Originally published at: Finally in possession of 'dream home,' Riverside couple may flip it | Boing Boing
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Can’t really blame them. Odds are the asshole did a lot of damage before he was finally kicked out. Since they probably can’t get blood from a stone, flipping may be their best chance at paying for the damages he likely caused.
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I can’t blame them. It will be hard for them to shake the house’s association with the sense of violation inflicted on them by Known Arsehole and Fraudster Hossam Boktor.
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I’m confused about this - there was no “eviction” here, the sellers weren’t tenants and after the closing they had no right to be in the property. The suspension of evictions was for tenants who failed to pay rent. Not for ejectments of trespassers and squatters.
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I remain convinced that California will make an example of him. Games upon close of a real estate transaction strike deep at the fears of the CA retired populace.
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I’m assuming this was a Not My Problem situation on the part of several people whose problem it really should have been.
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I don’t know the details, but I think this was part of a rent-back agreement, which is common in home sales so that the seller has time to find a new house and move. A rent-back is legally a rental agreement and subject to CA tenant law.
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That’s fascinating. Where I live that would be unheard of - you surrender possession immediately upon closing.
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I also wouldn’t blame this couple for deciding to flip it, but considering what the housing market is in California i would find it curious that they would find a dream house and then decide “You know what? Nah”. Meanwhile here i am stuck renting and wishing i had the luxury of buying anything.
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The last 15 months had tarnished their love of the property.
No doubt.
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In NJ, we had a contract for sale signed by both parties and the seller pushed back the closing. Seems there’s no recourse for that except to sue for actual damages incurred due to the change in date. So, we made it clear that our actual damages would be having to buy a different house. The way the math would have worked out, they would have to end up giving us the house to compensate us for our losses. They had already pushed us back 6 weeks and our lease was over and could not be extended–landlord has reasonably found a new tennant and they wanted to move in like they were promised.
At the closing, one of the sellers had the audacity to decry that they were ‘now homeless’. I had to restrain my spouse to keep them from choking the person.
They were waiting for a new house to be built. There is such thing as a ‘contingent sale’ that they could have used which would have held us off until their new house was done, but they didn’t do that. Never buying a house in NJ again.
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That doesn’t sound too bad physically. In many of these type of stories, the house is left in a “nuke it from orbit” state.
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Roger That!
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I’m gonna side with @RickMycroft here.
The house was mostly empty, a little messy; some furniture left behind wrapped in plastic wrap.
Many rentals I’ve taken possession of were a solar system away from this level of “disorganized” in this home.
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From the video alone, I’d agree; I was surprised how little visible damage was apparent. But I also know damage can be done that’s less readily apparent. Suffice it to say I don’t begrudge them flipping it either way. Even though flipping is a real problem for the housing market, this seems like a special circumstance.
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I’d look past the tools and hangers left on the counter and take a closer look at any possible sabotage to the electrical or plumbing systems. Spite can make people do horrible things.
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Certainly; I mean weren’t there any holes in the walls where fixtures were simply ripped out, copper wiring and plumbing stripped, etc. Not uncommon sight as the Great Recession thwarted the expectations of sellers who got caught out at the peak.
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As for the wheres and whys, I’m gonna go with the unpopular opinion that the squatter was likely trying the best option he thought he had during a pandemic that left a lot of people unemployed and with no place to go except homeless shelters, if any. If one hasn’t experienced homelessness or even stepping down several tiers, it can be extremely worrisome. But yes, the buyers owned the home and had a right to it.
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Actually in NJ, the landlord could not evict you based on the lease expiring and promises to vacate. Lease expiration is not grounds for eviction in NJ unless the property is being taken off the rental market completely. You would default to a month to month lease and as long as you kept paying, there would be nothing they could do.
(I am a small scale NJ landlord)
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That, and their own stuff was never in there, so they don’t have that pain, and no piles of junk, food, etc, that are infested, non-functional bathrooms that were still functioned in…
My advice: Hire a firm of Extreme Cleaners*, dull the memory with several bottles of wine, go back when it’s spotless, and see how they feel then.
* “Body found weeks after neighbors complained about the smell”. Those kind of cleaners.
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