OK I will try to explain this best I can in short story..

We bought a house on contract for deed. The owner was diagnosed with cancer and past away. His only heir is a 16 year old minor. In October he filed a benficiary deed on the property without us knowing to her. We are not due on the contract until march 1, 2008 but we were trying to get financed before he past away and he passed basically 3 days before the paper work could have been done.. :( now the estate person doesn't/can't sell us the house and neither can the beneficiary is my understanding.. it has been several months and the estate is still not opened... there is still a mortgage at the bank in the deceased persons name.. we have about 16 to 20 thousand in equity in the house and don't want to walk away from that but... I also don't want to wait two years to finance it... can someone tell me what options I might have to get out of the contract for deed and recoup my $$$ or am I just screwed.. :confused:

Thanks

The law should protect your "Eqitable Interest" in the property. Since the current owner of the property is a minor, some court action will be required to have the guardian of the 16 year old convey the property to you when the debt is satisfied. I believe that you should seek the services of a good Real Estate Attorney to help work out the details. Good luck.

Another question is -- it needs some work done on it -- are they responsible or am I? And if I do the work and can't get the house bought do I lose that money also?

Hello simply:

Dr D will be along in a minute. Meanwhile I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

I wouldn't do any work on the house until your equity is assured. That's only going to happen AFTER you get an attorney.

Here's why you need an attorney NOW. You can't have it both ways. You either own the house or you're a tenant. IF you ask them to repair it, then that means even you think you're a tenant, and they'll say so in court, so how can you claim to be the owner in a lawsuit?

YES, if you can't get the house bought, you LOOSE every nickel you put into it.

excon

PS> You need a lawyer, Sir. I can't say it enough.

You have what is called a Contract For Deed; Land Contract; Installment Sales Contract, and perhaps other names. That instrument should grant you the same rights of ownership as a Realty Mortgage or a Deed of Trust, except that you don't get a Deed to the property until the debt is paid, and in the event of default reverts to the seller through Forfeiture, rather than Foreclosure. Check your State Statute regarding that instrument. Many references have been made in other posts to the buyer being a tenant. That I don't believe to be so. Any repairs should be your reponsibility, unless some actions are prohibited by the contract or by law (ie: major tear-down/remodel). See the lawyer ASAP.

excon: thanks for the comments.. but I am not a sir.;).. my issue is if I have to sit on this house till the estate is closed then the appraiser told me it needs a new roof now (and yes I know he is correct) but a year or more from now it will look like crap and won't appraise out.. does that make sense? It needs work done and if I don't do that work then the value won't be worth what I need to borrow to pay the CFD off.

I called an attorney today.. the attorney I called said for us not to walk away there are several things we can do.. but I still would like to hear other opinions or experiences on what to do.. I do feel that we should have been informed prior to the beneficiary deed being filed since we were already in the middle of the CFD payments..

thanks for all your help..

The ONLY significant difference between what you are doing and buying a property with a mortgage, is that title is not passed to you until the contract terms have been met. As long as you make your payments, in one more year, the property will be yours.

I would definitely NOT walk away from the property. I would contact the executor of the estate and have them sign an agreement whereby you will be reimbursed for the roof, if THEY cancel the contract or fail to convey title to you upon completion of the contract. This is where an attorney comes into play.

You have many rights, one the hier are obligated to honor the contract, and you should be able to sue to require them to do so. But the issue right now is that only the administer of the will or estate can do this.
Once the proper transfers to the minor though a guardian or trust, you can sue them for performance.

If they refuse to transfer or complete the sell, you can sue them for damages, place a lien on the property for the equity you have put into it. And more.

Its in their interest to allow you to fix the roof. As long as the property is in the estate's name, they would be responsible for keeping the house livable. So they should be willing to do this.

By virtue of the Beneficiary Deed, the title to the property is in the name of the 16 year old. It is not a part of the estate, and the executor has no control of it. Your dealings must be with the parent/guardian of the minor. One of the benefits of the BD is that the property transfers automatically upon the death of the owner without having to go through probate. The buyer of the property using a CFD has virtually the same rights and responsibilities as any other homeowner with a mortgage on their home. It is up to the buyer to maintain the home in a liveable condition. The seller, who still holds legal title, has no responsibility in this regard. If the roof needs fixing, then fix it, and proceed with whatever legal steps necessary to consummate the sale.

Cloud the title... File your Contract for Deed.. assuming it was notarized when you and the deceased signed it...

AND stay in good standing by not violating the agreement and by making on time payments, and having sufficient documentation for each payment.

Waiting out the estate issue is not necessary... the agreement probably provided for the seller to guarantee clear title when you were ready to purchase... I would try to get to that point quickly so that they are forced into a Default on their end... this would allow you to force the sale, or at least have a credible reason to file a Lis Pendens (notice of lawsuit) or some other device that would prevent title from passing to a third party.

I believe that all who answered this question assumed that the document had been Recorded after execution by the principals. If this has not yet been done, then by all means simplirritated should have the CFD recorded to give Constructive Notice to the whole world.