Realty Bites
Wow. I guess I really should update the site more often… it wouldn't take so long. Here is the latest house saga, Act III.
A buyer (Annie) tendered a contract on our house (the third contract on our house) at the beginning of October, with a closing date of October 31st. Things looked very positive: she had a checking account (pronounced “verifiable income”) and there were supposedly not one but two lenders willing to give her a loan.
On or around the middle of the month, our realtor (Kathy) got a call from the buyer’s realtor (Robert) asking if the closing date could be moved up to the 23rd. Great, we said, go for it! Well, the 23rd came and went – with no closing. The mortgage broker (Jay, from a company in Texas), with whom Robert and Annie had been dealing, said that the closing needed to be pushed back a day or two. Then we found out that the appraisal, which we had been told was not an issue for the loan, became a problem, because the contract price was $1750 over the appraisal price. We agreed to reset the price of the house to match the appraisal price, and thought that took care of the problem.
The “day or two” stretched out to become “back to the original date” of the 31st. The 31st came and went – with no closing. We found out that Annie was told on the 27th that she needed to have a certain amount of funds in her checking account for a certain number of consecutive days (7). She deposited the funds into her account that day, beginning the seven-day period. I found that particularly galling – they knew before the weekend that there was no way to close on the 31st, but didn’t bother to tell us about it until the supposed closing day.
Now the NEW closing date was going to be Monday the 6th of November. In the meantime, Jay admitted to Robert that what had happened was that there were (as previously mentioned) two lenders. The first lender was the one that had asked for a closing on the 23rd, but was only able to qualify Annie for a 95% loan. Since Annie needs a 100% loan, this was a problem. But now he was trying to go with the second lender, who was going to offer a 100% loan, which was why the appraisal became an issue so late in the game, and why they “only just” found out about the seven-day funds thing. They were trying to work up a whole new loan without telling anyone, including Annie!
That was what we had heard as of Wednesday, November 1st. That was the last day anyone ever heard from Jay, the mortgage broker. Robert could not get hold of him; Kathy could not get hold of him (even though, as the seller’s realtor and not the buyer’s realtor, Jay didn’t *have* to talk to Kathy anyway; but he had been talking to her because at first Robert was not telling us anything and we were having to find everything out through other sources); the title company could not get hold of him; etc.
On November 6th, we found out that – would you believe it? – we weren’t going to close… again. Kathy got the idea of getting the lending company’s name from the title company and calling them directly to find out what was happening. This company (located in California) told us that the loan was still in underwriting (Jay had been telling us all along that it was out of underwriting and that he had no idea what the hold-up was), and that they were waiting on a bank statement from last year from Annie. Kathy called Robert and told him about it, which was also news to him, and Annie faxed her statement within an hour of finding out this latest tidbit of news. I really feel sorry for Annie; she has been trying so hard to be prompt and do everything that needs to be done, and these jerks aren’t even telling her what she needs to get done. Anyway, we were told that – with this document – they would be able to wrap things up and we would close on Friday, November 10th.
Today is the 9th, of course, and Kathy called the lender to make sure that everything was set to close tomorrow as scheduled. I have to warn you to hold on to your hats - you only THOUGHT things were complicated before. Just wait. The “lender” told Kathy that since Annie was only able to provide one bank statement from 2005, and not all 12, she was only going to be offered a 95% loan, so they were trying another lender….
Now, just a minute, said Kathy, I thought that you told me that *you* were the lenders; what’s this about going to another lender? As it turns out, this company is really another brokerage firm, and that the reason no one was hearing from Jay was because he had given Annie’s loan to another company without telling anyone!!!
When Robert and Annie heard this, they finally decided that there are probably lenders right here in town that will be just fine, and have been pursuing that option. And I have to admit that I am even leaving out details that might get too confusing, if that tells you anything...
In the meantime, we are still waiting: still trusting that somehow this is what God wants for us, and still hopeful that everything will turn out for the best. But I have to say that the uncertainty of this situation is really not pleasant, and there are times when I would prefer for God’s timetable to speed up a bit.
