Wow. I feel like we have officially entered the land of stupid. It all started last night…
Brian got a call from our lawyer asking how we want to proceed with the property, specifically the request for a second extension. The selling bank wants to extend the closing to Dec. 8– apparently we never signed the approval.
Therefore, a representative from the selling bank sent a rather rude e-mail informing our Realtor and attorney that we are officially “out of contract” on the house. The rep went on to say that we have no mortgage commitment and finally “does your buyer want this property or not?” He then requested the signed extension be sent in by 5 p.m. today.
I was fuming after hearing that. After everything we have been through, is that really a good way to continue this deal? If we hadn’t been interested in the property, we would have walked a long time ago. Heck, with the condition and how the bank is treating us, we might be walking anyway. This whole process has made us realize that we NEVER want to work with foreclosures again.
Brian spent time on the phone with the lawyer last night, basically explaining everything that we have been through dealing with this purchase. From the hoops we have jumped through to the hurdles the selling bank keeps throwing at us, he didn’t leave anything out. Our lawyer agreed that we have been put through the ringer, and decided that he would send an e-mail to the selling bank explaining what was going on and that we would not be signing anything else until we had the appraisal and knew what repairs would be covered by the seller.
He wrote, rather eloquently, that we have done everything the seller has asked, including changing our loan and our closing date. Ironically, he pointed out, we changed our loan because the seller said it “takes too long.” By all the research we have done, we could have easily closed with the 203K by now.
Our lawyer ended the e-mail by stating that if the seller ends the transaction because we are technically out of contract, then that is up to them. But it won’t be ended on our end until we see what repairs will be made. We are still waiting to hear back from the selling bank.
And that was only the beginning. The big hold up is waiting for a re-appraisal of the house, as the water was not on the first time the FHA appraiser went out. Our biggest problem is the plumbing of the house, so we definitely need that included in the list of required repairs for our loan. Sounds simple, but like every other detail of our house hunt, it is proving exceptionally difficult.
We did receive a copy of the second appraisal report today. It included some important issues, like the need for a hand rail on the three stairs leading up to the back of the house. But where the crawlspace and plumbing should have been evaluated, there was nothing! The explanation? The appraiser claimed there was no obvious entrance to the crawl.
Now I am not at all an expert when it comes to the mechanical aspects of houses, but even I could tell you from one visit out there where the crawlspace entrance is. I would think that the plywood board on the back of the house would be a pretty good indication. The fact that one of the appraiser’s photos of the back of the house clearly shows the entrance to the crawl.
I e-mailed our lender today and explained where then entrance was, and that if there were any other problems finding it that our Realtor would be more than happy to show the appraiser where it is. We are not signing anything else that will tie us to this house until we know that everything has been inspected and appraised. Then we can determine exactly how much the seller is willing to repair, and if it will be worth our time, energy and money in fixing the rest.
Hopefully the appraiser goes back out in the next few days so we can have a report by the end of the week. We want to know as soon as possible if we have a house, or if we are back on the hunt.
