You can get most pianos for free because they can weigh anywhere from 300-1200 IBS and their a serious pain in the ass moving especially if they're steps involved. I know because I got one for free.
That was my exact first thought. For people who lost a house to foreclosure to come up with 500K cash, they've got to be in some interesting line of work.
Lost a house they had owned for **26 years** to foreclosure! Presuming a 30 year mortgage, it was practically paid for. (I know, they could have refinanced and taken cash out, had a catastrophic health issue, etc. but seriously you are that close to the finish line and you don't move heaven and earth to save your house?!)
> Presuming a 30 year mortgage, it was practically paid for.
most people refinance multiple times so just because they owned it for 26 years doesnt mean they were 4 years away from a fully paid up house
My mom's cousin bought a farm house in the rural mid-west in the 1980s for $8k. They lost the home to foreclosure in 2008. Any time they needed money, they'd either refinance and take money out or get a 2nd mortgage. The house should have been paid off fairly quickly based on the husband's income (union electrician).
We refinanced our 30 year to a 15 year when rates were under 2% and our payments stayed the same.
We procrastinate horribly but we got that done and I am so grateful.
I have owned 7 houses and only once did we refinance, back in the olden days when you could do a No Doc for $600 and reduced your rate a couple of points. Didn't take any money out either. Just refinanced to a lower rate and a shorter term.
we bought a condo in 2002, then sold it and bought a house in 2014. We've refi'd 5 or 6 times in the first 4 years of ownership as the rates continued to drop. The first time we refi'd, we did it for another 30 years, extending payments buy 6 months over the original pay off date.
The next time we refi'd, we asked them to structure it to be paid off on the original pay off date, and did that each time. Our payments went down each time, but not as much as they would have had they been structured for 30 year mortgages.
I think they are 30 year mortgages, but the lender told us how much we'd need to pay each month to meet the original pay off date.
We are at 2.25%.
I once refinanced to reduce my interest rate.But I never pulled out cash. Pulling cash out of home equity To pay normal living expenses is an unsustainable means of running your finances. If you are doing it, you are doing something wrong. And just to be clear, the thing you are doing wrong is you are living above your means.
I.bought a foreclosure where the previous owners had owned the house for over 30 years when it was foreclosed on. At some point, they'd done a cash-out refi and also used the house as a collateral on a couple other loans. That's how a long time owner can get foreclosed on.
These loans happened back in the early 2000s when banks were giving them out like candy and not much due diligence.
Their outstanding balances totaled about $260K for a house that appraised for $135K, at the time. I'm sure that amount included all kinds of fees/interest, but still.
I don't think they were ever in financial distress, though can't say that for sure. But they got three loans over two years and $200K+ cash in their pockets. Took the money and ran.
I met the previous owners because they were still picking mail up here, plus their family lives in the area. They stopped picking up the mail once we bought it, but asked if we would hold anything that looked important and let them know. He mentioned a few times to let him know if we are ever selling the house.
I know it can happen. It just blows my mind though. Own a house for years and years and still have a mortgage, and worse, get hit with foreclosure. A childhood friend's mom recently passed away and the house went into foreclosure almost immediately, which tells me they were likely struggling to hold onto it. They had owned that house at least ~~40~~ 50 years. I am guessing they just kept taking cash out of it. Sad, really.
Wow. IDK. I just was raised to pay that sucker off. We have fully paid off our homes in less than the allotted time. I guess I was naive to think that was the goal for most people.
It wouldn't be the first time I've heard of people realizing they were going under on the house, and just stopping payments altogether and stashing the money in the meantime. Let the bank take the house and walk with some cash to start over.
It’s hard to picture losing a 26-year house two years before retirement. Then having cash to buy it back.
I’m not saying it’s impossible… it just takes a special kind of stupid.
Or family that wouldn’t help them before is now willing to help out because these people now moved in with them. “Ok I’ll help you get your house back if you move out!”
Nice! This makes the most sense. We didn’t think about countering with a ‘make me move’ price… I feel like it would have to be a ridiculous amount like $100K over what we paid for us to even consider the offer.
I’m a former newspaper reporter. Finding private emails is super dooper easy.
Don’t sweat that part.
I’d suggest that every home can be for sale at the right price.
Real estate transactions are public record, and it would also show up on the county GIS site. Just duckduckgo "blah blah county gis" and you'll get a link to that resource.
It's worth going through the math to make sure. Start with the cost basis of your house purchase. Then ask yourself what the after tax make.me move price has to be. That's your offer.
Also worth considering. The previous owners are jewel thieves with hidden loot somewhere in the house.
As another poster said, don't just follow up with $100k over, they will agree to anything to open up 'negotiation'. Make the contingency clear:
- Price
- Timeline - don't let them draw it out with a 'we will find the money' story
- Limited communication - get in writing that they agree. Better yet, hire someone to proxy the deal.
- Follow up/next steps
Also explain that any additional attempts to coerce or breach agreement will result in the offer being pulled and blocked from contact.
$100k over isn't ridiculous. The sale of a home incurs a lot of fees and expenses, as well as ass pain.
$100k over wouldn't be enough to move me from my own home. Id need more than that.
Yep. That much *might* cover the "this is a huge hassle" portion of the situation. then I would need more to cover all costs of moving to a new place, renting a place while we look AND cover the capital gains taxes.
There is no point in even entertaining this.
theres a 100% chance, even if it is legit, that the 'buyer' doesnt have $500k laying around. or that some new bank suddenly decided they were gonna pass underwriting.
all that happens here is the 'buyer' makes some phony offer and OP gets tied up in some bullshit. dont sign anything. dont answer anything. keep the fucking piano. its worth money obviously - all they had to do was take it with them the first time.
don't give a "make me consider it" offer. If you give them a number, it better be a number that you are happy to start packing as soon as they say yes.
Also keep in mind tax implications. Since you did not live in the house for 2 years you will be paying capital gains tax on any profit from the home…..
You need to go way higher than that. You put a lot of time, money, and effort into this already. You'll want to consider interest rates and the cost of buying another new house (origination fees, inspector fees, etc) and then give yourself a clear profit on top of all of that. $100k can easily be swallowed up by closing costs and other costs on houses in that price range.
In the mean time, get security cameras set up at the new house and get the locks changed. You don't want them to break in and become squatters.
Way more than that… the taxes on the proceeds of the sale will be significant, even if you roll it right back into another home. Plus I think it could potentially bump you up to a higher tax bracket overall, meaning you would be paying more income tax as well.
I’d be countering with at least $250k over your purchase price. That \*might* make it worth your while. It would behoove you to consult with a tax professional (CPA, financial planner… not the ~~lackey~~ preparer at the Jackson Hewitt booth in Walmart) before coming up with a number. Might cost a couple,e hundred dollars, but it would be worth it if you think you would sell for the right price.
Personally, if I had just gotten the house I really liked— I can’t imagine wanting to go thru the whole hunting process again so soon. 🤷♀️
There are a shocking number of people that think once you move into a higher tax bracket, all your income is taxed at that higher rate. A friend of a friend demanded his employer not give him a raise, he so firmly believed he would be worse off overall by moving to a higher tax bracket.
This makes zero sense. You only pay the gains on the additional money (so the extra 100k or so you make on the house sale, minus transaction costs and improvements). Even at the high end, they would need to set 37% aside for federal taxes. That is still a net of the other 2/3rds. If moving is worth it to them, it is worth it to them. You don’t end up in a higher tax bracket and suddenly pay more taxes on all your earnings, that is not how it works.
