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tjteru
Posts:6
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| 07/02/2009 9:09 AM |
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Looking for informed opinions here.
The short sell transaction I was involved in blew up last week and it seems my choices are to move on or try to force a sale of the property. I spoke with an attorney yesterday and he suggested that I try the later. I don’t know if he’s trying to sell me a pie in the sky or there’s actually a chance I can salvage the deal.
Here’s the short version of the story.
The bank accepted my offer back in mid February. They wanted to close escrow in 30 days. Since I was doing FHA 203K loan, that wasn’t likely. I was working with Wells Fargo as my lender and they were taking forever (80+ days) to fund the loan. During this time, my RE agent was able to get the bank to extend the sale numerous times. I finally dropped Wells Fargo and started working with another lender. It took some convincing, but the bank agreed again to extend the sale again. That extension was to expire Sunday June 28th. On Tuesday June 23rd, my RE agent calls and says the sellers want out of the deal, saying they want to try to do the gov. loan mod thing. Neither one of them work, so it’s just a ploy to get back into the house and live free for a while. They don’t care if they get foreclosed on. I also found out my RE agent is a scumbag. He and the seller’s agent work out of the same office. They lied to the sellers to get them to move out back in March, convincing them the place had already sold. They then collect rent from me while I was living at the property. I thought I had an agreement (done through the RE agent) with the sellers to live at the property while waiting for escrow to close, but the RE agents kept the money. The sellers were never contacted about renting the property since they were under the impression that I was now the owner. When the sellers found out this wasn’t the case they wanted to cancel the deal and try to do the loan modification. Along with this, the RE agents also forged the signatures for the sellers when an addendum was added to the original contract on my last extension from the bank. They couldn’t go back to them to have them sign since they told them the property had already sold.
My lender said I would have loan docs on Monday June 29th, one day after my extension expired. On Thursday June 25th, my RE agent calls and says the bank will not wait until Monday for the loan docs and that they are canceling the contract. Obviously, this doesn’t make much sense. Why would the bank wait this long then cancel the sale when I was only a day off from having loan docs? I think the RE agent wants this transaction swept under the rug because he got busted.
The attorney I spoke with said it would take $2,000 to $3,000 to file a lawsuit against the bank to try and force them to sell. I don’t have very deep pockets, but if I could salvage this deal without spending much more than that, I would definitely do it. BTW, I did get the money back from the RE agent that I gave them for rent.
Thanks for any input.
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wmcjjohnny
Posts:470
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| 07/02/2009 10:00 AM |
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[quote]Posted By tjteru on 07/02/2009 9:09 AM
Looking for informed opinions here.
The short sell transaction I was involved in blew up last week and it seems my choices are to move on or try to force a sale of the property. I spoke with an attorney yesterday and he suggested that I try the later. I don’t know if he’s trying to sell me a pie in the sky or there’s actually a chance I can salvage the deal.
Here’s the short version of the story.
The bank accepted my offer back in mid February. They wanted to close escrow in 30 days. Since I was doing FHA 203K loan, that wasn’t likely. I was working with Wells Fargo as my lender and they were taking forever (80+ days) to fund the loan. During this time, my RE agent was able to get the bank to extend the sale numerous times. I finally dropped Wells Fargo and started working with another lender. It took some convincing, but the bank agreed again to extend the sale again. That extension was to expire Sunday June 28th. On Tuesday June 23rd, my RE agent calls and says the sellers want out of the deal, saying they want to try to do the gov. loan mod thing. Neither one of them work, so it’s just a ploy to get back into the house and live free for a while. They don’t care if they get foreclosed on. I also found out my RE agent is a scumbag. He and the seller’s agent work out of the same office. They lied to the sellers to get them to move out back in March, convincing them the place had already sold. They then collect rent from me while I was living at the property. I thought I had an agreement (done through the RE agent) with the sellers to live at the property while waiting for escrow to close, but the RE agents kept the money. The sellers were never contacted about renting the property since they were under the impression that I was now the owner. When the sellers found out this wasn’t the case they wanted to cancel the deal and try to do the loan modification. Along with this, the RE agents also forged the signatures for the sellers when an addendum was added to the original contract on my last extension from the bank. They couldn’t go back to them to have them sign since they told them the property had already sold.
My lender said I would have loan docs on Monday June 29th, one day after my extension expired. On Thursday June 25th, my RE agent calls and says the bank will not wait until Monday for the loan docs and that they are canceling the contract. Obviously, this doesn’t make much sense. Why would the bank wait this long then cancel the sale when I was only a day off from having loan docs? I think the RE agent wants this transaction swept under the rug because he got busted.
The attorney I spoke with said it would take $2,000 to $3,000 to file a lawsuit against the bank to try and force them to sell. I don’t have very deep pockets, but if I could salvage this deal without spending much more than that, I would definitely do it. BTW, I did get the money back from the RE agent that I gave them for rent.
Thanks for any input.
