Posted by CaliNotary on 11/4/07 11:53pm
Msg #219719

Unbelievable

I worked at a foreclosure auction this weekend. My job was to get the purchase contracts and disclosures signed for the auction winners. Easy stuff, no notarizations, maybe 50 page packages that require almost no explanation, 3/4 of my time working was just sitting around and waiting for people.

So a guy wins a bid, comes over to the table and immediately starts complaining about stuff - why is this extra 5% on the sales price? (Must have missed the posterboard sized sign at the door stating that 5% was added to the winning bid on every house. As well as the explanation in the brochure. As well as the verbal explanation with powerpoint visuals given at the beginning of the auction). Why can't he get a discount if he's paying cash? What's the deal with this tax issue he's having on a house that be bought at a different auction 4 months ago? Can his wife sign everything for him so he can leave? This is all within 15 minutes.

The file is finally brought to me, there are a couple of things i need to fill in before they start signing. His wife is filling out the statement of information, I'm filling in my stuff, he tells me "give me some stuff to start signing". I tell him he needs to wait a minute while I fill this out, he wants to rush through the signing because he needs to go to the bathroom. Sensing the opportunity to get him out of my hair for a blessed few minutes I tell him where the bathroom is and that he can do that while i'm filling out the paperwork.

He's gone for about 10 minutes, I start the wife on signing. By the time he gets back we're about 2/3 of the way through, I start shoving stuff in front of him to sign. There's one page that both borrwers need to initial 8 times down a list of various disclosures and terms about the sale. That's what the wife is doing while I'm catching him up. When she hands him that page I see that she initialed both her initials and his initials. No biggie, I tell him he needs to initial his own, he can do it right next to it. He says it's already initialed, next. I tell him that HE needs to initial, he takes his pen, pretend squiggles over the page, next. Just refusing to do it. I tell him that we're not continuing until he initials and that arguing with me about it is taking longer than if he had just initialed it. The wife asks me why I didn't stop her from doing it (?!?), I tell her that I didn't even see it until she handed the page to him, blah blah blah, he's about ready to just get up and leave because he doesn't like my attitude. I raise my hand to get the title company employee over to deal with it since obviously I'm making no progress.

So she comes over, I tell her that he's refusing to initial and that the initials on the page were done by the wife. And what does she say? "Oh, that's ok". WTF???? So I ask, just to make sure I'm hearing this right, it's ok that he's not the one who actually initialed the page to agree to these terms? "Yeah, that's fine".

Which of course gets the borrower going about how I don't know how to do my job, what a terrible attitude I have, etc. Thank god this TC chick at least had the brains to immediately see where this was heading and asked if I'd like her to finish this signing for me. Obviously I took her up on it.

At the end of the day (which was about an hour later) as I was leaving I talked to her boss, told her what happened and asked her "isn't the borrower supposed to initial his own documents?" The answer I got, "well, technically yes". My translation: "but we don't really care".

I could see them wanting to bend the rules if it meant having to send someone back out to get something corrected or SOMETHING that was gonna involve extra work on their end, but hello? The guy was sitting RIGHT THERE. Why they wouldn't simply say "if you want this house, initial the page like you're supposed to" is beyond me. Especially on a foreclosure property which, by the way, they had never even seen, all they were going by was the single picture in the brochure of the exterior from a distance. Buyers remorse once they see the inside? Looking for a loophole to get out of the contract? Not that I think that would have a chance of working, but why on earth wouldn't they want to make sure their butts were covered just in case? When all it involved was making the guy do what he was supposed to do in the first place?

It just boggles my mind.

Reply by BetsyMI on 11/5/07 8:17am
Msg #219743

Wow what a day Cali! Hopefully the rest of your purchaser's weren't that way the rest of the day.

I can't believe people would buy a home from a picture..good deal or not. You have no idea what you're walking into. Good luck to them.

I had my first purchase closing on a foreclosure property last week. We closed in a real estate office but my curiosity got the best of me so I drove by the property later since it was close by. It was a sweet deal...the woman paid $190,000 cash in a nice neighborhood where homes were going for $350,000 to $400,000. That will buy you a very nice home here in Michigan.

Reply by Joan_OH on 11/5/07 8:45am
Msg #219750

I believe they bought it on a picture. Many of these houses - at least in the Cleveland area - have had the copper stolen and are in terrible condition. As a matter of fact, the copper theives are getting smart and "marking" the house when they steal the copper so other theives don't waste their time breaking in. But these buyers expect to put $$$ into a rehab house. Although they are not allowed to go through the house when it's a Sherriffs auction, you can bet they have peeked in the windows, walked the foundation, etc, careful not to get caught trespassing.

A few weeks ago I signed for a $14K forclosed property and the buyer told me in the last 2 years it had new windows, roof & furnace. If you can swing it, now would be the time to invest.

Joan-OH