Tuesday, May 1

Fraudulent Mortgage Lenders must be stopped

Last night, our buyer backed out from the sale of our house.

Obviously this is frustrating and aggravating. We want to just go kick some ass, but the trouble is, who's ass do we kick? His ass, or the mortgage lender who initially gave him approval for the loan, then backed out at the last minute. We can only assume that he was a "strong buyer" based upon what his realtor said to us in the beginning. We did receive a loan letter of approval so it was legit, but what happened two days before closing? AND why does he not have to forfeit his earnest money? Isn't that what it's for? You screwed up our process and now are making our lives more stressed? You should have to pay for that – IF it was your fault. We feel aweful for our buyer too. If you were in his shoes– IF he intended to buy, you would have already fallen in love with your new, cute house. You would have been planning your first housewarming party, and had possibly put in for a change of address through the USPS. I know we did.

It would also be a little easier to take, but, this is the second time this has happened to me in three years. The first time, the $#@*! owner of the Ogden Theatre had agreed to buy my house. We went through numerous hoops throughout the process and he watched me move out of my house, and then the next day, called and cancelled the sale, due to "financing problems." To coin a phrase from Christy last night, "This is YOUR luck, not mine." She has good luck and fast home sales. She also has amazing job luck and parking kharma.

Anyway, there are many fraudulent lenders out there so seller/buyer beware. We do have a good one on our side, if you need a recommendation. But be careful.

Here are some references:

After a recent series of Boston Globe investigative articles on the mortgage industry the Massachusetts Division of Banking has issued 17 cease and desist orders against mortgage companies and brokers all over the state. Most of the orders concerned falsifying information to allow borrowers with insufficient income to qualify for loans although some were for operating unlicensed companies or unlicensed branches of duly licensed companies

and a good story: Predatory Lenders Targeted in Augusta, Maine

2 comments:

painterjoy said...

I am so, so sorry. Don't worry,your (old)house will sell so fast. Especially now because you are switched back to Christy-luck, and have taken care of the Dave-luck.

And as for people who take advantage of the financially needy for their own gain, I don't know what to say. It is enough to make me want to write very, very negative words, which I won't do, because I am sending you guys good vibes instead.

saffry said...

At least it doesn't sound like your home purchase was tied to the sale, imagine how awful that would be. Although I'd guess that you'd rather show the home when it was still tastefully furnished, rather than after you've moved out.

I felt terribly guilty when we backed out of the purchase of the house in Saranac Lake. At least it was still 3-4 weeks out from the closing, but of course we'd already paid for the inspection and I'm sure the owners were preparing to pack. In our case, they didn't really have an obligation to return the earnest money, because Dan was technically still employed and able to get a mortgage for several weeks after the fire. But they returned it to us anyway.

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