How do I know if I completed an online purchase?

Owner carry purchase contract reverse engineered into a rental when the contract was void?

• In 2005 I entered into an owner carry purchase of a property. 17 months later the 'owner' has my daughter and I evicted and the court (read: corrupt judge) awarded him almost my entire 26k down payment and reverse engineering it into a 'rental' at an outrageous 1200 per month for what turned out to be a crap fixer. (when all the rentals in the area were about half that for the same thing) I know now he was obviously involved in a RE scam/flipping scheme involving the RE Agency, who never had him sign the paperwork and therefore didn't record the papers. I'm not a realtor and trusted that they have a - I THOUGHT - serious code of ethics they have to uphold. So PLEASE don't reply if you intend to thrash me with any 'you should have known' stuff. The copies I received were presented to me as completed and everything was hunky dory. My "lawyer" just sat there and didn't argue the point at all. It seemed obvious and logical that since he didn't sign anything we didn't have a contract and nothing to reverse into a rental. I was blindsided and railroaded in the joke of a 'settlement' and he (smugly) still refuses to pay what little amount I got out of it. (a couple of K). I do have 3 more years in which to collect, but considering looking into the full amount plus damages at this point. It's my understanding that a business contract, if not agreed to by both parties, and they both understand exactly what they're getting into, that the contract is void. I argued that I never agreed to a rental and would never have paid that much for that place. At which point all bets are off and I should have gotten my full down payment plus all of the money I spent on repairs. (several hundreds of dollars) Please help me figure this out. Thanks

• Answer:

  You got cheated. The key to your getting any satisfaction is finding a previous tenant (owner) who got cheated by the same seller. People often learn how to work this scam and do it again and again. Maybe the neighbors can help you. Or watch for the mail and see if you can find a previous tenant. If you can show a pattern of conduct, the Attorney General will give you $26,000 plus a lot more for damages. Do some detective work.