Runester

It’s rather disconcerting to see that I haven’t updated since Monday! I thought I was maybe two days behind. Did I time-jump or something? It’s almost frightening to see how fast time slips by when I’m narrowly focussed on work and drama.

On the drama front – I finally sold my condo! I attended the closing yesterday, signed the papers, paid what fees I was required to, and was then told by both lawyers that I am done! It’s been nearly two years since I started this. Lisa and I have spent nearly $10,000 on renovations to the condo. I spent countless weekends moving, cleaning, etc. trying to prepare it. My real estate agent did showing after showing after showing. I’m on my second lawyer, and he’s had to make 100+ phone calls to my two lenders to work out the agreement that I signed yesterday. This was an unbelievable level of effort.

On the one hand, it was a short-sale so I understand why the two lenders would want to do their due diligence and get the best deal they could. But, on the other hand, if I had just let them foreclose they would have gotten nothing but the auction price. You’d think that all of the effort I put into selling the house and getting them the maximum amount the current real estate market would bear would be a positive in my corner. But one lender, GMAC, didn’t treat it that way. They blocked us at every turn and mostly through unprofessional foot-dragging and lies.

Did I say lies? Yes I did. One of the ‘tricks’ they’d pull is to ask for a package of documents. My lawyer would relay the request and the forms, I’d fill them out and supply financial documents, pay stubs, tax returns, etc. and then fax it all back to him. Often the same or the next day. He’d then fax the entire bundle off to GMAC. After a week or two of waiting, he’d spend an hour trying to get through their phone tree, only to be told that we’re missing a requested form. Except that he has the fax receipt and what they claim is missing was – in fact – faxed in. So, he’d make the person wait while he faxed the entire bundle again. This time they’d declare that it takes a couple of days for the faxes to be scanned and added to the file, etc. A week or two would go by, he’d call them back (going through their excruciating phone tree and multiple levels of ‘gate keepers’) only to be told that we didn’t include a necessary document. This time, it was a document they hadn’t actually requested. Further, if he hadn’t called to find out what the status was, it’s unclear how we would even have known that this document was required. In fact, each time they’d make a request like this he would specifically ask, “and this is ALL that you need? This is the ENTIRE list of required documents?” At which they’d confirm, “Yes, this list is what we’d need.” So, think of the frustration when, after waiting a month, you’re told that, “There are three more forms you never submitted.” I.e., forms not on the “this is everything” list.

The point, is that this went on and on and on. Week after week after week. My primary lender, IndyMac would crunch the numbers, present an offer letter and then give us 30 days to respond. In that 30 days, GMAC would play games, become unavailable, or – my personal favorite – have a sudden system problem that disconnected anyone calling into their processing center. The agreement with IndyMac would expire, and then we’d have to begin again.

All of this, and I was someone who repaired / renovated instead of destroyed the property (unlike those families that ripped wires out of the walls and pored cement down the drains) and who engaged an agent to find a buyer and who persisted, with the herculean help of my agent and lawyer, to proceed with the sale. A sale, of which I received no money at all. Not one single cent. I was not doing this for the money, not even the $10,000 we had put into the renovation! My only, single, benefit of pursuing this was to try and protect what is left of my credit score.

I’d love to say all mortgage companies are evil buggers, but I don’t think that’s true. IndyMac was slow, due to the overwhelming nature of the current real estate crisis, but they were fair, kept their word, and were available for contact. It was GMAC that violated all of the tenants of customer service or even self interest, and certainly professionalism. Furthermore, my lawyer told a story on another case he worked, in which both the primary and the secondary mortgage were with GMAC. In that case, they acted no better – and fought themselves! Yes, that’s right … the two devisions within the same company fought over whatever funds were available and drug out the process, making it as painful as possible. Imagine that!

In any case, my path to salvation was getting professionals involved. If I had tried to do the negotiating myself, or the endless filing and faxing and calling, or any of the rest of the effort that went into this; I would have floundered and given up. I already have a day job, and couldn’t turn my condo sale into another one. No, getting an excellent and persistent team – my agent and my lawyer – is what allowed me to do my work, while they pursued this to the bitter end.

The next hurtle, is whatever tax liability this entails. But, honestly, the IRS seem like reasonable sweetie’s compared to what we went through with GMAC.