The GinBlog

Can’t Sell Your House In A Bad Real Estate Market? Well, It’s Time For Jail Then!

November 8th, 2007 | by Ginnie | (Visited 7,793 times)

In my neck of the woods we’re having a worse time with the real estate market crashing than in many other places, so it becomes harder and harder to sell a house.

However, it should never be a crime to be stuck in a bad market. Especially enough of one to go to jail.

Passing this along to see if we can’t drum up some publicity for this poor guy. He tried to sell his house, made improvements on it, and had proof of it all. Why should he be sent to jail for contempt if he’s made every effort to try and appease the ruling?

Here’s his story:

I just got a call from my brother a few hours ago, from jail. My brother has never been in trouble before, so I was totally shocked when I got the automated collect call message. The reason he is jail is even more shocking- he failed to sell his house.

He just went through a nasty divorce which left him cash poor but equity rich, so as part of the divorce, there was a list of debts that would be paid off when the house was sold. It turns out that one of the debts was for a lawyer appointed by the state for their children. The judge called a hearing to find out why the house wasn’t selling. (the house has been on the market for eighteen months now) My brother came in with evidence showing house improvements, listings with realtors, open houses, and price reductions, but it was to no avail. Six months in the slammer for contempt of court, or until I can wire him the money to pay off the lawyer.

I was wondering if you have ever heard of anything like this before.

If it sounds as messed up to you as it does to me.. go to this site and leave a comment!

Tags: injustice, court, realestate, divorce, foreclosure