Rant and rave!

[stiles watson]

You buy a car and sign a few papers and it is yours and the banks. You buy an RV and you sign a few papers and pull it away after the loan is approved and the PDI is complete. Neither is a big hassle.

Then there is the real estate racket. I say it is a racket with all the exorbitant fees and monkey business involved. This robber Barron consortium wants to get their hands in your pocket again and again. It is a joke and the buyer is the goat. With such abuse, maybe the real estate industry deserved the fleecing they got in the last few years. So much for the real estate conspiracy. Hope I can survive the closing.

[Bill-N-Donna]

Very long story made short. When we bought our house in 1982 it took 6 months to get the deal closed. I thought it was going to take forever! Hang in there it will pass.

[mlh]

It me less than 6 months to build my house and my brothers and I did almost all of the work.
Lynwood

[awaywego]

Stiles, I was a Realtor for 31 years. At first the contract was 1/2 page and when I retired it was 7 pages plus addendums. Between the Lawyers, Mortgage Co's. and the PMI Co's. it was getting bad.
The other side was about half the clients wanted to sue somebody.
I retired and did not look back.
Good luck as I understand it has gotten much worse.

[snfexpress]

[rant]

We're in the process of selling two homes that we took back. Between the fees charged to foreclose or take a deed in lieu and the time that it takes to get everything accomplished we are spending a bunch!

Fees use to be about $2,000. Now they are in the $5,000 range. Why? Because the title companies know that they can get it from most of the big guys!

Now my take on why the whole process is taking so long, and I'm not referring to the statutory requirements:

It used to be that when you didn't make your payments on a loan, the lender would foreclose and you'd receive a 1099 in the mail with the amount of debt relieved. This means that if you owed $100,000 then you'd get a 1099 for $100,000 and this would be treated as "income" by the IRS and you'd have to pay tax on this amount. On top of this, many states are "deficiency" states meaning that you'd be sued for the difference of what was owed and what the property sold for if there was a shortage.

Nowadays, you don't get the 1099 and many states have required a temporary suspension of the deficiency law. What does this mean for the guy who doesn't make his payments? It means that he is no longer accountable for his behavior.

Okay, now that we are no longer holding borrowers accountable, we have a general malaise when it comes to responsibility including our service industry. Case in point: RESPA (real estate settlement procedures act) which is enforced by HUD, has a requirement that the seller of a property cannot require a borrower to use a particular title company as this is called steering and is subject to severe penalties. Locally, Western Title has the contract with HUD and HUD-owned foreclosed properties. Guess what? HUD requires that the buyer use Western Title (against the law except they are exempt) and Western Title, knowing that they have this wonderful contract, won't hire additional people because there is no penalty if they don't close on time.

I believe that this general feeling of lack of accountability is trickling down such that many are just saying what the heck - nothing is going to happen to me if I don't do...

One final case: We took back a house in April. Paid the fees, including title insurance and sewer liens from back in 2008. Now title insurance is supposed to protect you from anything that didn't pop up at the time of closing. We are now in July and are closing (after spending money to make the house marketable) and a sewer lien has popped up from 2008. The title insurance was from Western Title and the new closing is with Western Title. They want me to pay the lien!

[/rant]

Okay, back to normal...

Stiles, I feel your pain...

[CORattler]

Marriage, death, divorce and buying/selling a house have the same stress levels! Just be sure to enjoy your new home once you're in it!!

[patbarton]

My retired uncle in Alabama bought a house last year. Paid about 50% down after selling his old house and financed the rest, even though he had the cash to buy the house outright (and the mortgage people knew that from the gazillions of copies of financial documents he had to supply).

Two days before closing, the underwriters got nervous about a $700 cash deposit he'd made after selling some supplies at a trade show. Almost shut the whole thing down. My aunt relates part of the story of my uncle on the phone with the mortgage lady, who was saying as my aunt picked up the phone, "Please stop yelling, Mr. Barton, please stop..."

Now my cousin is going through the process. It's not pretty.

[DQDick]

Not near that much trouble in rural Kansas. Outside the big cities Kansas is an open carry state. Folks are much more accommodating when you dress appropriately

[nowinter]

We have sold our Michigan home and are ready to move to our new home in Florida. This has been one of the most significant stress levels in my (our) lives. Actually we got pretty much what we asked for, from the sale of our Michigan lake house. The biggest problems came from the banks and title companies. The new government regulations have made this a very painful process. When you call them, you never get the same person to speak with. We are trying to close on the sale of a vacant piece of property across the street from our house. We paid cash for it 13 years ago and some how the title company indicated we had a home equity loan attached to the vacant land. The equity loan was paid off years ago and the title company made a mistake. Now, trying to get them to admit they screwed up and fix the problem is like pulling teeth. They have had every excuse available not to fix the problem in an expeditious manner. We are days away from leaving MI and still can not get them to fix the problem and send us a letter that indicates the property does not have any liens against it. Enough complaining.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

You said it perfectly: money for paperwork here, money for paperwork there, money for someone to use a template and do nothing more than type in a few words and numbers . . . I know that the accuracy of those words and numbers is critical--I've worked in a real estate office--but still! It seems that everyone has a hand out when it comes to closing a real estate deal.

Our youngest daughter and her husband just closed a deal on their first home. They're still in "closing sticker shock."

Carolyn

[Bigboomer]

So far after 6 months on the market we are on our 2nd realtor and now working thru our 4th deal. The first three deals went south due to a combination of unethical practices by our previous realtor or the buyers realtor or the buyers. Take your pick but it has been a living hell. We could write a book on the whole experience.

GOD willing and the creek don't rise we will close in the next 3 weeks and be done with sticks and bricks forever!

We don't have to move or sell but we feel for those who have to because of the financial situation they are in because there are enough vultures out there that will take the eyes out of the back of your head!

I hope my prediction is wrong but the next housing crash will make the last one look like a day in the park as they same practices that caused the last one are still in play and worse than ever.

Can't wait to get to SD!
Les

[richfaa]

We purchased this home in 1989.We took a attorney(good friend and a expert in real estate) with us at closing. They did not expect that and tried to prevent it. He went over the closing cost line by line with all concerned and we wound up reducing the closing cost by nearly 2,000.00. There were many things on the closing cost that were public record and we were charged for them and others that they could not explain or were not needed or were not done.

Lesson..take a attorney who knows real estate and question every cost.