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How to buy a house on the courthouse steps...Part III of a 3 part series

By
Title Insurance with Bell Title /Triserv LLC

WARNING! This is not for the faint at heart......ADULTS, do not attempt this unless you have a strong will or desire, a good banker, enough down payment, an approval in hand and very good idea of your market, the houses in it and most importantly the home you want to buy. Our saga began about 13 months ago, but for the sake of time and space, I have decided to limit this to the last 90 days only.

 

Read Part I here

I left Part II with the mortgage company with which we been working suddenly going out of business! And, as my friend Michael Thornton, added, "RUTRO", except my reaction was a tad bit more dramatic!

Tuesday evening February 3rd (60 hours to deadline)

Fortunately, I had the advantage of having a great source of contacts of folks that could help me with our predicament. So I phoned a friend that local underwriting and more importantly, they could lend thier own money. They were a federally charted bank. We spoke briefly and after ai explained the situation, we agreed to meet the next morning in his office. I spent the next hour so putting the file back together and emailed the entire package to his office

Wednesday morning February 4th (52 hours to deadline)

I meet my friend in his office and we go over the package, appraisal, all the documentation. We then confirm the numbers and he pulls credit, re-runs the loan through automated underwriting and nothing changes.....whew! Off to the races yet again!

We then discuss the documents in the file and make sure we have an accurate list of items needed according to the Automated Approval. I make a check list and now I have runn around town and get the funds needed to close, the trailing documents for manual underwriting and all by that afternoon.

Wednesday afternoon (44 hours to deadline)

All documentation collected and sent to the underwriter. All funds verified and certified checks cut for pick up the next day. My friend at the bank calls and needs to discuss the details of how this loan is going to close since it is not a traditional purchase (no contract). Since I had open communication with the substitute trustee, I agreed to call him and simply request his signatures on several of the closing documents. it wnet like this...

"Hi, Mr attorney"

"Hello, Mr Hussung"

"We are moving right along" (he knew about the original lender going out of business on Tuesday). Since this is a FHA loan, the bank is requiring your signature on a some of the critical closing documents, what time can we come by Friday morning to do that?"

"I am not signing anything" (what?!!!!! Are you kidding me?!!!) There was some additional dialog that I will not mention here, but he did offer that the exact same circumstance happened 2 weeks prior with a local bank and their underwriters were ok with it and it closed.....

Okay, here is where it gets weird.

I let my friend and the underwriter know what had happened and as I am on the phone with him, the title company that closed the loan that the substitute attorney referred to was in my friends office. (Seriously!) She confirmed the closing and we had instant precedent. I was amazed, to say the least! That was a huge moment and there was no doubt that this was meant to be. They spoke to their underwriters and their HUD representative and there was indeed a precedent set. The only problem was we did not find all this out until the next day. So the pins and needles were starting to get planted pretty deep.

Thursday morning February 5th (28 hours to deadline)

My wife and I had slept on a bed of nails the night before. However, the file was complete and ready to be manually underwritten. No road blocks. Whew!

22 hours to deadline

I have to go to the bank to work some details for the certified funds. which took a couple of hours and then we were headed back to the the underwriter's office to make sure everything was set (did I mention that I am a bit of a control freak?) and then the battery goes dead on our car.....crap! We get it jumped offafter an hour of waiting, we head home and instead I make a phone call to let my friend know we have the money and we will see him first thing in the morning.

Friday February 6th (4 hours until deadline!)

We arrive, the underwriting is complete and now the closing package has to be sent and printed. The next step is sign and exchange money.....so far so good!

Except the banks computers go down, so no package can be sent....Crap! 2 hours to go!

We scurry around for the next 30 minutes and are able to print the package at the local office. But since time is running out, it is suggested to make a call to the bank that did the foreclosure and explain what happened. We confirmed we had the money, but were waiting on the package to sign and then disburse. They said okay! Whew...another bullet avoided!

30 minutes to deadline

We figure out what documents have to be signed and submitted back to the title company for disbursement. The wire is confirmed, the funds are sent and @ 2:30 PM, I confirm the money is in the substitute trustees account and all we have to do is go get the deed!

DONE! We own our house!

The most important par of this whole incident is we not only were able to buy our house, but I really think that for many folks that are in our situation in this funky economy, there is hope. There is a way to do this. if you have any questions about the process, feel free to contact me about it. I truly hope that I can help

Stay Sharp and good luck!

Your ActiveRain partner and national title agent,

Until next time my friends,


LEADING EDGE TITLE SOLUTIONS

Matching experience with technology to give

you the edge to be a mortgage industry leader

 

Bo Hussung

Vice President of Sales

phone ~ 615-438-7300 fax ~ 678-261-1594

email me ~ bhussung@cogentca.com

web ~ www.cogentca.com


 

 

 

Comments (4)

Lou Ludwig
Ludwig & Associates - Boca Raton, FL
Designations Earned CRB, CRS, CIPS, GRI, SRES, TRC

Hi Bo

Congratulation on the 100,000 point milestone, like they say the first 100,000 points are the hardest.

Good luck and success

Lou Ludwig

Feb 24, 2009 10:34 AM
Bo Hussung
Bell Title /Triserv LLC - Nashvle, TN

Lou, Thanks

Bo

Feb 26, 2009 04:18 AM
Maya Thomas, Broker
Tampa, FL
Please see my client recommendations.

Don't forget about having the title insurance policy done early.

Mar 04, 2009 03:59 PM
Bo Hussung
Bell Title /Triserv LLC - Nashvle, TN

Thanks Maya. Great advice though. That was actually the first thing I did. I am a title agent after all :)

Bo

Mar 14, 2009 04:28 AM