Lay It On Me...Was I Wrong Here...??

[Anonymous]

Disclosure ------> I am absolutely clueless about Real Estate, but ignorance does not excuse my behavior if I am truly in the wrong here.

So my husband and I were having some financial issues a few years ago, we both got laid off from our jobs and were in a bind and had a one year old daughter.

My good good friend, Helpful Helen, who I have known since High School felt terrible for us + wanted to help us out so she and her husband ran an idea by us and we agreed. They offered to purchase a home in their names, then rent it to my husband and I and then I could run a home daycare out of it which if I ran it at full capacity, I could make really good money. Meanwhile, my husband found a good job luckily at the same time. Before this, my husband and I had tried unsuccessfully to rent a house on our own, but when we told the homeowners I was going to run a home daycare, no one wanted to rent to us. That is when my friend, Helen decided to buy the house to rent to us.

Anyway, so she and her husband take out a 2nd mortgage, they already are paying one on the house they live in currently.
My husband and I, along with our child move in and we agree to pay her the fair market value in rent which is basically her monthly mortgage payment. I also give her that amount as a security deposit. I find many families who need childcare and have no problem working at capacity and making my rent every month on time.

Now in my state of CA, a new homeowner must live in the newly purchased home ONE FULL YEAR after purchasing the home, which Helen fudged on so she could help us out and I understood that. So we had to get our utilities in Helen's name the first year, but after that, everything went smoothly.

Well after about 15 mos. in the house, my husband got offered a better job out of state, in Utah to be exact. We felt bad since Helen had bought the house just to help us out, etc., but my husband wanted to take the job plus my parents live in Utah so we decided to move. I sent Helen the required "30-day notice" by law and also left her a voice message.

She and her husband came over and we got into it to say the least.

They claimed they did us a HUGE favor by getting us the house and that they were getting "nothing" out of it. They said now we were leaving them and they were "stuck" with this house and that we majorly screwed them over.

My husband says we did nothing legally or morally wrong. He said we were paying their mortgage for them, and that they in the end would have gotten a free house out of it.
He says after we left since we completed the year already, all they had to do was just rent it out to someone else and that would pay their mortgage.

Is is that easy?

I am on the fence.

Please advise.....

[Anonymous]

You and your husband are completely selfish, wow.

[Anonymous]

It is pretty crappy to bail after such a short period of them. They did something very nice for you very few people would do.

[Anonymous]

I advise you to start your own forum in your area, rather than post in a DC-area forum.

[Anonymous]

These people were amazing to you. I would never have helped anyone like that and I have list of money. You did a shitty thing.

[Anonymous]

I suppose it depends upon what contract you had between you whether you did anything legally wrong.

You already know that you have done something morally wrong. You don't really need us to tell you that.

You are a terrible friend and have put Helen in a terrible position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I advise you to start your own forum in your area, rather than post in a DC-area forum.

That's idiotic.

[Anonymous]

Did you have a year lease? If so, you are within your rights.
You could find renters willing to take over the rental and let the owners know that you have people interested in renting so that they will not lose time and money with a vacant house.
Did you even talk about how long you would stay there?
This is why business agreements between friends/family need to be spelled out very carefully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disclosure ------> I am absolutely clueless about Real Estate, but ignorance does not excuse my behavior if I am truly in the wrong here.

So my husband and I were having some financial issues a few years ago, we both got laid off from our jobs and were in a bind and had a one year old daughter.

My good good friend, Helpful Helen, who I have known since High School felt terrible for us + wanted to help us out so she and her husband ran an idea by us and we agreed. They offered to purchase a home in their names, then rent it to my husband and I and then I could run a home daycare out of it which if I ran it at full capacity, I could make really good money. Meanwhile, my husband found a good job luckily at the same time. Before this, my husband and I had tried unsuccessfully to rent a house on our own, but when we told the homeowners I was going to run a home daycare, no one wanted to rent to us. That is when my friend, Helen decided to buy the house to rent to us.

