It's amazing how in less than a day you can go from feeling on top of the world to feeling thoroughly PO'd. Two things came to a head yesterday that still has me seething.
1. A reminder why I hate dealing with HUD.
In the back of my head, I knew that dealing with HUD again would be like enduring medievel torture. I just didn't think it would happen so soon.
I called (emphasis put in for what I'll talk about later) my agent yesterday around noon to confirm that someone in her office could unlock House #2 for an inspection later this week. Before I can start saying anything, my agent says that HUD returned our package due to an error on one of the pages. She wasn't sure exactly what we did wrong, since she says she doesn't have the original signed paper. I tell her that my day would be busy and that I couldn't get over to her office until 4pm'ish. Keep in mind this was at noon.
So, I get out of work and go to her office to resign a peice of paper. When I get there, she says she just found out that there were other things wrong that need corrected. Ugh. For anyone who is looking to do HUD's, you better have ALL your ducks in order as they have gotten even more picky. It turns out my prequal letter needed completely redone. They said it was outdated, wasn't signed or dated, didn't have specific information they needed, wasn't on letterhead paper, and a whole slew of other stuff. They then said my cashier's check was too old (WTF? - I got it on June 28th) and needed to reference the HUD property number on it.
It's now about 4:15pm and there is no way on earth I can get all this corrected in 45 mins. I tell my agent that I'll stop by my bank and get a new cashier's check with the reference number, and that I'll contact my broker for a prequal letter with all the changes HUD wants. The HUD regional office in San Antonio put a deadline of 12 noon on Wednesday to have all this stuff. Therefore, I need to get everything done ASAP and have it overnighted to them today. That's just f'ing great.
I also stopped by my bank after leaving my agent's office around 4:20pm, but the lobby closed at 4:00pm (f'ing banking hours) and the lanes outside were jam packed. At this point I was fuming and cursing HUD with every expletive that I could think of. I emailed and then called my broker with the news around 6:30pm last night. He said he'll see what he can do. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can get it sometime this morning, or else HUD will cancel my contract.
2. Integrity of my RE Agent.
Two things really questioned my agents integrity about her yesterday, and I have pretty much decided that IF this deal comes to fruition, it will be the last time I use her. I generally let people do their thing and make judgements on their performance. She is a nice person to talk to and I really felt I picked a winner at first, but things - some small and some big - have happened over the course of two months that really leaves me questioning her integrity.
I mentioned here how I was suspicious of her not submitting all of my offers. I didn't really care too much because my offers would have been overbid anyway. Well, if you recall, I submitted TWO offers last Thursday. One was for House #2 - the other was for a property that was scheduled to go to ALL BIDDERS this past Sunday at midnight. In all the chaos yesterday, I spent a minute or two looking at the results for the second offer. It turns out that someone else won, BUT my offer was never submitted! What's worse this time is that I would have won with my offer. I saw that and instantly had a feeling of letdown and anger at the same time. That in itself was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for me. But that's not all ...
Earlier, I mentioned that I was the one that called my agent yesterday afternoon. Even though she had something very important to tell me regarding the HUD rejection, she waited to tell me until I called her. What's even worse is the fact that all the OTHER stuff she said was wrong with my package when I went to see her at 4:00pm was on the same letter she was reading to me when I called her at noon! IOW, she could have told me those things at noon, also, and I could have gotten the work started on getting the prequal letter redone and getting a new cashier's check. Simply inexcusable.
These (and, suprisingly?, other things) are the reasons I am not going with her on any more deals in the future.
Unfortunately, I guess finding a top-notch RE agent IS hard.
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3 comments:
Ouch. I agree with you on this one.
Steve,
I agree with you Steve. You should let this agent sail on down stream. But I would make sure she knew why she was being canned. Gentle yet firm.
I spoke to someone from the Austin area this past weekend in L.A. and I mentioned about the law changing regarding Lease Options / Subject To's and them being illegal now in Texas (something I read from past posts of yours, I may be dead wrong here). He said something did come out of Legislation but in no way has it outlawed these types of deals. He has been doing them and he's seen others do it to date. He said to have a competent lawyer close the deal, not an escrow agent.
This business is too delicate to have the wrong people on your team.
Good Luck with this house, I hope you make a killing that sooths the temporary grief.
Ed
Shaun - Thanks. The deal may just go thru. We'll see.
Ed - Sub2's are still legal, but the legislation passed a slew of changes last year that essentially outlawed L/O's. Yes, they can still be done, but with a lot of stipulations. I, too, know of several people who still do them the old-fashioned way with the attitude of "no one will know" - very risky, if you ask me. Also, I know of two attornies in town that proclaim they have ways around the changes, and I would definately use one of them in any L/O deal.
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