I’ll post a nice BIG entry when we are finally homeless!! :^)
A buyer (Annie) tendered a contract on our house (the third contract on our house) at the beginning of October, with a closing date of October 31st. Things looked very positive: she had a checking account (pronounced “verifiable income”) and there were supposedly not one but two lenders willing to give her a loan.
On or around the middle of the month, our realtor (Kathy) got a call from the buyer’s realtor (Robert) asking if the closing date could be moved up to the 23rd. Great, we said, go for it! Well, the 23rd came and went – with no closing. The mortgage broker (Jay, from a company in Texas), with whom Robert and Annie had been dealing, said that the closing needed to be pushed back a day or two. Then we found out that the appraisal, which we had been told was not an issue for the loan, became a problem, because the contract price was $1750 over the appraisal price. We agreed to reset the price of the house to match the appraisal price, and thought that took care of the problem.
The “day or two” stretched out to become “back to the original date” of the 31st. The 31st came and went – with no closing. We found out that Annie was told on the 27th that she needed to have a certain amount of funds in her checking account for a certain number of consecutive days (7). She deposited the funds into her account that day, beginning the seven-day period. I found that particularly galling – they knew before the weekend that there was no way to close on the 31st, but didn’t bother to tell us about it until the supposed closing day.
Now the NEW closing date was going to be Monday the 6th of November. In the meantime, Jay admitted to Robert that what had happened was that there were (as previously mentioned) two lenders. The first lender was the one that had asked for a closing on the 23rd, but was only able to qualify Annie for a 95% loan. Since Annie needs a 100% loan, this was a problem. But now he was trying to go with the second lender, who was going to offer a 100% loan, which was why the appraisal became an issue so late in the game, and why they “only just” found out about the seven-day funds thing. They were trying to work up a whole new loan without telling anyone, including Annie!
That was what we had heard as of Wednesday, November 1st. That was the last day anyone ever heard from Jay, the mortgage broker. Robert could not get hold of him; Kathy could not get hold of him (even though, as the seller’s realtor and not the buyer’s realtor, Jay didn’t *have* to talk to Kathy anyway; but he had been talking to her because at first Robert was not telling us anything and we were having to find everything out through other sources); the title company could not get hold of him; etc.
On November 6th, we found out that – would you believe it? – we weren’t going to close… again. Kathy got the idea of getting the lending company’s name from the title company and calling them directly to find out what was happening. This company (located in California) told us that the loan was still in underwriting (Jay had been telling us all along that it was out of underwriting and that he had no idea what the hold-up was), and that they were waiting on a bank statement from last year from Annie. Kathy called Robert and told him about it, which was also news to him, and Annie faxed her statement within an hour of finding out this latest tidbit of news. I really feel sorry for Annie; she has been trying so hard to be prompt and do everything that needs to be done, and these jerks aren’t even telling her what she needs to get done. Anyway, we were told that – with this document – they would be able to wrap things up and we would close on Friday, November 10th.
Today is the 9th, of course, and Kathy called the lender to make sure that everything was set to close tomorrow as scheduled. I have to warn you to hold on to your hats - you only THOUGHT things were complicated before. Just wait. The “lender” told Kathy that since Annie was only able to provide one bank statement from 2005, and not all 12, she was only going to be offered a 95% loan, so they were trying another lender….
Now, just a minute, said Kathy, I thought that you told me that *you* were the lenders; what’s this about going to another lender? As it turns out, this company is really another brokerage firm, and that the reason no one was hearing from Jay was because he had given Annie’s loan to another company without telling anyone!!!
When Robert and Annie heard this, they finally decided that there are probably lenders right here in town that will be just fine, and have been pursuing that option. And I have to admit that I am even leaving out details that might get too confusing, if that tells you anything...
In the meantime, we are still waiting: still trusting that somehow this is what God wants for us, and still hopeful that everything will turn out for the best. But I have to say that the uncertainty of this situation is really not pleasant, and there are times when I would prefer for God’s timetable to speed up a bit.
I’ll post a nice BIG entry when we are finally homeless!! :^)
posted by Kathy Romer | 9:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home