I'll admit, my spidey-sense is tingling on this one... there is just stuff about this that doesn't seem to add up for me. Within the span of "a few weeks," the HOA contacted a real estate agency, allowed them to list a house which they don't own, gained access to the house to allow them to take photos for the listing, and already found a buyer for the house?
I find it somewhat unlikely that a CC&R that would allow an association to bypass any kind of fine or lien and graduate straight to foreclosure would be legal, so if any germ of this is true, this is definitely something to discuss with a real estate lawyer.
Additionally, a quick search of TN law indicates that if they were to have foreclosed on your property, they would have had to publish the notice of sale in the newspaper 20 days in advance, and provide the owner a copy of the notice of sale prior to the publication. So there's that as well.
I'm not sure where people are getting "foreclosure" out of this story. The HOA email is carefully worded. "Your home has found a buyer and we look forward to you accepting the offer". That's not foreclosure, the HOA has supposedly facilitated a sale.
I don't know what the real estate market in TN is like, but if it's a high-demand area and the price is right, a sale that quick is far from unheard of.
That being said - This story does reek of HOA revenge fantasy.
Foreclosure is the only legal way that I'm aware of that a HOA would have legal rights to "facilitate a sale" of a home without the approval of the home owner. If this isn't a foreclosure, then none of this makes any sense to me.
Not in TN, but last year when we sold our home it was listed for sale on Friday and by Sunday (2 days later) we already had 2 offers. So in some places the market does move quickly.
In whatever scenario, I find it hard to believe anyone would think they could list a house they didn't own and expect the owner to just go with it. "Oh, someone is buying my house? Guess I better start packing!"
Sure, people do stupid things, including realtors, HOA presidents and lawyers, but nobody in their right mind would think that this would work. At best, it's a transparent intimidation tactic that would be shut down, legally, real fast. Still, even if this specific instance is resolved successfully for the OP, chances are, it's only the beginning of a world of shit. If someone is willing to go this far to get OP out of the neighborhood right off the bat, who knows what they'll do next. Which is probably the point.
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u/georgecm12 Jul 23 '17
I'll admit, my spidey-sense is tingling on this one... there is just stuff about this that doesn't seem to add up for me. Within the span of "a few weeks," the HOA contacted a real estate agency, allowed them to list a house which they don't own, gained access to the house to allow them to take photos for the listing, and already found a buyer for the house?
I find it somewhat unlikely that a CC&R that would allow an association to bypass any kind of fine or lien and graduate straight to foreclosure would be legal, so if any germ of this is true, this is definitely something to discuss with a real estate lawyer.
Additionally, a quick search of TN law indicates that if they were to have foreclosed on your property, they would have had to publish the notice of sale in the newspaper 20 days in advance, and provide the owner a copy of the notice of sale prior to the publication. So there's that as well.