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Old 06-16-2016, 08:38 AM
 
8,563 posts, read 12,339,419 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zippyman View Post
A civil suit would be looking mostly at the broker/agent for damages, not necessarily the squatters - though the squatters get named in the suit as well. I'd expect the broker to pay, since they're licensed professionals with a fiduciary responsibility to the seller & they clearly handed over the keys against the seller's explicit instructions.

I can see just wanting to move on though.. At a minimum, I'd be all over the state to sanction the broker's license - there's no point in even having licenses if you can't take them away from people who do evil things.
Yes, but the Department might order restitution as part of their penalty. If unsatisfactory, they could choose to institute a lawsuit after Department action--provided that no time limit has passed. Lawsuits are simply a pain to deal with, no matter which side you're on.
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Old 06-16-2016, 08:38 AM
 
Location: Finally the house is done and we are in Port St. Lucie!
3,488 posts, read 3,321,230 times
Reputation: 9913
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chill2016 View Post
Update: We had given verbal notice to potential buyers wife via phone at end of May-written notice via email to buyer and agent at same time-they had until June 15th to close or we will move them out and it is over. We drove to our home up north Monday June 13th to prevent them from actually taking up residence then we would have to go through eviction process. What we found was absolutely appalling! Their furniture and stuff filled the house but was pushed into corners (most of it to be out of sight from windows. The garage was full. Damages include 3 long scrapes on kitchen floor (oak), drywall in hallway banged up, threshold at sliding doors (oak) was ruined splintered, from moving things in, stove had scratches and scrapes from cutting food on it, cigarette buts on garage floor and all over outside, piles of ashes on outside of Woodstove in LR and Woodstove in kitchen. Propane was at 15%, we put 50% in February. Hot water was turned on. A chest freezer was in laundry room plugged in and full of food, our shed had a large box with about 5 or 6 garbage bags with trash, food packages full of maggots. Microwave and stove were filthy along with muddy boot prints all through house. Mailbox had a stack of mail with their name and address change stickers from post office.
We text agent and told her "this is over!, show us proof of closing immediately!" She text back in morning, told my husband he has no compassion, these people need a home, he is not a "nice guy". We called title co. They had nothing to prove any closing. We got keys back from broker and gave him letter of our termination and intentions to go to LARA and file complaints. We changed all locks and moved everything into the garage. Much of it was brand new, obviously they had gone shopping and spent thousands on decorating this house. If they had saved that money and used it as a down payment, the loan may have gone thtough! We didn't put it outside because we are not terrible people-they do have 3 young daughters, a lot of it is clothing and children's belongings, also we gave them the option of paying us $1500 before they can have their stuff. Wednesday they did not show with money so it will be there until they pay.
The buyer texted all day begging pleading with how much they want this house, etc. How perfect it is for them, location....!The banks will not finance him, we did some research, his credit score is 620. They have 35 acts in collections! Hi dad came and tried to talk us into waiting, 3 more days, 2 more weeks, sure this will go through, we were just done at that point and disgusted!
We relisted with a reputable realtor later Tuesday. He was disgusted as well. We managed to get the whole house cleaned up and looking like it did when we first listed it 7 months ago.
In talking with our attorney, he stated if we take this into litigation, it could go on for a year, we would spend a lot of money and after all costs of paying we would probably walk away with nothing.
We decided to just file the complaints, we still are paying our attorney for his efforts, and squatters owe us $1500. A burden has been lifted and we can put this behind us and hope to sell to someone that deserves this place, soon.
This has cost us dearly and set us back with our own plans we had by at least a year.
If this guy doesn't come up with the money by June 30th, we will give them their clothing and beds but keep the rest. We could use a big screen T.V. lol! Maybe sell the rest to recoup our losses.
We have plenty of evidence in text messages stating the needed information of the realtor giving him the keys, us tellin the agent no they cannot move in, etc.
So on our way home last night, I began to do a little more research- this explains the buyers insistence on moving in as soon as he could- I typed his name into google- the MSP Sex offender registry came up-he was charged with 2nd degree csc w/personal injury to the victim 18 years ago, a felony. He is listed until 2048. He needed an address to report to avoid arrest for not reporting. I am soooo glad this did not go through and close, so are the neighbors!
That's my story. I thank you all for your advice, concern, support and encouragement.
I will update the end results from our complaint with LARA and also with good news of a sale to people that deserve to live in our home! Thank you!!!
Paragraphs
Wow! I wonder how many other times this family has done this. Unbelievable! I'm glad you are taking back your property.

