Neighbor Discourages Buyers
Apparently the neighbor of my house (the 2 for 1 deal) is discouraging my potential buyers from buying my house.
So far, all my buyers, after being very enthused about the house and the price, downpayment and monthly payments (I am selling on Contract for Deed and bought Subject to the financing staying in place) when they called me because of my bandit sign in the front yard of the house.
They would stop in the driveway, call me, get the financial info and gave me their phone numbers and name, said they would go around the house and get back to me to make an appointment when they would want to see the inside of the house with their spouse.
No more calls, so I called them to make the appointment. The response was every time: No, I am not interested anymore. I asked what had caused the loss of interest, and some replied that they changed their mind, some just hung up.
I suspect that my neighbor (the seller's son) talks to them. I am going to test this, and have talked to some of my friends, who will pose as an interested buyer and make the rounds of the house and see what happens.
If, as I suspect, the neighbor discourages anybody from buying the house, they will write a deposition and notarize it.
If this is the case, is there anything I can legally do?
Ladybug
P.S.: The letter from my attorney to advise him of our Quiet Title suit and the request to him to either vacate or start paying rent will be sent this week; we didn't want to sour his Christmas.[ Edited by Ladybug on Date 01/05/2004 ]
Your plan sounds good in doing some undercover checking to see if the neighbor is the problem.
If he is, then I'd have your lawyer write him a letter, certified, just advising him that any such interference might be grounds for a lawsuit, under the theory of "tortious interference with business relationship" or contract...which just might subject the neighbor to judgment for damages.
This would probably scare him (legally) enough to keep his nose out of your business.
Hey,
The neighbor can speak to anyone about anything anytime that want as long as the information is true/correct.
If the house REALLY is built on the ancient site of Satanic human sacrifice, you can't stop them from telling someone this information.
Several years ago, I bought a house from an estate. The house had sat vacant for over 6 months. Vacant house attract bad things like a magnet. Someone was murdered somewhere else, but the victim's car was dumped behind this house. I didn't know anything about this when I bought the house, not that it would have made an difference. The next door neighbor delighted in telling the story to prospective tenants, as she did not want anyone to rent the house. I had no way to stop her.
Today I got the confirmation I needed. One of my most trusted friends went to the house, and the neighbor told him that he would have to built his own driveway and move the electric pole, also that the pond goes dry in the summer and that the place is infested with snakes and mosquitos during the summer (I bought the house in the summer, June last year and the pond was full of water, saw no snakes and no mosquitos);he also told him that his parents sold me the place for $ 80,000.00 and that I was asking 105,000.00 which was way overpriced in his opinion and that the payments were 712.00/month. (The payments are 712.00 interest only!)
My friend told me that he acted "nice" like a very "good intentioned buddy".
I called my attorney right away, and he said he would sent the letter for "tortious interference with business" to him with the letter advising him that he has to vacate the property; also that the property does not belong to him with proof of that fact, and that he has to pay the attorney's fees. That should shut him up!
I said "should" shut him up, I may be mistaken
I was quite angry because this property has cost me way more than I ever intended to spend, I have been making 6 mortgage payments, insurance payments property taxes, the abstract and title opinion, it sure adds up quite fast, also spent money on two ads, the bandit sign in the frontyard, the roll off, cleaning up costs, and some miscellaneous. And this deadbeat interferes with my business.
I have had to hold off on acquiring other Sub-2 properties because all this money is spent on this house.
One thing is for sure, I don't feel sorry for him anymore that he has to vacate the other house. My son-in-law said that I am way too nice and too good to people; he is probably right, I will have to harden my heart even if my business is to help people to get out of a house and get into a house in an easy way.
BTW, another fact emerged: the neighbor informed my friend, the "buyer", that the County has plans to build the Highway through my property. I had no idea.
My attorney said he would contact his people right away on this, and should this be true, he doesn't want me to sell the houses but to rent them, because I could make big money off of the County if indeed they are going to build that highway there. He will screen the future tenants and make the rent contracts for me, so I will have decent people living there, and there will be a provision in those contracts that they, the tenants, will take care of the maintenance of the property up to a certain amount. Well, we'll see; first I have to know if the highway is a fact.
Anyway, my very first Subject to house sure isn't an easy in and out deal, more like a big hurdle walk. I learned a whole lot and so far have a lot of money in it.
I am not discouraged because I know that there is no way that I could have foreseen all that has happened; the sellers, at least, the mother has willfully deceived me when they sold me their house, that much is clear now.
Every next deal I will scrutinize a lot more details than I would if this hadn't happened, to avoid any kind of deceit if possible. I know, surprises happen, you cannot prevent them all, but I can try.
I am lucky that my attorney treats this as if it were his very own business and puts himself in my shoes.
I am sharing all these experiences for others to learn and to avoid them if something of the kind would present itself.
Thank you, John Merchant, for your advise, you are of one mind with my attorney who said the very same thing.
I appreciate the replies to this post and the support from y'all.
Ladybug [ Edited by Ladybug on Date 01/07/2004 ]
This is just to keep y'all updated on this continuing story:
My attorney has sent the letter to the son, telling him to sign the enclosed QuitClaim Deed and to vacate the house in 30 days, enclosing also the plat and map proving the property does not belong to him. The surveyor supplied all that written information.
My attorney is moving forward as fast as possible because of this guy's interference with my business and also advised him to quit talking negatively about the property, because this would cause us to file suit for damages.
I have a serious prospective buyer for this house, we will see how that develops.
Ladybug