Home Sold Twice to Two Different Buyers

Home Sold Twice to Two Different Buyters.Douglas Garhartt and Brandon Lively would like to finish laying down new carpet in the four-story ocean-view townhouse they purchased as a short sale  in March, as well as re-do the kitchen and the master bath, but they are afraid it could be money down the drain." We had to stop because we don't know if it is our house or not," says Garhartt, who has a deed to the property. But an investment group also has a deed to the property. It turns out OneWest Bank sold the home to both parties days apart, cashing both of their checks.

Garhartt and Lively purchased the three-bedroom condo in San Clemente, Calif., on March 11 as a short sale for $365,000 -- far less than the $712,552 the seller owed on the loan -- and moved in. Then on March 15, Saint John Trust purchased the same property at auction for $346,896 and immediately sent Garhartt and Lively an eviction notice. (Notice how the two amounts totaled nearly equal the amount of the seller's mortgage.)

Randy Quaid Arrested for Squatting at Former Home


Actor Randy Quaid, 59, and his wife Evi, 47, were arrested on burglary charges Saturday after they were caught squatting at the guest house of one of their former residences in Montecito, Calif.

A representative for the new owner was checking on the residence mid-afternoon, after the security alarm had gone off earlier in the day, and noticed that someone had been living in the guest house, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department said.

When police first arrived, no one was present. But when they returned that evening to the home on the 1300 block of East Mountain Drive, they encountered the Quaids, who said that they have owned the property since the 1990s. However, the representative of the current owner showed documentation that the client had purchased the property in 2007 from the person the Quaids had sold it to several years earlier.

Whether it's the Quaids or some blond little girl, there are ways to get rid of or take precautions against squatters before they eat your porridge, sit in your rocking chair or sleep in your bed.
1. Change the locks

When you move into a home, the first thing you should do is change the locks. Even if you trust the previous homeowners not to come back, you just never know whom they may have lent keys to over the years. Replacing entire tumblers and dead bolts could cost $20 to $50 per lock, but a cheaper route would be to just to have the locks re-keyed on site, or unscrew them and take them in to a hardware store or local locksmith. Once you have the new key, never leave it hidden outside. Burglars can figure out all the best hiding places.

Also, you might consider taping a note for the first six months, on the edge of the door above the latch, alerting a locksmith that "John Doe no longer lives here." There are stories of former residents using a home's address on their not-yet-updated driver's license to fool a locksmith into believing that it is still their residence. (They do it with a simple, "Whoops, I locked myself out," and a flash of the state ID.)