What Would You Do?

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Ari Rankum

NAFO Karting Champion, 2012
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
Messages
986
Reaction score
6
Location
MD, USA
A friend is selling her townhouse in downtown Baltimore. She has already left the state and asked me to stop by, spruce up the yard, check on things, and leave a key for the garage in the mailbox for the realtor to pick up in time for closing at the end of this month. When I was checking on the back of the house, I noticed that there was not a key lock on the garage, but a combo lock. Of course, dropping off a key for a key lock makes no sense when there's a combo lock on the garage. So I peered inside and noticed that the garage is full of furniture. I talked to a neighbor who happened to be outside who said that some people showed up last week and put the furniture in there.

I talked to the owner, who is understandably irate, and she said these people, presumably the potential new owners, must have cut her lock off and pre-staged some of their furniture in her garage. This is one of the more bizarre things I've ever heard of. It's got to be a felony (breaking and entering), it certainly affects my friend and her insurance as the current owner of the house. She wants me to go down and cut the lock off and slap a really good one on.

I don't think that's the right thing to do, but I'm struggling to find the idea that has me say, "Aha, that's it!". Um, help?

 
Stay away from this one Ari. Bad juju and you are caught in the middle. Turn it over to your friend's realtor/broker (better yet, advise your friend to instruct the realtor to deal with it), then run like hell.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
A friend is selling her townhouse in downtown Baltimore. She has already left the state and asked me to stop by, spruce up the yard, check on things, and leave a key for the garage in the mailbox for the realtor to pick up in time for closing at the end of this month. When I was checking on the back of the house, I noticed that there was not a key lock on the garage, but a combo lock. Of course, dropping off a key for a key lock makes no sense when there's a combo lock on the garage. So I peered inside and noticed that the garage is full of furniture. I talked to a neighbor who happened to be outside who said that some people showed up last week and put the furniture in there.
I talked to the owner, who is understandably irate, and she said these people, presumably the potential new owners, must have cut her lock off and pre-staged some of their furniture in her garage. This is one of the more bizarre things I've ever heard of. It's got to be a felony (breaking and entering), it certainly affects my friend and her insurance as the current owner of the house. She wants me to go down and cut the lock off and slap a really good one on.

I don't think that's the right thing to do, but I'm struggling to find the idea that has me say, "Aha, that's it!". Um, help?
Assuming the deal stays on course to close at the end of the month I wouldn't do anything. Why risk blowing a deal not to mention having to evict what amounts to squatters if you don't have to? As for the insurance issue as long as the owner can claim ignorance if anything happens she should be fine. On the other hand if the buyers start making excuses not to close on time I'd file charges and have the stuff confiscated/moved in a heartbeat. As far as anybody is concerned you don't know who's stuff it is other than somebody trying to take advantage of an abandoned townhouse.

And then do what TWN said

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes, the realtor should handle this ASAP. If they want to store their stuff in thier prior to the closing, they should probalby pay rent ;) Maybe forfiet their deposit, IMHO.

But I also wouldn't get involved, as TWN said.

 
As the others said, let the realtor deal with it. They are the one's making the fat commission on the sale, let them actually work for a change. She must have an attorney lined up for the closing, whats his best advice?......I have 2 siblings who are attorneys, one that is a realtor, and one that sets insurance prices for a national firm....I'm still trying to figure out where my parents went wrong....

 
Buyers absolutely have no access rights to the property before closing unless there's an agreement in place - there are liability issues to consider as well. Ignoring the matter will amount to tacit acceptance of the situation and, heaven forbid there be a problem (such as a fire), the seller will be at risk if she does nothing.

I wouldn't 'run away', but I would call your friend and explain what I found and suggest discussing this with the realtor. A rental agreement with a requirement for tenants insurance is one way to resolve the liability issues. AND she can make a couple of thousand in rental revenue to cover access from signing to closing - a break-and-enter complaint can do wonders to force the buyers to get in line.

How hot is the local market? This is a possible deal-breaker, complete with witholding the deposit (which will only go to the agent, by the way). Perhaps she can 'do better' now that these people have breached the trust by breaking into her home.

If your friend wanted to be a REAL nasty case she can move the furniture to her own storage or claim it for her own use as it is found in her property - is the furniture nice?

One nice option (if you want to be a b*stard) is to donate all the found-in furniture to goodwill WITHOUT calling the agent.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Stay away from this one Ari. Bad juju and you are caught in the middle. Turn it over to your friend's realtor/broker (better yet, advise your friend to instruct the realtor to deal with it), then run like hell.
Yeah. I guess this sounds about right. It's pretty much what everyone else has said as well.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

 
"How hot is the local market? This is a possible deal-breaker, complete with witholding the deposit (which will only go to the agent, by the way). Perhaps she can 'do better' now that these people have breached the trust by breaking into her home."