Anyway, so she and her husband take out a 2nd mortgage, they already are paying one on the house they live in currently.
My husband and I, along with our child move in and we agree to pay her the fair market value in rent which is basically her monthly mortgage payment. I also give her that amount as a security deposit. I find many families who need childcare and have no problem working at capacity and making my rent every month on time.

Now in my state of CA, a new homeowner must live in the newly purchased home ONE FULL YEAR after purchasing the home, which Helen fudged on so she could help us out and I understood that. So we had to get our utilities in Helen's name the first year, but after that, everything went smoothly.

Well after about 15 mos. in the house, my husband got offered a better job out of state, in Utah to be exact. We felt bad since Helen had bought the house just to help us out, etc., but my husband wanted to take the job plus my parents live in Utah so we decided to move. I sent Helen the required "30-day notice" by law and also left her a voice message.

She and her husband came over and we got into it to say the least.

They claimed they did us a HUGE favor by getting us the house and that they were getting "nothing" out of it. They said now we were leaving them and they were "stuck" with this house and that we majorly screwed them over.

My husband says we did nothing legally or morally wrong. He said we were paying their mortgage for them, and that they in the end would have gotten a free house out of it.
He says after we left since we completed the year already, all they had to do was just rent it out to someone else and that would pay their mortgage.

Is is that easy?

I am on the fence.

Please advise.....

Yeah, they WOULD HAVE -- that was the deal -- but since you didn't keep your end of the bargain, they are now NOT going to get a free house out of it. Do you not see the difference? Wow, you are walking away from good friends. Good luck finding friends like that again in your lifetime.

[Anonymous]

You are a horrible person

[Anonymous]

Helpful Helen lied on mortgage documents, that's probably why she's so ticked, they're going to get found out.
Are there no forums a couple of thousand miles closer to you than this one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I advise you to start your own forum in your area, rather than post in a DC-area forum.

That's idiotic.

Not the PP but I don't get it either as to why we're getting all these non DC area posts on this board.

To the OP, I don't know who is right or wrong, your husband got a job and you want to leave the area. I'm not sure how the house is your responsibility even though the others are saying you are doing a shitty thing to your friend. I don't really get why - Helen is an adult. As such, she made a choice to buy a house without you twisting her arm, correct? I'm not sure why it's on you to stay there forever. That's the nature of being a landlord, you know tenants come and tenants go. She should just find a new tenant. If she can't find someone to cover the mortgage, then she made a bad investment decision. Also not on you.

[Anonymous]

Why is op so wrong? Did helpful Helen think she was going to live in the house for the full term of their 30 yr fixed rate mortgage (or whatever it was). If Helen wanted renters for a specific period of time they should have disclosed that to OP.

OP lived there at least a year. Maybe she should have given more notice...2 or 3 months? Instead of 1?

I don't think Helen is screwed over. Presumably she wanted to invest in real estate anyway and she still owns her investment and has a year plus paid down on the mortgage. I saw nowhere in here that Helens finances were dependent upon OP living in CA forever

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Helpful Helen lied on mortgage documents, that's probably why she's so ticked, they're going to get found out.
Are there no forums a couple of thousand miles closer to you than this one?

You only need to live in the house for 1 year. Unless HH stops paying the mortgage no one cares. OP is a bitch and will eventually get what she deserves at some point in her life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is op so wrong? Did helpful Helen think she was going to live in the house for the full term of their 30 yr fixed rate mortgage (or whatever it was). If Helen wanted renters for a specific period of time they should have disclosed that to OP.

OP lived there at least a year. Maybe she should have given more notice...2 or 3 months? Instead of 1?

I don't think Helen is screwed over. Presumably she wanted to invest in real estate anyway and she still owns her investment and has a year plus paid down on the mortgage. I saw nowhere in here that Helens finances were dependent upon OP living in CA forever

Helpful Helen took out a SECOND MORTGAGE to help lousy friend OP. Like others stated, good luck finding a friend like HH.