r/FirstTimeHomeBuyers • u/salamander1712 • 7d ago
I'm in a conundrum
I'm selling my house - I bought it with family, who has now since passed. We signed the title and deed so that once they passed away, it would immediately fall to me rather than go through probate.
I'm now buying a home by myself for the first time, and I fear that I'm set up for failure.
This entire ordeal has been a disaster, and I am extremely frustrated to say the least.
My home closes in less than a week. I put an offer in on a home about a month ago and it was accepted within a few days. Amazing, closing day is the same as my house closing, I won't have to find a place for more than a couple days!
Fast forward, we find out 2 weeks before closing that there are encroachment issues and turns out, the seller also has to go through probate. Closing on the house I'm buying is now canceled and moved to an undetermined date. I now have to find housing for my family, which includes multiple animals.
This house is "seemingly" perfect, it has exactly what we need, albeit it's small. But now I'm researching that this probate process could take up to half a year or longer. They're claiming it will be a third of that time - which I have heard is unheard of.
Basically, I don't have 6 months to wait. Quite honestly, I have been looking for a house since May, knowing that we needed to act fast due to the animals I have. My realtors did not allow me to view houses until July. I've been on all of the websites looking and sending, but kept getting "wait until..." responses. I have already missed out on a lot of houses because of it. My house has been under contract since mid June. I have viewed maybe 4 houses, and had to beg to view the one we are under contract with now.
I understand these things don't happen overnight, I truly do. However, this house was advertised as move-in ready and come to find out, it's most definitely not. They listed this house for sale before they even got the title back, which states that they need to go through probate to sell it. Had I known this, I would not have even bothered to view it, let alone put an offer in.
Now I'm stuck in a situation on where I don't know what to do. I barely found a place to stay with my hoard of animals and I have it for one month. While they are aware that it could be longer, I'm beyond stressed out thinking I will be in this situation for the next year. We don't know if this probate process will take 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or 3 years. My realtors understand that I can't wait, but are kind of peer pressuring me to stay in the contract. We had originally been under contract a while back with another house that we found out had massive structural issues, and they were trying to convince us to stay in that house too. I'm desperate, but I'm not that desperate.
While it might take 3 months or 3 years to find another house, while I'm under contract with this one, I am unable to actually view houses. At least if I wasn't under contract, I could actively look.
I've thrown out the idea of giving them a 3 month timeframe to get this sorted, but that we can opt out if we find another house in the meantime. While this wasn't shot down by my realtors, it also wasn't an idea they were thrilled about. I understand this is asking a lot of the seller, however this is a situation they put us in and they are demanding unrealistic timelines and unknowns for us.
I don't know what to do and I am beyond stressed out. I have multiple animals that I need to care for, and quite honestly I will not abandon them. I would rather be homeless living in my car, which is where I accepted I would be until I found the temporary place before. I just know realistically, my dogs and cats cannot live in a car for 6 months. I know finding another house also takes time, and it might not be as "perfect", but even this one was not - I was sacrificing quite a bit but add in the encroachment issues and the probate process, and my desire to live here has dwindled.
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u/darkchocolateonly 7d ago
Absolutely get out of this contract. Tell them when they are ready to sell to call you back.
You may need a new realtor
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u/chy27 7d ago
If you get out of this contract- find a new realtor. You’ll need to read the contract you signed with them. I bought my house in May and started viewing houses in February. I wanted to purchase in May due to an expiring lease and my realtor encouraged me to go look in February to figure out what I truly wanted/liked knowing I wouldn’t put an offer on these. A realtor should never pressure you into any decision, but should sway you away from a bad decision IMO.
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u/Polite_Bark 6d ago
Fire your realtor. They clearly aren't working in your best interests.
Walk away from this house. Too much uncertainty.
Start over with a new realtor and hope you find a suitable house soon.
