Sneaky new owner ??? - Posted by Frank Chin

Real Estate Investing Real Estate Law
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Posted by Frank Chin on January 31, 2007 at 10:09:02:

Stevo:

My mother in law did what you described and avoided a jaywalking ticket.

There’s a big 12 lane boulevard by her where numerous pedestrians were killed jaywalking. The mayor decided to crack down, and sent police on every corner handing out tickets one day, and it was all over the news.

She doesn’t follow the news.

So a polcewomen stopped her after crossing 12 lanes of traffic against the light, and asked for her ID. She started fooling around with her hearing aids and said “no hear, no hear”. Then, further on, she said “no English, no English”.

She’s an 85 year old lady.

She went there to catch a bus, which finally came, and she said “bus come, bus come”. The policewomen stood there with her ticket book open, stammering, not figuring what to say next.

See what you can get away with being deaf, and stupid??

Frank Chin

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Sneaky new owner ??? - Posted by Frank Chin

Posted by Frank Chin on January 24, 2007 at 07:50:13:

A small four family next to my 2 family home just sold, to a Chinese gentlemen. No problem with that as I’m Chinese myself.

My wife a had a nice chat with the previous owners before they moved wishing them well. She saw the new owner coming and going, supervising contractors, even before the prior owners moved, since the sales contract allowed the prior owners to stay a short time after the sale.

She was shocked to hear that the new owner claimed not to be able to speak English since he bought along a interpreter negotiating the sale, and again at closing. Yet the wife heard him barking orders in perfect English to the contractors.

Then the prior owner mentioned that a survey done during the sale showed we’re 8 feet over, encroaching on their property line. Since our house was built in 1986, we took over in 1993, with a fence on the boundary and driveway in place for that long, I wasn’t too worried as the adverse possession period in NY state is ten years, and no one, not even the prior owners knew of the discrepancy, since as early as 1986, i.e. if there is a discrepancy.

My wife told me the other day the owner approached her saying he wanted to replace the fence on the boundary. Seeing he’s a sneaky little fellow, the wife said “let me speak to my husband”.

Since he didn’t even mention anything about the encroachment, I suspect he’s up to something. I told my wife that if he asks again, just tell him while the current fence is old, it’s OK with me, and I see no reason to change it.

Am I paranoid, or is he up to something??

Frank Chin

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Re: Sneaky new owner ??? - Posted by Joe

Posted by Joe on January 29, 2007 at 17:48:13:

In regards to the property line discrepancy, get the plat map from county records and measure it out. If the neighbor brings it up, then you can say HE needs a survey to confirm it and then you’d be more than happy to respect the proper property line.

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Dishonest is the Word - Posted by Jimmy

Posted by Jimmy on January 24, 2007 at 08:06:24:

The neighbor has shown a willingness to lie (although I am puzzled as to what he thought he would gain by pretending not to speak English).

Don’t have anything to do with him.

and everytime you have contact with him, take some notes.

and every time you shake his hand, COUNT YOUR FINGERS.

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Re: Sneaky new owner ??? - Posted by Frank Chin

Posted by Frank Chin on January 31, 2007 at 09:56:35:

Joe:

I was told by the prior owner, since moved, that the new owner did a survey, and it the descrepancy noted and was gone over during the sale. I didn’t see the need for me to go crazy about it at this point.

I was surprised he didn’t come out a say anything about it, but instead talked about the fence. And this part about not knowing English cause me to think maybe this guy always pretend to do one thing, actually doing something else.

Hate to start a neighborly relationship this way.

Frank Chin

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Re: Dishonest is the Word - Posted by stevo

Posted by stevo on January 29, 2007 at 13:33:00:

Not speaking english is a very good tactic to use in negotiation. When you tell someone their offer is too low, they just pretend to not understand you until they wear you out. I’ve also seen people who claim to be hearing impaired and heard of people pretending to have mental imbalances having similar successes.