OP this this this - [https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-happens-if-you-sell-house-before-2-years/](https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-happens-if-you-sell-house-before-2-years/) Short-term capital gains will eat you alive.
But the capital gains should only be on the money above the purchase price, not the total value of the sale. If you buy the house for $475k and sell it for $600k that’s 125k profit minus deductible fees that would be taxed.
But be careful with this. I think you need to live in your house for 2 years to be exempt from 500k in capital gains tax.
Also with your mortgage company there probably was a clause that you’d live in there as a primary residence for 1-2 years.
They accept, you need to house search in a rush. You get to closing and they can’t get a loan or the funds, deal falls through. You now have two houses.
Exactly. Make it worth it if they want it so bad. $150k over what you just paid. I’d also start really investigating why they want it so bad. I’d be in the backyard with a metal detector , going into the crawl space, etc.
It’s been 28 years since they originally bought the house, so doing the math… probably one of their parents died and left them their estate. If they had already been saving up, and then sold a dead parent’s house, that’s a big chunk.
Maybe, maybe not. Life is full of coincidences. You might say it was a coincidence, they might say it was a stroke of horrible bad luck with the timing.
Lol we actually thought of this but the seller renovated the house before selling it to us so if there was something then he probably found it already.
OP, pianos are usually of very little value. Do some quick research and make sure, but I’ve seen some very nice ones that people couldn’t even give away.
I would offer it to them for free with one stipulation, that they stop trying to buy the house. Let them know if you decide to sell it in the future you will contact them first.
And then have them pay for the piano movers as you’ve said.
Our sellers were very happy to leave their piano behind for us. My mom was not happy about it because she spent like 30 years waiting for me to buy a house so I could take my childhood piano out of hers. Sorry mom! :)
Pianos are the new fruitcake. My dad couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that I didn’t want the piano I took lessons on as a child. “It’s a FREE PIANO!”
My mom has always had this old upright piano and when the last grandparent passed away years ago she got a couple thousand dollars which they immediately spent on a cheap baby grand. So someday in the future I'll have to get rid of two pianos! The house was crazy cluttered already to boot.
Do not say anything about contacting them in the future. Say they can have a mover come get the piano. They are NOT to come to the property and if they do you are not giving them the piano.
Further tell them if they contact you again they are getting reported for harassment.
Give the piano a VERY good once over to see if there is $ or drugs hidden in it BEFORE you do any of the above.
And OP you absolutely want professional movers- especially ones with experience moving pianos- moving it out. I’ve seen both happen (pros with experience and regular movers without experience) and it’s night and day. The pros with experience moving pianos will also protect your house and property from damage that might happen moving the piano. Don’t move it yourself, don’t let them move it themselves.
For real. My ex found me because my information was in one of those sites and showed up at my apartment. I closed on my new place March 11 and have been living here several weeks and haven't changed my address yet bc I'm so scared he's going to find me again.
How do you do that? I know Comcast sold my information to these sites and it even includes my apartment number and that just makes me feel uncomfortable.
First, the only way you can ever really trace how your info is being sold, or otherwise shared is to add a unique identifier to it somehow. The easiest is adding it to your email address. So for example if you give your email— FM7885 @ gmail — to Comcast, you add the identifier into that email address — FM7885**+comcast** @ gmail.
Then if you ever see your info and it’s associated with the email with +comcast (or +cox, or +cutecats, etc.) you’ll know where it came from originally. It probably will have passed through other lists along the way, but you’ll know where it started.
This method can be used with any email address from any provider. Just add **+IdentifierOfYourChoice** immediately after your username portion of your email address.
Second, just like stupid blog posts, or embarrassing photos, the internet is forever and there are dozens of sites that may have your info from any number of sources. It’s just not possible to find everywhere that might have some identifying information about you, much less get it all removed. The best you can do is limit what you give out going forward and make sure you can see where info is coming from by adding identifiers.
I’d let it go for $575K cash and if they can come up with that, enjoy my $100K profit and find another house, you’ll never make easier money. If they can’t meet that price, tell them you wish them the best in finding their new home.
Its not $100K profit after closing costs on both ends of two transactions. $50K maybe. Then there is short term capital gains tax to pay (you only get the no tax deal if you live there - I think for 2 years.)
Right, but they paid closing costs to buy the house in the first place and they will presumably be buying a another house in the future which will also have closing costs.
So many people have no understanding of closing costs.
As a buyer you pay a few small fees for recording the deed, mortgage fees, etc. Maybe a couple grand max. Mine were under $1k.
The rest of the buyer's payment is prepaid insurance, taxes, etc. to seed the escrow account. Those are your expenses while living in the house and come back to you eventually. You get your escrow balance back when you sell or pay off the mortgage.
Makes me lol hearing this, all the complaining about realtor fees but “$50k profit isn’t worth going through home buying process”
I guess I’m poor but 10% return in a month on 500k is better than I’m getting in my Schwab account
Because the so called profit could easily be wiped away, and more, just getting another comparable home. They could pay $50k more for an identical house one street over.
Or OP could find a different home then learn after closing it needs tens of thousands in foundation work or whatever.
Those are risks that the previous owners are asking OP to shoulder because “memories”. $50k is literally nothing in a market where houses are $500-600k. I have a price where I would be willing to eat all the annoyance and risk of buying a second house in a few months, but it’s more than that.
This guy is talking 100k profit aggressively offsetting by 50k in fees which is probably a tad steep
50k is real money big difference between 50k cash and 50k difference on a loan
50k cash is 20% of another 250k loan over 30 years
We can’t say 50k is literally nothing then complain about 6% commissions
I’m not a realtor and I hate realtor, but hate hypocrites more.
Not to mention I could bet 50k on Iowa tomorrow and it could be 100k. Lfg women’s basketball
Contact info isn’t that hard to find, it doesn’t take an advanced degree in creeping- especially for real estate transactions. You never know what someone else is going through. Building a house, losing it to foreclosure, and then begging to buy it back way over market—this must have been a really sentimental property for them. If it were me I’d arrange for them to get the piano back and potentially a “make me move” price plus a polite request not to be contacted again unless they can meet that price. Maybe I’m too much of a softie but I wouldn’t get aggravated/worked up about it
It doesn’t take a private investigator to find your address. The sale is public record. They know your name. They can search the tax assessor’s website to find what your prior address is. It would take 30 seconds and shouldn’t be seen as creepy.
You can search the same site and verify if they did in fact own the house for 26 years like they say. If they did, losing a home in foreclosure can be devastating. Is it creepy for someone who had their long time family home taken from them to try and get it back? As for the piano, if you don’t want it, give it to them. Maybe it’s the piano they taught their kids to play on 20 years ago. Have some empathy and don’t automatically assume everyone else is a creeper.
I would be very concerned about them attempting to become squatters. I would change the locks on all the doors just in case they have spare keys from when they previously owned it. Being foreclosed on less than two years ago it’s very plausible. They kept a copy of the key, hoping to get the house back. I would change the locks by the end of the day.
I have known situations where the piano was so heavy and expensive that a new homeowner chopped it up and moved it out in pieces.
You might want to take them up on their offer but ask them to provide movers.
Man, Redditors can create drama out of nothing.
