Quitclaim question, (and minor Oedipus complex)

[GordonkWetmore]

What is the name of your state?This question pertains to property owned in Florida.


My home went into foreclosure last year. My father had co-signed the note when purchased in 98, but I made all the payments. When he was delivered his copy of the suit, he demanded that I quitclaim the property to him, saying that he would bring the house out of foreclosure, and put it on the market to get the "best possible price", and then return the balance to me and my wife after reimbursing himself.

The house sold in March, 04. Three months later, after several unanswered messages, I sent a certified letter to him, explaing what believed our oral agreement to be, and asked if there was anything else I could do.

He responded by saying that the amount owed on the mortgage was $86k, he had sold the house for $102k, (his expenses to bring the house out of foreclosure were 13.5k) and that I owed him an additional 9k.

County records say that the sale price of the property was $120k. and that the buyer sold the house four months later for 157k.

The average selling price for the house model in that area is around 145k/155k.

I believe I have been snookered, and I feel like an idjit.
Is there anything that I can do to either protest/nullify the quitclaim or to recover any of the equity of the house? I was diagnosed with a combination of learning/physical disabilities last year, and I think he took advantage of both my mental state and my gullibility.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Gordon

 

[nextwife]

Gordon, you were in the house. You had a responsibilty to either make the payments or to get the place on the market and get it sold. You failed to do either. You could have sold it when you started having payment problems, and then you would have been entitled to any profits.

The balance of the mortgage and sale price are NOT the whole story. To bring the mortgage current, he needed to make up for all the missed payments, plus interest and penalties, Make up any tax escrow shortfalls, any missed sewer and water payments. Pay all the legal fees for the foreclosure process, which is thousands of dollars. Fix any deferred maintenance. Pay all the seller closing costs- commissions, transfer taxes, title costs, doc stamps, any judgements or liens that may have been against your interest in the property. The net proceeds would have been far less than the difference between the mortgage balance and the sale price.

 

[GordonkWetmore]

Gordon, you were in the house. You had a responsibilty to either make the payments or to get the place on the market and get it sold. You failed to do either. You could have sold it when you started having payment problems, and then you would have been entitled to any profits.

Ouch. Truth hurts! But it *was* my responsibility to keep the mortgage current, and/or to get the house on the market, and I clearly muffed it.
That was one of the biggest mistakes I'll ever make.

The reason that I quitclaimed the house to him is because I was scared of how he would respond if I turned him down.

Two years ago, as an anniversary present, he *gave* me and my wife a car. But he became so angry that I sent him the certified letter reminding him of our agreement, he put my sister-in-law on a plane, flew her down to Florida, and had her "repossess" the car.

It terrifies me to think of the actions he would have taken if I had not agreed to quitclaim my house to him.

The appraised value of the house was 145k as is. At that time, I had sent a work out package to the mortgage company, and had that fallen through, was three weeks away from having the house refinananced through a local mortgager

Had I not quitclaimed the house to him, I could have saved it. I wanted to save it. I was desperate to save it. But I wasn't desperate enough to stand up to my father, tell him no, and risk his wrath.

The balance of the mortgage and sale price are NOT the whole story.

I may have been unclear about this, and in any case my original figures were wrong. According to my father, the *total amount* required to bring the house out of foreclosure, (including legal fees, taxes, escrow, payment of liens, homeowners dues etc) was $18250.

He said he sold the house for 102k. By my figures I owe him around five thousand dollars.
But the recorded sale price according to the comproller's office was 120k.

My concerns are that:
My father proposed an agreement with me for the sole reason of obtaining the quitclaim to the property.
He made no repairs to the house, did not have a realtor, and did not put the house on the market.
He then mis-represented the sale price of the house by eighteen thousand dollars.

So because the agreement was not kept, would that not nullify the quitclaim?

 

[MortgageGuru]

Get a copy of the settlement statement. He might have done a seller held second for the $18,000 which would make it very easy for almost anyone to buy the property. Do you owe him any money? Hell no.

 

[HomeGuru]

Writer, you don't owe him any money but you don't get any money either, that is unless the courts agree when you win your lawsuit.