Should Close Today

Of course, I've said that before.

I just got off the phone with the escrow officer and she said the lender had just one last requirement - they wanted a letter of explanation from the buyer about one of his renters or something. I didn't get many details because I don't want to get involved with that, but I was told that the loan officer wrote the letter and is getting the buyer to sign it. He shouldn't have to overnight it to them or anything, so hopefully we will close today. And no, we have no idea why it has taken the lender over 1.5 months to request this letter.

I found out it is the buyer who is paying the $50 a day fee. And yesterday was a bank holiday, so the funds couldn't have been wired to me anyway.

For those of you looking for a lender or dealing with a buyer's lender, the company that is giving my buyer such a hard time is Argent Mortgage. I recommend avoiding them like the plague.

This Lender Is Unbelievable!

We were supposed to close Thursday or Friday, but the escrow agent got a call Friday from the lender. Apparently, on one of the loan doc pages, the notary didn't put his stamp in precisely the right place, so the lender wanted that page redone. He also decided he needed a document for the Patriot Act, which is basically a copy of the buyer's driver's license. So a mobile notary was sent to the buyer on Friday and the requested documents were FedEx'd to the lender for morning delivery today. We'll see what they say now. I'm glad I got the $50 per day fee added on. And as soon as I find out this lender's name, I'll let you know so you can have a heads up if you run into them.

I've Been Interviewed!

A short interview with me has been posted at www.reiblog.org. My interview is here.

We Have Docs!

Yesterday, the escrow officer received docs from the lender! If all goes well (and based on how things have been going, that is a mighty big if), the loan should fund on Thursday or Friday.

One good thing is that we were able to get the buyer to agree to a $50 a day fee for each day they are past the scheduled close of escrow. I stole this idea from a comment Empty Spaces made on Hespy's Real Estate blog. The fee is retroactive to the day the Cure Notice period ended, so as of yesterday, it was at $650.

What A Weekend

It was a fairly hectic weekend, in terms of the property. On Friday afternoon, I heard from my agent that escrow still had not closed because the buyer's lender STILL had not provided docs for the buyer to sign. No one at the lender will return the calls of the buyer or the escrow agent. The buyer's real estate agent (who is also his daughter) has gone out of town for two weeks. We tried calling her and got a message telling us to contact her assistant. Her assistant had no idea she was out of town.

I didn't want to miss out on any weekend traffic if I had to put the house back on the market, so my agent and the escrow agent discussed our options. The only reason anyone can think of now for the lender's behavior is that, for some reason, they want to have this loan funded in October instead of September and they were delaying us until Monday. Technically, we are no longer under contract with the current buyer, since we've already delivered the Cure Notice, so we've put the house back on the market. However, the escrow officer is leaving the escrow open in her system until Monday (today), in case loan docs suddenly appear. If they do, the house goes to the buyer. If they don't, I'll get his deposit and we'll move on to another buyer.

The house went back on the market at around 11:30 AM Friday and I ran back out there to put the lockbox back on. Within 4 hours, we had an offer come in. By Sunday, we had 5 offers. Unfortunately, none of them are very strong. Most are for full price or more, but they usually want me to credit back 1%- 3% of the price for closing costs. Most are also being bought with 100% financing and only have a $500 earnest money deposit. Not too promising. We asked a couple of them if they would increase the deposit to $1,000 and make it non-refundable after the inspection period. They all rejected that. (One buyer already lost a deposit because they couldn't get financing before escrow closed. This person has been looking for a house for 6 months. He obviously doesn't have good credit.)

On Sunday, we did get one offer that looks promising. It's for full price, but they want me to contribute 1% cash back. They don't want a home warranty, they are putting down $1,000 earnest money, and they will pay for the inspection. The agent said the 1% cash back wasn't really required and they would probably drop it, if we asked. The agent also doesn't think making the deposit non-refundable will be a big deal. So towards the end of the day today, (so the first buyer's lender has a chance to submit docs), we will counter that offer and see how it goes.

I feel bad for the first buyer. He really likes the house and wants it, but his lender is really screwing him. If I was him, I'd be threatening a lawsuit, or at the very least, a complaint with the state's banking commission. This lender is not returning phone calls and that directly caused him to lose $2,000 (or it will, if they don't come through today.)

The only reason I am still giving the first buyer a chance is that I won't have to wait another month for a new escrow. This buyer already has the keys and has already done his inspection. I have also already taken the utilities out of my name. If I have to have another escrow, we're talking another month, minimum, and I'll have to get the utilities turned back on, which will probably entail some costs. The $2,000 I'd make would more than cover it, but I want to move on to the next project now.