Posts by Zachary Miller6

My apologies, everyone, I don't make it onto the forum all that often.
So, here's the deal: the agency completely botched it by putting the wrong address for the owner right in the contract. Because of that little oversight, my initial application for registration got shot down immediately. My lawyer actually told me he’d sue them on the spot for such a mistake.

At the time we were signing everything, the title search was absolutely spotless—no issues whatsoever.

(And please, do try to read those introductory posts a bit more closely... 😉)

Here I am again! I wanted to revive this old thread, but it’s already been archived ()

Anyway, since things finally worked out in my favor, I wanted to share the update with you all. My apologies to everyone who was following this case for not checking in sooner. I didn't want to "make waves" (or have anyone involved in the situation watching my every move). But I really wanted to let everyone who showed concern know how it ended.

To start, I went to see an attorney. I explained the whole mess, he took the paperwork, said, "Okay," told me he'd look it over, and to check back next week. We met again about ten days later, and when I walked in, it turned out he hadn't even glanced at the documents in the meantime. He had spent the whole time under the impression that I was already listed as the owner (which was one of the very first things I told him I wasn't). Once he realized my mistake, he just paced around the room, stared at me, and occasionally asked, “So, what now?” I just stared back at him, and we sort of just studied the pores on each other's faces for a bit. Then he realized that the window to appeal the last ruling had actually closed in the interim and yelled, "Joe!" asking why I hadn't filed the appeal on time. Well, obviously, man, because I handed the matter to you and expected you to tell me the best way forward! Anyway, he said the only thing left to do is, once I get proof that the seller owns another property, write a petition to the District Attorney's office. If nothing else, at least he charged me $33 his fee.

Then, I decided to make a desperate move. Since I knew from the real estate agency that the former owner hasn't even registered herself yet, I figured the most likely reason is that she’s broke. She bought her current house for less than what I paid her for the old one, but the agency told me she blew it all on a fancy new kitchen and stuff like that (and she's unemployed without any steady income, for that matter). By the way, over five years, she's racked up unpaid taxes on as many as five different houses! I guess she sells one and buys another every single year. And the agency told me she’d be more than happy to sell this latest one immediately. I just don't get it...

Basically, I reached out to her and innocently suggested that I would pay for the registration fees myself. Luckily, she agreed, and we handled everything smoothly without any issues. Just as I suspected, she jumped straight into selling it (which I had to risk, hoping she wouldn't find another buyer right away), and the absolute peak of comedy was that she offered it—to me! 🙏

I told her I was interested, mostly just to buy some time and ensure she wouldn't be searching quite so hard for other potential buyers. (It doesn't feel great having to resort to lies, but the alternative was paying about $0.00 in debt or losing the house entirely). In the meantime, I pulled the title for her new house, wrote a petition to transfer the debt to that property, and sent it off to the DA's office along with every scrap of documentation ever produced.

After about two and a half months (me—the DA—the court—court hearings—mountains of red tape—the county recorder's office), they finally told me at the recorder's office that the lien had been lifted and transferred to the other house. And so, I finally officially registered as the owner just a few days ago! 🙂

Thanks to everyone for the support, and I hope this experience helps someone else out there! Sending some positive vibes to this subforum. 🙂

Since I’ve become such a skeptic lately about pretty much everything, I’m actually a bit worried that some lawyer might try to feed me nothing but false hope just so they can pad their pockets with my money. That's exactly why I decided to go out of my way to get a second opinion from an old friend and, well, from all of you here.

Christian Alvarez23 said:Zachary Miller6,

I mean, seriously, props to you for claiming you can sleep soundly through all this chaos.

But honestly, I have no clue how your lawyer is even going to prove that you actually bought that house in the first place. Like, theoretically speaking, it’s totally possible you’re just in on some shady deal with the seller and the whole purchase was basically just a paper trail move. Did you even bother paying the property taxes on that place yet?

Hey everyone! I haven't checked this thread in a little while...

Anyway, I went ahead and hired an attorney, and he actually told me the exact opposite of what my acquaintance claimed. When I mentioned "sleeping better," I didn't mean that I'm doing absolutely nothing; I just meant I can feel a bit more at peace knowing there's actually a path forward—that everything hasn't just vanished into thin air.