[/quote]
tjteru,
First off, sorry about your experience. I will give Realtors in general the benefit of the doubt in this case and say that there are many that have an actual moral compass but anyone in the Sales game of any nature tend to cut corners and devolve into someone that will use unscrupulous practices when times are desperate. These are desperate times for the RE and banking industries. I would cut your losses and start with a new RE agent but to be perfectly honest, the market is mainly made up of a very tightly controlled supply of distressed (shorts and FC's) inventory and it will remain that way for some time. Expect a similarly frustrating experience whether it is a protracted and unsuccessful short sale experience or some sort of a ridiculous bidding war on a foreclosure due to the false sense of urgency being generated by the RE and banking propaganda machines. I have cut and pasted below an avenue to address the unscrupulous collusion that appears to have occured between the lender and the RE agent. Good luck.
State Department of Financial Institutions
111 Pine St., Suite 1100
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-263-8555
Toll free in CA: 1-800-622-0620 (for consumer complaints against CA state-licensed banks, the "800" number reaches the Consumer Services Office, located in Sacramento, CA).
Fax: 415-989-5310
E-mail: consumer@dfi.ca.gov
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Brian
Posts:4665
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| 07/02/2009 10:14 AM |
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Better call it water under the bridge.
You can't force someone to sell unless they want to. That is called specific performance in legal terms. Courts are loath to order specific performance. They would almost always rather award financial damages, if appropriate. You've not lost anything financially so far so I'm willing to bet you won't get anything by suing.
Suppose are you able to force the homeowners to sell to you. You would still have an uphill battle to force the bank to take less than they are owned.
Sounds like you really want the house. Don't let the love of house make you gullible as well.
You should first complain to the CA Department of Real Estate that licenses the agents.
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78TTop
Posts:286
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| 07/02/2009 10:41 AM |
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Suing a bank to force a short sale? Any lawyer who takes your money for that case is a loser. Move on...
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tjteru
Posts:6
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| 07/02/2009 12:47 PM |
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[quote]Posted By Brian on 07/02/2009 10:14 AM
Better call it water under the bridge.
You can't force someone to sell unless they want to. That is called specific performance in legal terms. Courts are loath to order specific performance. They would almost always rather award financial damages, if appropriate. You've not lost anything financially so far so I'm willing to bet you won't get anything by suing.
Suppose are you able to force the homeowners to sell to you. You would still have an uphill battle to force the bank to take less than they are owned.
Sounds like you really want the house. Don't let the love of house make you gullible as well.
You should first complain to the CA Department of Real Estate that licenses the agents.
[/quote]
Thanks Brian. Yeah, it hurts. It's tough finding a place that meets most of one's criteria and to be so close to closing on it. But you're probably right, I need to deal with reality. |
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tjteru
Posts:6
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| 07/02/2009 12:51 PM |
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| Thanks wmcjjohnny and 78TTop for the replies. I was thinking the attorney might be blowing smoke. |
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creative_cpa
Posts:834
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| 07/02/2009 1:24 PM |
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tjteru:
You should run, not walk, away from that deal. Also report both real estate agents to the California Department of Real Estate. They have an online form to report them. Google "Calfornia Department of Real Estate". |
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78TTop
Posts:286
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| 07/02/2009 2:19 PM |
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"It's tough finding a place that meets most of one's criteria and to be so close to closing on it."
You probably were never as close as you thought. Stay away from short sales. Shopping for a short sale is like looking for a wife in a strip club: the girls look good, they say all the right things, but they are untouchable. |
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sdbri
Posts:594
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| 07/03/2009 5:24 AM |
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[quote]Posted By tjteru on 07/02/2009 9:09 AM
The bank accepted my offer back in mid February. They wanted to close escrow in 30 days. Since I was doing FHA 203K loan, that wasn’t likely. I was working with Wells Fargo as my lender and they were taking forever (80+ days) to fund the loan. During this time, my RE agent was able to get the bank to extend the sale numerous times. I finally dropped Wells Fargo and started working with another lender. It took some convincing, but the bank agreed again to extend the sale again. That extension was to expire Sunday June 28th. On Tuesday June 23rd, my RE agent calls and says the sellers want out of the deal, saying they want to try to do the gov. loan mod thing. Neither one of them work, so it’s just a ploy to get back into the house and live free for a while. They don’t care if they get foreclosed on. I also found out my RE agent is a scumbag. He and the seller’s agent work out of the same office. They lied to the sellers to get them to move out back in March, convincing them the place had already sold. They then collect rent from me while I was living at the property. I thought I had an agreement (done through the RE agent) with the sellers to live at the property while waiting for escrow to close, but the RE agents kept the money. [/quote]
They collected rent from you and decided arbitrarily to kill the short sell? They ought to give you half that back on account of sabotaging the short sale for your intended home. They forged signatures, lied to all parties, and acted against yours and the seller's interests for personal profit. You need to tell their brokerage about what they did, because most brokerages would fire them for this. The only reason they wouldn't is if they were banging their boss or partners in crime. |
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chaozz
Posts:415
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| 07/03/2009 8:55 AM |
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| If you hire a attorney it will not stop at 3 grand..do as others said file with DRE.. |
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