BiggerPockets

The emergency money I had I used to pay an attorney and we went as far as mediation but seller and her broker wants to settle for $2,500

Haddy,

It appears as if you are facing a real challenge. if you truly feel that your were really screwed over, then persist with the law suit. Don't settle for $2,500.

How long ago was the purchase?

Be careful playing the "victim" card, it appears that you carry some of the blame as well.

Do you have an estimate to get the mold treated?

Originally posted by Haddy Elliott

In my subprime situation, my agent and loan-office inflated my income, convinced me to sign all the documents to "move things faster". Loan-officer, told me not to worry about the inspection that he is a licensed one. I had no idea what other documents they were supposed give to me. One week after moving, water leaking and I realized the roof was leaking (seller painted over it). Mold started showing up every where. Loan officer said they would fix everything and did not. I paid a Real Estate laywer who called my agent and demanded that they release the HUD docs, Disclosure statement docs and the rest. I hired a house inspector and found tones of defects and encroachment of part of the property by a neighbor. I have a child who is already permanently disabled and is getting sicker from the mold. The doctor's report and a lab test confirmed being exposed to the mold. I have contacted every one but no one wants to do anything including: HUD, Cal.Dept of RE, Dept. of Corporations, the Governor of Ca. our City manager, the seller and her agent and broker. The emergency money I had I used to pay an attorney and we went as far as mediation but seller and her broker wants to settle for $2,500; I already spent over $20,000 to fix some of the repairs.
I have no access to my phone box and gas meter unless I go round through the neighbor's yard who are not talking to me since I asked them to move their fence to the property line. They leave their dogs loose and incase of emergency, I don't know what to do. Where do I turn to since I do not have the $ to hire an attorney for a civil suit? I am very worried about the long term effects of the mold on us.Any ideas?

The key is to get some action taken. if you wait for the Goverment to help you well, CA is Broke, they have their own issues currently.

How big is the Mortgage and Real Estate Companies in this deal?

File the law suits Per Sec, or see if you can get legal aid to help

Have you contacted the media? They love stuff like this. If you hurt their pocket bok and affect future income, they will have to fix you

You can always move and rent somewhere

What I would take from this. you get what you inspect not what you expect

YOU are NOT a victim. Most of this is YOUR fault.

YOU should have read what you were signing!

YOU should not have signed a document in which YOU said that your income was higher than it was. YOU did that.

Even once you realized that your loan officer was acting in a shady manner, YOU still went forward instead of doing the right thing and stopping the deal or reporting the loan officer.

YOU bought more of a house than you could afford.

YOU should have hired an inspector BEFORE the closing if you wanted to find every little defect.

YOU should have hired a surveyor if you wanted a survey. Survey's are not normally part of a routine closing (at least here in Ohio) because they are expensive.

YOU made the neighbors mad by forcing them to move their fence. You cause them a lot of needless expense. Why?

YOU have allowed the mold to develop by not fixing the moisture problem.

I can't imagine any roof leak that can't be fixed for the $20,000 you claim to have spend. Most roofs can be entirely replaced for a fraction of that. In fact, you could have removed the entire roof, including trusses, and rebuilt the whole thing for that kind of money!!!

My advice is to stop whining and take care of business. Fix the roof leak to stop the moisture problem. Buy a couple of dehumidifiers to dry things out. Buy some Jomax at Lowes and kill the mold (make sure that your daughter isn't around when you use the Jomax). Repaint any affected areas, starting with Kilz.

The bottom line is that this wound is almost entirely self-inflicted! If you're looking for someone to blame - look in the mirror!

Finally, I don't think you would win a lawsuit. I know you wouldn't if I was sitting on the jury.

Mike

maam, sorry to hear what is happening but - unfortunately - i second what mike said; it was your recklessness , stupidity and greed that put you in that craphole; people like you and greedy and blind re brokers who participated in that kind of schemes share 50/50 the fault of the misery - thanks to folks like you, 80% of people who diligently pay their home loans will be soon screwed big time when helicopter benny forces the banks to " forgive part of loan principals" for " homeowners" like you.....sorry to be honest but that's what i think and feel

Dear Krzysztof Duf and MikeHO,

I thought I would just ignore your comments because of your mentality that you can't hide. I am glad that you are a minority in this world. Just to let you know, I am here to ask questions because of my situation. I am not stupid or greedy and I am not one of those who knew what was going on and played along. I am dealing with people like you on a daily basis and instead of being angry like both of you are, I show them that there is a better way of dealing with issues. So you can keep ranting and whiles you are at it, find time to understand what I wrote; clearly, you misunderstand some of what I wrote on purpose.

Jeff, David and Samuel,

Thanks for replying. Just to let you know, I was able to get the seller to also have a mold inspection done; I did one too. Both results confirm the presence of the mold. Seller sent a company for remediation for only part of the house which was not done right because I continue to smell it; seller refused to give me a copy of the results. The rest of the house continue to smell of mold. In the Disclosure statement (which would have been helpfull but was kept by my agent), the seller check marked (yes) to all the questions- that there was no mold or anything else wrong with the property. The loan offficer/house inspector gave me a 30+ page result of the House Inspection showing nothing was wrong. Come to find out he was not licenced. I ordered my own inspection only to find out all these problems. The Agent too, I found out that he was not with the Cal. Dept of RE.

