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Wow, what these weasels will come up with next? At least one month's security deposit and one month's rent.....maybe a couple more if you can squeeze it in. It sounds like your renters are in denial.
All renters need to learn to look up public records.......I haven't run across one yet that isn't online.
Thank you all so VERY much for your replies. We are praying that this will resolve itself sooner than later and that the property will be left intact (we hope).
Today, the listing agent for the house is speaking to the State Attorney's office and our story is going to be on the local news.
The police is keeping an eye on the house and went back there last night with the listing agent but were unable to evict them - We have to keep the pressure on them.
A call to your local Utility Companies (Electric/water/sewer/phone/cable etc) will find out if they are allowed to 'connect' without proof of ownership or legal occupancy (Deed or Lease).
Or are your 'squatters' living without any of the above services?
Also, the 'renovator' should take all the doors off (interior & exterior) to be repaired. Regardless of their legal status, vandalism is illegal, and so is trespassing.
Sounds like the attorney needs to 'educate' your local law enforcement as to who has the right-of-posession.
We have a contract on a vacant foreclosed home in Plantation, Fl and are closing on Monday, March 1.
We went by the house today, to take some pictures and found someone living in the house claiming that they are renting the house from its owner. Let's just say that I went crazy, I called my realtor and the listing realtor who came out and brought the police with them.
The "owner" of the home claims that he took posession of the house 2 days ago because it had been abandoned for more than 90 days. He filed a quit claim deed with Broward County.
The listing agent explained to the police officers that the house was not abandoned and was under contract from early January. The water and light bill were in his name and there was work being done on the house as recently as last week. The officers said that they could not tell these people to leave and we had to go to court.
These people moved in Friday night. All the neighbors came out and were just shocked at what was happening.
What can we do? We have a contract with the bank on this house.
Please help us. This is our dream house and we are afraid that these people are going to wreck it.
my number one hope is that you recover all your money but i really hope that these guys get their way. i'll explain why. the banks have been witholding foreclosed real estate from the market while thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people go homeless.
if you or i or any small organisation enters insolvency, our assets are repo'ed and sold to recover some of the debt. we don't get the federal govt coming in with funds to hold us over until the market for our assets recovers. so if your restored '67 corvette goes on the block and sells for $500, tough. this is not the way it works for the banks. they can hold onto vacant, rotting homes until the 2nd coming, safe in the knowledge that if they run out of funds the federal govt will back them up.
i am one of those fence sitters who refuses to buy a place until a proper correction takes place. by that i mean that if the banks are being protected from 'free market' forces to liquidate, there bhas to be another way for these homes to be made available to the public.
I am so sorry that you have to go through this. I had no idea. Best to get your earnest money back and find another property. This one might be tied up for a while.
i agree with this. i would get my earnest money back and find something else
my number one hope is that you recover all your money but i really hope that these guys get their way. i'll explain why. the banks have been witholding foreclosed real estate from the market while thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people go homeless.
if you or i or any small organisation enters insolvency, our assets are repo'ed and sold to recover some of the debt. we don't get the federal govt coming in with funds to hold us over until the market for our assets recovers. so if your restored '67 corvette goes on the block and sells for $500, tough. this is not the way it works for the banks. they can hold onto vacant, rotting homes until the 2nd coming, safe in the knowledge that if they run out of funds the federal govt will back them up.
i am one of those fence sitters who refuses to buy a place until a proper correction takes place. by that i mean that if the banks are being protected from 'free market' forces to liquidate, there bhas to be another way for these homes to be made available to the public.
the way i see it is, use it or lose it!
I understand your frustration with the foreclosure\short sale situation here in Florida.
I live here I know all about it.
In all fairness to the bank, the previous owner left the house on Dec. 23, 2009 and the house was listed on the MLS the 1st week of January 2010 and we had a contract on it by January 12th.
That was less than a month - the bank wanted to get rid of this house and lowered the price within 3 days of listing it when they had no offers.
The scam Helping Hands Properties INC is perpetrating is due to the Broward Clerk of Courts. ANYONE can record ANY document against your home at any time. In this case a quit claim deed is used for real estate transactions that states that the owner of the home is granting title and rights to the home to another person. The key word here being the OWNER.
The Broward County Clerk of Courts does not verify this document and to date this corporation has filed 65 quit claim deeds - 13 alone were done yesterday. They are claiming ownership to the house through Adverse Possession which means that the house has been ABANDONED and that they have notified the owner that they are going to take this over. There is more to it but none of the conditions were satisified.
They are doing it to foreclosed, short sale and regular sale properties. They ask for money to remove the deed or put renters into an empty house, collect rent and still ask the owners for money to remove the deed.
This has devastated our family and even if we don't succeed WE ARE going to do everything we can to help the neighborhood and the bank.
I understand your frustration with the foreclosure\short sale situation here in Florida.
I live here I know all about it.
In all fairness to the bank, the previous owner left the house on Dec. 23, 2009 and the house was listed on the MLS the 1st week of January 2010 and we had a contract on it by January 12th.
That was less than a month - the bank wanted to get rid of this house and lowered the price within 3 days of listing it when they had no offers.
The scam Helping Hands Properties INC is perpetrating is due to the Broward Clerk of Courts. ANYONE can record ANY document against your home at any time. In this case a quit claim deed is used for real estate transactions that states that the owner of the home is granting title and rights to the home to another person. The key word here being the OWNER.
The Broward County Clerk of Courts does not verify this document and to date this corporation has filed 65 quit claim deeds - 13 alone were done yesterday. They are claiming ownership to the house through Adverse Possession which means that the house has been ABANDONED and that they have notified the owner that they are going to take this over. There is more to it but none of the conditions were satisified.
They are doing it to foreclosed, short sale and regular sale properties. They ask for money to remove the deed or put renters into an empty house, collect rent and still ask the owners for money to remove the deed.
This has devastated our family and even if we don't succeed WE ARE going to do everything we can to help the neighborhood and the bank.
You know I am totally fascinated by this fraud situation that is occurring and the inability of the police to arrest these people for trespassing. As I was googling abandonment laws here in Oregon, I found an "investors" forum and someone was proposing this exact scenario on the forum. The threads were removed by the moderator, for obvious reasons, but some of the folks had small snippets that they had quoted and were all over this. Essentially these folks take a chance that the owner won't return to the house.
I have never seen a quit claim deed that wasn't signed by the owner. I am floored that anyone, at least in FL, can record a deed like that. I'm off to the courthouse today to get educated here locally and find out if this is possible here.
So, I am really hoping this all works out for you, but you have provided me with a great learning experience and I plan to get more educated about this to protect my sellers that have moved out of state. For that, I thank you.
i agree with this. i would get my earnest money back and find something else
Not me, If I had the time I would 1st approach the bank and tell them they need to come down another $10k (or some reasonable amount) on their price and if they didn't I was walking on the deal.
See if you can make this a positive and use to your advantage. If you don't ask you don't get.
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Are the utilities on?