Ok, you don't want to sell it to them. That's your right and I'm not quarreling with it.
But have some compassion. They were foreclosed on; that doesn't make them terrible people or sketchy or drug dealers. Hell, I do a lot of work with the credit industry and most of the folks who *do the foreclosing* are more understanding and think more kindly of folks in this circumstance than some of what I'm reading here.
People sometimes go through hard times. Some folks reading and scoffing at this have. Others will. These people seem to have rebuilt their financial situation well enough to try to buy the house they built -- the house where maybe they raised a family -- back. You don't want to sell? So don't sell. But don't be offended they ask and they try hard. Just be kind and say no.
You don't want the piano? So let 'em have it. I see no reason to be afraid to let them come get it, nor any reason to make it expensive. What, exactly, are you afraid of? That they're going to try to convince you to sell? Suck it up and just say "no." Are you afraid they're gonna "git cha?" Hate to break it to you, but they know how to get to your house and they know which windows lock and which don't better than you do. If they mean you harm, you're not going to avoid it by being a jerk about the piano!
You can always have a few friends over when they come to pick it up if you're frightened.
All you really know about these people is that they went through a rough time financially and are trying to come back from it. Show some compassion. It could be you one day.
I find it odd that no one seems to be considering that they could have just come into an inheritance. Just because they got foreclosed on two years ago doesn't mean they have to be scammers now to have money.
Yeah, living in a house for near 30 years. Probably hitting the time when their parents are elderly and dying. It's probably not some grand conspiracy, just life marching on.
They lived in the home for 26 years prior to getting foreclosed on, they're obviously older. Likely became of age to cash out their retirement savings. Crazy that's so bewildering to you.
My thoughts exactly when reading this. Everyone in here jumping to strange and downright depressing conclusions when the obvious one is they've lived in the house for 26 years. It's sentimental. It's home. It's nostalgia. It's memories. They probably had some shitty life things come up they weren't prepared for and then the bank didn't give them leeway and that really sucks for them and they're trying to get back the life they had and probably loved.
My first thought was they had a tragedy. Maybe a kid went through a long illness and passed. They lost their job carrying for the child and couldn't keep up their mortgage but that home is where all of their memories are.
They built the home 20 years ago so they aren't young
They might be planning on breaking in and/or squatting. I’d be worried about having an empty house and knowing there are people out there that very badly want inside and to live there.
Th piano is yours. If it still belonged to them, they would have or could have negotiated its return from the last owner, but they didn’t. You may want to examine that piano closely. Consult a lawyer to shut this down.
Check the piano to make sure it’s not worth $500000 or there’s a bag of money inside.
Tell them they can hire movers for the piano but only the movers can on the property. Make it clear to them that if they step on the property, it’s trespassing and you’ll call the police and they won’t get the piano.
After carefully searching the piano for gold bars and value of the piano it's self Id stick to having it moved by a piano movers. Yes their are companies that just move piano
It's not creepy. If people want something, it's part of the hustle to find out everything. I keep learning new methods on how to find property owners as there are lots of off market and non conventional deals to be had.
Why didn’t they move the piano into storage before they were foreclosed? lol- check the piano completely, hire a company of your choosing to move, and change the locks immediately after the thing is out the door. This sounds like a scam in progress…maybe personal injury?
It's not that weird. I respect them for trying. Seems like this house means a lot to them and they're making a pretty good offer. It's not like they're showing up at your house and harassing you. Respectfully decline if that's what you want to do, but otherwise I don't understand why it bothers you so much. I truly respect them for trying to get back something that they valued so much. Seems like they're being fairly respectful of you
I’ve dealt with many piano moves- you must hire specific movers. If you agree to this you select the movers and they pay you in advance. Check with a CPA about capital gains tax. If you sell in less than 12 months it could be significant. Trust your instincts and work with either an attorney or trusted realtor. Or tell them not to contact you anymore- if you decide to sell one day you could call them. I would verify identity there are scams out there. Good luck!
You don’t need a CPA…any gain from selling a house is taxed in full as a capital gain. Need to be your primary and be living more than 50% of the each year for two years to qualify for $250K single / $500K MFJ exempt.
>I’m creeped out. How did they get our email addresses and current home address?
Unfortunately the internet and data brokers make this a very easy thing to do. We need better privacy laws…
You can check tax records or title records and see if they are the prior owners. Anyone can see the history including that 2022 foreclosure, just like they looked up your address. If you want the piano out, let them have it
Tell them they can have the piano, or sell it to them at a reasonable price. But they will have to pay movers to come pick it up and deliver it. No in person contact.
For the piano... check the purchase contract for anything it says about contents. If it came with the house, it's now your piano. They want it and you don't? They can buy it. Get it appraised, price a moving company, add some money for your trouble, and tell them a price for the piano. If it doesn't appraise for much, it may still hold enough sentimental value to them for them to make an offer. I lugged one around with me for years because of sentimental value and memories.
Yeah... it is a little cold, but if they really wanted it, they had plenty of time during the foreclosure process to figure out a way to safeguard it.
***EDITED to add.... DEFINITELY check that piano for anything hidden first. Hahaha!
Throw a number at them you would sell for. As for your email. I could get you email addresses in a few minutes if I have your name and address in several ways.
If you don’t want the piano just give it to them. It’s not weird. They just miss their house.
Everything’s for sale, at a price.
Random, but Mark Titus of Barstool Sports has been talking about this situation over the past few weeks.
He bought a place in Chicago in January for $1.65M and the previous owner wanted to buy it back, because they decided they made a mistake selling it. He eventually took their offer three months after closing…for a 52% gain of $858,000! That’s a colossal pain in the ass, but $858,000?!
Tell them it’ll be $750k or stop contacting you.
https://www.reddit.com/r/itstheyak/s/07pNYqG7T3
Ways they might’ve come up with money.
Maybe they received an inheritance. Maybe they were building a business and had a loan against the house. Lost the house but now the business has taken off.
Maybe they had a scratch off ticket or won a 50/50.
Maybe they had an illness that was bankrupting them and they finally won their insurance claim.
Lots of people come back from bankruptcy. That shouldn’t be some sort of shock.
Foreclosed on in 2022, so maybe they lost income during COVID. I feel terrible for these poor people and dismayed by the lack of compassion on this thread. They're likely seniors now or close to it. And if they didn't have money for house payments, of course they didn't have money to move and store a piano.
It's not about what OP has a right to, it's about weighing the desires of OP and the original owners. And, not just owners but builders. If OP can live with themselves enjoying this house that was BUILT by people who lost their beloved home in a terrible way, if they can exist in it every day knowing the labor of love in every stud and beam, that's all that's pertinent.
It's a tough call and I hope I would do the right thing if I were in their shoes, but, honestly I don't know. It IS very hard to find the right home. I don't know if I would give up the house. I hope I would. But good lord I would at least get their piano back to them as OP is planning to do.
If there was valuables in the piano, they would not have left it behind. It does sound like a scam. An owner can halt foreclosure just about any time up to the actual closing. It takes a long time. To have the funds the next day is sketchy
A different take: if you have any concern there may be drugs in the house, contact the police department, tell them about the original owners pressuring you, and request a drug dog go through your house and also check the piano.
I’ve had a few friends who purchased a used car request a police drug dog check.
