(Senatobia, MS) Terry Jordan, of Tate County Mississippi, quickly fell in love with a home in Senatobia. It was a foreclosure and needed a lot of work. Her husband had just lost his job. He was going to fix it up and sell it for a profit to help them while they got through a tough time.
Jordan says she visited the home three times, her realtor taking the keys out of the lockbox on the door, and she went through an act of sale. She says she immediately got to work, spending thousands of dollars.
“I have had a new roof put on, new electrical in it, I have had plumbing done to it,” said Jordan.
She had the property surveyed, after seeing records at City Hall that didn’t look quite right. After the survey she learned the bad news from her realtor.
“She’s like I don’t know how to tell you this but we might have sold you the wrong house,” said Jordan. Just to the right of the home she thought she bought was another one, it’s seems that’s the one that was supposed to be sold, the one she legally bought.
The home was listed by Bob Leigh Realtors. A representative told us the mortgage company gave them misinformation. We contacted the company’s namesake with no luck.
Ms. Jordan says she’s been waiting for a solution for months, and she’s spent money fixing a house she doesn’t even own.
Proving once again one should read the documents at closing, in particular the deed. There is also the survey required at a mortgage closing. Which property did the survey cover? Many surveys include a photo of the house in question. Although as a flip there may not have be a survey done before closing.
But in general take the time to read everything at closing, even if it makes the closing agent unhappy.
Something similar once happened to me in Las Vegas. I bought a condo that had been foreclosed on. Six months later, I learned that the house I bought was wrongfully foreclosed–it was a neighboring unit. My unit had been vacant for months and for all the world appeared to be abandoned. It was vacant and not in terribly good shape, but the guy who owned it was apparently out of the country for the previous six months and had made all his payments. It was a surprisingly easy problem to solve: the bank paid the guy a bunch of money to settle the matter with the result that my title was perfected and everyone went about their business. Could have been a lot worse, I’m sure, if the guy wanted his condo back.
How is this possible if the title company is even pretending to do its job? Isn’t this exactly the sort of thing they are supposed to guard against?
Well, that is the slimy underbelly of the title insurance industry.
They are hedging their risks, and taking a chance that nobody files a claim. Anyone who does is persecuted by their mad-dog attorney team to minimize payouts.
In listening to the video I got the feeling that the listing agent installed the lockbox and took photos of the wrong house, and is now ducking for cover. Typical agent response.
Jim, I suspect you are right. I see sloppy enough work by some agents to make that entirely believable. E and O insurance?
She stated no attorney would take her case because of the small amount (a few thousand dollars?) involved. Wouldn’t this be a simple small claims court action?
what a bizarre story. I don’t understand how this could happen? Shouldn’t the buyer be alert even if no one else is?
Evidently this was a bank foreclosure and the bank sent the real estate agent the wrong info. I think the agent was acting in good faith when they sold this house, BUT the agent should step up to the plate to help rectify the situation. They need to resolve this issue. The purchaser should be made whole without taking a dime out of their pocket. Even if the broker has to pay the lawyer to straighten it out, they need to do this. This shouldn’t have happened, but it did. If the buyer used a lawyer and title insurance company I think they should share the responsibility. They should have caught it also.