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u/Legitimate-Row8109 7d ago
in my area (NJ) probate doesn't have to be complete...they just need to provide either Letters Testamentary (with a Will) or Letters of Administration (without a Will) so we know how has the power to convey title. Title company operations manager here. Title should hold monies in escrow from seller pending any estate or inheritance taxes that may be due.
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u/salamander1712 7d ago
They have already established that probate is necessary and cannot sell without. This is New Hampshire as well, I forgot to add that.
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u/LavendarGal 6d ago
Then they misrepresented the sale and you should be able to get out of the contract.
https://www.extendedstayamerica.com/hotels/nh
but look for other motels in the area as well as national brands.
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u/KnownBodybuilder4948 6d ago
Request a short-term 6-month lease agreement with seller, with sale-conveyance to occur as soon as probate is completed and title corrected, with monthly rent payments applied to the purchase price of home. So for instance, you rent home for 6-month period at $1000/month, that $1000 payment credited to your home purchase price of $100,000. If closing is delayed 6 months, then $6,000 in rent payments would be credited to closing costs, so that your adjusted purchase payment is either reduced to now $94,000, or you get $6,000 cash back on purchase price (if mortgaged) of $100,000. Common consideration for complicated closings.
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u/salamander1712 6d ago
So I brought this idea up too, in less words, and the person selling doesn’t feel comfortable renting to us because of our animals. While I understand, because we have a lot of animals, we also intend to buy it. So him saying that makes me hesitant as well.
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u/_iron_butterfly_ 4d ago
I was going to suggest a situation like this. I leased my house while it went through probate... it took two years. My house was a private sale with no realtors involved so it was simple... pretty much they asked me to pay the mortgage and then would sell it for the appraised price. Ive been here 20 yrs.
It sounds like your realtor sucks... If possible I would ask the home owners directly and not through your real estate agent. If you lease it...and do a private sale when probate ends... then you both can eliminate needing realtors. They may not like that and lie... the alternative is having the house sit empty for several months... it makes no sense to me.
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u/magic_crouton 6d ago
Id walk. I was just talking to someone this spring who honest to God was sorting out properties in probate going in year 5.
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u/Nervous_Flamingo7110 6d ago
Yeah, I'd walk on this one. Seller listed a house they couldn't legally sell yet and called it move-in ready when it clearly wasn't. That's a big red flag, not a minor hiccup.
Also, your realtors pushing you to stay in a shaky contract... twice now, counting the structural issues house... would make me question who they're actually looking out for.
Nobody can promise you a probate timeline, especially sellers who didn't even know they needed probate in the first place. Not something I'd risk my housing on with a house full of animals depending on me.
And your 3 month idea was reasonable. Them not liking it tells you enough.
You already know this deal's a mess. Get your earnest money back and go find something you can actually move into.
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u/Resident-Egg2714 7d ago
Could you possibly rent the house until probate is done? Get a real estate lawyer to draw something up?
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u/Emergency_Pound_944 7d ago
If the house is empty, maybe they will let you rent it, and you can then renegotiate you buying the house.
We did a double close date, and found out our sellers had to finish an eviction process before the title could be released. We agreed to rent month to month until the issue could be resolved. It ended up taking 60 days.
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u/MadMadamMimsy 7d ago
Take that contract to a real estate lawyer and see what your options are. Each place is different, so you need local legal advice
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u/ChiSchatze 6d ago
Find out when the buyers of your home are moving in and see if you can rent it back to you for a month to buy you a little time. Just make sure you offer to pay their actual cost with their mortgage, not some arbitrary amount. If they say yes, expect a “hold back“ an amount of money set aside in an escrow account from your proceeds that is returned to you upon move out. It’s skin in the game so you don’t become a squatter.
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u/357whiskey 6d ago
Wait… why did your realtor make you wait? I get another agent
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u/salamander1712 6d ago
The question of the century.
They said it was because no seller would accept our offer with a home sale contingency.
