Sold property but agent and title company didn't include Manufactured Home

[T9D]

I sold a 25 acre piece of land with a small old house on it that also had a manufactured home kind of built together as one house.

I had only had it like a year. They transferred everything to me so that was not a problem when I bought it.

When I went to sell it my Agent told me the title company told her that they couldn't include the manufactured house because they didn't have enough information on it. I guess there were no tags or something.

So my agent had me sell it as just the land and said it would be fine she'll get it all taken care of. She put on the closing papers that the manufactured home was omitted. So we close.

I think it's all good. Then I get a tax bill. It's only $30, I figure it's just a left over fee. And pay it. Then the next year I get one. Now I figure something isn't right.

I call and find out that the Manufactured house is still in MY name. I call the agent. She says she'll take care of it. I then get a another tax bill notice since I hadn't paid it this time since the agent was supposed to have taken care of it. I figured it was just lagged over and wrote a check, figured if it's all taken care of or when it is I'll just get a refund. And they do send it back saying it's paid. I think, great it's all taken care of!

Well another year goes by, guess what? Another tax bill. I call the my agent again. She says oh I thought it was taken care of. Well let me look into it. I never hear back from her. And she never returned my calls. Best I can figure is she just paid the bill or had the new owners simply pay it but never fixed the mistake and had it transferred into their name.

I'm really ticked off about all this. The title company should have never let this happen and the agent shouldn't have either. But the title company just brushes it off too. So now I own a home I don't even live in and someone else does, I'm paying taxes on it. The county says I need to get it transferred, they can't do anything. The whole thing is ridiculous. And very unprofessional.

I'm not sure what to do. Seems like some kind of hearing should take place. I'd hate to go to court. What a hassle. It's now been over 3 years and I don't even have the old paperwork anymore. I'm sure I can get a copy though if I really need it. My best guess is maybe push the title company more and make them tell me how to do this. I'm sure the title company agent doesn't want this getting noticed though and would like to ignore it.

Anyone know exactly what I should do to transfer this? I was thinking I'd have to take a trip down there (over 5 hour drive, huge pain), and get the new owners to sign a new contract to sell the manufactured home. What do I do if I can't find any tags though info? Maybe I can get the original paper work when I bought it and see what they wrote on that.

The agent is also retired now because she had cancer (chain smoking sure couldn't have helped). If she was still working I'm sure we could have fixed it because she'd be worried about losing her license. But now she has no motivation and I have no leverage there. I don't want to hassle her to much because I don't know what she's going through with recovery, but then again it's her fault and the title companies fault this happened.

Any thoughts on how to fix this? The quickest way possible without this whole thing getting blown up. There must be rules in place for agents and title company that can get them in big trouble and steps to protect against this kind of thing. But hopefully I don't have to get involved in some big case.

 

[NoTine42]

I'd ask my real estate attorney. Then again, since I found an affordable real estate attorney, I would have used him on the closing.

Otherwise you could try asking at county deed office and or the broker of your agents real estate office.

 

[Spacehead]

If you can get some free advice from an attorney or real estate agent that would help.
Possibly a notary might have some insight. Sounds like it's just a simple title transfer you need to do between you & the new owners. No other money needs to be exchanged???

Do you know who actually has the title? Sounds like you don't. Do the new owners?

 

[Meghan54]

Quit claim deed the manufactured home to the new owner for $1. Of course, the recording of the deed will cost a few bucks and you may want an atty. to draw up the deed, another few hundred bucks (maybe split the cost with the new owner), but you'll be done with it.

 

[NoTine42]

It's your home, list it on airbnb or bring the title to a title loan company 😉

 

[edro]

Tell the new owners the situations.
I'm sure they want it figured out too since your house is on their land.

Go to the city courthouse and ask around. They can probably figure it out in a day.

 

[highland145]

Tell the new owners the situations.
I'm sure they want it figured out too since your house is on their land.

Go to the city courthouse and ask around. They can probably figure it out in a day.

This. Especially if they're living in it. Or what Meghan said.

Here, if you don't pay the tax, it gets auctioned off at the tax sale and it's off your hands.

Bro bought a piece at the sale, sight unseen, for few hundred $$. Ended up being a pit so he didn't pay the tax the next year and someone else picked it up.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Tell the new owners the situations.
I'm sure they want it figured out too since your house is on their land.

