My new husband received $50,000 from his mother's estate to put down on a house. He had never bought a house before and thought that buying a piece of land and putting a manufactured home on it would be best.
He found a piece of land and went to Palm Harbor Homes in Raleigh to pick out a house. He signed a contract for $147,000. He then bought the land using the money he inherted leaving $8500.00 to put down on the house. He bought the land from an individual, not Palm Harbor Homes. The 3/4 acre land was flat and had all utilities there, easy set-up. A double-wide had been removed from the property before he bought it.
He went back to Palm Harbor Homes and redid the contract. But they wanted him to sign 2 contracts. One for $142,000 and one for $102,000. The higher one contained the amount for the land, which at this time he already owned free and clear.
Palm Harbor Homes had sent the $147,000 contract to Countrywide Home Loans to process. They never sent the new contract for them to rework the figures. He assumed all was ok. He closed, not paying any attention to the amounts. He, like everyone else who buys a house, had moving on his mind instead of thinking that the dealer would rip him off.
This is where I come in. I sold manufactured housing for 3 years in the late 90's. I was looking over the settlement papers and noted the difference. We contacted Palm Harbor Homes in Raleigh and the then manager (no longer there) was surprised at the amount that they got on the settlement papers and could only come up with $128,000 for that house, land and extras. But, alas, he would not do anything about it. After all, they had their money.
I have tried the Better Business Bureau, the closing attorney (who said he would only change it if told to by Palm Harbor), contacting the headquarters of Palm Harbor. No one will do anything.
By my calculations of all the paperwork that we have, I came up with $131,000 that included home, land, warranties and all extras. They ripped him of $16,000. The appraisal came back at only $120,000. It is strange that no one noticed the difference.
In my opinion Palm Harbor owes us back the $16,000 plus interest. Anyone who has bought a house knows how much over the years that adds up. They took advantage of someone who had never bought a house before and who had a big down-payment to line their pockets. Anyone who puts $50,000 into their house expects to have most of that in equity in their house. He has less than $20,000.
Who keeps these people in check. Unfortuantly, most people never look at their settlement statements again after they close. If anyone knows of any way we can get help, let us know.
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