So, basically, my lawyer suggested we might be able to transfer the debt to the seller's new property, even if she isn't officially registered yet (though, given what you said, that's a whole other question), or perhaps sue the real estate agency to recoup the losses since their mistake started this entire nightmare.

In the meantime, I found out that the foreclosure request was filed just ten days after I signed the contract—meaning it happened before I even received that first official notice.

As for the property taxes, I paid those right away during those first few days.

To everyone popping in here just to criticize me: please, go mind your own business instead.

So, I wanted to check in with some fresh updates on this whole mess: a lawyer friend of mine told me that ownership actually transfers the moment the contract is signed, not when it finally hits the county records. Apparently, it’s not true that my hands are tied here. I’ll still have to sort it out through the courts, though, since nothing can be settled out of court right now.

Honestly, I feel like I can finally sleep a little easier tonight. If there's one lesson here for everyone, it's this: don't put too much faith in real estate agencies, government offices, or frankly, anyone else!

Thanks for the advice, electricpilot29! Let me pick your brain on one more thing: what are the actual odds of walking away with anything if I win this lawsuit? It’s just that the seller is completely broke—literally zero dollars to her name—so collecting anything seems impossible. She used my cash to buy a brand-new house, but she hasn't officially put the deed in her name yet, which means I can't even move to garnish the property...

Also, do I have any ground to stand on to demand something from the agency, considering this whole mess started because they botched the contract in the first place?

The government is seizing my house because of the previous owner's debt

Hey everyone! I’m really hoping someone here might have some advice for me. Last summer, I bought a house—went through a real estate agency and all—and immediately started the process to get the deed registered with the county. I didn't get the official paperwork right away, though, because they were mailing everything to the house itself, where I wasn't even living yet. So, you know, it spent a bunch of time bouncing between the courthouse and the post office. When it finally arrived, I was in such a rush that I just skimmed it. I completely missed the part where it said "denied" because it was buried in tiny print; I just saw the heading about "recording ownership for [Name]" and figured everything was fine. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I realized I'd made a mistake. Turns out, the denial was because the former owner's address on the contract didn't match her recorded title (she hadn't updated her old address after moving). Basically, it was an error by the agency.

So, I went down to the local police station, got a document confirming the former owner's change of address, and headed back to the county records office. Then, just a couple of days ago, I got hit with *another* rejection. Apparently, the Department of the Treasury placed a lien on the house back in September—which was only two months after I closed on the place! This whole mess is due to the previous owner's unpaid taxes. And since it's a lien, it means the house could be sold at auction. Nobody warned me about any of this.

I’ve been calling the county recorder, the IRS, various agencies... and all I get are these dead-end answers. They tell me the government takes priority regardless of the fact that I bought the house before the lien was even filed. They say there’s nothing to be done, that I can't pay her taxes for her, and I can't even find out how much she owes because of "privacy laws" or whatever. They basically told me I have to settle this myself with the previous owner. But she’s a total fraud, a complete disaster, and there is zero chance she’ll pay a dime; if anything, she'll probably just try to exploit the situation further.

From what I heard through the agency, the former owner actually bought a new place already, but she hasn't even registered the title on that one yet either. Meanwhile, the agency is doing everything they can to pin all the blame on me.

I was just so relaxed about the whole thing. I trusted the agency, thinking that in a normal, functional country, these kinds of hiccups could be smoothed over. That was my mistake, clearly. So, please, I am begging—don't come at me with those "you should have known better" comments.

I am really hoping some kind souls out there can help me with a few questions:
- Is there any possible way to fix this?
- On what legal basis is the government allowed to do this to someone and then refuse to offer any way to resolve it?
- Why can't I even just pay the tax for her? (It's funny how I'm expected to cover someone else's utility bills in similar situations, but not this.)
- How much would I likely spend on legal fees if this goes to court, and would a lawsuit even accomplish anything?
- Do I have grounds to sue the agency, and realistically, what are my chances given that I played a part in the oversight?
- Why on earth do we keep electing people who pass laws like these?

Thank you so much in advance!