Go to the city courthouse and ask around. They can probably figure it out in a day.

Yeah... You go straight to who you're getting the tax bill by when you have questions like this. Going through the agent (a 3rd party) isn't working because they don't know how to handle it. Basically, agents have standard forms they follow...this kind of thing would usually be handled by the title office. (but it sounds like they picked a crap title office to close the deal)

You'll just have to see what it'll take to transfer the property out of your name. I would also make it clear to them that this should have been done when the original deal was completed and that someone (not yourself) screwed up. They might sympathize and help you get it resolved quicker.

 

[Subyman]

There is nothing really the agent or title company can do. They did exactly what they said they would. The agent should have listed the home in the first place, but in the end, you agreed to the written terms. You are actually in the good spot here, the new owners of the land should be very worried. You could evict them if you wanted to from the house. I'm not saying you should, but if I were the new owners I'd be very worried.

I'd definitely get an realestate attorney involved AFTER I talked to the new owners. If you could quick claim the deed then that would be the best for both parties and only needs you and the new owner and a notary to properly do it. If you go to an attorney it would be a few hundred dollars most likely.

 

[boomerang]

I'm still trying to figure out how you sell the land without selling the improvements on it. I'm not sure that's Kosher in my state but I could very well be wrong.

Also, what if the owners of the land say they're not interested in taking on the additional taxes and won't sign anything?

Lastly, the taxes are $30? Something's not right. Why would a title company provide title insurance on a piece of property with a home on it that did not include the home? There's some level of misunderstanding here and perhaps on several levels. There are times to have an attorney and IMO this is one of them.

 

[highland145]

I'm still trying to figure out how you sell the land without selling the improvements on it. I'm not sure that's Kosher in my state but I could very well be wrong.

Also, what if the owners of the land say they're not interested in taking on the additional taxes and won't sign anything?

Lastly, the taxes are $30? Something's not right. Why would a title company provide title insurance on a piece of property with a home on it that did not include the home? There's some level of misunderstanding here and perhaps on several levels. There are times to have an attorney and IMO this is one of them.

Here the manufactured house/mobile home is titled through the DMV like a car. And the older it is, the less the tax.

 

[boomerang]

Here the manufactured house/mobile home is titled through the DMV like a car. And the older it is, the less the tax.

Ahhh, now I understand that part. That's why the OP is referring to "tags". So, if I don't renew my tags in Michigan I can't legally drive my car on public roads. What happens if he doesn't renew the tags on this manufactured home that is kinda built onto a house?

What happens right now if all the structures burn to the ground? What happens if the new owner gets seriously hurt and it has to do with this manufactured home?

I don't really need answers to any of these questions. 😉

 

[highland145]

Ahhh, now I understand that part. That's why the OP is referring to "tags". So, if I don't renew my tags in Michigan I can't legally drive my car on public roads. What happens if he doesn't renew the tags on this manufactured home that is kinda built onto a house?

What happens right now if all the structures burn to the ground? What happens if the new owner gets seriously hurt and it has to do with this manufactured home?

I don't really need answers to any of these questions. 😉

But if a mobile home was on a tread mill....

 

[Meghan54]

I still say the cheapest way to deal with it, since you want the new owners to own it, is just do a quit claim deed on the home. The "big" costs will be for an attorney (wouldn't do this without consulting an atty.) and the recording costs at the courthouse, something the atty. should do as a part of his/her hiring.

Heck, I'd go as far as to reuse the atty. that was involved in the original sale to the new owners since that atty. should be quite familiar with the property and such. May be cheaper and easier to go that route. You did use an atty. when you sold the property, right?

 

[boomerang]

You did use an atty. when you sold the property, right?

If he did use one, the last thing I would do is pay that attorney more money. I can't believe an attorney would have allowed that sale to be completed as it stood. No sense rewarding incompetence.

 

[highland145]

If he did use one, the last thing I would do is pay that attorney more money. I can't believe an attorney would have allowed that sale to be completed as it stood. No sense rewarding incompetence.

OP didn't say yet about the manufactured home. If it's like here, it's a DMV issue.

 

[Meghan54]

OP didn't say yet about the manufactured home. If it's like here, it's a DMV issue.