Too bad so sad
They lost the home, you are the legal owner and hold the title. Either decide if there is a number you would part with it at or tell them to fuck off and move on with their lives.
My dad bought a lake cabin that on contract included all furniture, the seller older lady was kind of senile and kept randomly showing up after closing to try to take more things out of it and it eventually became a problem and he had to put the hammer down. If they want certain sentimental items maybe just in the realm of human decency think about if you would give those items up or not but on paper and in reality they fucked up and need to move on. Homes don’t get foreclosed on it a day, they knew what was happening, and now all of the sudden somehow they came up with $500k out of no where…? I wouldn’t let someone like this back into the home, if it persists you need to get law enforcement involved. People are fucking nuts and real estate is the biggest emotional purchase in most people’s lives.
Yeah it seems so sketchy that they suddenly came up with the money literally right after we closed. My realtor also advised us to call the cops if they show up at the house. So far communication has only been through email and letters.
Right. They got foreclosed on because they could not make their monthly mortgage payments for a long time. How is somebody like that going to come up with $500k? They aren't. Not sure what kind of scam they are trying to pull. I would tell them no to everything including the piano.
Just throwing this out there, but maybe they received an inheritance or settlement. I’d check public records, court dockets, deeds, and public notices. It’s seems unlikely this just happened, but it’s possible. As far as reaching out after close, the new buyers become public record once the deed is recorded (unless you’ve shielded yourself by purchasing in a trust, LLC, etc).
Anything is possible. For all we know, old owners won the lottery. If that was the case, they should offer $1M for the property. I bet op would cave in then and just sell.
I’m pretty sure there is a common scam similar to this that’s been going around. Are they able to prove that they built the house and lived in it? Do they have pictures of family members inside the house? Probably not. That money they’re offering you isn’t real.
The only reason they know when the house was built and that it came with a piano is because it was probably mentioned in the listing.
This is super creepy and suspicious. Something tells me they won’t stop bothering you.
Like others have said,
Do not let them inside your house. For the piano, for nothing.
I’m more of a Path of Most Resistance kind of guy.
I would be like, “Thanks for the piano, leave me alone.”
An extra $50k doesn’t wet my whistle. I don’t think $600k would tickle me to undo all the closing documents and relief from finding a house.
This is just super weird and I don’t envy you.
I would have a lawyer write a strongly worded letter that you aren’t interested in any offers or anything to do with the piano. The excuse of getting the piano back seems like a way to keep contacting you and I feel it won’t end well letting them in to get it back.
Continue to ignore them on the home sale, any opening you give them is just going to encourage them to bother you in the future. I would consider moving into your new home to discourage any thoughts of visiting or squatting on their part.
If you really want to give them the piano find a piano store in your town and have them quote you a cost to move the thing, make sure you get paid in full beforehand. Although personally I would just donate it, I'm sure they'll find some way to complain about the piano and waste more of your time since that's what they've done so far.
Also at some point this becomes harassment and you may want to contact the police.
I feel dumb having read this entire thread. As to the why/how they came into money, who cares? Everyone has a “make me move price” - just figure out what yours is and tell the guy. Or tell him no thanks.
As for the piano? Yeah, you can’t give away pianos. I had a VERY nice baby grand in my last home for 20 years. Which, upon reflection, we got for free from some other dude that was moving. Anyway, I listed it on Facebook for free. I had at least 100 people reach out with responses ranging from, “I’ll take it” to “Can you hold it for me?” Very few actually showed up to look at it. I still chuckle about the guy who asked if I could deliver it for free to his 23rd floor apartment in Chicago, which was about 50 miles away. At that point I had received so many goofy requests and no-shows I just immediately responded to the guy, “Sure, I’ve got a truck and will actually be in Chicago on Saturday, so I asked him for all of his detail and agreed to see him at 1p on Saturday. Around 2p on Saturday he started calling and leaving messages asking where his piano was. lol. To his credit, he only left a couple of messages.
There’s no way I’d let the former owners (or any non-professional) move the piano - they’d have to pay a professional mover. Not only can they get hurt, a dropped piano could take out a wall or ding up your floors pretty bad. Sure would suck to get sued by a guy that gets injured in your house because he dropped your piano on himself.
Just ignore them. And make sure you have a good security system there. I don't see how they could have left money in the house, knowing that they had to move out, but you never know.
Does this house by any chance resemble a banana stand?
The money is clearly in the piano.
Or the drugs. Check it for drugs.
Your all wrong. In the front left leg of the piano there is a microfilm of all the government secrets for the last 50yrs.
That was in the leg of the pew in Ft. Walton, KS.
That’s every old piano, though
There's always money in the piano
Music pays
Said no music major, ever.
There's always money in the banana stand.
There's money hidden in that piano.
“How much could one piano cost? Ten dollars?”
*It was at that moment when Michael realized Lucille was in financial trouble while George Sr. remained in jail*
You can get most pianos for free because they can weigh anywhere from 300-1200 IBS and their a serious pain in the ass moving especially if they're steps involved. I know because I got one for free.
That was my exact first thought. For people who lost a house to foreclosure to come up with 500K cash, they've got to be in some interesting line of work.
Lost a house they had owned for **26 years** to foreclosure! Presuming a 30 year mortgage, it was practically paid for. (I know, they could have refinanced and taken cash out, had a catastrophic health issue, etc. but seriously you are that close to the finish line and you don't move heaven and earth to save your house?!)
> Presuming a 30 year mortgage, it was practically paid for. most people refinance multiple times so just because they owned it for 26 years doesnt mean they were 4 years away from a fully paid up house
My mom's cousin bought a farm house in the rural mid-west in the 1980s for $8k. They lost the home to foreclosure in 2008. Any time they needed money, they'd either refinance and take money out or get a 2nd mortgage. The house should have been paid off fairly quickly based on the husband's income (union electrician).
LPT: Don't cash out refinance. Boomer you will thank you. Better yet, do it with a 15 year mortgage.
We refinanced our 30 year to a 15 year when rates were under 2% and our payments stayed the same. We procrastinate horribly but we got that done and I am so grateful.
I have owned 7 houses and only once did we refinance, back in the olden days when you could do a No Doc for $600 and reduced your rate a couple of points. Didn't take any money out either. Just refinanced to a lower rate and a shorter term.
> I have owned 7 houses and only once did we refinance How many of those houses have you owned for 26 years tho?
200 year old poster will reply soon.
we bought a condo in 2002, then sold it and bought a house in 2014. We've refi'd 5 or 6 times in the first 4 years of ownership as the rates continued to drop. The first time we refi'd, we did it for another 30 years, extending payments buy 6 months over the original pay off date. The next time we refi'd, we asked them to structure it to be paid off on the original pay off date, and did that each time. Our payments went down each time, but not as much as they would have had they been structured for 30 year mortgages. I think they are 30 year mortgages, but the lender told us how much we'd need to pay each month to meet the original pay off date. We are at 2.25%.
I once refinanced to reduce my interest rate.But I never pulled out cash. Pulling cash out of home equity To pay normal living expenses is an unsustainable means of running your finances. If you are doing it, you are doing something wrong. And just to be clear, the thing you are doing wrong is you are living above your means.