That is why I just wonder why people think that every body who is in this mess today willingly walked themselves into it. The bottom line is, if I knew what I know today, I won't be in this mess. I have fought many battles with my pen (not good at bad-mouthing) but this is one that I am having a hard time with. Again, thank you for your support; if you have anymore ideas please let me know. For now, I will start looking into the media- just have to see which one.

Originally posted by Haddy Elliott

Thanks for replying. Again, thank you for your support; if you have anymore ideas please let me know. For now, I will start looking into the media- just have to see which one.

You are welcome and you are welcome. By the way, while contacting " media" don't forget to mention us ( i.e. me and mike oh)...just in case we become insolvent or suckered ( or both) there's a chance that because we will be MEDIA FAMOUS maybe helicopter ben will bail us out for we are TOO BIG TO FAIL ............ :mrgreen:

It would seem to me that your most pressing issue is the mold and the health of your child. I would suggest that you get the roof fixed, and remove the molded materials. I understand your low on funds but this really needs to be fixed. Remember, water destroys everything and the problem will only get worse if you do not address it at the source. You can remove the materials with mold, and if you are low on funds, wait until your leagle issues are resolved. I am guessing it will look ulgy but it may be a decent temp. solution. Just my two cents.

Originally posted by Haddy Elliott

Dear Krzysztof Duf and MikeHO,

I thought I would just ignore your comments because of your mentality that you can't hide. I am glad that you are a minority in this world. Just to let you know, I am here to ask questions because of my situation. I am not stupid or greedy and I am not one of those who knew what was going on and played along. I am dealing with people like you on a daily basis and instead of being angry like both of you are, I show them that there is a better way of dealing with issues. So you can keep ranting and whiles you are at it, find time to understand what I wrote; clearly, you misunderstand some of what I wrote on purpose.

Oh come on you knew that they inflated your income just to get you into a house you couldn't afford so you were in on it whether you want to believe it or not. And the fact that you knew but went along with it makes you just as guilty as the crooked loan officer and brokers so I say you got exactly what you deserve.

The only victim in this situation is your own daughter. You put her in that environment because you not only went along with this scheme but didn't bother doing any due diligence you just blindly trusted a scammer that should have been a red light to you right from the start.

Don't expect anyone to sugar coat your situation. I don't feel sorry for you one bit it's people like you and those brokers and loan officer are the reason why the economy is in a jumble.

Sorry to be so blunt but I'm tired of people crying about this when it's just as much as their fault as the ones that screwed you over.

Sorry for not getting back sooner. Been very busy with home schooling. I will try to answer to your comments & question as much as I can.
David Peeples- I am not behind with payment; I have been on time so far.
Garry- Out of the $20,000 I spent $3,600 to have a new roof (new roof over the old one). About a month after moving in, it was obvious there was mold. I contacted everyone involved; I immediately had a mold inspection and so it seller. Both results confirmed toxic mold. Seller agreed to remediate but (i found out later) remediator was instructed to do only part of the kitchen. Seller had indicated there was no mold in the property in the Disclosure Statement. This document was one of the important documents that was Kept by the mortgage company(loan officer and agent) until I found out from a lawyer I consulted with. There is no more leaking but there is mold that is making my child sick.
Mike C- I don't need to convince you but I will say this: The paper trail I have says it all. When I consulted with a Real Estate attorney, the first thing he asked me (after browsing through my file) was "where are your HUD documents, your closing statements". I had no idea what those documents were. You said "You said they inflated your income and you knew they inflated your income but that didn't seem to bother you". I don't believe you understand what I wrote, Mike. First of, I presented them with my pay stubs, bank statements and all my other documented incomes. I have been working at my job for 16 years now and I never imagined that my income would say otherwise. I only found out the inflated income a year later when I wanted to refinance with the bank- the bank asked me if any info they have changed. As she was going over the info she asked if my income has changed. I said no and told her how much; that's when she told me that according to my initial application ( a year ago) my income is $&^&%& per month and I told her that was not true. I told her that I never saw that application with figures like that. I believe it is only my good credit and on-time payment history that helped me to be able to refinance at the time. Mike, you said "You would get copies of everything at that time (unless you have since lost them)" - if I got everything I was supposed to get at the beginning I would not be dealing with these issues now. Besides, I am living in the world of Special Education and losing documents does not exist at my home. I agree with anyone who believes that I should've done a background check on the people I was dealing with. I trusted them because of the person who recommended them to me.
Caitlyn- Yes, I did put a small down payment which is not much to make me want to stay here. Again, it is because of my child's condition. I have taken the seller to mediation but she wants to settle for very little. It is now left to me to move forward to file a suit; my finances is the issue since I spent a lot of my savings fixing the problems at the house. At the mediation, seller's broker and attorney asked if we will also go after the rest of the team - agent and loan officer (who were supposed to be at the mediation but decided not show up) mortage company since they also have a lot to do with this whole problem.