Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Case of the Disappearing Seller

I've been hoping to skip past the drama and post about Frankie's house but it just keeps getting weirder. First off, I must have cursed the closing date by getting prematurely excited. Obviously since I'm writing this, nearly a month later, he STILL has not closed.

Right after I last posted Frankie informed me the seller's agent and/or the bank had not been able to get a hold of the seller (who lives out of state) to finalize the closing time. Umm, OK, she had known the date for a month. I know if I was getting free money from selling a house I inherited I would have that date engraved in my brain or at least written on the calendar. They finally get a hold of her to find she had been in the hospital with her husband and hadn't had time to deal with it. OK, some sympathy goes out to her. (though really, sitting in the hospital with only basic cable daytime television? Seems like the perfect time to catch up on paperwork to me) Anyways, now all should run smoothly...right?

She only had a couple things left to sign and I guess she doesn't believe in faxing or e-mails or something because everything has to be done by snail mail. About a week and a half after the supposed closing date she mailed (yes, snail mailed) an extended letter about how she received the paperwork and wanted to thoroughly read through it when she had time, she still wants to sell the house, so on and so forth and that is the last we have heard from her. She found the time to write this well thought out letter but not sign her name on some papers?? And read through what? The contract is signed so no turning back there. All she needs to sign are the papers saying she accepts money for the house and probably where this money should be deposited. Pretty straight forward.

Closing in on one month after the supposed closing date. The agent had been able to occasionally get a hold of her by phone but now that has been disconnected. The agent is now writing a letter to see if they can get a response about what in the world she is doing.

We just can't figure out why on earth she isn't signing. Does she have second thoughts on selling the house? The agent says she is really (really) elderly so what would she do with a dirty, slightly dilapidated home 600 miles away? Is she just confused about everything and has no family near her to help? In the mean time Frankie maybe should start looking at other houses BUT I'm guessing if he wants out of the contract she is still going to have to sign something, something she will want to read thoroughly through first when she has the time. If they can get that much out of her it might as well be a signature on the closing papers!

2 comments:

  1. I would think that she can get out of the contract by the other party nullifying( it that even a word?) it by not signing the papers within a "timely" manner....I feel for Frankie.....gosh what a mess! I would start looking if I were her....sorry but that is ridiculous! It sounds like an very elderly person who has no clue what to do....where is her agent in this???? Unreal....Sandy

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  2. LOL, first off, the rest of the world knows him by Frank but I call him my lil' brudder name of Frankie.

    I'm guessing the contract becomes void after a certain point of no one acting. He doesn't really want to lose it though because it is (will be) a great house and is just a short bike ride away from his job. Plus there isn't anything out there right now of interest so he might as well wait and see if a logical story comes out of the situation.

    The seller's agent is the one trying to get a hold of her. I would think the seller would also be working with a lawyer since it is an estate but no luck there either. She signed the contract right away and had that sent within a few days of the offer. I don't think either realtor really knows what to do at this point because this doesn't seem to happen. I googled the problem and nope, no one else's seller has disappeared during a normal, plain old house sale.

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