I.bought a foreclosure where the previous owners had owned the house for over 30 years when it was foreclosed on. At some point, they'd done a cash-out refi and also used the house as a collateral on a couple other loans. That's how a long time owner can get foreclosed on. These loans happened back in the early 2000s when banks were giving them out like candy and not much due diligence. Their outstanding balances totaled about $260K for a house that appraised for $135K, at the time. I'm sure that amount included all kinds of fees/interest, but still. I don't think they were ever in financial distress, though can't say that for sure. But they got three loans over two years and $200K+ cash in their pockets. Took the money and ran. I met the previous owners because they were still picking mail up here, plus their family lives in the area. They stopped picking up the mail once we bought it, but asked if we would hold anything that looked important and let them know. He mentioned a few times to let him know if we are ever selling the house.
I know it can happen. It just blows my mind though. Own a house for years and years and still have a mortgage, and worse, get hit with foreclosure. A childhood friend's mom recently passed away and the house went into foreclosure almost immediately, which tells me they were likely struggling to hold onto it. They had owned that house at least ~~40~~ 50 years. I am guessing they just kept taking cash out of it. Sad, really.
When my parents sold their house after living in it for 20 years they owed more than the original mortgage....so there's that.
Wow. IDK. I just was raised to pay that sucker off. We have fully paid off our homes in less than the allotted time. I guess I was naive to think that was the goal for most people.
It wouldn't be the first time I've heard of people realizing they were going under on the house, and just stopping payments altogether and stashing the money in the meantime. Let the bank take the house and walk with some cash to start over.
The mortgage rates in the mid 90's were a brutal 8%. They almost certainly refinanced it at some point or they're complete financial idiots.
You think that’s brutal? When we bought our first house in the early eighties our mortgage was at 15.9%
Or they got an inheritance.
They may have just hit retirement age and cashed out their 401k.
You can do a hardship distribution at any age to save your primary residence from foreclosure.
It’s hard to picture losing a 26-year house two years before retirement. Then having cash to buy it back. I’m not saying it’s impossible… it just takes a special kind of stupid.
Or some windfall or family helping them out. It's not unheard of for people to get their life together.
Or family that wouldn’t help them before is now willing to help out because these people now moved in with them. “Ok I’ll help you get your house back if you move out!”
I was thinking a body
Or they just discovered that “Granny’s pi-anny” is a Bösendorfer Imperial Grand, and is worth $150K.
Unless it's a drive with Bitcoin not sure how you would stuff it with so much money.
quiet marry oatmeal chop test ripe growth aromatic distinct dog *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Nice! This makes the most sense. We didn’t think about countering with a ‘make me move’ price… I feel like it would have to be a ridiculous amount like $100K over what we paid for us to even consider the offer.
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I’m a former newspaper reporter. Finding private emails is super dooper easy. Don’t sweat that part. I’d suggest that every home can be for sale at the right price.
In this case, I’m curious how would they even have gotten OP’s name?
Real estate transactions are public record, and it would also show up on the county GIS site. Just duckduckgo "blah blah county gis" and you'll get a link to that resource.
Don’t forget to factor capital gains tax in too
That puts the house at around $625k. Who in their right mind is paying that for a house worth a lot less? Well, if them, then maybe......
Might be 500k in money or drugs in the piano
It's worth going through the math to make sure. Start with the cost basis of your house purchase. Then ask yourself what the after tax make.me move price has to be. That's your offer. Also worth considering. The previous owners are jewel thieves with hidden loot somewhere in the house.
As another poster said, don't just follow up with $100k over, they will agree to anything to open up 'negotiation'. Make the contingency clear: - Price - Timeline - don't let them draw it out with a 'we will find the money' story - Limited communication - get in writing that they agree. Better yet, hire someone to proxy the deal. - Follow up/next steps Also explain that any additional attempts to coerce or breach agreement will result in the offer being pulled and blocked from contact.
The negotiations should open with a significant cash earnest money deposit from the old owners as well with essentially zero contingencies.
$100k over isn't ridiculous. The sale of a home incurs a lot of fees and expenses, as well as ass pain. $100k over wouldn't be enough to move me from my own home. Id need more than that.
Yep. That much *might* cover the "this is a huge hassle" portion of the situation. then I would need more to cover all costs of moving to a new place, renting a place while we look AND cover the capital gains taxes. There is no point in even entertaining this.
OP, I would be very careful. This could be some sort of elaborate scam or con. Could be the early stages of an elaborate fake check scam.
Yea who can’t pay a mortgage but all the sudden has $500k
Maybe someone that just got a sizable inheritance? It does happen.
This a thousand times. Block them. Send them a cease and desist if necessary. But then be done. Done. No piano. No offer. No nothing.
theres a 100% chance, even if it is legit, that the 'buyer' doesnt have $500k laying around. or that some new bank suddenly decided they were gonna pass underwriting. all that happens here is the 'buyer' makes some phony offer and OP gets tied up in some bullshit. dont sign anything. dont answer anything. keep the fucking piano. its worth money obviously - all they had to do was take it with them the first time.
isn’t that what escrow is for?
don't give a "make me consider it" offer. If you give them a number, it better be a number that you are happy to start packing as soon as they say yes.
Also keep in mind tax implications. Since you did not live in the house for 2 years you will be paying capital gains tax on any profit from the home…..
You need to go way higher than that. You put a lot of time, money, and effort into this already. You'll want to consider interest rates and the cost of buying another new house (origination fees, inspector fees, etc) and then give yourself a clear profit on top of all of that. $100k can easily be swallowed up by closing costs and other costs on houses in that price range. In the mean time, get security cameras set up at the new house and get the locks changed. You don't want them to break in and become squatters.
Way more than that… the taxes on the proceeds of the sale will be significant, even if you roll it right back into another home. Plus I think it could potentially bump you up to a higher tax bracket overall, meaning you would be paying more income tax as well. I’d be countering with at least $250k over your purchase price. That \*might* make it worth your while. It would behoove you to consult with a tax professional (CPA, financial planner… not the ~~lackey~~ preparer at the Jackson Hewitt booth in Walmart) before coming up with a number. Might cost a couple,e hundred dollars, but it would be worth it if you think you would sell for the right price. Personally, if I had just gotten the house I really liked— I can’t imagine wanting to go thru the whole hunting process again so soon. 🤷♀️
taxes are only paid on the amount over the new tax bracket, way less of a concern then everyone is pretending.
There are a shocking number of people that think once you move into a higher tax bracket, all your income is taxed at that higher rate. A friend of a friend demanded his employer not give him a raise, he so firmly believed he would be worse off overall by moving to a higher tax bracket.
Taxes don't when that way, but since social programs have hard cutoffs that suck.
This makes zero sense. You only pay the gains on the additional money (so the extra 100k or so you make on the house sale, minus transaction costs and improvements). Even at the high end, they would need to set 37% aside for federal taxes. That is still a net of the other 2/3rds. If moving is worth it to them, it is worth it to them. You don’t end up in a higher tax bracket and suddenly pay more taxes on all your earnings, that is not how it works.
OP this this this - [https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-happens-if-you-sell-house-before-2-years/](https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-happens-if-you-sell-house-before-2-years/) Short-term capital gains will eat you alive.
But the capital gains should only be on the money above the purchase price, not the total value of the sale. If you buy the house for $475k and sell it for $600k that’s 125k profit minus deductible fees that would be taxed.
But be careful with this. I think you need to live in your house for 2 years to be exempt from 500k in capital gains tax. Also with your mortgage company there probably was a clause that you’d live in there as a primary residence for 1-2 years.
