Charlie Sheen Pals Say 'Back Out of Home Purchase'

Charlie Sheen reportedly has a signed sale agreement to purchase a multimillion dollar house just a few doors down from his current place, but the people around him want him to back out of the deal that the actor hopes would move his twins and his soon-to-be ex wife Brooke Mueller, pictured with Sheen in 2009 at left, closer.

Sheen made a $6.75 million offer on the mansion, reported TMZ. If the deal goes through and Mueller, who is a real estate investor, decides to take the now-out-of-work star of the TV series Two and a Half Men up on his offer, there are a few conditions she should put on the deal, as AOL Real Estate reported earlier this week.

But the deal with Mueller, who entered an agreement indicated in their court-approved divorce papers to not take spousal maintenance in exchange for $55,000 per month child support, is not the one the 45-year-old party-hardy actor should worry about right now. Nor is the home he is still trying to sell.

If indeed Sheen agrees with his advisors, just how would he get out of the home purchase, given the sellers already accepted the offer? Well, there are a few ways, say experts who spoke

with AOL Real Estate, but they may not be so easy to finagle, especially if Sheen didn't lay the ground work in the contract.

Although reasons vary per state, some of them can apply to almost any potential home buyer.

Home inspector contingency

Typically a buyer can exit a deal without losing any earnest money they put down, if upon the home inspection they find material flaws with the home they are not willing to live with or negotiate away.

"The inspection issues that can come up are termites or structural issues," says New York real estate attorney Ed Mermelstein of Rheem Bell & Mermelstein LLP. The issue typically would be something that would cost $500 or more to repair, he says. "The owner usually will either have to repair the damage or you can withdraw."

I personally backed out of a home purchase in West Long Branch, N.J., nearly 15 years ago when the home inspection revealed severe termite damage in the basement and exterior walls.

Misrepresentation

When the owners are aware of the problem and didn't disclose it, it becomes even easier to back out.

"You can get out of a purchase for its misrepresentation," says Mermelstein. Although structural issues that fall under a home inspection contingency can be part of this category, so can some other issues, he says, such as finding out that the home is located near an oil spill or other toxic contamination, or on a flood plain or hill prone to landslides.

A seller may not be aware of of the problem, and it can still fall under the misrepresentation category. "Not knowing the contamination was there is not an argument," he says. Once discovered, however, he says the federal government requires a seller as well as a buyer to pay for the cleanup.

Option Period

In Texas, Justine A. Smith of the Moxie Realty Group, says they have what's called an "option period" in which the buyer pays a fee to option the property, while they have it inspected or negotiate for repairs. However, buyers "can leave the contract during the period for any reason. Cold feet, lost of a job, a break up et cetera."

The normal option period is 10 days, she says, "but it is negotiable and we have seen them as long as 30 days for very complicated transactions."

In Rochester, NY, homeowner and book author Marcia Layton Turner, says a Realtor friend of hers just had a deal fall apart because the closing date got moved out a week later than the contract indicated. "The buyers became worried that it was going to be longer than a week before they could close and went out a found another home. The two parties are now fighting over whether the buyers are entitled to a return of their deposit.

Attorney's Approval Clause

Turner says getting your real estate attorney's approval (or disapproval, if the case may be), is another way to back out,

Although she herself has never had to use this clause, she tells AOL Real Estate. "We have an attorney's approval clause in our agreements here in Rochester, which gives buyers a lot of leeway in backing out if they want to. That is, if they decide a few days later that they'd rather buy a different place, they can ask their attorney not to approve the deal. They get their deposit back and move on. In addition, if the attorney sees something in the agreement that makes them nervous, they can point it out and let the buyer decide whether to proceed with the purchase or not."

Mermelstein definitely suggests that buyers use a real estate attorney if they are purchasing properties above about $50,000.

Mortgage/Financing Contingency

The purchase agreement will usually contain a section or separate form where the buyer describes how they will pay for the home. If they plan to use any kind financing they might indicate a conventional loan, FHA, or even if it will be a 30-year fixed or 7-year adjustable rate mortgage.

"If they are denied that financing during the time described they can leave the contract," Smith told AOL Real Estate.

I personally was able to get out of a contract and get my earnest money returned on a Brooklyn co-op I had a purchase agreement on back when I was on staff at Fortune after a little snafu turned into my mortgage lender denying my loan.

Appraisal Approval

Another area where a buyer can leave the contract is if the lender's or bank's appraisal comes in below what you have offered on the property. "Say you have offered 200k and the bank says it's only worth 180k, then they buyer can leave," says Smith.

This can be part of a mortgage contingency, because if the lender doesn't think the property is worth it, it will not finance you. However, this option also works for those people who are paying cash.

Loss of Employment

Although this area could also fall under a mortgage contingency, but what if you were planning on paying cash? Although we don't know how Sheen was going to pay for the home, if it were ging to be cash, he just still might be able to argue an out now that CBS has pulled the plug on his popular hit series Two and a Half Men.

"It was a violence-tinged and anti-Semitic radio rant that helped push him over the edge and, finally, forced CBS and Warner Bros. Television to take action," reported the Associated Press. Although Mueller might want to reconsider living so close to Sheen, just maybe the sellers will have sympathy and let the man off the hook.

