The Long and Winding Road Home Plus Many Detours
I was recently contacted by a young couple looking to buy a home. They had settled on a particular area they liked in Delray Beach, so we set out to look at homes in this community. As it turned out, nothing fit the bill. Instead, we found a home in Boca Raton they liked. It was an REO property, a foreclosure, and that's where the story begins.
We submitted an offer to the bank and received no answer. We waited a week. The house needed a lot of work, so we went looking for another. Silly on the bank's part as this young couple found another home across the street, this time in better condition with a 2-car garage. We withdrew the offer on the first house and submitted an offer on the home with the 2-car garage, which was readily accepted.
And, that was the beginning of the long and winding road home.
Contracts and addendums were signed; inspections were done. The house has an enclosed patio with a flat roof that had been leaking. This flat roof needed to be replaced. Luckily for the buyers, the bank agreed to replace the roof. Perfect... except that when the work was being done, the roofer fell through the roof leaving approximately a 3-foot hole in the ceiling and a mess on the floor! We laugh about it now, but we weren't laughing then. We wanted them to fix the ceiling fixed, which they ultimately did.
Then we were due to close on 9/2. The buyers had their mortgage commitment on 8/23 and were ready to close when we hit yet another snag. The closing agent was waiting for the estoppel from the HOA. In Florida, you cannot close without the estoppel. So we waited and we waited and we waited. 9/2 came and went. An extension was signed. Then the closing agent went MIA for a few days and was nowhere to be found. Emails were flying back and forth. Calls went unanswered. The buyers were very distressed as was I, the lender and the listing agent.
As anyone dealing with REO properties knows, you need to have patience. You are dealing with an institution and there is a process. A chain of events takes place. When there is a break in the chain, everything comes to a halt. And do it did.
It turned out that the closing agent was waiting for authorization from the seller (the bank) to pay $ 7.97. That's right...you heard it right...$ 7.97! Amazing, isn't it? She let this file sit for over 2 weeks over $ 7.97 which the listing agent offered to pay, but the closing agent refused to allow her to.
The buyers were becoming increasingly frustrated. The extension ran through 9/9. They were asked to sign another, which they did. When the closing agent didn't have the HUD (settlement statement) ready by 9/9, they agreed to another extension to 9/13 with the stipulation that they would sign one further extension for 2 days if the bank picked up the fees they were starting to incur on their rate lock or they were ready to walk.
Lo and behold, the HUD was ready on 9/12! But the story doesn't end there. On the evening of 9/12, the closing agent changed the preliminary HUD to reflect a $ 60 charge for water. Simple enough but the bank wouldn't pay it and the closing agent wouldn't remove it until she had proof that it was paid. So the morning of 9/13, the listing agent drove 20 miles to get proof from the water company showing a zero balance.
And we closed on 9/13. The closing went flawlessly. Please note that the keys could not be released until the closing agent had the original documents back in her possession. Since they were going FedEx that evening, we figured the buyers could pick the key up by noon the next day. Wishful thinking!
The closing agent did not release the keys for 2 more days! She said she was not authorized to fund as she did not have the seller's signed HUD (which was uploaded into Equator on 9/13.) Go figure! The buyers did not receive keys until 9/15. Talk about patience! This was truly the long and winding road home with many detours for this lovely young couple who are now happily ensconced in their new home.
And wouldn't you know, the agent for the first bank contacted me about a month later asking if the buyers were still interested. Simply amazing!
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