We are going through hell right now, with a relative buying us out for our deed on a piece of property. After long negotiations over who pays what tax, compounded by the relative hiring a paralegal who sent us a contract he obviously downloaded from the internet siteing tax laws in Taiwan that are no longer enforced. This has been very frustrating process.
I tried to explain, that if we keep things simple since its a transaction between the family that if or when the tax man comes for their share - we can deal with that later. Well that didnt go over too well.
TL;DR Current situation: Relative paid half - and now she wants the deed before she will give us the rest of the money. We are saying - you need to pay us for the deed. So who is correct? I want this over, ASAP!
We are in the United States now. No we did not hire a lawyer, nor do we want to.
It began as a simple contract: address, price, who pays when and by what dates. We have text message screen shots of her agreeing to this. Now, she is saying send the documents first. Two people are on the deed. We are selling off our deed back to the relative. This should be a simple painless process - but its not.
Thats a good idea, but I am dealing with complete total real estate rookies. My suggestions are hampered by cultural differences, tax laws, and a paralegal who is uselessly helping the relative in question about this whole process.
Look, you’re presumably dealing with a lot of $$$, so why don’t you tell her you’d love to complete the deal in person. I would NEVER part with the deed of a house for half the money. Under any circumstances without contracts and insurance signed… you stand to get ripped off. So here is my suggestion:
Tell her that you will either a) complete the transaction in person with final money/deed to be exchanged at the same time or b) you’ll refund the initial payment because the other party didn’t complete the agreement. To add pressure, simply set a date for the handover and a prior date for acceptance of terms. If they agree by 5/21 to the term a) payment/transfer on 5/28 in person then it happens, else it doesn’t. BTW don’t you need to visit the property office here anyway to sign off the property?
Some documentation was already completed locally. Regarding canceling - thats not going to happen. Not sure if I didnt explain my situation clear enough, or you didnt read it. But thanks for your input. I will try and explain how escrow works to them and see if that works.
Before I call, I assume our bank in Taiwan can act as escrow? Or do I need to hire a company that does escrow service full time?
There is more to finalising the agreement than just you sending over the deed, you know that right ?
The buyer cannot register the land at her local land registry office in her/his own name with just the deed, so have you considered complying with her request, i.e sending over the deed, but holding off on providing her the other documents she will need to transfer it in her name?
Our bank did so 2 yrs ago for an apartment purchase.
But it was handled by a notary, something I would like to advice you to use as well.
Worked without incident, just as it should.
That’s just plain fraud, I doubt my sheltered sister in law has the mindset to throw her life away over a simple real estate transaction. When she doesn’t even know what escrow is. Please don’t reply back, thanks for your input.
Life’s tough getting half a house given to you. I travel around for a living and get a few $$ in my account every month. Why doesnt one of you just fly there and take care of it. Boom, hundreds of thousands in your bank account. Sure is ‘hell’. Can even have a little vacation.