I had a listing appointment a few weeks back and everything just went too well for it to be legit.

Ran my market analysis and the seller was agreeable to my pricing suggestions, negotiated a fair listing agreement and commission percentage, took photos, etc. I always ask the homeowner what they owe on their mortgage and if they owe a second mortage. Of course, they said no.

So I strut back to my office feeling good about the outcome and spend the time entering the forms into the MLS and writing a description, uploading photos, etc. A couple of days go by and as is customary for me, I contacted the seller to let her know the listing was active and how to find it online, yadda, yadda, yadda...Well, then out of nowhere she starts telling me about how she went to her bank to try to get a debt consolidation loan and they turned her down, so she got one from a guy that she met at a local McDonald's to sign the paperwork.

I immediately began to get suspicious. I said, "You signed up for a debt consolidation loan from a guy who wanted to meet with you at the McDonald's?" She said he was very helpful and it was a quick and easy process and she was able to borrow $20,000 to pay off her car and some other bills and do some remodeling.

I said, "Sounds like a 2nd mortgage!". She said, "No, No, No, this guy never said anything to me about this loan being tied into my house." I said, "Well you better call whoever it is and find out what you are dealing with before someone comes along and puts a full price offer down on your house and you get sued for failure to perform because you didn't realize you had a $20,000 2nd mortgage that was going to need to be paid off at closing in order to exchange title.

Sure enough, she called me back the next day and said it was a second mortgage and swears that she was completely misled by the person and had no idea that the $20,000 loan was secured by her home.

This was an incredibly mind numbing experience, a complete waste of time, because the listing had to be withdrawn. Now I'm no genius, but come on...wouldn't common sense tell you that if the person who is soliciting this "debt consolidation loan" wants you to meet him up at the Mickey D's (his office) to sign paperwork, that there might be an issue there?

If anyone else has a similar story of painful ignorance to share, or simply wants to comment on the laughable grief I've recently been put through, I'd love to hear some of the hair-brained things some of your clients are up to.

Best of luck avoiding anyone like this to all of you,

Jim Milliman - Done-Deal Realty, Inc - Colon Michigan

Vacation Rental Property Manager and Short Sale Specialist among other hats I wear...

St. Joseph and Branch County Michigan