 

 


How do you figure "which will only go to the Agent, by the way". I can't imagine what type of listing agreement your friend may have signed that will give forfeited Earnest Money to the Agent. Not on my planet. The Seller needs to call her attorney to confirm her rights and probably report unauthorized home entry to the police.


 
If there's a signed contract and closing is scheduled, as the seller I would just contact the buyer, confirm that the stuff belongs to them, and ask for a written statement releasing me from any liability for damage to it. If they won't do that, I'm not sure what my next step would be, frankly. It is really totally outside the sales contract if its not mentioned so neither I, as the seller, nor they can just walk away or unliaterally modify the contract. On the other hand, I have never seen a real estate contract that is really solid. So if you make the buyer mad enough, they will find a way to kill it. I once had a buyer escape from a contract by going to a department store and placing an order for about $10,000 worth of furniture, to be delivered after closing. The bank killed the loan, closing fell apart and they canceled the furniture order. Although they were technically in breach of contract based on their failure to "attempt in good faith to secure financing" as described in the contract, it was in my best interest to just let them go and find a buyer that really wanted to make the purchase. I kept their earnest money, though. They didn't pursue it. Maybe they were just stupid.

Anyway, my point is, if they are qualified buyers, I would at least talk to them and try to make sure that they're not trying to pull something screwy. They probably aren't.

 
"How hot is the local market? This is a possible deal-breaker, complete with witholding the deposit (which will only go to the agent, by the way). Perhaps she can 'do better' now that these people have breached the trust by breaking into her home." 

 


How do you figure "which will only go to the Agent, by the way". I can't imagine what type of listing agreement your friend may have signed that will give forfeited Earnest Money to the Agent. Not on my planet. The Seller needs to call her attorney to confirm her rights and probably report unauthorized home entry to the police.

Every listing contract I've ever seen (wife was an agent with C21 and then with ReMax for 15 years) gives the broker/agent any deposit moneys received (up to the commission total) for an accepted listing that fails to conclude for any reason once all conditions are met - since building inspections, back-to-back sales agreements, financing and such are generally (but not always) conditions of the listing, if the buyer can't get financing, or if there are structural issues the contract conditions will not have been met. He/she has done their work and they deserve to be compensated if the deal fails for reasons beyond the scope of the accepted contract. Even if there's a fire, the insurance company compensates the broker (been there, done that).


 
Last edited by a moderator:
If there's a signed contract and closing is scheduled, as the seller I would just contact the buyer, confirm that the stuff belongs to them, and ask for a written statement releasing me from any liability for damage to it. If they won't do that, I'm not sure what my next step would be, frankly. It is really totally outside the sales contract if its not mentioned so neither I, as the seller, nor they can just walk away or unliaterally modify the contract. On the other hand, I have never seen a real estate contract that is really solid. So if you make the buyer mad enough, they will find a way to kill it. I once had a buyer escape from a contract by going to a department store and placing an order for about $10,000 worth of furniture, to be delivered after closing. The bank killed the loan, closing fell apart and they canceled the furniture order. Although they were technically in breach of contract based on their failure to "attempt in good faith to secure financing" as described in the contract, it was in my best interest to just let them go and find a buyer that really wanted to make the purchase. I kept their earnest money, though. They didn't pursue it. Maybe they were just stupid.Anyway, my point is, if they are qualified buyers, I would at least talk to them and try to make sure that they're not trying to pull something screwy. They probably aren't.
Agree that these contracts aren't ironclad, but that's why they are secured by deposit - and anyone accepting an offer should ensure that the deposit will cause some financial pain if the buyer decides to unreasonably back out.
There's a seller's response to that 'kill the loan' deal. Again, BTDT

In our area the standard mortgage condition allows the seller to arrange financing and forces the buyer to accept it if the seller can secure on the buyers behalf where the buyer may be unable to qualify on his own.

Wife had a PITA client who could well afford the home and was trying to back out of their THIRD accepted offer. Seems that they liked the thrill of negotiation, but suffered 'buyer's remorse' and were unwilling to take the contract to completion. They were a huge time-waster and were costing her big time.

This third time it wasn't building inspection issues. The buyer got a major bank to refuse finance (to prove good faith and that they'd tried to secure financing). So even though she represented the buyer, she contacted her cousin who was a mortgage broker back then and secured financing for her client at 5% above market with a spiff to the broker of half the spread. After lots of yelling, buyer decided to follow through and even secured proper financing rather than to lose the $10K deposit.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Stay away from this one Ari. Bad juju and you are caught in the middle. Turn it over to your friend's realtor/broker (better yet, advise your friend to instruct the realtor to deal with it), then run like hell.

Wisdom from the nut. Huh, musta copied off someone else's paper.

 
Top