Top 5 Craziest Real Estate Closings - Real Stories From Our Company! | REIal Talk EP. 46

Foreign.

Hey, everybody, Flip here, one of the founders of Freedom Real Estate Group, family of companies. And I'm joined today by our amazing transaction coordinator, Tiffany.

Hello.

And we'd like to welcome you to our podcast. This is podcast number 46. Quattro says almost a whole year. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And our podcast is called Real Talk, which is real talk for the real estate investor. Look at that. See, I remember. Yeah. Yeah. But this started many, many moons ago with us talking about. Because when our company first started. Well, not too long after it started, you came on board because we were pulling you to come on board. Yes. And. And so I was the acquisitions department, and you were the transaction coordinator. Department. Yeah. And so we got to do a lot of closings together. And there was. Back in the day, I used to actually sign stuff. But, you know, and we had some doozies of closings. I mean, you know, not the. Oh, I didn't bring the check to closing. Or is a personal check. Okay. Not those kind of closings.

Right.

These are. These are doozies. And so we got talking about it, and we're like, you know what? We should do an episode on the podcast for this, because these are. These are pretty funny. Excuse me?

Funny now that we're on the other side of this.

Yeah, yeah, funny. Funny now that they're a year or two down the road. The first one, though, I'm just going to simply call this one the Heater. It was. I got this one in February, and it was a screaming deal, and I wanted to do it, and it was. I couldn't. I couldn't pass it up. Tiffany had not started working for us yet. And so we got the deal in the contract. And about a month or two later, saying the wholesaler that we got this one with, he came back and said, hey, we've got a. We hit a snag, so we're gonna have to delay closing. And that's all he said. And I'm like, okay, yeah, not a problem. I can wait. You know, whatever. Because we didn't have any earnest money or anything involved or whatever. And so this kept getting delayed, kept getting delayed. And then Tiffany came on board finally, and we came to find out that the wholesaler got it under contract with a woman, and a couple months into it, found out that the woman is married.

Yeah.

And here in Ohio, we have the. What is it? The dow. Yeah, Dow rights. And so if you're married, no matter what, both husband and wife have to sign the closing documents.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so buying or selling yeah. Buying or selling. And so we're like, oh, okay, well do we know where the husband is? And that's when it got a little bit even crazier.

Yeah. Yeah. So while the husband was in, in prison, huh?

Well, we know where he's at.

Right, so. But it took, I want to say, till August of that year. Yeah, August, September, maybe September.

Because it was, it was a. Yeah.

Like a nine month closing. Yeah. Eight months, whatever it was, to get this guy to sign the deed or something. I don't, I don't even remember. I remember starting here and I had a weekly task check in and say, hey, how's this one look? And so I don't even know what I'm checking on.

Yeah. And so this is how crazy this is. It's because they found them and they went down and they kept talking to him. Kept talking. He wouldn't sign anything. And so. But the wholesaler really wanted to get the wholesale fee on this deal, which I don't even care how much it was. I don't even know how much it was. He wanted to get this deal closed.

So.

So the wholesaler told the woman, listen, the only way you're going to close this is, is if you get divorced. And so that's what happened. Yes. So that she actually filed papers. She actually filed the paperwork to get divorced from the guy in prison just so that she could sell this property so the wholesaler could get his deal. That's why it took nine months.

Crazy.

Yeah. Yeah. And so.

And I thought he eventually signed the paper.

Yeah. Just in this house, by the way. This house was chest deep of garbage.

Yes.

In every room. In fact, they were cleaning out the garage and they called me up and said, hey, Flip, guess what? I said, what's that? And he goes, we found a car in the garage. There was so much garbage in the garage. There was a car underneath the garbage.

There was also a boat in the backyard that I didn't see when I went out. Well, it was just walked around the property with some.

The garbage was, was distracting. And I still tell people to this day, the half bath next to the kitchen had three lawnmowers and a washing machine in the half bath. Cuz that's where.

Didn't know it was a half bath.

Yeah, that's where you store.

Did we just say it was a one bath and then it was a magical half bath.

Yes, because it just. Yeah, because we took out the lawnmowers.

Yeah.

So that was, that was the, that, that was really the first big Closing or big crazy? Closing, but we got it closed. And it held the record for a good couple years as being the longest from contract to close. But that has since been beat. But I'll let you talk about the next one. This is a good one.

