Is there any way that you can contact the cousin directly and talk to him? Or speak directly to the half-owner who is willing to sell to find out why the cousin is not responding? After all, the cousin originally did say that he was willing to sign off on the home. Did he perhaps get very ill? Perhaps that's why he's not responding. Is he angry at the other half owner? There HAS to be a reason why he is not pursuing this, even if the reason is apathy.
The Thing is that if he hangs on to his half of the house which he inherited, he will have to pay taxes plus sewage and water costs on it. He can't just NOT pay ANYthing, not without having liens filed against him, which he really doesn't want to happen.
So if you can talk to him somehow and convey to him why it's in his best interests to turn over his half of the house then he might be willing to follow through. Especially if he learns he will make money on the deal and free himself of financial obligations.
Now you can discuss with your lawyer and solve out problems, even can sell out for other person, if you suffer from these kinds of problems.
It takes about 2 years to complete the legal process.
It could take months or even years. There is, however, nothing preventing you from buying a half-interest in the house.
If someone has offered to sell you the entire interest in a house for which they owned half-interest, there would be interesting questions of fraudulent intent: offering to sell that which is not theirs to sell.
You should immediately terminate the deal, unless your lawyer suggests some other possible solution.
It could take a LONG time. I hope your contract contains some kind of time contingency so you can bail on the deal.
The home I am interested in is a pre foreclosure. I have signed a contract and placed money into the real estate lawyers escrow account. The house has some title issues. The house title was split two ways, to the person that owns 1/2 of the house and to his brother. His brother passed away and half he house went to the other owners cousin. The cousin that owns half the house has not paid for any of the real estate payments or improvemtns to the house ( new ac/ windows). The 1/2 owner has attempted to contact the cousin and after sending a letter the cousin said that he would sign off on the house so it could be sold. However the cousin never did this and ignored all future inquires. The half owner is now attempting to remove the cousin from the title so that he can sell the house to me. My question is to anyone that has had a similiar title issue. How long did something like this take to clear up in the courts. Also what are the chances that the judge rule that his name not be removed from the title.