Sheree R. Curry, who has owned three homes but also successfully got out of two purchase agreements, is a three-time award-winning journalist who has covered real estate for six years. During her 20-year career, her articles have appeared regularly in the Wall Street Journal, TV Week, and Fortune. She's been writing for AOL Real Estate since 2009 from a Minneapolis-area rental. She seeks a book publisher -- or at least a lender who'll give a reasonable mortgage rate to a self-employed mom.

For more on mortgages and related topics see these AOL Real Estate guides:

View the original article here

Charlie Sheen Wants to Buy Homes for Two Ex-Wives

It seems Charlie Sheen so wants four of his children from two ex-wives living closer to him and each other that he is willing to purchase homes for baby mamas Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller in the gated Los Angeles community off Mulholland Drive.

In most circumstances, having kids of divorce living nearby both parents is in the best interests of the children, say some family law attorneys who spoke with AOL Real Estate. In the case of Sheen -- pictured left, fresh out of rehab -- who has had a marital home with Mueller (see 20-plus photos in gallery) on the market for about a year and a half now, the ex-wives might want to take some precautions.

Now, all issues aside with how much more exposed the young Sheen children might be to his alleged cocaine-binging weekends with porn stars who tweet for-mature-audiences-only images from his living room, "when you have small children in elementary school, the closer they live to each parent the easier it is on the children," says marital and family law attorney Roberta Stanley, a partner at Brinkley Morgan in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

"When they start first grade, they forget their homework, they forget their book. If you live within a reasonable distance from each other you can just call the other parent and say 'Can I come and pick up the tennis shoes? She forgot them today.'" Under 30 minutes away is what Stanley sees as being within reasonable proximity.

Sheen, a 45-year-old dad to two daughters with Richards (Sam, 5; and Lola, 4) and with Mueller

twin boys, Max and Bob who will turn two in March, is "willing to front the costs of the two houses, plus whatever moving expenses the women incur," reported TMZ. (No word as to what he's doing for his 20something oldest daughter from a previous marriage.)

After Sheen and Mueller split in 2009, they put their 4,179-square-foot Mediterranean-style marital home on the market for $3.697 million, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time. The price of the four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath home has since dropped to $3.55 million. It is currently listed with Marty Trugman of Coldwell Banker.

Even though Sheen can't yet seem to unload the 1927-built home, it seems he'd still rather move his exes close to him than into that home. Perhaps that says a lot about his love for his children.

For divorced parents who live near each other, "visitations are a lot more feasible and manageable, and the participation of the children and their parents in school and community activities can also be managed more effectively," says Decatur, Ga.-based psychotherapist Dr. Joyce Morley. "[However], if divorced parents are going to effectively maintain residences in close proximity of each other, for the sake of their children, they must have resolved their anger, internal pain, hurt, and practice forgiveness for and with each other." If not, she says, close living arrangements will be more of a liability for the children than an asset.

If Sheen's exes don't harbor resentment over his shenanigans and choose to bow to his request, his obligation shouldn't end with a purchase and moving expenses, says Stanley. After all, there's a lot of maintenance and property taxes to consider on a larger home that might not fit the budget of these women, but could more easily be afforded by this "Two and a Half Men" TV star. He makes $1.25 million per episode for the CBS sitcom that went on a brief hiatus after Sheen was hospitalized in January and is reportedly now undergoing home rehab following the Jan. 27 party incident where he was carried out of his Los Angeles home on a stretcher and taken to the hospital. The show's production is set to resume Feb. 28.

"There will need to be some agreement where he has some obligation to pay for repairs, maintenance, utility bills, the lawn, and the pool and all the things," Stanley says, adding that however the ex-wives should not have to personally turn to Sheen every time they need carpet replaced or plumbing fixed. "There would be a third party to review those bills to say if they are reasonable. You don't want someone changing wall paper every year."

And then there's consideration of what happens once the kids have grown up and moved out. Although it is possible the ex-wives would just retain ownership of the home, but forgo the maintenance help, that's not as likely as using it to pay for their retirement, she says. "My guess is when the kids graduate high school that they will not retain the residence, but they can sell it."

If the moms can work that out, that would be a pretty good deal, especially if it means putting the households of the mothers on a more equal footing with Dad's. "If Dad has a whole lot of money and a big mansion and you have a little shack," that will have an effect on the kids, Stanley says.

One thing other moms who might find themselves in this type of situation should remember is, "Just because he bought the house that doesn't mean he gets to come in and out." And when we're talking about Charlie Sheen, that phrase could take on more than one meaning.

Sheree R. Curry, who is divorced and lives 20 minutes away from her children's father, is a three-time award-winning journalist who has covered real estate for six years. During her 20-year career, her articles have appeared regularly in the Wall Street Journal, TV Week, and Fortune. She's been writing for AOL Real Estate since 2009 from a Minneapolis-area rental. She seeks a book publisher -- or at least a lender who'll give a reasonable mortgage rate to a self-employed mom.

For more on mortgages and related topics see these AOL Real Estate guides:

View the original article here