Oh, man. So this next one I'm actually still dealing with a little bit. So I say, funny when they're behind us. Yeah, this one I'm still dealing with a little bit. But we closed on a property last July, and we found out, I want to say, a week after closing, we put a sign in the yard. Cash for Ohio Houses had put a sign in the yard saying, you know, we bought this property and call us if you want to sell us yours. Well, someone called us and they said, we own this property. And this guy that you bought it from has a fraud case against him with the police department. He doesn't own it. So she sends. This guy had basically forged a deed from the previous seller who had passed away four years earlier, saying, oh, she signed this deed in May of last year of 2021. Yeah. Yep. So that is a lesson to always buy title insurance. And on every property, it is so, so, so important because this was notarized. This was by the book, so it seemed, you know, and it couldn't have been found. It's one of our title company has had. They have had one title claim in 30 years, and this was it. So, yeah, you know, it couldn't have been found. And she said everything passed, everything looked good. The county recorded it. Right. Everything was good. Anyway, so come to find out, yeah, we don't own the property. So we had to go through a title claim to get our money back. But getting our money back all of a sudden means that we're no longer the victim. So we can't be helped by the prosecutor when we're directed from the county to the prosecutor. We still own this property. It's still in our name via the county website. But do we own it? No, we don't. We're just trying to get back to these people.

We're just trying to get our name off of it.

Yes. So we've been reaching out to these people, and no response. Nothing. You know, we reached out to a prosecutor. Finally, Finally I got an answer on what I need to do. And so I've hired an attorney for the company, and we're, you know, we're working with them to. To get something filed to just get it out of our name. But it has been. I mean, it's been a mess.

Yeah, I remember it was like the day after when the. When the person called and said, well, we own this property and whatever that phone call. I remember seeing the guys in the hallway and they're like, what would you do if this happens? And I'm like, well, I don't know. This has never happened before.

This is new information.

And I always tell people that's one of the reasons why we love real estate so much, is because there's so many. Every day's new.

Yeah.

You know, or some. Something's always new or whatever. And this was one that was like, ah, haven't had that happen before.

Yeah. And nobody. Nobody knew what to do. I mean, I was directed, you know, to the county web, the county auditor. Like, they've dealt with this before. They've had to deal with this before, you know, And I started explaining. She said, I'm stop you right there. You need to go to the county prosecutor. Went to them and they're like, stop you right there. I can't help you. What's happening, you know, and it was just. It's. It's been crazy. But we are hopeful that it will be resolved in like a month. I don't know.

Yes.

You know, now we're just paying tax bills on a property we don't really own just to look good, just so that we look good, you know. Yeah, we're doing the right thing, but yeah, it's. That one's crazy. Moral of the story, though, always get title insurance.

Yes. That's always. Yes. And have a title company that you trust.

Yes, yes.

So this next one now if you follow us, if you've been following us, it. Well, I mean, we're on podcast 46, so I'm guessing you followed us for a little bit or something. But Danny and I always talk about our 56 unit horror story and about buying the apartments and everything that happened with the apartments. Well, it was a package deal. And one of the things you don't hear about is the other part of the package.

Yeah.

Because what happened was one of our guys that was in the acquisitions team said, hey, I've got this 15 back properties.

Single family duplex.

Yeah, it was 12 single family and three duplexes. And. And these are. We're all in the perfect location. These were. These were all. 15 were all home runs and we wanted them now.

Yes.

And this was, I want to say it was like March of March of 20. 20 of 2020. Oh, you know, right when.

It was right before I came back, actually.

And it was right when Covid started shutting things down.

And yeah, I was back from maternity leave. You actually sent me a text before I came back and said, we're buying a 15 pack. And I was to you, go ahead. And I said, go ahead and send those before I come back.

That's right.

So that somebody else would set them up. I remember doing that. Sorry, Cassie.

But so we wanted to get these properties right away. And. And then we find out that we're like, wait, what? We can't buy these now. And this was because the seller also had the 56 unit apartments, and he wouldn't release the 15 single family and duplexes without selling the 56 unit. And so now the acquisitions team is on this mad dash to get a buyer. And they got a buyer. And so we're like, yeah, they got a buyer. We can close on these 15 because we're already starting to line up investors in our turnkey company. We're lining up investors to buy these 15 units, where we're basically lining people up to buy properties that we had not closed on yet because we, you know, we got them. They're great price. We agree to the price. Boom, let's go.

We're lining up lenders, everything, like we're.

Everything was all set up March and April of 2020. And, well, the buyer, if you don't know the whole story, the buyer got a lender, and then the lender had to go out and inspect the apartments. But this was Covid, so he couldn't go out for a month and a half to go inspect the apartments. And it was one thing after another. And in this got all the way through September. And at this point now, Danny and I, Danny especially was talking directly with the seller. We got everyone else out of the way, and Danny started talking with the seller, making a, you know, building up a rapport. And. And the guy, you know, the seller was, you know, he told us exactly what he wanted. He said, I'm so sorry, but I need to sell everything. And the other buyer finally came back and he said he was at one price and he dropped it, like, super, like, because he found out how much we had it under contract for. And he said, that's what I'll buy it for. And that was the end of September. And because it was. Wasn't it October that we closed on these?

