Hat tip to RR for sending this along:
A man received a lesson in the adage, “Let the buyer beware.”
Billy Joe Sanders, of Pittsburgh, says he bought a home in Canonsburg during a Washington County tax sale in August. When he went to check on the property on Christmas Eve, he learned that it had been torn down by the county’s redevelopment authority — and has since learned his $5,500 won’t be refunded.
County officials say tax sales all include a “buyer beware” clause, and owners are responsible for doing a title search and otherwise checking on the property’s status.
Officials say buyers of homes slated for demolition are usually notified, but sometimes it doesn’t happen.
Mr. Sanders says he plans to bill the county or sue to get his money back.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09364/1024553-100.stm?cmpid=latest.xml#ixzz0bC6XIdIZ
Since the county was both the seller and demoman, putting up the house for sale was a conflict of interest and their disclaimer might not hold any water in court. That said, all this over $5,500.
Reminds me of all the people selling empty boxes on Ebay under the header “Playstation 3 box” with a picture of a PS3 box.
It’s going to be one of those situations where it’s going to cost him more to sue and win than just letting the loss go. A simple drive by of the location could have told him the house wasn’t there anymore.
So what, some dirt for 5.5 G’s. Lucky it wasn’t a condominium and got stuck with expensive air space.
Where’s the land located? Maybe it’s worth something. And if the demolished house has already been removed from the lot, that’s one lesser clean-up bill to worry about.
But the county was definitely way out of line on this one. This is no better than foreclosed owners selling off the appliances AFTER the bank has already legally taken possession of the foreclosed home.
He bought the house in August and found out on Christmas Eve the house was demoed? Where has he been for 4-months? Buyer’s beware? Maybe Billy Joe should have secured the propery in August after he bought it.
The article doesn’t say he unknowingly bought a demolished house. It says he bought the house in August and when he checked on it on Christmas Eve found it was demolished. For all we know, it was demolished in December, long after he bought it.
I’m not sure what the story is here.