I HAVE TO VENT!!!!
Holy cow. This is just one of those scenarios that I think only fellow BP members could truly appreciate the nonsense. And it was something that I'm absolutely on fire about. It was either vent here or lose my mind. So here goes.
I have been in the process of completing a blanket loan refi on 7 properties with one of the national blanket lenders (firstkey). This process has been one of the most difficult and time consuming loan processes of anything I've ever done. It has literally consumed a good deal of my free time over the past 2 months.
Imagine doing a 5-10 conventional loan with all the fannie mae guidelines and all the crazy underwriter requests. Now multiple that effort by 10. Thats how much time you're going to spend doing these crazy blanket loans with these companies. They want so much information its silly. And they want the properties repaired as well - no matter how trivial. I actually had to have the gutters cleaned at one house in order to get this loan.
So, finally, after 3 months of nonsense, I signed all the loan docs on friday. Interestingly enough, this crazy company has its own rules on closings too. You actually schedule a signing date to sign the docs. But the loan isn't considered closed (not even dry closed) just by signing the docs. The loan isn't considered closed until they receive the originals.
Ok. So now I sign on friday. Docs are overnighted to them. They receive on tuesday. I had to wait the additional days because of the weekend and the holiday. Ok. Fine. I'll get my check today.
Nope. At 10:30, I call and ask the title company if the file was closed and the deal was funded so they could cut the check. The mail I get back? "Call me". Lovely. How bad can it be?
Well apparently, the title company forgot to seal the envelope. Of the 100+ pages that were sent, the lender only received about 30 some. So now some of my business info is floating around who knows where. It is what it is.
But now I have to sign the docs all over again and wait til tomorrow. Jeepers. But only if it were that easy.....
No. Apparently, firstkey needs some crazy indemnification letter from the title company saying they will indemnify firstkey from any issues that may arise from this transaction. Lovely. Well, my title company's legal counsel says they won't do that and so now the entire deal is in limbo.
I get thru to the title company legal counsel and see if I understand what firstkey is trying to get from this letter. Then I send an email to everybody including firstkey saying that if firstkey just wants to ensure they won't get sued by me, I will sign the letter.
No response. The legal counsel from firstkey hasn't responded to a single email from me all blankety blank day. I'm calling my rep there and he keeps telling me they're working on it. And all I see the firstkey counsel doing is sending out emails with the photos of the fedex envelope. And the people on both sides debating whether the fedex tab has been set or not.
I've never seen anything like it. I can't get anyone from firstkey legal to explain to me why my suggestion won't fly. I'll sign the letter saying I won't hold them liable for any of my info getting out as part of this transaction and then we can move forward.
They won't even reply......
I am so close to wanting to walk from this deal just so i can take them to court for failing to respond and work thru the issue.
I also pointed out to them that what if fedex had simply lost the envelope. Are they suggesting they wouldnt' close unless fed were to give them an indemnification letter??? I told them we all know that wouldn't happen. So what the blank is their issue here?
And if they actually have one, then why aren't they telling me, the customer, what that issue is so I can address it. Is it for me suing them? I'll sign something waiving that. Is there some really strong reason why it needs to come from the title company? Tell me that reason and I can push back harder on the title company since they're the one I always use.
But this is just ridiculous. And firstkey's legal group's absolute unwillingness to speak to me about the situation is the most obnoxious example of a lack of business ethics I have ever seen in my life.
Some of the original docs got lose because the title company made a mistake. How in the world can we not get this loan closed now? 3 months and easily over 100 hours of my time and close to 7 or 8k in fees and other hard costs (repairs, etc). And a title company rep accidentally forgetting to close the envelope is going to blow the entire thing up.
And I'm sure some of you are doubting whether this deal won't close now. But the legal counsels on both sides have really dug in. The title company won't budge right now. And firstkey has yet to be willing to speak to me throughout the entire process - which makes absolutely zero sense to me.
I'm not the one that sends the docs in the envelope so it wasn't my fault they got lost. And even if I had the right to sue them for the docs getting out, why in the world would they not want to talk to me to explain the situation, explain their position and come up with some reasonable solutions?
But thats not happening. And the fact that it isn't suggests to me that they may just be moving on to legal defense instead of closing this loan.
And that is the kind of nonsense and ridiculousness that we investors have to deal with as we work with all these lenders. Most of em have no clue what they're doing and they're literally as dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to using common sense to solve any problem.
So there is my vent. An unsealed fedex envelope by the title company has literally derailed a 765k refi loan. Go put that in some investor seminar........