Owner financing threatening forclosure

[ejk]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN

I have 2 years left on a 10 year owner financing contract for a mobile home and land purchase. I am getting married and moved in with my soon to be husband. I have decided to let my son and his wife and daughter live in the mobile home to do some work on it and maintain it the final 2 years of the purchase contract until I am ready to sell the house. The person who I have the 10 year owner financing contract with is claiming I have abandoned the home and is threatening to foreclose even though I am current on the mortgage. There is a stipulation in the contract that there can't be a transfer of possession while the house is under this contract but I am not giving the home to my son, he is just staying there to fix it up so it can be sold after the 10 year contract has been completed. My question is, can I be foreclosed on even though I am current on my mortgage? Any help/advice on this would certainly relieve a lot of worry and stress. Thanks, EJK

 

[Just Blue]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN

I have 2 years left on a 10 year owner financing contract for a mobile home and land purchase. I am getting married and moved in with my soon to be husband. I have decided to let my son and his wife and daughter live in the mobile home to do some work on it and maintain it the final 2 years of the purchase contract until I am ready to sell the house. The person who I have the 10 year owner financing contract with is claiming I have abandoned the home and is threatening to foreclose even though I am current on the mortgage. There is a stipulation in the contract that there can't be a transfer of possession while the house is under this contract but I am not giving the home to my son, he is just staying there to fix it up so it can be sold after the 10 year contract has been completed. My question is, can I be foreclosed on even though I am current on my mortgage? Any help/advice on this would certainly relieve a lot of worry and stress. Thanks, EJK

Take all paperwork and contracts to a Local and GOOD RE Attorney for a review. It's worth the money.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN

I have 2 years left on a 10 year owner financing contract for a mobile home and land purchase. I am getting married and moved in with my soon to be husband. I have decided to let my son and his wife and daughter live in the mobile home to do some work on it and maintain it the final 2 years of the purchase contract until I am ready to sell the house. The person who I have the 10 year owner financing contract with is claiming I have abandoned the home and is threatening to foreclose even though I am current on the mortgage. There is a stipulation in the contract that there can't be a transfer of possession while the house is under this contract but I am not giving the home to my son, he is just staying there to fix it up so it can be sold after the 10 year contract has been completed. My question is, can I be foreclosed on even though I am current on my mortgage? Any help/advice on this would certainly relieve a lot of worry and stress. Thanks, EJK

No, you cannot. You are not transferring ownership and you are not in default on the mortgage. However, anybody can sue for anything, no matter how stupid, so that is no guarantee that the other party will not try. However if they do try they will look pretty stupid in court.

Just make sure that YOU are the one making the actual mortgage payment even if you have some sort of financial arrangement with your son.

 

[ejk]

Thank you for the replies. I don't think she has a case to foreclose on me since I am current on the mortgage and there isn't any transfer of possession but sometimes the law doesn't follow common sense and there seems to be loopholes everywhere. My worries have eased a bit but I will take the advice of gathering my paperwork and contract and meeting with a real estate lawyer just to be sure. If there are any other suggestions, in my favor or things I do need to be concerned with, I would like to hear them, just to keep my peace of mind. Thanks again, EJK

 

[latigo]

If you want help and you do indeed need help. Then take the land contract to a local attorney having a working experience with Tennessee's laws pertaining to the forfeiture/foreclosure of land sale contracts, vendee's (buyer's) equity and redemption rights. These laws are not uniform among the states. You are not going to find it by searching in cyberspace.

Also, please give up this senseless notion of yours that as long as you are current with the installment payments you could not otherwise be in default allowing forfeiture by the vendor!!!!!

It is totally irrational to think that by doing so all other covenants that you are bound to adhere to are for naught.

 

[xylene]

So the property is in disrepair, you are not residing there, and someone other than the owner is.

The financier's contention that you've abandoned your contract may be more substantive than you think.

 

[LdiJ]

So the property is in disrepair, you are not residing there, and someone other than the owner is.

The financier's contention that you've abandoned your contract may be more substantive than you think.

I don't know that we really can call it "in disrepair"...at least not based on what the OP said. Members of the owner's family are residing there.

