Realtor Reveals Woman's Tragic Break-Up Story: 'An Expensive Lesson'

A realtor recently offered a warning to couples after witnessing a client's tragic break-up story that ended with her losing her dream home and learning "an expensive lesson."

Rebecca Chambliss is a Los Angeles-based realtor who knows very well the risks clients can face when buying a home with their significant other.

While many couples want to buy a home together before getting married, there can be many unforeseen consequences to this action, as Chambliss, whose username on TikTok is @wheredidiputmyhammer, detailed in a video last month.

"The man she was going to marry stole her house," Chambliss said of the heartbreaking situation she witnessed between a client and her boyfriend.

The couple in question had been dating two years. The woman, 'Kathy,' owned her own house while the man, 'Joe,' didn't. Joe had been working as a firefighter in Los Angeles and had a solid income and credit score—he just hadn't taken the steps to save anything for down payment.

After Joe proposed, the couple began looking for a house they could buy. Since Joe had no money he could contribute to a down payment, Chambliss said Kathy decided to sell her house and use the proceeds to put down a payment on the new house.

"Joe agreed to pay 100 percent of the mortgage as his contribution," Chambliss said in the video, explaining that she put Kathy's house on the market and sold it shortly after.

All of the money from that sale went straight into the down payment for the new house, totaling around $400,000.

"I found them a new house by the ocean, which they both loved," Chambliss said, but that's where it all went wrong.

The mortgage lenders realized Joe had a much higher credit score and suggested that he be the only one to be listed and then later add Kathy to the title.

"I advise them against this, but that's what they decided to do," Chambliss said. "Very soon after moving in, trouble started."

Soon, Joe and Kathy realized they were not compatible living together. While Joe was a "hyper clean freak," Kathy was a "free spirit," and their styles majorly clashed. After the home had closed, Chambliss gave the couple instructions on how to add Kathy to the title.

"She was distraught the man she thought she was going to marry wasn't a good match, so she waited a few months until she figured out what she wanted to do," Chambliss said.

When Kathy realized she definitely wanted to leave and sell the house they bought and get her money back, a catastrophe unfolded. The woman asked Joe to add her onto the title, but he refused.

"He didn't want her to leave, and he could hold the house over her head to get her to stay," the realtor said, who added that Kathy tried to make nice, but no matter what she did, Joe refused.

"It got to the point where she couldn't take it any longer and she left him," Chambliss said.

At this point, Kathy had hired an attorney and shown the records of where the money for the home had come from, but the law was on Joe's side, according to the realtor.

After a year in court and many thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, Kathy finally just walked away from the house.

"All of the money she had made on her previous purchase...she had to start over," Chambliss said. "She told me it was an expensive lesson but worth it to get away from Joe."

Kathy and Joe's story is just one of many, as many men and women lose hundreds of thousands of dollars into a house after breaking up with their significant other.

"Unmarried couples don't automatically have rights to property or support in the event of a breakup, which can lead to complex legal disputes," Christopher McGuire, a 20-year broker and founder of Real Estate Exam Ninja, told Newsweek.

Without being married, there are no legal protections to ensure you are owed any part of the home if the title is not formally in your name, real estate experts say.

"The only partner you would want is the bank," David Roberson, a broker and attorney at Silicon Valley Property Management Group, told Newsweek. "The bank has one expectation, and it is written and recorded. Partnerships in real estate ventures are ripe for disagreement and grief."

How to Protect Yourself

If an unmarried couple does decide to unofficially own a property together, they must create a legal agreement that outlines what will happen to the property in case of a breakup. This can outline how equity would be divided as well as the selling process.

And on the title, you need to be very careful to make sure you both are listed or make explicit legal plans if only one of you will be the technical owner. Typically you can choose between joint tenancy, tenancy in common or one person on the title, but each has strong implications for what happens legally in case of a breakup.

"To protect yourself, it's crucial to have a legally binding agreement, like a cohabitation agreement or a joint ownership agreement," Joshua Martin, the owner at Atticus Home Buyers, told Newsweek. "Buying a home together is a big step in my opinion so you should make sure you're on the same page about finances, future plans, and how you'll handle any potential changes in the relationship."