Hello.
I was hoping to receiver some information regarding my land contract. I purchased a home through land contract last year. It is a five year land contract with a balloon payment. I have put close to 15,000 into the home so far. It was a old farm house that needed some work. When we signed the land contract which was drawn up by the sellers laywer. The lawyers office told the seller to file the land contract with the county court house. I did not think anything of it, I just figured he did. My payment to the seller includes the house payment, taxes and insurance. The fist year of taxes were to prorated between myself and the seller. I received a receipt for the property taxes that were paid. The receipt was from the year before I even signed the contract. I got on line and found some houses in the same vicinity and found that the taxes on the property surrounding by home were lower then mine. I also found that I needed to apply for a homestead exemption. Since I lived in the house for more than 6 months of the year I qualified for the exemption.
I proceeded to the local county court house. I found that the land contract had not been filed the year before. So I decided to try and file the land contract. What I found was a big shock. The legal description of the property and the parcel number were not correct. So I had to see go see the equalization department. I was told that the land had been split almost 4 years before I had signed my land contract. So I was told that a addendum had to be added to the land contract. All I needed was to have why it was being changed and the new legal description and parcel number. Then it needed to be notorized. I thought simple enough I can do this. I was also told to see of the property taxes were up to date. I had found out that the taxes which I had sent the seller, they were included in my payment has been paid 8 months late. Now these were paid to him for the seven months I had lived in the house last year. With the taxes being late there were penalties which totaled just over $100.00.
I tried to contact the seller and inform him that we needed to have this corrected. I did not talk to him personally. I left a message for him to call me. I set it up with a notary for the addendum and had my signature notorized. The seller simply had to go to the office and sign the papers. This was at no cost to the seller. We even live in different counties and had it done at an office that was not even 5 minutes from his house.
The next day I finally get a hold of the seller. He said he never listened to his voice mail and did not know what was going on. I kind of got a runa around about it. He stated he wanted to keep having me pay the taxes to him so he could make sure they got paid. I told him I knew the taxes had been paid deliquent and I wanted to be resposible to pay the taxes myself. I want to make sure that they were paid and apid on time. Needless to say he was not to happy. I wanted a credit for the taxes I had already paid him this year. This would almost cover two months worth of payments to him. He refused, I am at a loss now. I can't even get him to correct the legal description and parcel number.
I have decided to stop payments to him personally and set up an escrow account with a bank to put the monthly payments in until he corrects the land contract. I going to have all my contact with him done in writing and make copies of everything and send it to him by certified mail.
I am going to write him a letter with the bank and account number stating that I will pay him when we corrected the situation. Right now I have been making payments to him for property that does not exhist. This way the money is in the escrow account and can be paid to him at anytime.
When I signed the land contract there would be no way that a mortgage company would give aloan on the property. I have replaced the roof, the windows, the electrical including the fuse box, all the plumbing. I have also tore down all the old wood siding and Insulated the outside and installed all new vinyl siding. I have completely gutted the entire house, insulated the whole inside of the house and now in the process of putting in the drywall. I have all the receipts for all the work that was done to the house.
I am not in anyway trying to screw anyone over. I would not have put all the money and work into the house. I planned on having my children grow up in this house and spending my dying days in the house. Once all the work is done on the house which be in the next two years, the house would be up to par to be able to apply for a traditional mortgage.
I need some advice.
I know that I am probably going to have to hire a lawyer.

Thank you
Diane

Diane, I tried to follow your story as closely as possible, but as it is a complicated situation, with multiple issues in question it was a little cumbersome.

I would definitely recommend hiring an attorney before any more time passes. I think you're idea of paying into an escrow account is good, but you still need to make sure and get this stuff corrected ASAP. At least on some level the seller has to have a clue what's gong on here. It could be a "mistake", or as serious as an actual scam, but I don't think I'd mess with this without legal representation. You attorney will deal with his attorney - who is also on the line for this. Find someone who knows real estate law.

Thank you for your advice. I am so frustrated at this time. I have called the seller several times and still have not received a phone call back from him. So tomorrow I am going to try to get in contact with a lawyer. From here on out I will only contact him in writing.

Keep us posted on what the attorney says. Your answer could help someone else with a similar problem.

The seller is not about to make any adjustments or corrections on their own. They know perfectly well what is going on. They have their head in the sand. They are happily ignoring you and hope you go away.

You needed to retain your own attorney or title company before you entered into this land contract deal. Yes, I know hindsight is great, but at this point you're going to have to scramble to get this corrected properly. Land purchase/contract deals are always iffy propositions and rarely are done properly.

Retain a good real estate attorney who understands land contract deals. The fact you poured money into this guy's house, I'm sure he's most excited about as he didn't have to. The fact he didn't register the land contract deal with the county is highly suspicious considering the land was divided prior to the deal. The attorney who drew it up for him can be held liable as he was obviously relying on his client's information to formulate the deal. The attorney you retain will be able to ascertain what the story is when he speaks to the other attorney.

Hopefully, you will come out smelling like a rose on this one, but it's going to be an uphill battle legally to get this corrected. Please let us know what happens.

Yes, I know hindsight is great, but at this point you're going to have to scramble to get this corrected properly.


Thank you for your answer.
The phrase if I only knew then what I knew now keeps repeating over and over in my head.

I have retained a attorney. I have just sent him all the documents from the treasurer office, the equlization department, and a copy of the land contract. I have even sent him a copy of the addendum for the land contract correcting the legal description and parcel number. It was done by a notary public. All the seller had to do was go in and sign the paper. Then I could have the contract registered at the deeds office. But of course now I have not heard anything from the seller.

We are giving the seller until the end of the month to correct the situation. Once the end of the month comes around and still have heard nothing from the seller. The money I am to pay him every month will go into an escrow account and be deposited there every month until he can straighten this out.

I also found out today that the summer 2008 taxes were due last week. The taxes were not paid and there will be penalties now added to that. His excuse for having me pay the tax money to him was so that he made sure they were paid on time. Well 2007 summer taxes were paid 11 months late and the winter 2007 taxes were paid 6 months late. Now the summer 2008 taxes are delinquent. If I pay the taxes to him in monthly installments every month should'nt be his responsibility to make sure they get paid on time? I am not going to get stuck with late penalties just because he is a lazy jerk.

I have a telephone appointment with the attorney tomorrow. So we can go over the details more. Hopefully, the fact that I have now acquired an attorney, the seller will do the right thing and sign the addendum so the contract is correct. Then I can have the property taxes homesteaded and pay less money.

I will keep you informed.
Thanks

What happened? I read all this way and no ending... was this guy killed off by the scam artist? Did he ever really exist? Oh the humanity!!