Neighborhoods change as the years go on.

When this family’s neighbor attempted to sell her longtime home, an unexpected chain of events unfolded.

Let’s see how it all went down.

investor wants to buy my house way over market value? sure no problem!

my parents and their neighbor bought homes in an up and coming part of florida 20 years ago… talking 1/2 acre lots with 2,500 square foot homes for like $130,000.

our neighbors home was a little smaller than my parents, no pool, and over the 20 years the only thing done to the house was a new roof.

nothing else had been changed; everything was still the original – appliances, paint, ac unit, cabinets, tile and carpet.

i wish i could say she took care of it and never needed to change things, but that wasn’t the case… our neighbors house looks 20 years old.

Keeping a property in tip-top shape is hard work, especially when you’re doing it all by yourself.

well she is a widow and the house is huge for just her, so she decided to sell and take advantage of the market.

she listed it for $400,000.

despite her never having put a penny into it, the house goes on a bidding war.

the top bidder is an investor from california.

she offers to pay $30,000 over asking, pay the closing costs, and can do it same day.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

cue malicious compliance.

the investor woman had two stipulations: our neighbor takes the house off the market immediately, and she turns over the key to her management company with the cash for the home held in escrow until the key was turned over and our neighbors side of the paperwork done.

now our neighbor was upfront with this woman and the state of the home, and asked if she wanted to have her management company come look at it first.

The neighbor tried to do the right thing and be forthcoming, but the buyer wasn’t having it.

the woman says “no, im renting the house and it doesn’t need to be painted. just pull it off the market!”

this woman essentially bought the home for about $450,000 when it was all said and done.

so our neighbor immediately goes to the management company office with her realtor, signs her paperwork, hands over the key, and gets the check for the home.

While that might sound like the end of this story, there’s more.

a few days later…our neighbor gets a call from the investor lady.

she is irate!

the house is in disarray.

it needs a paint job asap.

new appliances and flooring at the least.

she demands that our neighbor paint the house…she won’t take ownership of the home until that is done.

to which our neighbor responds to her, “it’s not my home anymore. it was signed over to you and the check handed to me and cleared. that house is no longer my problem. enjoy!”

Wow, the neighbor really showed the buyer who’s boss.

this story all came about because yesterday my parents called our old neighbor: there was a for sale sign on the house again and we were confused.

our old neighbor promptly showed up and told us the story and we are all laughing hysterically because the woman has it listed for $430,000 – which anyone with eyes to tour it would never pay, and even if she did get it…she’d still be losing a ton of money.

It seems the over-eager buyer painted herself into a corner on this one.

who doesn’t love a story when greedy investors trying to inflate the market lose and lose big?

It’s true, we love a story where the little guy comes out on top.

Power to the people!

Let’s see what the folks on Reddit have to say about it.

One reader shared the big no-no behavior in the story that folks should never fall for.

Others offered their own experiences with similar bad actors.

Some Reddit users were keen to point out the larger economic trends behind this story.

Another Reddit user shared in the joy of the story’s karmic ending.

We’re here for the underdog win!

This woman probably learned her lesson, just a little too late.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.