Family can't move into house they bought

[tyecopeland]

Story involves covid eviction issue and California law so might end up in dc.

https://www.foxla.com/news/couple-bu...orium-loophole

Added article in spoiler for those who don't like clicking links.

Spoiler!

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - When Tracie and Myles Albert purchased a beautiful four bedroom house in Riverside, California they never realized that at the end of escrow the seller would suddenly refuse to give up the keys and leave.

"It’s just draining, emotionally and financially," says Tracie. On January 31, 2020, the couple purchased the home. More than a year later, they still haven’t been able get inside their property. Chris Taylor is the Real Estate Agent who sold the house to the Alberts from a man who wanted to sell immediately.

"He needed $560,000 from the sale of his house in two weeks and he called me on a Sunday, so in traditional real estate there's no way of doing that unless the buyer’s a cash buyer," says Taylor.

Since the house was free and clear and worth more than $560,000 the Alberts felt it was a great deal.


"It took us scrambling to get everything we had, our life savings put together and a hard money loan on top of it to make that happen," Myles stated.



During escrow they discovered there was a $30,000 tax lien on the house which slowed things down, but in the end, all parties signed on the dotted line and the sale was completed.

"We own the house, outright. That's our house and it's all in a contract, written, legal, done. He's been paid the money in his account. How could we have no rights to go into our home," asked Myles.

FOX 11 News tried to speak with the seller but when reporter Gina Silva knocked and announced herself, no one came to the door.

Taylor says, "It’s genuinely unfathomable to me that we live in a state where something like this is even possible. They closed escrow on this home January 31, 2020." The Alberts and Taylor have contacted authorities and tried to get the seller evicted but because of the pandemic, they’ve gotten nowhere.

"They have this case under a COVID tenant situation, of no evictions when it doesn't fall under that at all. This transaction went through in January 2020 before any of that, it isn't a renter who was getting thrown out. It's the guy who collected all of this money," stated Myles.


Eviction Attorney Dennis Block says, "This year alone, we’ve handled at least 7 maybe 8 cases of this exact type of situation."

He says people purchasing homes need to be extremely cautious, especially if they notice any red flags during the process. Block says what’s happening to the Alberts could happen to anyone.

"This person is not a tenant, it’s a previous owner who is enjoying the benefits of the money that was transferred to his account but of course doesn’t want to move out of the premises that he no longer owns," Block stated.

The Alberts filed an unlawful detainer but because of the California eviction moratorium, the case has been stalled. Time is simply passing by and the immaculate house they fell in love with is now becoming an eyesore.

Tracie says, "I tried watering the lawn one time and he came out and ripped my sprinkler lines, ripped all the wires. The Palm trees are dying, everything was beautiful and everything is dying."

Her frustrated husband says when he contacted law enforcement, they told him, "If you were in Arizona, if you were in Nevada, this wouldn't be a problem, you would just go take your house back. But in California, like our hands are tied, even though we're on your side, there's nothing we can do."

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by sedated

Hoping a bubble bursts might be too much, but I've bid on 2 houses recently - 25% over asking - and lost because someone else did the same while waiving inspection and appraisal. Is it really too much to ask to not have to blindly throw a ton of cash at someone to get a house? Apparently not because in both cases there were over 10 offers within 24 hours.

How are people waiving appraisals unless they are cash buyers?

FHA and VA buyers have mandatory inspections.

This is the kind of stuff that causes the housing market to crash. There has to be a check and balance on properties and loans. I guess people have forgotten the Obama years. The market was depressed by foreclosures and loans being very difficult to get.

[displacedinMN]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

People always contend there's a "Housing Bubble" and that prices will eventually "Come Down". But when has that ever happened in large markets before?

We bought our home 17 years ago and all I heard was "Wow! That's a lot of money! I'm going to wait until prices come down because these prices can't last!!".

17 years later, my home is worth three times the purchase amount and no, it has never gone down in value.

The market is going crazy everywhere, from South Carolina to the panhandle of Florida to the entire West Coast. If it goes down in one market, it'll go down in every market and I just don't think that's going to happen.

Welcome to low interest rates and a housing shortage.

We bought at last house in 2001. Houses were moving fast. when the market "crashed" in 2007-8, we still could have sold our house for more than what we bought it. Sure, not as much of a profit, but still with equity.

Rode it out, refinanced. Waited and sold at a good time when our development started. Don't think you ever really lose on a house unless the areas around you go to hell for some reason.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

The big question is this: Will interest rates rise again?

I tend to think the answer to that question is no.

They can't really go down, so it seems like at some point they'll go up. But I'll be happy if they don't.

