Lesson Learned The Hard Way
In response to our "deal gone bad", we should have done a Title Search..we hadn't realized we were dealing with a "middle man" (They actually said they owned the house). When the true owners came to the door..and then informed us what was really going on it was too late as the option term they had with the middle man expired. We still had another 18 months left on our contract. Therefore they (true owners) wanted to sell the home immediately..for much more than we had agreed to in our contract so we declined to buy it. The house sold in one day...we were forced out...the middle man blames the "seller" and we have not received our option fee back, we had remodeled, repaired, and kept the house up totally for 18 months. Now we have to come up with $ to sue!! We did file a complaint with the AZ. Attorney General....it's still being reviewed!
People like that tarnish the reputation of all of us. :(
You may want to see if you can find an attorney that will take the case on contingency. I know the chances may be slim but if you don't have the extra funds it may be the only way to get the job done. As LeaseOptionKing said, it is unfortunate that we have a few bad apples in a pretty good bunch of folks.
The bright side may be that you learn from this costly mistake and future profits will help take the "sting" out of the loss. Due diligence is such a major factor in our business. This is why I pay for prelims, home inspections, and the like. It just makes me able to sleep alot better each night. Good Luck to you with your case and your future REI deals.
Dave
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