Ok - so you have a short sale listing appointment. The situation is that a couple refied, daughter co-signed. They could not keep payments, bank filed for foreclosure, they freaked - moved out, filed bankruptcy ( the couple only, not the daughter ). BK was discharged, bank never came for the house. They call you a year later because the house needs to go away, the bank wont take it, so you take the short sale listing.
During the course of conversation you discover that
A: The BK attorney assured the couple that the bank would never pursue the daughter although she is the cosigner.
B: The BK attorney "sold" this couple a home directly after the BK on a contract for deed ( that you know the couple can never fulfill) and that costs an INSANE amount of money monthly -more than twice what market rent would be.
This couple fully trusts and loves their BK attorney.
What do you do with this information?

Forget about this listing. Go find some buyers and show them some REOs for sale. My guess is that the bank will foreclose on the house if hasn't already done so. You may want to suggest to the couple and daughter that they get updated legal advice from independent counsel and then bow out.

Cave man hit it on the head. A short sale on it's own is (usually) too much work for me to bother...nevermind a short sale AND an attorney advising from a biased position.

Let them know to think about the potential conflict of interest the attorney has and give them the names of a couple of other attorneys (just in case they want a second opinion), and then back out of the deal all together. Not worth the hassle.

Well the attorney is not presently involved with this except as their landlord now. The BK is done and over with. All this has passed, except they still rent this house, and guess what - collectors are still looking for the daughter. I guess I'm just personally bothered by the fact that it seems their attorney has royally screwed them and I'm not sure if I should share my thoughts.

You need to work on closing sales. Giving advice outside of your area of expertise is NOT warranted and will not benefit you in anyway.

Sometimes there is just business you don't want that is not worth the time and effort involved. This is one of those instances.

If the lure of a potential paycheck is to strong and you go for it that is your decision. Remember when you make your bed you lie in it.

You could probably do more deals with less effort than working this one. I wouldn't like the fact they are so entrenched with this attorney. It's been proven they follow him blindly even when things are not correct. It seems they will do the same and not agree with you when your actions come into question and will follow his lead.

Let this attorney work the short. I find it interesting he DOES NOT want to do it.

Bet the state bar might like to hear this tale!

Vicarious Liability.

I would offer them a Klondike Bar, go out to my car to "get them" and speed away never to be heard from again.

I would take the listing. It never hurts to have listings and your signs out there. Even if it doesn't sell, you still have the opportunity to capture buyers.

The attorney issue is not your problem. Unless you're also an attorney, you could get in big trouble for trying to give legal advice. Just help them sell their house, and hopefully they'll refer more business to you.

minna: Is the mortgage holder one of the collectors looking for the daughter? If so, then the attorney's statement that nobody would come after the daugther is not true. Why do you think the bank has not yet foreclosed?

But, do you know all the details about the contract for deed to say for sure that it is grossly unfair? Maybe the attorney is charging high monthly payments because a chunk is being credited as a down payment until such time as the couple has to refinance a few years down the road into their own name. Not saying this is the case -- just wondering about the possibility.

Yes - BOA is looking for her. In fact they are also still calling the couple. Why have they not foreclosed? Who knows?Except I'm starting to believe BofA just does not do that anymore. I have 4 shorts with them right now - we're pushing YEARS of nonpayment with a few of those and nothing ever happens. I guess BOA REALLY just doesn't want the inventory.

I've decided to just mind my own business with the attorney. He may be a total crook ( or perhaps not and it just seems that way) but he is not involved now and they are adults to have made their own decisions.

No one has asked for my opinion on the contract for deed so I won't share it.

Well I suppose if the couple and daugther still own the house that was vacated, they could put a renter in there until such time as the bank makes it move. I am really surprised the bank has not moved to foreclose. (no legal advice given here, just my random thoughts)

Ok, before you take any advice from me, remember that I handle a lot of short sales.

If the bankruptcy has already been fully discharged, then I would probably go ahead and take this listing. The bank may still be willing to do a short sale, especially because the couple has a serious hardship (bankruptcy). The daughter is in a bad position because she got left in the cold on this one. In order to save her credit from having a foreclosure, she will need to short sale anyway. Plus it will benefit the couple to do a short sale as well. Many people think that just because they filed BK, they are no longer affected. Why would someone want a BK AND a foreclosure on their credit when the foreclosure can be avoided. As long as everyone was willing to cooperate with providing documentation when needed, I would move forward with the short sale.

007 - My thoughts exactly.