Location: Beckley, WV 25801
Hi Reddit, I could really use insight from anyone familiar with WV real estate law, seller financing, or just plain legal intimidation.
Here’s what happened:
📅 Timeline of Events
May 2022 — I purchased a home in Beckley, West Virginia (Raleigh County) from a private individual via seller financing. and I’ll refer to her as The Seller.
The sale price was $80,000, and the transaction was handled by a licensed attorney and title agency—I believe the financing was done as a land contract, though I was never given a traditional mortgage note or bank paperwork.
Both I and a former partner (Co-Borrower) were listed on the Warranty Deed, and we paid $3,000 down at closing.
About 8 months later, Co-Borrower and I split. He moved out and relinquished interest.
🧾 The Quitclaim Deed
In April 2024, I paid the same attorney and title firm that handled the original closing to draft and record a Quitclaim Deed.
The document removed Co-Borrower from the title and granted sole ownership to me.
The deed was properly signed, notarized, and recorded at the Raleigh County Clerk’s office.
It does not reference any mortgage, deed of trust, or lien—and I’ve confirmed none is recorded.
I’ve maintained the home, made payments, paid taxes, and treated it as mine since then.
🚩 What’s Happening Now (July 2025)
I listed the home for sale this month with a licensed real estate agent.
Within days, my Realtor got a phone call from The Seller and her attorney—a man based in Wyoming County, not Raleigh. I’ll refer to him as The Attorney.
They told her:
The title is invalid
The quitclaim deed is illegal
There is a foreclosure “in progress” (but there’s nothing filed anywhere)
And that she is not allowed to sell the home on my behalf
The Realtor was so unnerved she pulled the listing from the MLS.
No one has served me with papers. There’s no court case, no lis pendens, no trustee filing, and no notice of default.
🎙️ I Have a Recording
I recorded a phone call where the Realtor tells me everything:
That she was contacted by The Seller and The Attorney,
That they are trying to block the sale with no actual legal mechanism,
That The Attorney told her I wasn’t legally allowed to sell it,
And that The Seller is calling everyone directly—even though she supposedly has legal counsel.
❓ My Questions
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Is this legal? Can a seller and their attorney just phone-call their way into stopping a valid titleholder from listing their property?
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If no foreclosure has been filed, and no Deed of Trust exists, what power do they even have?
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Can a properly recorded Quitclaim Deed, prepared by the same attorney as the original sale, be retroactively challenged like this?
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My Realtor is afraid to re-list—do I have grounds for a complaint? Or for civil action (like slander of title or tortious interference)?
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Has anyone dealt with rural WV seller financing like this? Are there quirks I don’t know about?
🔐 Why This Feels Off
For over a year, there was no contact, no challenge, no filings of any kind. I continued to live there and pay taxes. It wasn’t until I listed the house in July 2025 that The Seller and her attorney suddenly began claiming the quitclaim was invalid and tried to shut down the sale through phone threats alone.”
I feel like they know they have no standing—so they’re going after my Realtor and sabotaging the sale through pressure and confusion. I’m trying to sell my home legally, and I’m being strangled by intimidation with no official action or filings behind it.
The attorney followed the law. In fact, it seems the attorney also realized the original contract was written in a way of a rental, but seller financed, but no deed of trust, but land contract.
The prior owner kept them in that room for over an hour, until she was fed up. The original contract even states things like, I am to clear out 2 acres of undeveloped land, and ask before I make internal changes, but yet, the warranty deed is in mine and ex names, and the quit claim is solely me, after the same lawyer, whom I paid, and went through on purpose, just to make sure everything was on the up and up, prepared the new deed, the ex went to sign it, with the lawyer and notary, in person.
I was then called to have it signed on my part AFTER that and it was legally filed with the assessor with absolutely no mention of a mortgage or lien”, in fact, I’ve called the assessor and they have confirmed there is no lien on my house, and all vested interest is mine, and mine alone.
They receptionist did say there was an odd contract recorded, but it wasn’t a lien, and title searches come back with no cloud.
Once I found out the house had no lien and it was in my name, a year after filing the quit claim, I stopped paying, hell yeah. There was never a mortgage to begin with. So you may be right, the seller obviously did try to fuck me over, but it ended up working out in my favor.
Any guidance appreciated. Thanks.