We closed October 15, 20.

So it was October 1st when Danny walked in and said, you know what? We're buying them.

Yeah.

And so because again, we weren't buying the apartments because we wanted the apartments. We were buying the apartments because we wanted these 15 properties because we had investors lined up too. We had private. That our private lender is set up. We had everything set up for these 15 properties.

Yeah.

And. And then finally Danny said, nope, we're going to buy them. And in two weeks, she did the inspections and got more private lenders to help buy the apartments. In two weeks time, it was a.

Mad dash to raise some private money there.

That was the welcome back after having a baby Tiffany.

Yes, the welcome back special.

Yeah, yeah. Now, did I miss anything out of that one?

No, no. That one was. It was a doozy, but it was fun.

Yeah.

Cause that was.

So that one was March to October.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. There was a lot of the same, you know, hey, what's the status? What's the status? A lot of just kind of sitting on it. Right. We were just waiting for this. This guy to go through with his apartment purchase and turned into a mad dash there at the end. But it was crazy. We closed 74. 74 doors in one day. So. And I, at that point, I was signing the closing docs. You had passed that to me right before. Thank you. And I signed 16. This was before I was doing some more docusign.

Right.

I hand signed 16 sets of closing docs while we were doing virtual pumpkin carving with the company.

That's right.

And I was just sitting here signing a stack like this big.

But there's. And then there's a. There's a whole nightmare with the. Not only with the apartments. So the apartments are the ones we talk about the most, but the apartments the same. Some of the same people that we talk about that was giving us problems in the apartments was also giving us problems with those 15 properties. Because he knew everything. Yeah. And so it was so. But. And if you want a good laugh, go back and watch that podcast. That was a. That one was a doozy.

Yes.

I'll let you start on this next one. I think you know a little bit more about this one.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, you actually reminded me of this one.

Well, it's. Because I can't believe it actually happened.

Yeah. And I don't know the. I don't even know the property address. I can't even remember, you know, And I don't even remember when it happened. It was spring last year maybe.

Yeah. Ever since CO hit, everything's kind of cloudy.

Like two years are like this.

Yes.

But this one was owned by three or four siblings. Who. One of the siblings was. We found out later on one of the Siblings, was homeless, lived in Washington D.C. and had no form of ID. So.

Yeah, and that was, that was like.

A hard stop for a minute.

Sorry. Sorry for interrupting, but that wasn't a. Oh, by the way, this person is. Is homeless in Washington D.C. and doesn't have any ID. No, no. This was. One day we find a.

It was fed to us that way.

You know, and then the next day, oh, by the way, he's homeless, but he's in the Washington, D.C. area.

Right.

And then the next thing we learned a few days later is, okay, he's homeless, he's in Washington D.C. area and he has no form of ID.

Right.

And so this was. It wasn't just a. Yeah, no, that was. Oh, really? Only.

Yeah. One thing after another. So we were worried that this would, this would just. This deal would just die. You know, we're not going to get this property. There's no way.

At that point, I'm waving the white flag, you know, I'm like, there's no way we're going to get this done.

So this is one of those. Work with a good title company. They did all the work to get with this agency who helped them track this guy down, helped him obtain some, some sort of id, I don't even know, helped him get to a notary, helped him get his doc signed and notarized and sent back.

I would. Yeah.

When I don't even know, I don't.

Know how it happened, and said, well, we got everything signed, we're gonna close. And I'm like, yeah, I could not.

Yeah, that was me when I got the email from the title company that said, yeah, we're good now.

Yeah, I don't remember, I don't remember from contract to close how long this took, but this one took at least a few months because it was, you know, first of all, because I think it was the parents owned it and they gave it to the kids or whatever, you know. So then we find out that the people that owned it actually, it's the kids that owned it. It was one thing after another. And so this one was a good four or five month, but just the homeless individual that didn't have ID and how we were able to get that signed.

Yes.

I don't know.

Crazy.

Yeah, we had some luck on that one. Yes, yeah.

Yes, we did.

But now when we were talking the other day, you told me about this one, which I completely forgot about, and this one, I'm glad you put this one last because this one, this one. Comical. Yeah, I would definitely say and it.

Feels, it feels recent. But I don't know what it was. I guess it was recent actually. So. Actually with the timing.

So it was true.

Well, with the timing. So we talked about the one that we purchased, but we don't actually own and we're still working on that. We were fresh off the heels of finding out that this was a fraudulent case. And then this deal pops up and.

The hits keep on coming, right?

