All Forum Posts by: Ericka G.

Maya W. I don’t know about a photo but I don’t think a letter could hurt ONLY if you know there are multiple offers...especially if you are buying in a niche or family neighborhood. A photo does seem ripe for potential discrimination, so I’d avoid that personally. The only downside I can see to a letter or personal appeal is appearing over-eager which could weaken your bargaining position. I think it is better if a seller thinks you aren’t too emotionally attached and could easily walk away if they don’t meet your demands. So, unless there are multiple offers, I’d vote no on personal appeals.

Craig Jones this may be a dumb question but how do you determine who is late on their mortgage payments by looking at the county website?

Elizabeth S. Glad it helped! It sounds like you have a gem on your hands... close to shopping, transit, 20 mins to the city, and tree lined?!? I see $$$ in your future. Close the deal, fix it up and if you still hate Queens after that, you can rent it at a profit and let your tenants help pay for your place in Bushwick ;).

Victor N. Good point. I’m sure they had a standard mortgage financing contingency...maybe the contingency period had expired?

JD Martin you are right, my guess is they are only out a couple of thousand dollars between EMD and other fees, but for newbies who are just dipping in, the loss is a burn. Her hubby is super frugal and risk averse so even that “small” loss hits hard. Jay Hinrichs agree that the realtor is also at fault here. I pointed that out, but the realtor is her husband’s aunt; they won’t use her again but also don’t want to go after her for her mistakes I guess this will just count as a newbie lesson...

Jeff Dulla thanks for the input - when you say “non-warrantable” options, can you share examples of what those would be?

Chris Mason good to know. I will make sure that I know the FNMA guidelines by heart before the next deal...had no idea 20% was a unicorn. I guess the real bummer here is that this is a community bank that markets itself on serving marginal communities and helping non-traditional/first time buyers and they SUCK and are giving people bad info and bad outcomes. I wish there was a way to regulate that better.

Thanks Jeff Dulla Nicky Reader and Wayne Brooks for your input. I agree it is a long shot but it sucks that this loan officer is costing people deals. In my friend’s case they were buying a condo to airbnb. HOA is fine with investors and she did a ton of up front research and shared the %of renters/% of owners with loan officer from DAY 1. The day they are scheduled to close, the loan officer says “sorry, loan is denied because the % of renters is too high by 1%”. Loan officer then suggested they switch to owner-occupier and find someone to sign a bogus lease on their current home (mortgage fraud). Deal falls through, earnest $ lost - they are totally jaded now and her hubby doesn’t want to invest anymore. In my case, the same loan officer assured me that I could buy a triplex investment property for 20% down. I checked and double checked (and asked her to check with her boss) because that was lower than any other bank I spoke with. She assured me no problem since they are a community bank. 1-2 days before closing she casually informs me that she misspoke and I now need 25% to close...so I have to come up with another $9,000+ to close. Luckily we had it and were still able to close on time, otherwise we definitely would have lost our earnest money AND the deal as there were 4 other buyers waiting in case it fell through. I’m not pursuing anything for myself since the deal closed, but it would be great if there was a way for my friend to get her earnest $ back

Has anyone here ever sued a bank for incompetence? A local bank here epically messed up a deal for me but I was able to salvage it (had to come up with an extra $10-15k in a day) and still closed, but their negligence did almost cost me a great deal...I was pissed but let it slide - just won’t use them again. Fast forward to yesterday, I’m talking to a dear friend who is buying her first investment property with her husband and the deal fell through epically. The bank messed up royally. She is now out her earnest money, inspection $, etc and has lost a great deal. We are shocked to discover it is the same bank and broker who almost ruined my deal! She is appealing to the seller to get her earnest $ back since it was definitely a bank error, but I doubt she will. Is there any way to sue the bank in a situation where their negligence is the reason for the failed deal?

Elizabeth S. Omg, I feel your pain. I’ve been there (sorta). I bought a co-op in NYC back in 2005 that took 9 months to close. Went under contract in fall 2004 and didn’t close until late May 2005. Your attorney or someone should have advised you that NY co-op deals sometimes take forever. I also wanted to back out of the deal and was stuck in a ****** month to month apartment while I waited for the deal to close. I bought the place (annoyed) and it turned out to be one of the best investments of my life. I sold it for over 4x what I paid for it and it cash flowed $1k a month as a house hack/rental once I moved on to other things. I share my story to encourage you to see the bright side here - buying in the NYC metro area when the numbers work is ALWAYS a good thing. Rents go up daily as do property values. Love Brooklyn but can you afford to buy in Brooklyn or would you be throwing more money at rent? Any way you slice it, you win: if forced to buy the place, you have a cheap place with equity that you can rent for a profit in a year (maybe sooner if the board is this sloppy); if the deal falls through, you get to move to Brooklyn and explore opportunities there. Good luck with it! Whatever is meant to happen will happen, try to focus on the positive in the meantime.