7 On Your Side gets home down payment back for couple after 5 years
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A house was not on the market, but somehow the Queens home was allegedly sold by a Brooklyn realtor.
"Is this house for sale, because somebody listed it for sale?" 7 On Your Side's Nina Pineda asked.
The man in the window said it was not for sale.
The real estate office appeared abandoned, and gone with it was the deposit that Michael and Maurina Joseph put down on the multi-family family property.
"The American Dream, buying a home, and now it's turned into a total nightmare,"
The Josephs saved for a lifetime and jumped at the chance to buy their first home.
"So, you hadn't seen the place," Pineda said.
"We didn't see the place. But when we went in his office, he showed us the picture of the house that he was going to give," Maurina said. "He didn't take us there. Because if he did, the people living there may damage the walls that's not supposed to be done."
They were convinced that they couldn't miss out on the deal, so they decided to make a down payment.
"He asked us to put 15% down," she said.
Mike and Maurina say their realtor told them the house is being foreclosed on and to take advantage of the short sale they needed to get cash in his hands right away.
They gave the realtor Trevor Waterman a bank check for $15,000. A year later they had no house, no deed or closing date, so they asked for their deposit back.
"This is one of the checks he gave us, the bounced check," Maurina said.
"So when you asked for the money back in 2021, it bounced," Pineda said.
Next, came small claims court.
"How many times did you go to court?" Pineda asked.
"We went twice and he never showed up," she said.
The Josephs won a default judgment and Waterman was ordered to pay them back in full.
But after four years, he only made three payments and they were still out $6,000.
"We kept asking for the money back and he kept ignoring us," she said.
So, the Josephs asked 7 On Your Side to broker a deal.
We contacted the realtor and he found the money to return to them, $6,000 in two installments.
"He eventually pays everything. And I am so happy that Nina, you helped us," Maurina said.
"We got our money. Thank you, 7 On Your Side," the Josephs said.
The realtor said that the property was in foreclosure, the deal was speculative, and that he did return the full deposit.
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