Exactly. A title search on the property won't reveal anything about a manufactured/mobile home because it's not part of the actual property. It's more like a car sitting on the property and handled very much differently.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out the mobile home has its own title/deed that needs to be transferred separately. And this is because......it's MOBILE.


The exception to this would be manufactured homes that are removed from the mobile frame and axles and can only be placed directly upon a foundation.

 

[highland145]

Exactly. A title search on the property won't reveal anything about a manufactured/mobile home because it's not part of the actual property. It's more like a car sitting on the property and handled very much differently.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out the mobile home has its own title/deed that needs to be transferred separately. And this is because......it's MOBILE.


The exception to this would be manufactured homes that are removed from the mobile frame and axles and can only be placed directly upon a foundation.

Which makes no sense to me. Brick underpin it and, shazam, it can be reclassified as a house. It's still the same poor quality structure.

 

[T9D]

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[cabri]

As others mentioned a quick claim deed might work, the broker that runs the office mentioned that. But again with no information on it I wonder if the title company will refuse to transfer it. What a mess. I just need the damn thing out of my name in the tax record is all. That's all I care about.

How can you do a quick claim on something that there is no record of you owning?

 

[boomerang]

Government :thumbsup:

You need someone with more authority and influence to correct this. That person is an attorney. It sounds like you wheel and deal in property so, once again, I'm going to suggest hiring an attorney. I mean if you enjoy this by all means continue. If you don't, hire someone to take care of it for you. You have government entities that feel no need to change their methodology pulling your strings. At some point you will decide to quit dancing to their tune. Now is as good a time as any.

And guys, it's "quit" claim deed not "quick" claim deed.

 

[T9D]

Alright I'm back. After a LOT of talking on the phone to about a dozen people. Most the day today I was still being sent in circles.

It used to be a DMV thing a long time ago. But the county takes care of it now. The county says they need the tags from it to transfer it. Which again makes NO sense in how they have it in my name if I had no info at any point. Still can't find any tags. Title company can't do anything either with no info. The title company that I used when I bought the original 25 acres from with this junk on the land from 2010 is out of business. So I can't talk to them or get that paperwork to see what they did.

So get this, I get a call from my real estate agent that I'm buying a house through (that is separate from this whole thing) but the same company and office as the this whole mess. Just talked to his Boss, the broker who owns the office about all this a couple days ago. Well my agent calls me and says 'hey some lady called me with some land and wants to sell her property, when I went to check on the manufactured home it came up with your name'. Wow that's crazy timing. What are the odds? It's the exact manufactured home I'm dealing with. Apparently she's going to pay the taxes at least and was on her way that day to do it. So now he's helping me out too since she wants to sell the place and we'd better get this figured out.

While I was in the title companies office signing papers for this new place I'm buying I asked the title lady there if she had any ideas. She looked up on the states page and guess what? There is NO record of me owning it. So as far as the state is concerned I don't own it. And that got me thinking, it must not have ever been transferred to me I must have just bought the land with this thing on it. The county must just somehow be charging me for whats on the land but there is no way anyone transferred it to me legally if there is no information on it. I mean HOW can I transfer it to someone else if the state has no record of it and I had no numbers. Ok so if I did find the vin numbers they aren't going to be in my name, no where anywhere in the state or county would those numbers be linked to me, so even if I find the VIN and HUD numbers should I be able to transfer it. Plus how can you even say that's the same home you're taxing me on even if I bring the numbers?? All they have in "unknown". How can you apply those numbers and say my "unknown" home is that same one? But yet the county keeps saying I need those serial numbers. I haven't told the county yet what I found out about the state because they wanted me to go check one more time for numbers, I live 6 hours away, our current real estate agent said he'd go check. I don't think he'll find anything, they said they would precede after that. But doesn't sound like anyone knows what to do there.

I THINK what happened was that I bought the land and everything on it and they somehow just assessed me for taxes on whatever was sitting on my land. So I know it must be possible to change over the taxes to her. But they keep swearing they can't without all that HUD and VIN and doing a FULL transfer. Well how can't you when you did it before?? So there is either a way or the county did it illegally with no information. That's the only two options. And again it's not in my name at the state office, where it should be recorded at.

As others mentioned a quick claim deed might work, the broker that runs the office mentioned that. But again with no information on it I wonder if the title company will refuse to transfer it. What a mess.