Ps: paragraphs - hit enter twice to delineate a line space between them.
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Old 06-16-2016, 09:50 AM
 
Location: Georgia
4,578 posts, read 5,643,202 times
Reputation: 15968
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chill2016 View Post
We text agent and told her "this is over!, show us proof of closing immediately!" She text back in morning, told my husband he has no compassion, these people need a home, he is not a "nice guy".
I don't know about you, but I'm shaking in anger just READING this travesty. "Not a nice guy" ??!?!?!?!? WTH?!?!?!?!?! I am SO sorry this has happened to you. Keep track of your expenses when you take this agent to the disciplinary board -- it seems to me that your real estate agent is liable for ALL the damages to your home, since she is the one that let them in in the first place. Best wishes with your new agent.
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Old 06-16-2016, 10:13 AM
 
Location: Bloomington IN
8,590 posts, read 12,288,275 times
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Wow, wow, wow! All I can say is that I hope you took lots of photos of the place before you cleaned it up. At least the other agent saw it also.
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Old 06-16-2016, 11:16 AM
 
Location: Austin
7,244 posts, read 21,755,019 times
Reputation: 10014
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zippyman View Post
A civil suit would be looking mostly at the broker/agent for damages, not necessarily the squatters - though the squatters get named in the suit as well. I'd expect the broker to pay, since they're licensed professionals with a fiduciary responsibility to the seller & they clearly handed over the keys against the seller's explicit instructions.
I agree with this. You need to make an example out of both the buyer's agent and the listing agent and their brokers. File suit with them connected. They have errors and omissions insurance for a reason. The brokers will pay you every penny you deserve!
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Old 06-16-2016, 11:22 AM
 
Location: Rural Michigan
6,343 posts, read 14,641,578 times
Reputation: 10548
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmichigan View Post
Yes, but the Department might order restitution as part of their penalty. If unsatisfactory, they could choose to institute a lawsuit after Department action--provided that no time limit has passed. Lawsuits are simply a pain to deal with, no matter which side you're on.

Hadn't even thought of the department ordering restitution - I guess it would be hard to quantify what the real loss was though (7 months on the market, likely the best selling months over, now the listing is "stale" & likely to get lower offers, unpaid rent + property damage *and* the property might even now carry a stigma because a potential buyer checking for sex offenders in the neighborhood is going to find one, they might not even realize it's the house they're looking at, just a dot on a map really close to the property if they use a "crime mapper" website)..

The broker wouldn't want me on a jury in a civil trial.. ;-). Hopefully this new agent is a rock-star & gets them full-price in 30 days..

Quite often the "penalties" issued by the department in my state are "ten hours of fair-housing education & never ever do that again!" Granted, this case is awful if it's all as we've read here.
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Old 06-16-2016, 07:40 PM
 
5,291 posts, read 5,216,211 times
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omg....
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Old 06-17-2016, 06:44 AM
 
20 posts, read 27,287 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zippyman View Post
Hadn't even thought of the department ordering restitution - I guess it would be hard to quantify what the real loss was though (7 months on the market, likely the best selling months over, now the listing is "stale" & likely to get lower offers, unpaid rent + property damage *and* the property might even now carry a stigma because a potential buyer checking for sex offenders in the neighborhood is going to find one, they might not even realize it's the house they're looking at, just a dot on a map really close to the property if they use a "crime mapper" website)..

The broker wouldn't want me on a jury in a civil trial.. ;-). Hopefully this new agent is a rock-star & gets them full-price in 30 days..

Quite often the "penalties" issued by the department in my state are "ten hours of fair-housing education & never ever do that again!" Granted, this case is awful if it's all as we've read here.
OMG! I never thought about the sex offender list with our address-next to our neighbors campground even! Thank you for bringING that to light! He will never be living there that's a fact. My husband contacted MSP and reported him and also notified the post office to put a stop to his mail going there, that he was squatting in our home. I have a lot of paperwork to do-typing up all text messages from buyer, agent, and broker, emails, write the story in chronological order to match the communications, gather, and add all expenses this has cost us. You all have been a tremendous help with your input and advice. Luckily I'm off work today but not how I wanted to spend my weekend- just got the boat in the water!
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Old 07-01-2016, 08:42 AM
 
Location: Wisconsin
19,480 posts, read 25,056,304 times
Reputation: 51113
OP,
It has been about two weeks. Has anything new happened? Please give us an update.
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Old 07-01-2016, 10:42 AM
 
20 posts, read 27,287 times
Reputation: 63
So sorry. I've been working on this packet to send to the Michigan board of Realtors complaint division (LARA).
It's quite lengthy but I finally finished it this morning and ready to go in the mail. We have not heard anything from our previous realtor or the agent, but our new agent called to inform us that this buyer had been sending him emails trying to continue this loan through him. He told the buyer if he could prove he had the cash $159,900 we would be more than happy to sell the house. He then went off on a rant about how we were discriminating against him and his family and told our realtor things are going to get "pretty ugly." Our realtor put him in his place and told him there will be no purchase agreement with him. He then sent our realtor some type of message regarding Hitler (?) And saying Hitler had it right all along. Very disturbed man.
We have recieved phone calls from the buyers mother in Georgia telling us we are being unreasonable with the charges we expect to get his belongings from our garage. ($1810-more than reasonable). And offered us $1000. We hung up and will not answer any more calls. We sent him a text, gave him until July 15th, then if he does not pay for the damages and use of our home, we will give him the children's clothing, beds and household necessities and keep the rest.
He says the realtor told him he could move in and he should have to pay the money, not him, the buyer.
On another note, and we did not know he was on the sex offender registry as a 2nd degree rapist tier 2 until after we terminated this fiasco- I have researched the legalities of him even living next door to a family campground and could find nothing, only so many feet from schools, parks. I know he goes into his children's school and they had no idea. My neighbor is more than happy this fell through as it would have negatively affected her business.
So I'm sending this complaint off to LARA today and hope that we sell our house soon and can move on. I will update as soon as we hear back from them. Thanks for asking Have a great 4th of July weekend!
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