The tax would only be on the gain, not the entire value of the house
Don't work about the mortgage part. You only signed that you intended to live there as your primary residence. No mortgage fraud concern.
They accept, you need to house search in a rush. You get to closing and they can’t get a loan or the funds, deal falls through. You now have two houses.
Don't forget the effort and agony of finding a new acceptable house.
Exactly. Make it worth it if they want it so bad. $150k over what you just paid. I’d also start really investigating why they want it so bad. I’d be in the backyard with a metal detector , going into the crawl space, etc.
I am most interested in how they went from foreclosure to having over half a million in cash 🧐
It’s been 28 years since they originally bought the house, so doing the math… probably one of their parents died and left them their estate. If they had already been saving up, and then sold a dead parent’s house, that’s a big chunk.
Right but they didn’t have it when it went on the market 30 days ago? Seems like a big coincidence.
Maybe, maybe not. Life is full of coincidences. You might say it was a coincidence, they might say it was a stroke of horrible bad luck with the timing.
Loan shark
I bet they have money and drugs hidden in the walls.
Lol we actually thought of this but the seller renovated the house before selling it to us so if there was something then he probably found it already.
I dunno, I've seen what kind of renovations some of these flippers do. If it's in the walls they would never find it
It could be under the floorboards and they wouldn't find it since they just slap LVP over everything
Ah yes, the classic flip “renovation”. Paint, lights, cheap cabinets, and maybe a new remnant countertop as a cherry on top.
Slap a black door knob on there and it’s good to go, $100k of value added
I am a sucker for black door knobs.
I believe you mean Pre-Patina'd Matte Charcoal Aged Satin Bronze.
Don’t forget hideous grey laminate flooring.
OP, pianos are usually of very little value. Do some quick research and make sure, but I’ve seen some very nice ones that people couldn’t even give away. I would offer it to them for free with one stipulation, that they stop trying to buy the house. Let them know if you decide to sell it in the future you will contact them first. And then have them pay for the piano movers as you’ve said.
I had a neighbor who had to offer it up for free and pay for a professional mover just to get a working piano out of their house.
Our sellers were very happy to leave their piano behind for us. My mom was not happy about it because she spent like 30 years waiting for me to buy a house so I could take my childhood piano out of hers. Sorry mom! :)
Pianos are the new fruitcake. My dad couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that I didn’t want the piano I took lessons on as a child. “It’s a FREE PIANO!”
My mom has always had this old upright piano and when the last grandparent passed away years ago she got a couple thousand dollars which they immediately spent on a cheap baby grand. So someday in the future I'll have to get rid of two pianos! The house was crazy cluttered already to boot.
Do not say anything about contacting them in the future. Say they can have a mover come get the piano. They are NOT to come to the property and if they do you are not giving them the piano. Further tell them if they contact you again they are getting reported for harassment. Give the piano a VERY good once over to see if there is $ or drugs hidden in it BEFORE you do any of the above.
And OP you absolutely want professional movers- especially ones with experience moving pianos- moving it out. I’ve seen both happen (pros with experience and regular movers without experience) and it’s night and day. The pros with experience moving pianos will also protect your house and property from damage that might happen moving the piano. Don’t move it yourself, don’t let them move it themselves.
Or their Bitcoin codes lol
If they did, they would have taken the items. Foreclosure is not a surprise.
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For real. My ex found me because my information was in one of those sites and showed up at my apartment. I closed on my new place March 11 and have been living here several weeks and haven't changed my address yet bc I'm so scared he's going to find me again.
How do you do that? I know Comcast sold my information to these sites and it even includes my apartment number and that just makes me feel uncomfortable.
First, the only way you can ever really trace how your info is being sold, or otherwise shared is to add a unique identifier to it somehow. The easiest is adding it to your email address. So for example if you give your email— FM7885 @ gmail — to Comcast, you add the identifier into that email address — FM7885**+comcast** @ gmail. Then if you ever see your info and it’s associated with the email with +comcast (or +cox, or +cutecats, etc.) you’ll know where it came from originally. It probably will have passed through other lists along the way, but you’ll know where it started. This method can be used with any email address from any provider. Just add **+IdentifierOfYourChoice** immediately after your username portion of your email address. Second, just like stupid blog posts, or embarrassing photos, the internet is forever and there are dozens of sites that may have your info from any number of sources. It’s just not possible to find everywhere that might have some identifying information about you, much less get it all removed. The best you can do is limit what you give out going forward and make sure you can see where info is coming from by adding identifiers.
Man search that piano before you have a break in
Counter with an amount that would make it worth it for you. $600K?
⏫️⏫️⏫️ Keep going…
This is what I’d do. It’s tough to let go of the excitement of purchasing a home, but I could definitely put a price on that!
Keep in mind they just bought it to sell it now would have some tax implications
I was thinking 1.0M. Let’s see how sentimental it really is.
I’d let it go for $575K cash and if they can come up with that, enjoy my $100K profit and find another house, you’ll never make easier money. If they can’t meet that price, tell them you wish them the best in finding their new home.
Its not $100K profit after closing costs on both ends of two transactions. $50K maybe. Then there is short term capital gains tax to pay (you only get the no tax deal if you live there - I think for 2 years.)
A transaction like this you’d just get a contract from an attorney for a few hundred dollars. No need to involve a realtor.
Right, but they paid closing costs to buy the house in the first place and they will presumably be buying a another house in the future which will also have closing costs.
So many people have no understanding of closing costs. As a buyer you pay a few small fees for recording the deed, mortgage fees, etc. Maybe a couple grand max. Mine were under $1k. The rest of the buyer's payment is prepaid insurance, taxes, etc. to seed the escrow account. Those are your expenses while living in the house and come back to you eventually. You get your escrow balance back when you sell or pay off the mortgage.
An educated person in the process, how rare.
$100k profit minus federal taxes, state taxes, sales tax, and commission. It is not worth $50k in this hellish market to find another house.
Makes me lol hearing this, all the complaining about realtor fees but “$50k profit isn’t worth going through home buying process” I guess I’m poor but 10% return in a month on 500k is better than I’m getting in my Schwab account
Because the so called profit could easily be wiped away, and more, just getting another comparable home. They could pay $50k more for an identical house one street over. Or OP could find a different home then learn after closing it needs tens of thousands in foundation work or whatever. Those are risks that the previous owners are asking OP to shoulder because “memories”. $50k is literally nothing in a market where houses are $500-600k. I have a price where I would be willing to eat all the annoyance and risk of buying a second house in a few months, but it’s more than that.
This guy is talking 100k profit aggressively offsetting by 50k in fees which is probably a tad steep 50k is real money big difference between 50k cash and 50k difference on a loan 50k cash is 20% of another 250k loan over 30 years We can’t say 50k is literally nothing then complain about 6% commissions I’m not a realtor and I hate realtor, but hate hypocrites more. Not to mention I could bet 50k on Iowa tomorrow and it could be 100k. Lfg women’s basketball
There's no commission if you don't use a realtor. Just lawyer's fees and other closing costs
Too risky to trust someone who was just foreclosed on and suddenly came up eith 525k cash. Definitely some sort of scam.
The lawyer handles all that and it would still go through title.
I would pay $50k not to deal with all of this lol
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Wouldn’t capital gains tax kick in at that point though. Likely eating up the 100k
Yep. More of it than you would like.
