In reference to my post
"What do you do when you notary runs off with the closing papers"
Here is the story from the beginning and I know I will probably not get a lot of comment because this situation is beyond words. I will leave out a lot of little details and dramas; otherwise I will still be typing in a week from now. (I do not have the file in front of me so my dates will not be 100% accurate)
I was working with a pre approved buyer (VA loan) we saw this bank owned listing the first day it came on the market. It was picture perfect for his family of SIX (4 small kids) and we made an offer ASAP. Asking price was $250,000 we offered $251,250 (knowing this home would go fast) There was a flyer from a lender in the home that advertised a fast and easy closing and seller concession up to 6% (lender was affiliated with the bank that owned the home) Long story short we got a phone call saying that our offer would be accepted over a full price cash offer if buyer would consider financing with their affiliated company (I know, this is unbelievable and in my mind not legal) I advice my buyer to this fact. He understood, but the house was a fantastic deal and he wanted it badly (kids did not have to change schools) this was beginning of Feb. our closing date was beginning of March. Bank signed our offer but switch closing date to end of Feb., It was really cutting it short but the lender confirmed that it would NOT be a problem so my buyer agreed but added seller's concession of 3,5% (estimate from lender)
Everybody signed we had a contract. All went well, mortgage application was filled out inspection etc. were done appraisal came in SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER. A week before closing I get an e mail from lender saying everything looks fantastic; she thinks we can close by the end of the month. My buyer was all happy, started to pack boxes and already shopped for new paint and furniture etc. (Please keep in mind this is a family of six, once you get all four kids excited there is no way back for the father) All of a sudden I get a call from the listing agent saying we need to extend the contract, there will be some big changes in the seller's personnel situation and he wants to play it save just in case we need a few days longer. My buyer did not like is (he already had a renter for his old house) but said OK. Contract was extended for 4 weeks (but we were still thinking (confirmed by lender, that we would close end of Feb. beginning of March) Anyway, all kinds of little problems came up, more and more paperwork was needed for the loan, lender was extremely slow. Finally buyer gets his mortgage package - truth in lending etc. 72 legal pages. My buyer freaked, he did not understand a word and all the numbers were wrong!!! Somehow we got past this hurdle too and moved on with an understanding that the seller's concession is now 5.5% because their closing cost were outrageous. I was very upset with the lender and the whole situation but my buyer wanted this house no matter what, his kids had already told their friends and so on. I tried to get the 5.5% sellers concession in writing but guess what, I never got the signature because the seller had just sold the house in a package deal to another asset management company !?
Well if you think it cannot get any more confusing, think again, this new company had gotten a huge package of files and for about a week we could not find anybody that wanted to be in charge of our file. All this time the buyer was assured by the lender that we are still on for closing on Friday (last day of contract) and not to worry. Well Friday morning comes around and the lender finally admits that we cannot close today and she needs another week. (Underwriting was overwhelmed with a truck load of files) had nothing to do with our situation, just tough luck. OK. Something smelled very wrong all this time, but my buyer was not giving up. So I asked for a 2 week extension. Seller came back and said he would only give us a 3 day extension and the $2,500 deposit would be NON refundable if we did not close. This is when I finally lost my cool and screamed bloody murder. And once again I was glad that I worked as a SINGLE agent for my buyer and not a transaction broker. It took me a while until he was ok with my very no nonsense e mail that I wanted to send to the bank, but he finally said ok. So right before 5 pm on Friday I get the signed extension for a week and deposit was still refundable. Everybody was happy again; we were supposed to close on Monday or Tuesday.
Monday afternoon (I want to remind my readers, I am NOT making this story up) my buyer gets a call or e mail from the lender saying
Sorry, as of today we lost our license to do mortgages in Florida. Your file will be transferred to another lender................................................................. It took me a few minutes to digest this news and I actually took a XANAX before I made my phone calls (that happened twice a year) Long story short, here is the only positive twist in this whole deal, the file was transferred to prime lending and assigned to a guy named Tim Heath. I have NEVER seen a better more efficient more loan officer. Tim went way beyond every expectation you can possible have. If it wasn't for Tim and his dedication to close this file and the long hours he put in (we talked at 10 pm at night) we would have NEVER gone to closing. (Keep in mind, seller would not grant another extension and appraisal came in much much higher than our offer) There are not many people that I deal with that I would give as much credit to as I give to Tim Heath. So, closing, again last day of contract, was scheduled for Tuesday. Monday night around 7pm I get a call from Tim saying "We have a clear to close" He got the paperwork to the title company on Tuesday morning, they had a huge load of files and did not get to it till about 1 pm that's when I first say the HUD statement. The seller's concession was 3.5% instead of the agreed upon 5.5% we managed to somehow agree on 4.5%, so HUD needed to be redone. We had arranged for a courtesy closing with a local St. Petersburg Title company and they were standing by. Long story short we were running out of time, the Texas Title Company never communicated with our title company and never send any docs. Around 7 pm I finally got a call from the Texas title company saying they have everything in place HUD is approved by lender we can close now. By then there was no title company open in Saint Pete and that is WHY we had to agree to go with a notary that the Texas Company send over to us.
This is probably the longest post I have ever written and will ever write but I got so much attention on my earlier post of "What do you do when the notary runs off with your closing papers" that I needed to explain the whole situation. I understand if you do not believe a word I am saying, I still think I am dreaming and might wake up soon but instead, now I am hunting down the Notary !!!
PS. I also have to mention the listing agent how did a fantastic job.
