Due to the extreme usage (especially on one side) his hearing is not as good as it once was and he has also developed tinnitus or ringing in the ear. Although his hearing is still good he is now considered a partially disabled vet.
About 6 years ago we had a little girl and moved to a different State to be closer to our families. We found a beautiful new home that had been on the market for a bit and put a low ball offer out. We got the home for way under market value and thought we got a steal.
Like many we spent the next few years investing in our home. Because it was a new home that no one had lived in yet we bought ALL the appliances. We paid to have water run to the fridge for an ice maker. We had a gas line run for our clothes dryer. We added cabinets to the laundry room, and mirrors to the bathrooms. We installed custom closet systems. We bought a shed, an above ground pool, a swing set and had sprinklers installed. We installed a whole house humidifier. And then finished the basement. If you have seen the photos on this blog our home it was a contemporary ranch home and we added about 1000 square feet to the home when we did the basement. Granted there was some finish work to do in the basement that we never got to but it was mostly done and usable space.
We refinanced at one point after all this had been done and got an assessment at $65,000 above our purchase price. This was even in the difficult housing market period. We were so happy that our improvements had basically helped our house stay even. HOWEVER we found out later that assessors were basically doing whatever the banks wanted for an assessment. We told the bank what we expected it to assess for... They told the assessor. And guess what he obliged by making it what everyone wanted. This is what went wrong in the housing market. the banks drove prices up by basically telling assessors what to price houses at. HMMMM. suspicious isnt it.
We treated our house with care, made improvements and stayed on top of payments. We were NOT one of the people who defaulted. We were NOT in over our heads. We NEVER missed a payment. In fact we OFTEN paid extra to bring down the principle.
So here we are 6 years later. My husband works for a defense contract company. When Obama took office they immediately started laying people off expecting cuts in military spending. Every 6 months or so hundreds of people lost their jobs. The stress took a toll on our marriage (but thats another story). Eventually my husband began to look for another job hoping he could find work before being laid off himself. To our surprise he did but it meant moving our family to another state away from everyone and leaving our home. We discussed it but because of his questionable job security we decided a secure job with pay increasing was better then staying where things would be questionable.
I repeat he WAS was working the whole time. Got a NEW job before leaving and actually got an increase in pay from the new company. We NEVER stopped paying on our house.
We went to put it on the market and were told that our home wouldnt sell for what we still owed on it. But rather $100,000 less then what it had assessed for just 2 years prior. We tried putting it on the market our selves for a higher price and had lots of interest but no offers. 2 months in we discussed our options and we were steered towards a short sale. New laws had gone into affect to help home owners like us who had never missed payments but the market had gone upside down on us AND now had to move for a job.
We spent many calls/emails with the VA and the banks talking this through to make sure we were protected. Because my husband was getting a new job in a different state we were told that we fall under a special category. A short sale was the way to go. As long as we continued to PAY while we sold our house things would be fine and we would owe nothing extra once it was sold.
The thing with a short sale is you have no control over what the house sells for. On a normal short sale the bank can come after you and ask you for the money that they lose on it selling for less then value. Most short sales happen because people cant afford their home anymore and they try to sell before forclosure. Often people stop payments and stop taking care of the house resulting in it being run down needing repairs and thus causing it to sell for too little...
Again we took care of our house as you can see from the photos.
SO we were handing over our investment KNOWING we were out everything we put into it (all those improvements meant nothing). We knew ALL those extra payments were now WASTED money we could have saved for something else or paid off other debt. We have letters from Citimortgage and the VA saying we would not owe the rest, it would not affect us buying another home because we were in that "special category" protected by the new laws.
Ok so reluctantly we agreed to sell short sale and re-listed our home for what the realtor recommended and what we thought the bank would approve.
We went through some issues in selling having an offer bank approved and them backing out 2 weeks before closing. and finally got a few more after we dropped the price down to the amount the bank approved.
We had special wording put in our contracts to say that the offer was only acceptable if the bank agreed not to go after us or the VA for the money. We had letters and emails all over the place reassuring us. Mostly me because I could see what was coming. We often had people at the bank treat us as if we had been delinquent and nasty to us about the short sale. So I was worried.
ALL this time we KEPT paying on the house we were losing money on just to keep in good standing so we could get approved for a mortgage and get a new home where we were moving..
OUR MISTAKE.
We did sell the house and everything looked fine. We found a home to buy here and started the process. everything was fine we were approved. I breathed a sign of relief.. Its a new construction and took some time to complete but now we are 2 weeks out from closing and
SURPRISE Citimortgage screwed us. They went to the VA and asked to be paid for the loss. EXACTLY what we were told they wouldnt and couldnt do under the new laws. And the VA paid out!!!
Our new mortgage company was contacted because it will now affect our approval for our new home. Our new mortgage jumped $400/month. We are lucky that we can rearrange some things and still afford this but of course its not what we wanted. In many cases something like this could have cost us our new home.
Yes the law is on our side. But apparently someone at Citimortgage and the VA forgot the law even though we've been discussing it with them now for about 9 months. So now we are scrambling to make sure we can get our mortgage approved, find the correct amount of money to put down. Put that new car I needed on hold all because of what will probably come out to someone claiming a "clerical error".
BUT we have to fight for it. They are again treating us as if we screwed up. My husband a Disabled Vet who never missed a payment, we took care of our home, continued to pay when we KNEW we were losing every penny, who spent time making sure we understood what was going to happen and only agreed to sell the house AFTER everyone gave us all the answers.
We could have carried the mortgage for a while to sell for a higher amount, we could have rented it out (and even had inquiries to such), we could have stopped paying and actually been a forclosure.
BUT we were honest hardworking people. We didnt make our house value go down. we didnt make the market shift. In many areas our home would still sell for the price we were asking but because we had a ranch in an area where they werent selling any new ones; it actually brought our value down because it was being priced compared with 30 year old homes. Ours was 6 years old... Tell me thats fair market? Remember what i said about the banks and how the assessments were done... So basically the banks created the houseing crisis and even though we were able to afford our house, kept it looking nice, added value, They were saying our house selling for less then we owed was somehow OUR FAULT...
These new laws were put in place so people in our situation would be protected. But basically we were SCREWED by the bank.
Do you seriously think the bank doesnt know the law? That they couldnt ask for the money?
Do you think they are trying to pull a fast one. Take more Taxpayer dollars, defraud the VA, and punish the hardworking vets who are trying to be a good role model for their families. And a "disabled vet at that... They dont think the vets will know their rights and stand up to them. How many people know these laws exist or would they just roll over and let the bank take the money...
So here we are. Lucky we can still afford a home for our growing family with all the crap they pulled (I had a baby the end of jan) and Now trying to figure out how to fight to get the money back they illegally took form the VA in order to clear up our account.
HOW MANY OTHER VETS HAS THIS HAPPENED TO? Lets band together. please comment here.
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