Yes, in September we sold little old, 101schoolst.com. Not the website, but our actual house. We had it on the market off and on for about six months. In July, we received an offer on our house and refused it at first, but then they came back to offer us something – in this market – we couldn’t refuse. So we sold with the idea that I’d purchase a tiny condo that we found over the state line in Vermont, and we’d look for a house in the Portsmouth/Portland area that would be ours for future planning.
One can plan for a move – hire the movers, inventory the boxes, relocate mail, schedule utility disconnects. All does not matter if a couple of screwballs show up in the meantime.
Yes screwballs.
All was going fine up until the week before we were to close on the sale of our house.
Our first surprise was when we found out the week prior that the seller’s daughter did not want to vacate the condo we were contracted to buy. Her parents were hiring a moving company to forcefully move her out on the Tuesday before we were set to close. She just down-right did not want to leave, canceled her lease for her apartment in Florida. That was the first concern.
Then we had heard from our realtor that the mortgage originator had not yet ordered the appraisal and we were 10 business days away from closing.
Then we started receiving final paperwork from the mortgage lender – with figures that were incorrect – incorrect sale price, incorrect closing costs (off by ~$800), incorrect closing date (pushing it a week past what we needed and had agreed upon, without our agreement), incorrect mortgage terms – we wanted a 30 year fixed and the near-final paperwork stated we were “locked in” for a 5 year ARM!
Then the news came in from the lender at 5:15 on the Friday of the week before we were to close on our house – the condo did not appraise at the purchase price. Receiving this information 2 days before movers were coming to remove our belongings from our house was a bit disconcerting. On Sunday morning we didn’t have an answer from our realtor as to whether buying at the lower appraised price was something the seller would entertain. We didn’t know this come Monday morning either. Didn’t matter – we had to be out of our house in two days, by that Wednesday.
Could we have gotten another appraisal? Not in 3 business days time. The bank ordered the appraisal for the week before we were to close on the condo… the appraisal should have been done at least a week prior to that. Plus the appraisal company compared what we were buying to properties that were not of comparable style, environment, age, value, quality of construction – the appraiser was new to the business, only two months on the job, according to her credentials included in the appraisal.
Could we have gone with another mortgage lender? It would have taken 10 business days to get the paperwork started, for the purchase to be drawn up, the appraisal to be done (again) and to see whether it would appraise at the agreed upon purchase price. We didn’t have the time.
So after scurrying around trying to save our sanity and decide on a place to live, we decided renting a friend’s available apartment would be the best thing at the moment. So for the next six months, here we are.
I soon heard after our debacle that there were standing issues from new legislation regarding the real estate appraisal industry. I did some research and found we were not alone in our situation – it was happening across the country.
Moral of the story: You can have all your ducks in a row, but if a hunter shows up with a shotgun and it’s hunting season, it doesn’t really matter.
