I’m being evicted after accidentally signing over my $185k home for $10

A HOMEOWNER has claimed they accidentally signed their nearly $200,000 home away for just $10.

Claude Frye, 66, said he was forced to sell his late mother’s belongings to make extra cash after the unfortunate situation.

The resident, from Fort Pierce, Florida, about 65 miles north of West Palm Beach, is also being evicted, per Miami news outlet WPBF in March.

Frye was devastated at what happened and claimed that people took advantage of his kindness.

“Like I said, everybody has been taking advantage of me,” he told the outlet.

“Because I’m kind of a nice guy, you know.”

Frye lived in the home for 23 years, and when his neighbor, Vince Errico, heard about the situation, he looked into the property records.

The neighbor told WPBF that he believed there was maybe $1,500 left for Frye after selling the property, which he thought was strange.

“There’s definitely something wrong there. And he gets nothing. I think he got $1,500,” Errico noted.

The situation began after Frye’s mother passed away in 2020.

Frye got behind on the mortgage payments and sought the assistance of someone he knew to assist with the home.

“I wouldn’t have gotten behind so bad, if it wasn’t for my mom dying,” the evicted homeowner said.

“It was just me here alone. And I took it really hard.”

The bank ultimately foreclosed on the property that year — but he sought Thomas Brinson for help.

Frye claimed that Brinson took over the mortgage, and he signed a deed in 2021 to pass the responsibility to the man for $10.

Brinson allowed Frye to live in what was now his home.

Court records obtained by WPBF noted that Frye didn’t understand the document he was signing when he gave the property away for $10.

“Once I signed the paper, and I didn’t realize that that gave him the right to sell it and evict me,” Frye said.

Brinson claimed that the home and Frye caused “too much stress and money,” so he sold it to real estate investor Carlton Darville, per the outlet.

Darville wouldn’t disclose the payment to Brinson, but the court records listed the $10 and “other good and valuable consideration.”

In December 2022, Darville then flipped the home and sold it to a New York-based LLC for about $185,000.

Frye hadn’t vacated by January this year, and the new owner filed the eviction complaint.

Errico, after learning more of the situation from the property records, fought on behalf of his neighbor.

“Frye is a mentally disabled senior citizen,” he wrote.

He continued that the homeowner was “coerced into quit claiming his home” and was ” lied to about the paperwork for the deed transfer and really had no idea he was signing away his home.”

Errico didn’t specify persons or businesses specifically responsible for the alleged coercion.

“He could have at least put the house up for sale, priced it cheap, and at least got something. Now he’s got nothing,” Errico explained to WPBF.

Darville claimed he did nothing wrong in the situation despite the raised eyebrows from neighbors like Errico.

“It might seem a little murky, but that’s the nature of our business,” he told the outlet.

He added that the bank would’ve foreclosed on Frye either way due to the continued missed mortgage payments.

Darville said he paid Frye $1,500 for the keys and would’ve paid another $1,500 if he vacated by January 18.

“Ethically, I’m 100 percent clear because, again, I never coerced Mr. Frye. I never swindled him. Never forced him. He wasn’t incoherent when he signed a deed over to whoever,” the real estate investor maintained.

In February, the court ordered the eviction to move forward and found no evidence of wrongdoing.

In a surprising turn of events, Frye went missing about a week after Errico’s filing in March.

He wasn’t found until almost four weeks later after he was robbed and beaten in Fort Lauderdale, according to a report from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

Police noted the situation as unrelated to the eviction case, and Errico told the outlet that “a person took him down there supposedly to get some money that was owed to him.”

For more on evictions, check out The U.S. Sun’s coverage of a 93-year-old who was evicted after rent increases and claimed landlords just wanted her to “get to heaven.”

The U.S. Sun also has the story of a tenant who was evicted after their ceiling collapsed.