So I went and looked at a vacant house 3 months ago. It wasn’t involved in any fire then. I liked the house and proceeded to work with the seller to buy it. Due to liens issues, it took 3 months before we resolve all the problems. Upon clearance of title, I bought it and closed on it last week. Well, after it was bought, I visited the house and learned that the house got caught in a fire a month prior. The seller didn’t even know about it since it was vacant.
I learned that the underlying lender did purchase homeowner insurance. Now I just want to know if I or the Seller could place a claim against this insurance policy. Can someone help shed some light into this matter? What should I do at this point? Any paperwork the seller could sign to allow me the ability to negotiate with the insurance company?
Cool spot to be in. Everyone has a problem and that means profit for the guy or gal who can solve them.
So, just because the seller says he didn’t know about the fire doesn’t mean he’s not responsible. I don’t know what you paid him, if anything, but I’d be asking for it back. Get records from the city to see what they did to inform him.
The forced insurance from the lender may be all they need to walk away. This is a real mess for them and I’m guessing they’d like to be done with it. That leaves you with a free and clear property, if they’re so inclinded.
The seller already signed the paperwork you need to deal with the insurance company. That’s what the deed was for.
I’d start by thinking my goal here is to get this property and pay zero for it. Don’t know how bad the fire, but lots of fixer guys love 'em.
I actually worked with the lender that was involved before i bought the property. They did have insurance. They worked with the insurance company and got me an 80k check about a month later.