Not a renter but not a home owner either, not sure what to call me

By shannon

I have a friend I’ve known for over 25 years talk me into buying a repo home from him. I had been paying just $625 a month rent for a gorgeous brick home w basement in historic Irvington when he convinced me I was throwing my money away for the last 9 years. I am a divorced mom and my credit is bad. I would not be able to get a loan even for the as is price of the home for $32,000.00. So he said he would hold the contract and would do all the repairs that needed to be done and the final cost of the home would be $82,000.00. He wanted this all paid off on a 5 year program. I gave him $5000.00 in December 2010 and began monthly payments of 800 a month with balloon payments every 3 months of an additional $1000 a month. Because of the nature of my job (i am a model)being self employed, he knew some weeks were better than others and that I could afford to pay more than what was required and it was my attempt to try and pay the house off in 3 to 5 years. However, in early June, we started having 95 degree weather, my a/c goes out. Immediately I informed him and had to remind him over and over only to get his suggestions to "go buy fans" or "open your windows". It took him a month to get a repairman out but only after I suggested I fix it by calling a repairman and deduct it from my house payment. This was when he informed me that I was not a tenant and therefore had no tenant rights. I am also not the owner and have asked this guy for a legal contract before my son and I moved in. Because we have known each other for over 25 years, I did not think he would screw me over. So I did not push the issue. But once I made the complaint on the a/c he stated he would now need a balloon payment of $3000 every 3 month on top of the already $800 per month. Years ago we were romantically involved, we are both now in relationships but he has made a pass at me which I refuted. I believe this to be part of the issue with his resentment towards me and feel he now is wanting me out of the house and original verbal agreement. Just a few weeks ago he informed me that the balloon payments now have increased to $5000.00 every 3 months! To date, I have given him a grand total of $17,700.00 in just 9 months time. He is stating I am over $7000.00 behind on my payments. I have tried to google in an attempt to see what my legal rights were but nowhere did I see a name for what I am since I’m not a renter yet I’m not the legal owner. He insists this is not a rent-to-own which leaves him out of any "landlord" responsibilities. I am currently dealing with skin cancer and confided in my "friend" not for sympathy but to let him know what was going on in my life. He has resorted to telling neighbors that I’m doing this for attention (if I was doing this for attention, then why haven’t I told any of my other neighbors) and that my dad (who has cancer in lis spleen, stomach and lymph nodes and wears a cath for his weekly meds) is not sick as well. I’m not sure why this would be an issue but his spreading this news (especially where my son could come in contact w the news and would devastate him, "I" would like to be the one to tell my 9 year old son the news, not the neighborhood) seems like a last attempt to run me out of the neighborhood. There has to be some sort of law against bullying, but since I am in limbo I have no idea what my rights are. Any advice will be gratefully appreciated! Thanks, sorry its so long winded, as I am using my sons iPad and can’t scroll up to see if I’ve repeated myself or not, plus, it’s past midnight, so I’ll just blame my lack of sleep on any spelling errors 😉 Thanks again! Shannon

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