Home, sweet home

Well, everything finally fell into place and my client has her house. She signed her closing papers last Friday but we didn't get the seller's signature until this afternoon. It's been a very long six days, especially the last two, but she's finally able to schedule her movers to show up tomorrow and move out of the hotel she's been living in for the last month.

This is the client that bought her house at auction here in June. That was two months ago. It took forever for the seller (a bank) to agree to the bid price. Then we waited around for another two weeks for the mortgage insurer to okay the bank's acceptance. After that it was just the typical lender & title company stuff. Very tedious stuff.

I think the biggest thing to me is that neither seemed to know what the other was doing. For instance, there was a piece of paper that needed to be signed by my client. Nobody told her she needed to sign it until four days after she had signed the closing documents. Four days.

At the closing, my client and & I both asked if there was anything else they needed from her to complete the transaction. We were told no. So we went on our merry way thinking we were done. She wired the required money. Then we sat back to wait until the seller signed.

On Monday, I called the title company to make sure everything was on track and was told we were just waiting for the bank to fund the loan. I called the bank to see why they hadn't funded the loan and was told because the title company hadn't sent everything that was required. I called the title company back but had to leave a voice mail.

When I hadn't heard from them by the next morning, I started calling again. I finally got through around noon and asked where we were at. It was at this point that I was told my client hadn't signed some release form that the bank needed in order to fund the loan. I called my client, she immediately signed and faxed the form to the title company. Late in the day after hearing nothing, I call again. I get voice mail again. I leave a message. The next morning I start all over again.

Twenty four hours after my client faxed the form, I finally get a hold of someone at the title company and they tell me they don't have the form. I call my client back again and she faxes it back to them. Two hours later, I call the bank to see where we're at. They still haven't funded the loan. They need the paperwork from the title company and the title company is missing a form. Back on the phone to the title company to hear they don't have the form. The form my client has faxed to them twice in 24 hours. I call my client, instruct her to stand by her fax machine and not hit "send" until the gal at the title company swears she is standing by her fax machine waiting for the fax to show up. The fax finally makes it.

I started this morning calling and leaving messages at the lender and the title company. Nobody calls me back. I call again several hours later and leave more messages. Around 2:30 this afternoon I finally hear from my client that someone called to tell her that the loan is funded. The seller has signed. The house is hers. An hour later I get a call from the title company saying they are returning my call and that they don't have signatures from the seller yet. WTF? I tell her that I've already spoken to my client and she is under the impression that it went through. The woman seems confused as to how that can be but with some encouragement from me she checks her files and sure enough, it's been signed.

See what I mean? No one seems to know what anyone else is doing. But at the end of the day, my client got the house she wanted at a really great price and she can move out of the hotel into her home. And that's what really matters.