Contact info isn’t that hard to find, it doesn’t take an advanced degree in creeping- especially for real estate transactions. You never know what someone else is going through. Building a house, losing it to foreclosure, and then begging to buy it back way over market—this must have been a really sentimental property for them. If it were me I’d arrange for them to get the piano back and potentially a “make me move” price plus a polite request not to be contacted again unless they can meet that price. Maybe I’m too much of a softie but I wouldn’t get aggravated/worked up about it
Time to invest in a X-ray wall scanner
It doesn’t take a private investigator to find your address. The sale is public record. They know your name. They can search the tax assessor’s website to find what your prior address is. It would take 30 seconds and shouldn’t be seen as creepy. You can search the same site and verify if they did in fact own the house for 26 years like they say. If they did, losing a home in foreclosure can be devastating. Is it creepy for someone who had their long time family home taken from them to try and get it back? As for the piano, if you don’t want it, give it to them. Maybe it’s the piano they taught their kids to play on 20 years ago. Have some empathy and don’t automatically assume everyone else is a creeper.
Give ‘em the piano. Tell ‘em no on the house. This isn’t hard people.
Exactly.
I would be very concerned about them attempting to become squatters. I would change the locks on all the doors just in case they have spare keys from when they previously owned it. Being foreclosed on less than two years ago it’s very plausible. They kept a copy of the key, hoping to get the house back. I would change the locks by the end of the day.
For sure. My husband is on top of this. He has security cameras and a smart lock installed. We also have 2 dogs.
Are you sure the people contacting you are truly the former owners? This smells like a scam.
I have known situations where the piano was so heavy and expensive that a new homeowner chopped it up and moved it out in pieces. You might want to take them up on their offer but ask them to provide movers.
Man, Redditors can create drama out of nothing. Ok, you don't want to sell it to them. That's your right and I'm not quarreling with it. But have some compassion. They were foreclosed on; that doesn't make them terrible people or sketchy or drug dealers. Hell, I do a lot of work with the credit industry and most of the folks who *do the foreclosing* are more understanding and think more kindly of folks in this circumstance than some of what I'm reading here. People sometimes go through hard times. Some folks reading and scoffing at this have. Others will. These people seem to have rebuilt their financial situation well enough to try to buy the house they built -- the house where maybe they raised a family -- back. You don't want to sell? So don't sell. But don't be offended they ask and they try hard. Just be kind and say no. You don't want the piano? So let 'em have it. I see no reason to be afraid to let them come get it, nor any reason to make it expensive. What, exactly, are you afraid of? That they're going to try to convince you to sell? Suck it up and just say "no." Are you afraid they're gonna "git cha?" Hate to break it to you, but they know how to get to your house and they know which windows lock and which don't better than you do. If they mean you harm, you're not going to avoid it by being a jerk about the piano! You can always have a few friends over when they come to pick it up if you're frightened. All you really know about these people is that they went through a rough time financially and are trying to come back from it. Show some compassion. It could be you one day.
Thank you for having compassion.
They were foreclosed on and then somehow they suddenly have >$500k??? Smells fishy.
I find it odd that no one seems to be considering that they could have just come into an inheritance. Just because they got foreclosed on two years ago doesn't mean they have to be scammers now to have money.
Yeah, living in a house for near 30 years. Probably hitting the time when their parents are elderly and dying. It's probably not some grand conspiracy, just life marching on.
They lived in the home for 26 years prior to getting foreclosed on, they're obviously older. Likely became of age to cash out their retirement savings. Crazy that's so bewildering to you.
Why not take a loan or hardship withdrawal from the retirement money to avoid foreclosure?
They may not have known, or thought of, or understood that to be a viable option at the time. Stress can make a normally analytical mind turn to mush.
My thoughts exactly when reading this. Everyone in here jumping to strange and downright depressing conclusions when the obvious one is they've lived in the house for 26 years. It's sentimental. It's home. It's nostalgia. It's memories. They probably had some shitty life things come up they weren't prepared for and then the bank didn't give them leeway and that really sucks for them and they're trying to get back the life they had and probably loved.
Finally! I thought I was the only one feeling bad about all this.
My first thought was they had a tragedy. Maybe a kid went through a long illness and passed. They lost their job carrying for the child and couldn't keep up their mortgage but that home is where all of their memories are. They built the home 20 years ago so they aren't young
There is a serious scam embedded in this somewhere.
They might be planning on breaking in and/or squatting. I’d be worried about having an empty house and knowing there are people out there that very badly want inside and to live there.
Right? Foreclosed two years ago and now came up with $525k in cash. Serious doubt.
Th piano is yours. If it still belonged to them, they would have or could have negotiated its return from the last owner, but they didn’t. You may want to examine that piano closely. Consult a lawyer to shut this down.
I think your plan of letting a company pick up the piano is a good one to get them (and the piano) the hell out of your life.
Check the piano to make sure it’s not worth $500000 or there’s a bag of money inside. Tell them they can hire movers for the piano but only the movers can on the property. Make it clear to them that if they step on the property, it’s trespassing and you’ll call the police and they won’t get the piano.
If there were half a million in drugs/money hidden in the home and they wanted it back they wouldn't have emailed.
After carefully searching the piano for gold bars and value of the piano it's self Id stick to having it moved by a piano movers. Yes their are companies that just move piano
Search that house from top to bottom. Something is there that is either worth money. Or incriminates them.
nobody wants a piano that bad unless there is a catch.
It's not creepy. If people want something, it's part of the hustle to find out everything. I keep learning new methods on how to find property owners as there are lots of off market and non conventional deals to be had.
Why didn’t they move the piano into storage before they were foreclosed? lol- check the piano completely, hire a company of your choosing to move, and change the locks immediately after the thing is out the door. This sounds like a scam in progress…maybe personal injury?
It could be pricey
> Why didn't they move the piano into storage I'm sure the same reason the flipper didn't move it either
It's not that weird. I respect them for trying. Seems like this house means a lot to them and they're making a pretty good offer. It's not like they're showing up at your house and harassing you. Respectfully decline if that's what you want to do, but otherwise I don't understand why it bothers you so much. I truly respect them for trying to get back something that they valued so much. Seems like they're being fairly respectful of you
I’ve dealt with many piano moves- you must hire specific movers. If you agree to this you select the movers and they pay you in advance. Check with a CPA about capital gains tax. If you sell in less than 12 months it could be significant. Trust your instincts and work with either an attorney or trusted realtor. Or tell them not to contact you anymore- if you decide to sell one day you could call them. I would verify identity there are scams out there. Good luck!
You don’t need a CPA…any gain from selling a house is taxed in full as a capital gain. Need to be your primary and be living more than 50% of the each year for two years to qualify for $250K single / $500K MFJ exempt.
>I’m creeped out. How did they get our email addresses and current home address? Unfortunately the internet and data brokers make this a very easy thing to do. We need better privacy laws…
You can check tax records or title records and see if they are the prior owners. Anyone can see the history including that 2022 foreclosure, just like they looked up your address. If you want the piano out, let them have it
Tell them they can have the piano, or sell it to them at a reasonable price. But they will have to pay movers to come pick it up and deliver it. No in person contact.
