THE SCRATCHBOARD

I had a very nice lady ask me to help her buy a small house in the suburbs...$200,000 - $225,000. (Which is a little below what average is, but doable)

She looks at 8 houses over a two week period. She writes an offer and it is accepted. Her *boyfriend* is with her for the inspection. I have never heard her talk about a *boyfriend* before. That's okay, I don't know everything. She is approved for a loan. We go to closing.

She asks me questions about the title. Both the closer and I try to explain "in severalty", "joint tenants" & "tenants in common" types of holding title. She asks about sharing title? We tell her about "quit claiming" all or a portion of her ownership. She specially asks about sharing ownership with her boyfriend. I told her that it would be better to have him inherit the property thru her will, and to not give him ownership all or part. That she needed to discuss this with a real estate attorney. She says your right, it's stupid.

Well to make a long story shorter. She calls me Monday. She needs a new house to live in. Oh, are you going to sell the current property? No, she says and starts sobbing. Well the *boyfriend* convinced her into quit claiming 50% interest in her house....then of course the *boyfriend* ditched her and was still married. But the ex wife got the half ownership of the house in the divorce. Ex wife brought a partition lawsuit to sell the house. And won! Ex-wife picked the Realtor (husband of the divorce attorney)...nothing left over!

So now we are looking for a smaller house.