that they will ever close on this property. If you wait five months and finally get the papers what if they find a problem with the papers and insist on some dead guy's estranged wife's signature or something? Getting them the papers just gives them more things to find problems with.
Does the seller's attorney act like your title company is crazy?
Take the $15k reduction, give them another 30 with some kind of hold harmless for you that says should you find another property you can bail on this and get your earnest $ back. It should be no big deal for the seller who has now been convinced he can't sell his house without this thing, he will do whatever you want.
I thought in that thread you said that none of the other heirs had a copy of the trust. If you are interested in it I think you just have to 'ride it out'. Maybe you could rent it from the current owner while the process is going on (maybe with a rent to apply to purchase?)
I would be concerned that this is the middle of a family squable and it could go on for a while if someone contests the resolution of the issue.
Yes, same property. But none of the heirs, the decedent's children, responded to attempts to communicate. Now, one has. She only said she would look for it. This was late last week.
Only one child, the only son, contested the will and the court ruled the present owner was the sole owner. I got the impression he was the only one who had a problem with the will and/or trust.
SalamanderSmile, I understand your confusion. I don't get it either. We have a friend who is a probate judge in CT and she said the court ruling should be sufficient. But the title company says no trust, no title policy. And no title policy means no loan.
Three different attorneys have all said either the trust must be produced or the court needs to rule in the absence of the trust. I've run this thing through the ringer so many times I have just come to accept it.
So now we're looking at rolling the dice or jumping back into the house hunt game again. We've been looking outside the area and even the state but can't find anything we like as much as this house. But if we agree to an extension and something does pop up, we'll be locked into the extension. Houses here in our price range are getting scooped up pretty quickly.
Personally, I would get my money back and move on. Tell your agent to let you know if the property comes back on the market (s/he can set up a search in the MLS so she receives a notice as soon as it becomes Active again) just in case you are still looking at that time. Alternatively, you might have your attorney write up an addendum that allows you to stay under contract but back out with a complete refund (with notice) should you find something else in the meantime.
Was the seller identified by a court of law as the SOLE TRUSTEE of the property you are trying to buy or ?????
The Trustee was the son who contested the will. At the end of that case, the court ruled the seller, who is and was the occupant all along, is the sole owner of the property. There have been no other attempts to claim the property, to the best of my knowledge.
If there was anything even close, we'd probably move on. One part of me says we get our money back so we are free to do what we want. The other side is asking, "So where do you go then?" And I don't have any idea how to answer that. We've even toyed with the idea of buying a sailboat and cruising off into the sunset. But then you are dumping your life savings into something that depreciates rapidly.
I would get my earnest money back. At this point I'd be concerned about how the trust actually reads and that there is something suspicious going on with the supposed home owner and her relatives.
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