Posted on 09/13/2009 6:44:28 PM PDT by 2banana
DENVER – He bought his first home, spent $30,000 fixing it up, and now, six months later, Jonathon Kyte has learned the home doesn't belong to him.
According to the City and County of Denver, Jonathon owns the dump, next door. He found out about the mistake almost by accident when he received a map which showed the unit he's living is actually unit No. 4.
"I froze. My wife and I were just speechless," Kyte said.
Kyte owns the deed and title to unit No. 5.
Jonathon blames the Coldwell Banker listing agent for the mistake. She marketed the property and provided the key to the unit Jonathon and wife have been living in.
He called the listing agent again and again, but she wouldn't return his calls. He also called the title company, "Colorado American Title," and an employee promised to get back to him, but never did.
So Jonathon called FOX 31 News. We confronted the listing agent's supervisor, but he would not comment on camera. He said their lawyers were looking into the situation.
Jonathon is now considered a squatter in unit No. 4, and the people who were so willing to sell it to him, are now unwilling to help.
Oh man, that poor dude. I can just imagine the look his wife gave him when he told her...
“uh honey, have you finished plastering the bathroom yet?”
the wife sticks her head around the corner wiping the plaster encrusted sweat from her brow and replies... “probably be another hour sweetie, why, what’s up?”
The husband sheepishly folds and unfolds the letter hoping somehow the words he just read will magically rearrange themselves into something other that what they actually say...
“Um, you wanna hear something funny?”
(and BTW, I doubt you can read this guy’s contract from where you are)
Still, this smells like an urban legend.
Maybe he can trade units with the real owner of unit 5.
If the agent was showing the unit he actually moved into, I would hope at least the agent had errors and omissions insurance.
I have never seen title insurance cover anything. It is the most grossly overpriced form of insurance. The recourse will be from the Real Estate Agent who probably has errors and omission insurance.
There are issues which have arisen from errors in title, but you are correct, they are few and far between.
Their insurance company was Mutual Of Brooklyn.
When he found out the bad news, he ran to his car to drive to Coldwell Banker.
But the keys were in the ignition and the car was locked.
So he tried to jig the lock with a coat hanger. A neighbor came by and said,
“Your top is down and it’s starting to rain,”
And he replied, “Duh!”
I was thinking of all the forms used in the loan and real estate transaction. They would all have the address on them. And nobody noticed?
Well, that deal certainly didn’t benefit Mr. Kyte.
Yeah a scam and they would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for you pesky kids! You series?
/johnny
Title insurance insures against flaws in the title to the property that he bought. Assuming the legal description in the deed and in the title police match the address he bought - he has insurance against title defects in the chain of ownership, of the unit he purchased. The fact that he was given keys to the unit next door and that he and the agent made an error in identifying the property, does not mean he has a title claim.
He is about to learn that the document labeled “title insurance” is merely a multi-thousand dollar piece of paper that excludes everything that could possibly happen in this universe or any other. It would be worth exponentially more if it had been left blank.
The realty, title company, surveyors, and lawyers involved in the deal will not be touched in the slightest.
They got their money, what do they care. That is all that matters to them.
Yea, I’m bitter.
I wonder why someone would have keys to give someone for a property they were not representing.
You are correct sir. As noted by others above, the buyer’s recourse is to Coldwell Banker, which, luckily for him, is one of the realtors still out there that is in business and has assets. He will get compensated—probably has been already, since this story is from March.
When I saw that, my assumption was that Coldwell Banker was representing the owner of both units, perhaps the developer or a bank that took them in foreclosure.
I’m figuring that both of the houses had doors, and both of the doors had locks, and that the keys to one house did not fit the locks on the other.
In other words, if it was an honest misunderstanding on his part, he would have noticed when the keys didn’t work.
Some one must have taken them through a walk through on the day of closing. Sounds like a whole bunch of people messed up.
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