Previous Owner Of My House Makes Life A Living Nightmare

Location: Michigan USA

Notes: I know we SHOULD have likely backed out of buying at the first sign of trouble. We didn’t- looking at the past doesn’t help me right now and this is my first home after living in homelessness a good chunk of my life. Be kind please!

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I’m going to try and keep this as short as I can but the guy who sold us our house (I shall affectionately call “demon” from now on) has made our life a living hell.

My best friend and I bought a home for 300k in a beautiful gated neighborhood. 4 bedrooms, a finished basement, 4 bathrooms, literally everything we wanted in a home.

We put an offer in April 2025: all documents note possession at close. Everyone agrees to these terms. This was notably DIFFERENT than the Zillow listing which requested 30 days occupancy. Only on the Zillow listing mind you.

Closing kept being delayed due to liens he had on home that were undisclosed to us during the buying process.

Then, we find out there were legal issues between Demon and the HOA

In the end of July 2025 we could finally close. Again- we confirm we can occupy at close. Everyone at the title company confirms.

Get to the house and we find visible security cameras in the house. Call the police to make note of being recorded because the wifi is still on and we have no clue where the videos get uploaded to. We find what would have been thousands of dollars of designer goods if they had been taken care of. A clear hoarder situation where there was dust. Mold. Garbage.

Day 2: we find weapons in the home. Dr*g paraphernalia, thousands of ID and social security cards. Apparently he worked in taxes according to a neighbor.

We get a call from our realtor saying there was “a mistake” at closing but “the other realtor” made the issue.

We decide to go visit a lawyer to review our closing docs just to make sure that yes: we own the home AND items inside. We also file a trespass notice because we kept getting emails from him and his lawyer.

Then two days after closing, Demon tries to break in. We call police after he does. He insists he owns the home and shows his ID with the address. We show the closing paperwork. Cop sends Demon away without any arrests.

We get an email from his lawyer demanding we let him in unsupervised. We get our lawyer to respond. We file a PPO.

Day 3 we hire a PI because I was paranoid. We found dummy cameras, a radio thing? And hidden cameras in our light fixtures.

Throughout week 1, we try and sell whatever we can with our lawyers reassurance, and we begin sorting through all the papers we find to ensure any personal photos, documents, etc, can make it to his lawyer, as may were in mold filled garbage bags. I didn’t feel right after we saw his bc on the top of a bag, and wedding photos :(

We hire a junk removal company, cleaning company, etc. costs are adding up.

He files a restraining order against us. Trying to prevent us from removing any item from the home or move any item in. This gets denied. Then he appeals. Denial again but we have to mediate now

Then when our ppo ex parte is approved (after finding a g*n we found he had multiple issues that made ownership of said item super illegal and he’d petitioned multiple times to get said items back…) he filed to get it overturned so he could buy more said things.

All the while he files a lawsuit for the property in the home. Started at 10,000 then became $40,000, then $50,000, then $100,000.

We then have to fight that. We get the case dismissed.

So 3 total cases, we have to pay our lawyer for all of these, and continue living. Now, my best friend and I have a combined $74,000 in credit card debt: $30,000 was the legal fees and lawyer fees for the three cases. The other $44,000 were all of the expenses of cleaning services, junk removal, life expenses and the PI, amongst a giant laundry list of things.

We did make about $4,000 selling the junk to a collector tho- they’re using it all to show what happens when you treat your lux items poorly.

ANYWAY. We got the suit thrown out. We got our PPO and got to finally move items in and out.

As a final note: I and my roommate both have severe panic disorders. I am disabled and work in education. She’s a self employed artist. My wife just got her green card and moved here. All three of us are working multiple jobs trying to recover after what he ruined.

Then during this, and even now, he is clearly wanted by many other people for his shady things. So we have people trying to serve him at our house. We get nonstop mail and packages containing summons notices. It never stops. We’re plagued by this demon.

So my legal question now is: what do we do now? Do we file a lawsuit? Michigan doesn’t allow us to get our legal fees back automatically or anything and in the personal suit specifically we were denied it because the case was dismissed.

But the lost work. Lost work opportunities. And the fact there’s STILL videos of me somewhere he has…. Idk what to do.

Any advice is helpful on how to recover from this.

EDIT: I promise it’s not fake ???? I did mess up and put July 2026 I meant 2025* oops.

To answer common questions:

Yes we did an inspection. Some items there. Passed inspection with flying colors

In the two months between inspection (April/May offer time) and closing (end of July) items had been added to the home. We didn’t know a final inspection was a thing, closing was an hour away away and we made it to the city where closing was just about an hour and a half before closing to be safe. That’s when our realtor called to tell us he was waiting for final inspection- and we told him we had no clue what he meant. He apologized a bunch and realized he never told us. We did a “walkthrough” on video camera. A LOT of things were missed which we complained to him about but got way overshadowed by the whole “Demon ruining our lives”.