We inherited my husbands grandmothers home in 2008. The home was titled to my husband on July 22. The house is 165 years old and needs quite a bit of remodeling. It is structurally sound but is living somewhere between the 60' and 70's with its 4 kitchen cabinets, brown paneling, gravity fed heating system, and 100 amp electrical service.
So we figured since we inherited it and had no mortgage we would take out some equity and do the remodeling. We contacted countrywide after seeing there ad on tv.
We were told that my husbands $50,000 a year income was more than sufficient to handle the mortgage payments for a $30,000 loan. We were asked to pay $425.00 to cover the credit report fee and the appraisal fee. We did so right then and there. They told us that it would be about 2 days before the appraiser would call to set up the meeting. Two days later the appraiser called. She set the appraisal for the next day.
About a week later our loan officer called to tell us that our house appraised at $95,000 and the loan was a go. They sent all of our loan documents to us through fedex. We signed the papers but held onto them as we wanted 2 small errors fixed on the paperwork. Minor things, our previous landlords name was spelled wrong and my husbands retirement plan amount was incorrect.
I called our loan officer every day for a week with no answer. So I started calling her manager with no answer and no return call from either of them. At this point we are now in week 5 of our loan process. So I got an idea, I called the lady from underwriting whose name appeared on our loan papers that we were asked to sign. She proceeded to tell us that those papers are written up at the time of PRE-APPROVAL. I explained we had already gone through the appraisal and were told that it was good and our loan was a go. She proceeded to inform me that she informed our loan officer and her manager that our loan could not be done at the time we applied for the loan. I asked why. Because my husband had not sat on the deed for 6 months. The day after I spoke with this woman our laon officers manager called us back. He explained that the loan we applied for requires us to sit on the title for 6 months. When I asked why we were not informed of this in the beginning he could not give me an answer. After about another 5 phone calls to various departments we recieved a refund for our appraisal.
Now the next deal with them was probably our own stupidity. But 7 months went by. We went back to countrywide and reapplied for the loan. We were told that we would have to have another appraisal done since the first one was more than 6 months old. This would cost us another $425.00. We paid it again. The man I spoke with assured us that there would be no issues this time. Well, the appraiser came and was not as thorough as the first appraiser. A week later we recieved a call from our loan officer telling us that there were problems. The appraiser said our home was only worth $69,000 and that value was only good if we completed the repairs that were listed on the appraisal. The repairs consisted of a NEW heating system that was not gravity fed. (estimate from a contrator $12,000), There had to be carpet in the living room. We ripped up the old carpet and found the floor under it was not in the best shape so we laid new would and then ran out of money. (the reason for getting a loan). There were also a few other minor things. Now when I told the loan officer that the items listed in this report were items that we listed as wanting to be done with the loan money his exact words were "then fix the things on this appraisal and we will give you the money".
Now, if I had $12,000 to upgrade our heating system (which we want to do) WHY WOULD I NEED A LOAN? This 2nd process took about another 6 weeks to go through. The 2nd appraisal was done by a different company than the first. There was NO difference in the house from the first appraisal to the 2nd. Except for 1 minor detail. The 1st appraiser said that the outside of the house needed to be repainted due to chipped paint. So we paid almost $400 to buy paint and me and my 17 year old son spent 4 days painting the outside of the house. It was white, we painted it red so that there was no dispute that we painted it. Other than that there was NO change int he status of the house within the 7 months between the appraisals.
So again countrywide got our hopes up and then screwed us. We did get our appraisal fee from the 2nd time around back. But it was only after I called the presidents office and threatened to get a lawyer, as I still had all the emails, hard copies, and phone messages that were left with us from countrywide.
I do not know what this company is trying to pull but I hope at some point someone will have enough ammo to knock them right out of the park.
Sharon
hunlock creek, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
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