Mortgage Forum

Mike

Hi all, I'll try to give you all the CLiff Notes version of our story. We began looking for a home in the summer of 2005 in Lakeland, FL. Our Mtg broker found us a home we assolutely fell in love with, but the price was a little high. We were repeatedly assured that they could find a program for us we could afford, so we were approved for an amount of $275k. The home we were buying was $249k. We kept reiterating to our mtg broker that we could not afford PITI payments of anything more than $1400/mo. We were told that, because the sellers had done some renovations to the home, THEY had gotten an inspection on the home, so we didn't have to. The lender (Fremont) had signed off on it, and we would get the copy as soon as the closing was done and title transferred. Throughout the whole process, everything kept changing, we were told to sign documents and disclosures that were blank and would be filled in later. (should have been a red flag.) We never found out what our payment was going to be or the program we were in till the closing, which was done standing up in the home with only daylight to see. The closing documents were printed on a travel printer, and were all so minimized that we couldn't read them, especially with my vision problems. Long story short, the broker or lender inflated our income to qualify us for the home, and told us the lender was requiring it to be done as 2 separate loans for qualifying purposes. (!!) Stupidly, and against our better judgement, we signed the documents, and prayed for the best. The week we moved into the home, our roof leaked all down the walls from the 2nd floor to the ground floor. Upon closer inspection, it was noticed that there was also old damage that was never disclosed. In the coming weeks. By the 2nd/3rd month, our entire plumbing system had to be replaced. 3 months after that, we were told our septic systems were rootbound and had to be completely replaced (home made septic systems we found out.) We ended up moving out for safety reasons, because a home inspection that WE had done after the fact showed multiple safety/health issues. We could have stayed there and saved so much money! We paid a lawyer $5,200 (our last) and he sent the sellers a letter, after I found out where the sellers were living. We obtained affidavits from the neighbors about all the problems with the home. In addition to that, the predatory lending stuff started to dawn on us, so we got hit with a double whammy. The attorney just told us "you have a fantastic case, but you're gonna need more $$ to follow through. Come see me when you have the $$." Now, after repeated thwarted attempts to shortsale the home, Fremont is blocking our every move, scaring away the investors that wanted the home (3 or 4) and are now foreclosing, after telling us they wouldn't because we were selling the home. We have no idea what to do, or where to turn. We supposedly have a court date of 3/25/08. Is there anything we can do? I'm sorry this ended up being so long, but believe me, this was the short version. Is there anything we can do at this point??? The stress if affecting my health, marriage and family at this point, and I have no idea where to turn or what to do. We feel like even the attorney screwed us too!! Thanks, Sue Thompson