I would even be leaning towards not really being in disrepair at all. Why would the financier want to foreclose rather than continue to receive the remaining two years of payments if it was in true disrepair?

 

[latigo]

Thank you for the replies. I don't think she has a case to foreclose on me since I am current on the mortgage and there isn't any transfer of possession but sometimes the law doesn't follow common sense and there seems to be loopholes everywhere. My worries have eased a bit but I will take the advice of gathering my paperwork and contract and meeting with a real estate lawyer just to be sure. If there are any other suggestions, in my favor or things I do need to be concerned with, I would like to hear them, just to keep my peace of mind. Thanks again, EJK

Common logic seems to have escaped you!

If you don't think that the vendor has no grounds to forfeit your rights under the contract, then please explain your self-serving definition of the term "transfer of possession"?

You have effectively not only transferred possession to another, but have literally rented out the property. The rent being equivalent to the contract installments.

The vendor has a perfect right to protect her security in the contract by forbidding a change of possession throughout the life of the contract. The same right as has a landlord.

There could of course be exigent circumstances preventing the vendee from continuing in residence where it would be inequitable to enforce the covenant and excusing performance, but none of that appears in this instance.

You keep strolling down this prim rose path you have envisioned and you are going to hit a brick wall!

 

[TimStudiesLaw]

You could pay off the contract in full. Then you'll own it, and won't be restricted by the contract.

 

[ejk]

Common logic seems to have escaped you!

If you don't think that the vendor has no grounds to forfeit your rights under the contract, then please explain your self-serving definition of the term "transfer of possession"?

You have effectively not only transferred possession to another, but have literally rented out the property. The rent being equivalent to the contract installments.

The vendor has a perfect right to protect her security in the contract by forbidding a change of possession throughout the life of the contract. The same right as has a landlord.

There could of course be exigent circumstances preventing the vendee from continuing in residence where it would be inequitable to enforce the covenant and excusing performance, but none of that appears in this instance.

You keep strolling down this prim rose path you have envisioned and you are going to hit a brick wall!

At no point did I say the property is in disrepair or that it is being rented out to another. I lived in the house for 8 years, during that time through usual wear and tear, things happen. The walls could use a coat of paint. A window screen could need replaced, things of that nature. The house is in perfectly livable condition, just not what you might expect of a house on the market to be sold. My son is living there not necessarily fixing a house that is in disrepair, simply getting it ready to be sold. He is paying no rent, just keeping it inhabited to prevent vandalism and getting it show ready to be sold. The person financing the property is thinking they can foreclose and sell the house again making double money. As far as my idea of possession, my son is living there but he has no authority to make any decisions about the house.

 

[xylene]

Your son resides in the house, has for a while, and will for 2 years. That means he has tenants rights. He is in possession of the house.

 

[single317dad]

You could pay off the contract in full. Then you'll own it, and won't be restricted by the contract.

In fact, I would be much inclined to do exactly this. Contract land/home sellers are notorious in my area for starting contracts for substantial down payments and getting as many payments as possible from buyers, then pulling the proverbial rug out from under them at the first minor violation of the contract. It's a very lucrative business if you are more educated about contracts than your buyers.

Find a way to pay it off and be done with this guy.

 

[Ohiogal]

I don't know that we really can call it "in disrepair"...at least not based on what the OP said. Members of the owner's family are residing there.

I would even be leaning towards not really being in disrepair at all. Why would the financier want to foreclose rather than continue to receive the remaining two years of payments if it was in true disrepair?

She doesn't say the foreclosure is based upon transfer of ownership but rather transfer of POSSESSION -- those are different things.

 

[LdiJ]

She doesn't say the foreclosure is based upon transfer of ownership but rather transfer of POSSESSION -- those are different things.

Seriously?.,,are you seriously telling me that a judge is going to allow a financier to foreclose 8 years into a 10 year contract based on nothing more than the obligors son is living in the property rather than the obligor?... with no defaults on the payments?

Come on...lets be real here.

 

[Just Blue]

Seriously?.,,are you seriously telling me that a judge is going to allow a financier to foreclose 8 years into a 10 year contract based on nothing more than the obligors son is living in the property rather than the obligor?... with no defaults on the payments?

Come on...lets be real here.

OP has been told to visit with an attorney...