Katz Mortgage Team

"In late October 2012, I received a call from [removed member name] who was attempting to buy her first home. After 20 years in the mortgage business and 4 years previous as a real estate broker, I make it my responsibility to counsel first time homebuyers throughout the home buying process. However, unlike most first-time buyers, [removed member name] repeatedly shunned any professional advice, which lead to a series of poor decisions and unnecessary frustration. First, I always recommend First time homebuyers use a buyer’s agent to help guide them to best home with an unbiased viewpoint. Instead, [removed member name] wanted to find her own home, and chose a conversion condo. This is significant because these properties are poor investments and hard to finance. This particular property was an old historic building that was only partially rehabbed. It is what we call in the business a “Pink Elephant”. When I tried to explain this to [removed member name], she was very offended…as if I insulted her taste or level of knowledge. This was the property she wanted and she wanted to close in 21 days! I told her that would be considered extremely fast in our market, but we would try our best. I quickly set out on trying to convince our underwriters to accept this property. We promptly ordered the appraisal….and [removed member name] cancelled it. Yes! Even though she had an appraisal contingency in her contract making her earnest money non-refundable, and we were short on time, she cancelled the appraisal to give her time to schedule a home inspector. I tried to convince her not to delay the process, and explained the legalities of the contract she had signed. The next week we were given the go-ahead to order the appraisal. It took about a week to come in and we approve the property. After the typical u/w conditions were cleared we were ready to send a closing package. Only one problem, we never received the clear title examination from the closing attorney. Normally this is a one phone call issue, but [removed member name] refused to use one of our approved closing attorneys. She did not understand that in Georgia, the closing attorney represents the lender and a working relationship is imperative for a smooth closing. [removed member name] chose a closing firm that we had no relationship with and were in no hurry to satisfy the needs of a one-off deal for a lender they did not know. In reviewing this experience, I think a large part of the problem stems from [removed member name] lack of awareness of the ever-changing regulations, complexities and nuances involved in purchasing, and financing a home. Understandably so, like most first-time home buyers, [removed member name] is not a real estate or mortgage expert, so expectations were likely unclear. This is a major project to try to take on alone without accepting professional guidance. In the end we were able to send the paperwork to the closing attorney at 3:52 pm, THE DAY BEFORE CLOSING. Although this was after my expected time of 1pm, we were able to insure that [removed member name] received the best loan rate and terms in the market. We wired the funds to the law office the morning of the closing, the attorney’s office did their 45 minutes worth of prep, and the loan closed ON TIME, November 21, 2012!!!!! Would I give us straight A’s across the board, NO. We failed at the most important part…KEEPING OUR CUSTOMER HAPPY. Do I think that we deserve an F? Absolutely not."