And we're like. So everyone's on edge right now. Everyone's like, we're double triple checking. You know, the title company is so nervous about, about fraudulent things and you know, they're worried. And so anyway, we find out like he mentioned our rights. So we reached out to the seller. Hey, we don't have your, your legal or your not legal. Your marital status is not on the deed. Are you married or divorced? And we heard she from our, you know, from actually one of the guys on our team. Oh, she's divorced. Great. Perfect. We're good. Oh no, she separated. Hold on, that's not how that works.

Yeah.

So you know, we said, okay, well her, her spouse will have to sign on the, on the deed. He'll have to sign to release Dower. That's going to be a problem. Well, why is that? He lives in Mexico. Okay. And is not a U.S. citizen.

Right.

Okay, okay.

Double whammy.

That. We can work with that. We'll figure it out. Right. Well, some, some notaries, it depends on the country. Some notaries, American notaries and I don't know, it's title speak that goes right over my head. But you know, sometimes the consulate and their notaries be accepted by the counties here and blah, blah, blah. Different countries are different ways. Right?

Right.

So we get everything figured out. Perfect. He has to go to the Mexicans consulate to sign his documents, make sure he brings some form of id we lay out all of this stuff and then we hear back, you know, our, our guy is talking to the seller. I'm talking to title. It's just this big telephone chain back and forth, you know. Then I hear back, well, he's actually here. He's. He's visiting. He's here in Ohio. Okay, great. We're all getting a little bit nervous because we're getting little pieces of information at a time. Totally fine. You know what, they're gonna all go to the title company and they're gonna sign their documents again, make sure he brings some form of id, you know. Cause everyone has something. Right?

Right. Or should. Right.

Or should. And then I found Out. He's in the hospital with COVID Please just email the documents to this email. And they said, well, that's not how it works, because they actually have to be notarized. A, B, if you're in the hospital with COVID you can't get. You can't get a notary in there. Yeah, somebody's not going to come in and notarize. So I don't. I don't know, but I assume not.

Right.

And C, now we don't trust you. Like, now we're very nervous.

Yeah, exactly.

We're all ready to wait however long until he's out. And so I sent that back down the telephone chain, and I get back, he's getting out tomorrow.

Hallelujah. You know, he's been saved.

If you. You're still following the story, you could see how fresh off the heels of that other fraud case, we were like, okay, make sure he brings some form of ID when he goes into the title company. Right. And. And we come back and we hear, what was it? What was it? It was some. Oh, oh, oh, he does have an id. It's just an expired ID from a different state. And I was like, I'm just gonna let the title company deal with this. Just make sure he has some sort of some form of id. And sue, who works at our title company, she said. She said, I'm nervous. I'm nervous about this one. I don't know what he's going to show up with. And I'm like, you know what? Just. Just scrutinize that id. Just look at it.

Very sure it's legit.

Yeah, he showed up. He had a valid ID from. From Virginia, I think. But it was valid. It was. He was the person. The names matched. It was crazy. But, yeah. So anyway, yeah, fresh off the heels of the other one. Like I said, we were scrutinizing this, and it was just. And so this is fed pieces of information, like, what's happening?

And this is, again, another one that took like, three or four months.

Oh, it's so, so long. Yes.

Yeah. And we say three or four months. And some people. That's not that bad. You know, we typically close in, like, seven days. Yeah, seven to 10 days.

You know, I just closed. We just closed one last week. That was seven days.

Yeah. And so. And those are, boom. You know, title run, boom, boom, boom. The sellers come in to sign, we sign, and boom. You know, Bob's your uncle. Oh, there you go. Let's see if anyone gets that one. Yeah. No, not very not very many people on this side of the pond will get that one. Uh, but yeah. So again, so these three or four months, and because we've set. There's so many things that we set up. Once a contract comes in, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. We set up all these things to close.

Right.

And so when there's delays, that sort of. Well, it sort of throws a wrinkle in everything that we just prepared to close.

Yeah.

That quickly. And so it's. That's why these stand out. And these are. These are the. But these are the craziest ones. The top five craziest closings that we've had, at least that you and I could think of.

Yes.

So. And if you're keeping score at home, we're four and one. So we got four of these and one. We. Well, we really got the other one, but it's not ours.

We got it and we gave it back.

Yeah, we gave it back. So we're four and one for these five. Well, we hope that you enjoyed our top five craziest closings. Again, make sure that you're checking out all of our other vlogs and all of our other podcasts. And, oh, hey, by the way, there's this other really cool podcast called Freedom through Passive Income, so make sure you watch that. I know the people that do that one. But anyway, we always like to end all of our episodes with Invest Smart, Live Happy. Bye, everybody. Nothing on this show should be considered specific personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions and information on this show are not guaranteed. All investment strategies.