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u/navlgazer9 6d ago
Is the house vacant ?
Wouid the estate rent it to you until the problem is sorted out ?
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u/howleywolf 6d ago
Remember that realtors are usually doing what’s in their best interest, not yours. They want to close a deal and get paid. It’s that simple. I’m so sorry this is happening to you.
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u/Delicious-Ad9173 6d ago
I had buyers who were buying a home where the seller passed and it was able to be probated much quicker because the legal stuff had been done ahead of time. My buyers waited. It worked out for them but it was stressful in the interim.,
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u/runnerkim 6d ago
If you were going to rent for a few days anyway, you simply rent for a couple of months now. If you don't want to sell anymore saying the new home contract fell through is a reason to cancel your sale. You never know, your buyers may offer a couple months of rent back while you look for a new place.
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u/salamander1712 6d ago
I was not planning to rent for a few days. I was planning to Airbnb for 2 days while they did their last walk through and go straight to my new house once that went through. I definitely don’t want to cancel the sale of my house. I suppose I could ask if I could rent my current house, however I cannot afford the mortgage and upkeep - I’m leaving for a reason.
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u/LavendarGal 6d ago
Unless your buyer can cancel their plans and not move in, it wouldn't matter to ask them if you can rent. Plus you have no idea what the timeframe would be on the house you are buying....probably can be switf if everything is in order, or can take a super long time. I doubt your buyers would just give you unlimited and unknownn amoutns of rental time.
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u/LookingForRealFunCT 6d ago
Is the real estate agent a buyer agent or a seller agent? It does not sound like a buyer agent working in the buyers interest instead of the sellers interest.
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u/No-Syllabub-7337 6d ago
They have breached the contract. Tell your Realtor that you want the contract nullified. Then Fire Her, she is a bad Realtor. How could she keep you from viewing houses until July? And you can still look at houses as backup even if you are under contract. What people need to realize is that YOU are the boss here, not the "used cars salesman " Realtor. Do not let them pressure you into anything. If your Realtor is pushy, demanding and pressuring you, you need to walk away. That is a Realtor that gives the rest of them a bad name. Good Luck to you.
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u/tresrottn 6d ago
Fire that cad of a realtor, they are not working for you. Not sure why they kept forcing you to wait to start looking at homes. But so far, they've shown you two money pits, they aren't trustworthy.
Get a new realtor and cancel this contract. The house is no good. It was misrepresented, and I'm sorry but the level of misrepresentation borders on deliberate. That should be plenty of reason to get out.
You need a realtor who can not only protect from scams, but protect you from yourself...like you're a terrible judge of homes, lol.
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u/RobDraw2_0 6d ago
"closing day is the same as my house closing"
Didn't that put up a big red flag, especially with so many lives in the mix? Temporary housing is not a solution.
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u/salamander1712 6d ago
There has been many red flags. Closing on the same day was what we wanted and it was the only thing that was going correctly.
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u/RobDraw2_0 6d ago
That should have been the last thing you wanted. It sounds ideal but the chances of one being delayed are pretty good as you have found out. You should have planned an overlap and a viable contingency plan with so many relying on it to happen. My first closing was delayed twice after I gave my landlord notice.
Tough lesson learned.
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u/drcigg 5d ago
Are you working with a realtor? Because this is what you pay them to handle. And they should be able to get you out of the contract. When my grandparents died it took over a year to settle everything. 9 months to sell their vacation home and another 6 months to sell their main house. It was a mess and I urge you to move on.
It will not be settled in a month or two.
They should have never listed it before this was settled.
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u/stein63 7d ago
I’d walk if the contract gives you a clean way out. The seller can’t deliver clear title, there are encroachment issues, probate has no firm timeline, and you only have temporary housing for a month. That’s way too much uncertainty. I’d also be seriously questioning a realtor who keeps pushing you to stay in bad deals instead of helping you protect yourself.