‘Ghosted’ Real Estate Agents Destroy Fraudulent Seller in Court

Note to homeowners: If you put your house on the market without intending to sell, don’t sign a purchase and sale agreement. We guarantee you don’t want to be in this seller’s situation, which is exactly what she did before “ghosting” our clients – real estate agents who were trying to facilitate a sale on behalf of a prospective homebuyer. 

After the seller unexpectedly broke off contact with the realtors and buyer, the realtors sought Robinson & Henry’s help. We sued for breach of contract. The defendant seller delayed the lawsuit by ignoring it and later filing extensions. When the defendant seller never responded to the suit, our clients received a default judgment of about $75,000. 

In order to collect the judgment, R&H attorneys needed to file a lien against the defendant seller’s house. In an effort to dodge the judgment, she “sold” the million-dollar home to her adult daughter for $0 by recording a quitclaim deed, a legal tool often used to transfer property between family members. So we sued the defendant seller again – this time for fraudulent transfer – and we won that case as well.

This left the defendant seller with two choices: sell the house or have it foreclosed and pay a hefty sum for that fraudulent transfer claim. In the end, the defendant sold the house and paid our clients nearly $130,000 for all the trouble.