Closing Day Disasters
Funny story about closing day disasters. Well, funny as long as it doesn’t
happen to you, I guess.
By Patrick O’Gilfoil Healy, New York
Times
cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/realestate/24cov.html?pagewanted=print&position=">
So
metimes, adultery and deceit can put a crimp in the closing.
In the summer of 2001,
Andrew Sokol, a real estate lawyer in Manhattan, was closing a condominium sale for a couple who
had already relocated to California from their apartment in the East 60’s.
The joint
buyers said they were husband and wife, and at closing, signed all the documents as such, Mr. Sokol
said.
Mr. Sokol said the deal was almost finished when one of the lawyers
asked to make a photocopy of the buyers’ driver’s licenses – a common request at closings – and
the buyers blanched.
The husband, it turned out, was who he claimed
to be, but the woman posing as his wife was actually his mistress, Mr. Sokol said. The couple lost
their $56,000 deposit and walked away with nothing – and the sellers found another
buyer.
"I couldn’t believe these people had gone to this elaborate
fraud," said Mr. Sokol, who would not name the buyer, seller or building involved. "This
guy was trading on his wife’s credit and income."
Complete article: title="Closing Day Disasters" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/realestate/24cov.html?pagewanted=print&position=">The New York Times > Real Estate > Closing Day Disasters