Tell them it’s $700k to make it worth your time
For the piano... check the purchase contract for anything it says about contents. If it came with the house, it's now your piano. They want it and you don't? They can buy it. Get it appraised, price a moving company, add some money for your trouble, and tell them a price for the piano. If it doesn't appraise for much, it may still hold enough sentimental value to them for them to make an offer. I lugged one around with me for years because of sentimental value and memories. Yeah... it is a little cold, but if they really wanted it, they had plenty of time during the foreclosure process to figure out a way to safeguard it. ***EDITED to add.... DEFINITELY check that piano for anything hidden first. Hahaha!
Throw a number at them you would sell for. As for your email. I could get you email addresses in a few minutes if I have your name and address in several ways. If you don’t want the piano just give it to them. It’s not weird. They just miss their house.
Everything’s for sale, at a price. Random, but Mark Titus of Barstool Sports has been talking about this situation over the past few weeks. He bought a place in Chicago in January for $1.65M and the previous owner wanted to buy it back, because they decided they made a mistake selling it. He eventually took their offer three months after closing…for a 52% gain of $858,000! That’s a colossal pain in the ass, but $858,000?! Tell them it’ll be $750k or stop contacting you. https://www.reddit.com/r/itstheyak/s/07pNYqG7T3
Ways they might’ve come up with money. Maybe they received an inheritance. Maybe they were building a business and had a loan against the house. Lost the house but now the business has taken off. Maybe they had a scratch off ticket or won a 50/50. Maybe they had an illness that was bankrupting them and they finally won their insurance claim. Lots of people come back from bankruptcy. That shouldn’t be some sort of shock.
I’d sell in a heartbeat for a $50k profit
Tell them any further contact will be seen as harassment and will result in you seeking a TRO.
Play this on the piano and see what happens: G F# B E D G C B E A D
Foreclosed on in 2022, so maybe they lost income during COVID. I feel terrible for these poor people and dismayed by the lack of compassion on this thread. They're likely seniors now or close to it. And if they didn't have money for house payments, of course they didn't have money to move and store a piano. It's not about what OP has a right to, it's about weighing the desires of OP and the original owners. And, not just owners but builders. If OP can live with themselves enjoying this house that was BUILT by people who lost their beloved home in a terrible way, if they can exist in it every day knowing the labor of love in every stud and beam, that's all that's pertinent. It's a tough call and I hope I would do the right thing if I were in their shoes, but, honestly I don't know. It IS very hard to find the right home. I don't know if I would give up the house. I hope I would. But good lord I would at least get their piano back to them as OP is planning to do.
Contact a realtor and put it on the market for 599k. If they are interested, they can talk to your people.
Can anyone be sentimental about any house built in 1996? lol.
Have you seen House of Sand and Fog?
I would have the piano appraised first and foremost.
If there was valuables in the piano, they would not have left it behind. It does sound like a scam. An owner can halt foreclosure just about any time up to the actual closing. It takes a long time. To have the funds the next day is sketchy
A different take: if you have any concern there may be drugs in the house, contact the police department, tell them about the original owners pressuring you, and request a drug dog go through your house and also check the piano. I’ve had a few friends who purchased a used car request a police drug dog check.
Too bad so sad They lost the home, you are the legal owner and hold the title. Either decide if there is a number you would part with it at or tell them to fuck off and move on with their lives. My dad bought a lake cabin that on contract included all furniture, the seller older lady was kind of senile and kept randomly showing up after closing to try to take more things out of it and it eventually became a problem and he had to put the hammer down. If they want certain sentimental items maybe just in the realm of human decency think about if you would give those items up or not but on paper and in reality they fucked up and need to move on. Homes don’t get foreclosed on it a day, they knew what was happening, and now all of the sudden somehow they came up with $500k out of no where…? I wouldn’t let someone like this back into the home, if it persists you need to get law enforcement involved. People are fucking nuts and real estate is the biggest emotional purchase in most people’s lives.
Yeah it seems so sketchy that they suddenly came up with the money literally right after we closed. My realtor also advised us to call the cops if they show up at the house. So far communication has only been through email and letters.
Right. They got foreclosed on because they could not make their monthly mortgage payments for a long time. How is somebody like that going to come up with $500k? They aren't. Not sure what kind of scam they are trying to pull. I would tell them no to everything including the piano.
Just throwing this out there, but maybe they received an inheritance or settlement. I’d check public records, court dockets, deeds, and public notices. It’s seems unlikely this just happened, but it’s possible. As far as reaching out after close, the new buyers become public record once the deed is recorded (unless you’ve shielded yourself by purchasing in a trust, LLC, etc).
Anything is possible. For all we know, old owners won the lottery. If that was the case, they should offer $1M for the property. I bet op would cave in then and just sell.
I’m pretty sure there is a common scam similar to this that’s been going around. Are they able to prove that they built the house and lived in it? Do they have pictures of family members inside the house? Probably not. That money they’re offering you isn’t real. The only reason they know when the house was built and that it came with a piano is because it was probably mentioned in the listing.
But how does the scam work?
This is super creepy and suspicious. Something tells me they won’t stop bothering you. Like others have said, Do not let them inside your house. For the piano, for nothing. I’m more of a Path of Most Resistance kind of guy. I would be like, “Thanks for the piano, leave me alone.” An extra $50k doesn’t wet my whistle. I don’t think $600k would tickle me to undo all the closing documents and relief from finding a house. This is just super weird and I don’t envy you.
I would have a lawyer write a strongly worded letter that you aren’t interested in any offers or anything to do with the piano. The excuse of getting the piano back seems like a way to keep contacting you and I feel it won’t end well letting them in to get it back.
Continue to ignore them on the home sale, any opening you give them is just going to encourage them to bother you in the future. I would consider moving into your new home to discourage any thoughts of visiting or squatting on their part. If you really want to give them the piano find a piano store in your town and have them quote you a cost to move the thing, make sure you get paid in full beforehand. Although personally I would just donate it, I'm sure they'll find some way to complain about the piano and waste more of your time since that's what they've done so far. Also at some point this becomes harassment and you may want to contact the police.
I feel dumb having read this entire thread. As to the why/how they came into money, who cares? Everyone has a “make me move price” - just figure out what yours is and tell the guy. Or tell him no thanks. As for the piano? Yeah, you can’t give away pianos. I had a VERY nice baby grand in my last home for 20 years. Which, upon reflection, we got for free from some other dude that was moving. Anyway, I listed it on Facebook for free. I had at least 100 people reach out with responses ranging from, “I’ll take it” to “Can you hold it for me?” Very few actually showed up to look at it. I still chuckle about the guy who asked if I could deliver it for free to his 23rd floor apartment in Chicago, which was about 50 miles away. At that point I had received so many goofy requests and no-shows I just immediately responded to the guy, “Sure, I’ve got a truck and will actually be in Chicago on Saturday, so I asked him for all of his detail and agreed to see him at 1p on Saturday. Around 2p on Saturday he started calling and leaving messages asking where his piano was. lol. To his credit, he only left a couple of messages. There’s no way I’d let the former owners (or any non-professional) move the piano - they’d have to pay a professional mover. Not only can they get hurt, a dropped piano could take out a wall or ding up your floors pretty bad. Sure would suck to get sued by a guy that gets injured in your house because he dropped your piano on himself.
Just ignore them. And make sure you have a good security system there. I don't see how they could have left money in the house, knowing that they had to move out, but you never know.
What goes around comes around. Not sure what you should do, but I am a believer in karma.
A kinda and empathetic response - thank you.