Living in an expensive market, one of my concerns has been the impact of changes to mortgage interest deductions: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/mort...est-deduction/ It seems like this would hurt home values at the higher end of the spectrum in the long run. But I'm not seeing it right now.

[displacedinMN]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Yeah, for sure. We have 17 new hotels going up down the street from us along with the new Netflix/Avengers tower, which is 22 stories tall, so I'm expecting our value to skyrocket in the next 3-5 years.

But when everything else around us is rising simultaneously, it doesn't really do us much good, unless we want to move from the area, which really isn't a consideration.

Holy crap at all of that.
You could have bought the Brady Bunch House.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

We bought at last house in 2001. Houses were moving fast. when the market "crashed" in 2007-8, we still could have sold our house for more than what we bought it. Sure, not as much of a profit, but still with equity.

Rode it out, refinanced. Waited and sold at a good time when our development started. Don't think you ever really lose on a house unless the areas around you go to hell for some reason.

It is called Foreclosure. There will be a Lot of them in the coming years when all the free money dries up and hyperinflation fully kicks in.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Yeah, for sure. We have 17 new hotels going up down the street from us along with the new Netflix/Avengers tower, which is 22 stories tall, so I'm expecting our value to skyrocket in the next 3-5 years.

But when everything else around us is rising simultaneously, it doesn't really do us much good, unless we want to move from the area, which really isn't a consideration.

When I bought my house 25 years ago, I stood on the front porch and noticed a sign up on the corner. "What does it mean that we're in a historic district?" I asked my Realtor.

It was sheer luck, but it's awesome. There's notable redevelopment to our west and our southeast, but nothing can change in our neighborhood. So we get the benefits of development in terms of services and property values, and we have no risk of someone wanting to plunk a high-rise down on our block. Plus, the development is eliminating single-family homes in favor of multi-family, which decreases the supply of houses like mine.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Yeah, for sure. We have 17 new hotels going up down the street from us along with the new Netflix/Avengers tower, which is 22 stories tall, so I'm expecting our value to skyrocket in the next 3-5 years.

But when everything else around us is rising simultaneously, it doesn't really do us much good, unless we want to move from the area, which really isn't a consideration.

This is the rub. You only come out ahead if you leave the market or if what you’re selling isn’t your primary residence. Thus the investors and flippers.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

How are people waiving appraisals unless they are cash buyers?

FHA and VA buyers have mandatory inspections.

This is the kind of stuff that causes the housing market to crash. There has to be a check and balance on properties and loans. I guess people have forgotten the Obama years. The market was depressed by foreclosures and loans being very difficult to get.

Inspections. Not appraisals.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

They can't really go down

Negative interest rates are a real thing. There is talk that we very well may be headed into that situation. When that situation has raised in the past banks generally charge a person a percentage rate, beyond their monthly account rate if they have one, for the amount of money that a person has in their account.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Inspections. Not appraisals.

He stated Both in his post.

[displacedinMN]

had a voice mail saying they were looking to buy my house. It was just a spam call. Never gave any specifics.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

How are people waiving appraisals unless they are cash buyers?

FHA and VA buyers have mandatory inspections.

This is the kind of stuff that causes the housing market to crash. There has to be a check and balance on properties and loans. I guess people have forgotten the Obama years. The market was depressed by foreclosures and loans being very difficult to get.

People are dropping $1+ million dollars cash all over Los Angeles, without inspections and without appraisals because the interest rates are so cheap that investors can put a couple hundred thousand into them and rent them out for $6k-8k per month all day long.

[displacedinMN]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

People are dropping $1+ million dollars cash all over Los Angeles, without inspections and without appraisals because the interest rates are so cheap that investors can put a couple hundred thousand into them and rent them out for $6k-8k per month all day long.

Anyone there doing teardowns?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

They can't really go down, so it seems like at some point they'll go up. But I'll be happy if they don't.

I think that interest rates will "rise" at some point but it won't be to levels that we saw around the year 2000, in which they're 6%-9%.

I'd be surprised if they even reach 4% before the end of the decade because it would leave millions homeless and without the ability to own a home.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

Anyone there doing teardowns?

All over, although it's generally in the pricier areas like Beverly Hills or the Birds in which enormously wealthy people buy two to three lots and build one house in its place.

That said, it's also happening quite a bit down in Inglewood near the new Rams stadium and that area, which has become Silicon Beach. 20-30 years ago, you could buy a house down there for next to nothing and now it's going for $1,000 a square foot or more.

But the main thing is people buying older homes built in the 50's-80's, tearing them down to stud and building them back up. In most cases, the plumbing and electrical is no where near code so you're better off tearing out the old plaster and starting from scratch, although those fixer uppers are generally $800k-$1 million.