A recent Land Court Decision Affecting Foreclosures in Massachusetts

I just got a call from WHDH, they are thinking of running a story on this!!! I will be calling the producer tomorrow morning. I'll let you know what happens.

Good deal!!!!! - Keep us posted on what the plan is.

I wrote to Susan Wornick and the Globe as well.

WELLS FARGO is giving me my deposit back but they said they will not give me back the $600.00 dollars i spent on an apprasial and home inspection...

So, i guess it is okay for a bank to put a home on the market that they dont legally own, have a executed purchase and sales agreement with a qualifed buyer. Tell the buyer that the deal is off becuase they just realized they dont legally own it and it falls in with the "Mass Land Court issue", so in the end the buyer loses $600.00 dollars for the banks mistake!?

Better yet, i was locked in at a great interest rate, and now the lock has exipred and rates have gone up ...

Has anyone else ran into this issue where the bank will not give you back the money you put into the home?

Keep an eye out for the re-listing of the house you just loss. There has to be some sort of legal action you can take if that house goes back on the market. That happened with the house we looked at a couple weeks ago.

There was a buyer waiting to hear whether the house was in our mud puddle or actually owned by the bank. There was a "Sale Pending" sign in the yard. Wells Fargo was the seller and they told the agent to relist which is when we found it on our realtor's list. Wells Fargo made us get pre approval through them knowing that the title was cloudy instead of saying something like cash only. They already turned a person away.

Why were they asking more people to get approved when they knew they couldn't sell it to the other person?

I think, as buyers, we should be consicous enough while buying these properties or getting pre-approved for these properties. Otherwise, these lenders would simply pre-approve us and then let us wait for a new judgment to be released.

Good advice going forward, but many of us entered into P&S agreements before this issue was known, and are now stuck in an endless waiting game. I for one don't want to lose all my time and effort, my locked in rate, and money invested already. I just wish the judge would get some pressure on him to make a decision already and let us either move in or move on.

In my opinion, as the court decision was passed after many of you entered the P&S agreement, this decision should not be applicable for you all. This decision should affect those who would try to enter into an agreement after the land court decision was passed.

For those who had their P&S aggreement terminated. How long did it take for you to receive your down payment. It's been 11 days for me and still nothing.
I guess that means my P&S aggreement is still technically in effect since they have not refunded the deposit. However, when the title came back cloudy, I asked for an extension for the P&S but it was declined.
Also, channel 7 contacted me for an interview also.

BL - the bank should be willing to refund you the $600.00 or you could potentially place a lein on that property. Another route I was told to take was to file a 93A. It's a deceptive practice complaint. You send it to Wells Fargo first, just letting them know that what they did was considered decpetive practice and if they don't give you your money back, you will be filing a claim in small claims court. As long as you have the receipts for everything, you should be good to get your money back. The worst feeling on top of losing the property is feeling totally ripped off.

Also, I contacted Help Me Hank several weeks ago about this issue andheard nothing. I also contacted My fox boston. I really hope this makes it to the public as it seems nobody knows but us. Unfortunately, Taylor Bean (the mortgage company that supposedly owns the home I had an agreement under) is already reforeclosing on the house so I'm out of my agreement.

My parents are in the same boat - have been waiting over a year to get a house. It's crazy. I dont understand why the Judge wouldn't rule that the decision in NOT effective retroactively, but only for foreclosures going forward. Doesnt make sense to hold up all the people who are trying to buy a house now and are under p&s!

Hey everyone. The best thing we can do is publicity. Email/call/write your state reps, state senator, town selectmen, mayors, the Gov., etc. as much as you can. Put this on the radar, its our best chance. Waiting on the decision isn't going to fix this, it's going to likely come from another avenue of allowing the sales to go forward (ie legislative means). The more people know the more they will realize what a mess this is. Maybe some of us will be lucky enough to move forward.

Thanks Max!

I'm calling the radio station. I left a message with John from WRKO am radio and Howie Carr.

So, we all know that June 8th was the deadline for all the paperwork to be in - but are we waiting for another date now? Has anything been set? Just wondering how much longer I'm supposed to be holding my breath/crossing my fingers/etc

I think the ruling is June 22