Home Buying: Summons

When I start to write a post about my journey to buying a home I don't know where to start. It has been one fiasco after another.  I have bought homes before and it has never been this crazy. I have never seen such unprofessionalism as I have with every employee of this dealership we have been dealing with. I have never been through a situation and realized at the end how ass backwards it has been. 

We have been living with my mother-in-law since we moved out of our apartment on New Years Eve. I feel so displaced although she has not been less than warm and hospitable towards us. I have tried helping her with chores etc to lessen the burden we have imposed on her. She reassures us that we are welcome for as long as we need.  We appreciate it but we are so ready to be in our own house.

We finally got the skirting and steps up. They trenched for underground electricity. They finally put the air conditioner. We signed for the closing, after two arguments and having them sign our own documents promising what they said they would do.

Hubby and I have changed cell phone carriers. He kept his phone number but I changed mine. Since I've been the one they've been calling I attempted to call them to inform them of my phone number changed. Although it was within office hours no one answered. No surprise there as it has happened many times before. So I went to their website and filled out the 'Contact Us" form indicatng my phone number changed.

We had ordered to disconnect our previous carriers so I did not have that phone with me. One Monday I happened to enter the room we are staying in and heard my old phone vibrating. I had 3 voicemails. The carrier had not disconnected it yet. Two from Jamie and one from the lender. Evidently, she had been trying to contact me and I wasn't answering. If she would have read my email she would have known to call the right number. 

Her frantic demanding message was "Lisa, you are avoiding me! We really need to get these documents signed! We can fax them to you, you and Hubby can sign them and fax it back. You need to call me NOW."

Excuse me? NOW? 

The other message from her was more frantic and pretty much threatening, "Lisa, you need to call me NOW. We need to get these papers done today! We can fax them. So we can get finally finish this. CALL ME If we don't get these signed today, you will be charged penalties and fines."

Once again, excuse me? They've taken their time these pass months but now that they were over their deadline (December 22) and they want things NOW. I don't think so. It is not our fault. We have been waiting on them. Everything we asked for we either got a roundabout answer or no answer at all. It had been 7 months since this fiasco started. They never gave us a set date for anything. It was always "Maybe" or "We'll try"or "There are others ahead of you." etc.  

The message from the lender was same information but a much better polite tone. As I was listening to the voicemail, Hubby called me. He was out of town working. He had talked to Jamie. She had the same attitude as she had on my voicemail  Hubby was furious. He said after he hung up from her he yelled and hit the wall so loud his coworker who was next door heard him. 

Have I mentioned I'm usually the fast hot tempered one and Hubby is the patient laid back one?  It takes ALOT to make Hubby angry or impatient. These people have made him both.

He told her, "Oh now that it is costing you money, you want things down now. Not gonna happen right now." He informed her that he was out of town and before he signed anything we had to discuss other things. She said, "Penalties and fines will be given."Hubby responded, "Not my problem."  We couldn't do anything besides they had things to do before we signed. She insisted on faxing. Hubby just  flat out said no.

We had not received the AC and their contractors left a huge mess in our home as well as the yard. It is another post in itself.

Meanwhile Hubby received an email from the lender he didn't read until later, after he talked to the lender. Here it is with the name omitted.

____homes has conveyed that you are not willing to sign your modification and other final documents, which is putting them in a financial bind with the factory that built your home, the subcontractors, etc.  This also creates issues with the warehouse line that your loan was funded off of.  Is there a compelling reason why they can’t fax these documents to you for signatures and have you fax them back to them.  They (_____ Homes) are being hit with a daily (per diem) penalty on the added interest, which they will likely invoice you on, if this continues.  Is there a problem with the home or something you are dissatisfied with?  Please let me know something as soon as possible. 

Hubby had explained to the lender, we did not flat out refuse.  He explained our situation to the lender The lender was okay with that. Hubby told the lender we would be by the office the Friday, when he returned. 

As promised (Although the dealer never owned up to ONE promise they gave us) we showed up that Friday. Hubby and I had discussed how we were going to address issues and what we wanted to point out. 

First thing was Jamie's summons and her obviously calling the lender stating we refused to sign, making it sound like we didn't wan to sign at all.

When we entered the office and after pleasantries we informed her that we were not happy with her summons. I told her if they read the email through "contact' us she would know the number she was calling for me had changed. Hubby told her we did not appreciate her summons. It was like a mother telling her child to do something. It did not sit right with us at all.  She denied she left any message of that sort. 

OMG! Did I want to reach over, grab her by the neck and shake her? Of course the service for that phone finally disconnected and I couldn't retrieve the message.

Also, we confronted her with the misconception she gave the lender that we didn't want to sign. Another verbal confrontation ensued.

Jacob finally entered and asked what was the problem. We related to him how much we did not appreciate Jamie's summons and the misconception she gave the lender.

He became defensive and we were arguing. At some point, Jamie blurted, "I have enough" and just walked out. After she walked out Jacob closed the door and confided that Jamie was having problems at home and maybe it was a bad day when she called. He also said that she was gone for most of the month of December and that's why we were so behind.

I asked him if he had anyone to replace Jamie when she was out and he said no. We thought it was absolutely crazy but it explained why everything was so freaking backlogged.

Jacob sat down and calmly said he takes full responsibility for the screw ups. He agreed with our opinions of the whole thing. I think he was just patronizing us, Hubby said it was the first time he took responsibility. I reminded him of Jacob's motive. MONEY!

But he somehow put out the fire and calmed us. And he actually showed a glimpse of professionalism, finally!

Jacob asked what was it going to take to sign because interest and fines were building up and we needed to get this done. I told him they needed to get the contractors to clean up their mess (Another argument we were having with Jamie since they moved the mobile home to our land) and we wanted every invoice they had from contractors/subcontractors to prove where the money went that they put as "Land improvements." We told him we didn't trust one word any of them said. We wanted everything in writing from then on. He wrote that in writing for us, which was a miracle in itself.

 I recorded most of the conversation that day on my phone and kept it as well.

We signed the papers so they can pay the contractors etc and we can get into our home. He gave us the final papers "Closing Package" to look over and sign and bring back along with the sewer pump certificate when they should have asked for long time ago. We were still waiting on electricity.

That weekend we went to the home and saw the electric company installed our pole and the meter but there is no electricity going to the house. The meter is blinking 000. We flipped the fuse box in the home etc but nothing. We don't have water either. Monday, I called Jacob to ask him if he knew what the problem possibly could be t. He asked if we turned it on from the pole. We do not recall seeing a box he described.

Of course the weather has not been on our side either. It's been raining and flooding. Our home is not in a flood zone but its really muddy and soggy around the home so we have to wait before we go check the box. 

It is a seemingly uphill battle.

Oh, as we went through the "Closing Package" it made us realize how ass backwards this whole process has been with this dealership.  If we had this package before hand, when we were suppose to get it, alot of frustration would have been avoided. We would have understood things more as well.

So we continue to not be in our home. I've felt myself wanting to visit that black hole but fighting it with everything I have.