Here's a quick update on the house.
We're walking... nay... running away from it. There's been too many red flags with the realtor and his friend the lender. Since the BF already wrote what happened, I'll take the laz... efficient route and cut and paste.
Just a FYI, this is one of the rare times he'll curse but I just left it in there.
If you want a condensed version...
Too many suspicious papers inserted into the agreement, the lender found out my friend works for a hated/rival company, then things got worse to the point that we're walking.
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I think I am nearing the end of the events of the last post.
I wasn't going to say anything until it was all tied up and secured, but since I'm getting out of the situation, I can talk about it that way as well.
Many of you know that I was house hunting. We had hunted for a place, found one, but the realtor wanted me to dump my life savings into it with the rationale of "Sure, you'll be wiped out, but you'll have a house. Isn't that a great trade?" We dropped her as she just seemed stupid and didn't know what she was doing.
After a month of dealing with the next team, they knew exactly what they were doing.
Cue the cliched "It all started out so well...." because it honestly did. The guy investigated and found the first place to be in poor shape. He secured us the paperwork, found us a nice new place in a great neighborhood, found us a mortgage guy who would take us, we got inspected.....
Then the last few weeks went to Hell.
The signs that something is wrong are also cliched in that one starts noticing little things wrong at first. My realtor suddenly became unavailable. I could only talk to his assistant. My requests for anything on the process were all denied, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Everything seemed to shift in favor of the bank. My closing date was supposed to be yesterday. The answer of "no problem" in meeting the date led to half-answers and many questions becoming just flat unanswered.
The inspection showed some minor damage to the house. My realtor and mortgage guy tried to make me fix the house on my dime. If I met the conditions, would my loan get approved and would I get the house? Not necessarily, but it would help things. They tricked me into transferring the utilities in my name (water wouldn't allow it as the house was not in my name) because of some story that the bank was turning things off and appraisal needed it. They didn't tell me that should never be my responsibility before close of escrow, and it makes me liable for someone else's house (I got the utilities cut off today, and no charges, so don't worry).
I told them that I will not repair a house that isn't mine if it doesn't help me secure my loan. I told them I would not cover the bank's utility payments. They shot back that I had better because the bank has already lost enough money paying for these things, and they need to be cut a break.
So cover the bank's utilities, and fix the house, no guarantee on the loan, so if I lost the house, the bank could turn around and sell a fully repaired house to someone else.
My realtor could not make himself available to sit with me to review paperwork. I didn't understand some things. They told me to sign anyway. Some papers were completely incorrect, and I pointed out the errors. They told me to sign anyway. I told them they want me to sign things without representation, and why isn't my realtor helping me? They wanted me to sign anyway. And I began to refuse. And they began to get angry.
Not to mention that they started slipping in papers such as pre-payment penalties, and they wanted me to waive my right to the title of the house.
Think about that for a second.
They wanted me to waive my right to the title of the house.
I had to start getting other professionals to run questions past. One of Jen's friends is a mortgage person. My mortgage guy was willing to talk to her, and due to some odd universal quirk, Jen's friend just happened to work at the mortgage company that was apparently my former guy's arch-enemy. I mean, he hated her company, even though she had nothing to do with this "ripping off" he ranted angrily to me about. When I began to call him out on some inconsistencies....
He canceled my loan the next day. No warning. Nothing. This was Wednesday. He told me that I need to shred my documents, and go work with my little friend at the company he hated so much. He reiterated it 2-3 times in the e-mail he sent me. He then told my realtor that I was harassing him. Doing the first work that he has in two weeks, my realtor got my loan reinstated under the condition that I am banned from contacting, communicating with or questioning my mortgage guy. If I did, my loan would be pulled again.
I was stressing. I had to go to the dentist this week because I've starting grinding my teeth so much lately, that I ground the point off a tooth. And other than it being smoothed, it will never be like it was without heavy reconstruction. Jen and I were breaking out in rashes.
Any request I made was denied. They kept trying to nickel and dime me for everything. My loan was in the hands of a person that if I questioned anything in the docs, it would get dropped again. All over knowing a friend that worked at a company he hated. It's all too weird to be just a coincidence. They were there to completely protect the bank (I also found out there is a lot of inbreeding in all of this, so not only would they get money from their intended job position, they had other positions where they had direct conflicts of interest, and my mortgage guy was his own bank (The bank that would be funding my loan). They stood to make a lot of money off of me multiple ways. And they were screaming for me to sign and send back everything quickly without question, and to hand check over check for processing fees, overnight delivery fees.... They wouldn't even give me a straight answer as to when the appraiser would be able to come (he was delayed for three weeks due to the 4th of July holiday), or when a new closing date would be (until I made the mortgage guy unexpectedly flip out).
So I've fought back. They'll find out Monday what I've done (canceled checks, cut utilities, put extra security on my IRA, refused to send the paperwork they called me repeatedly for and demanded today), so I expect Monday to be a real shit-storm.
I've talked to numerous realtors and mortgage people. I've told this story about 8 times to other professionals, and each time, I get shocked looks, and comments about how unethical these people are.
I got a new realtor (the aunt of a friend of mine), and a new mortgage person, who actually teared up and hugged me when I told them this story. Not only are they getting me out of this situation, they are also going to help me file complaints to the boards of realtors and mortgage.
I lost a small bit of money, mostly on the inspection, which I would have had to do anyway. I still have an option to get the same house, but there is suspicion that they have inbred ties to the escrow company. They have their hands in so many cookie jars that if they can get a sucker to comply with their wishes, they are going to make a shit-ton of cash. My new realtor helped me do a background check on those two bozos. What she found... holy...
So the house hunt continues. I was supposed to close yesterday, but the old group kept dragging their feet. My realtor was gone on vacation on the day I was supposed to close. I think he knew this wasn't going to happen. But I will tell you this: I will be taking up a claim, and filing several complaints to every board and corporate office I can. Their behavior has to be stopped, and I now understand how the housing market got into such a position with prime examples such as these two.
This could have been a lot worse. I lost inspection money and the sharpness of a tooth. I could have been screwed for years. But... I didn't.
You know, I'm well aware that nothing simple happens for me, good or bad. But there are some times that I wish that things could just happen in a more "normal" fashion every now and then.
But just to reiterate: I made it through and I'm okay. Exhausted and bummed that I'm not moving into my new place this weekend, but okay.
Also, if all of this sounds way too bizarre, even for me, feel free to ask Jen. She'll verify that everything I've said is in no way an exaggeration.
