Why did I even bother to help?

[Anonymous]

This is a long and complicated story, but I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.

A couple of years ago, my DH and sold our house - contract for deed - to a couple who had a few credit issues. We were to carry the note for a couple of years until they were able to secure their own  mortgage. Just thought we could help them get on their feet.They were responsible for the taxes, insurance and homeowners' association dues. Hired a real estate attorney to line out the paperwork, went to closing and the deal was done.

These folks stopped paying me a few months later. That's when everything hit the fan.

Found out, that by some error somewhere, the deed had been transferred into the buyers name. Within days, almost one MILLION dollars in liens were placed on  my house. My  *new* attorney suggested that I foreclose and hopefully that would get the liens removed.

A few hundred dollars later, the house is back in my name. However - The buyers didn't pay the taxes, in fact they provided my attorney with bogus receipts "proving" the taxes had been paid. Yeah, they were paid by MY MORTGAGE COMPANY. Now I have an additional 5K that I have to pay for the back taxes. My mortgage payment went from $731 to over $1400. Guess what? I can't pay it. I already work two jobs, and need to eat and have water and electric. And to really top it all off, I have a prepay penalty that Countrywide will not forgive, so selling the house and keeping my butt intact are pretty much not gonna happen. If I rented it out- I would have to get almost 2K a month to cover the mortgage, taxes, insurance and maintnance. Also not gonna happen.

I understand now why people leave the keys on the kitchen counter and just walk away.

Never in a million years would I have ever guessed that I would find myself in this situation.

[Anonymous]

omg, that is terrible! I am so sorry you are going thru this. I have no advice, just a shoulder..

[Anonymous]

I am so very sorry, It really stinks how awful some people can be to those who try to help them

[MidnightVoice]

TexMontana wrote:

Why did I even bother to help?

Because you are a nice person? 

[Anonymous]

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MidnightVoice wrote:

TexMontana wrote:

Why did I even bother to help?

Because you are a nice person? 

---

Correction: I was a nice person. Now I'm going to join the rest of the human race and keep my help and my money to myself. Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have had to deal with the ramifications of helping folks.

I'm sitting here wondering how long I can live in this house before the sheriff comes to evict me....

[Anonymous]

Who recorded that deed erroneously? What state is your property in?

You have a very good cause of action against whomever made the erroneous recording, assuming this was a fiduciary of some sort. You need to find out who screwed this up, and THAT is who you need to go after. My guess is that whoever that is, they are employed by someone with E & O (errors and omissions) insurance.

I worked in escrow for 30 years. I can tell you that if an employee of any company I worked for had done this, we'd have all been sweating bullets because the company would have been liable for the error. The good news is, our underwriter and the E & O company would probably have been the ones to pay something like that off.

Sounds to me like your new attorney needs to do some digging. Someone, somewhere was responsible for the safe keeping of your deed and THAT person dropped the ball, causing you considerable financial harm, yes? Well, that's the cage you need to rattle. And rattle it very hard, and very persistently.

[Anonymous]

By the way, I find it very suspicious that the deed just "accidentally" got recorded into the buyer's names and then, coincidentally, they ran up $1 million in liens against the property within a few days of the recording of a deed that never should have happened. How did they know it got recorded? Sounds to me---and I could be wrong----like they KNEW that deed was getting recorded. It's possible that you weren't just scammed by your Buyers and the "lucky coincidence" of a deed "accidentally" transferring over the title.

I may be wrong, but if I understand your post correctly, it sounds to me like they had a few ducks in a row that normally wouldn't have been UNLESS they had foreknowledge of that pending recording.

[Anonymous]

Oy. Sorry to post yet a THIRD reply to your post, but something else occured to me that could provide more immediate relief for you.

Often, a lender will waive the prepayment penalty if you enter into an "arm's length" bona fide sale. Have you spoken to Countrywide specifically about that? Have you read the verbiage of the prepayment penalty on your note?

Have you considered a refinance? You may have to eat the prepayment penalty, but if you have sufficient equity, you might be able to roll it into the loan amount. At least you'll save the property, lower your payments, get the back payments to Countrywide fixed, save your credit rating. THEN you can sell the property and get out from under it.

BTW, you didn't mention what happened to the $1 debts? Were those expunged by the foreclosure?

[fishbjc]

You tried to help people who needed help.  Because it didn't work out isn't a reflection on you.  Please don't become one of those people who are out to *get* the next person.  It just doesn't work; you'll make yourself miserable, and for what reason? 

You WILL be rewarded, somehow, when you least expect it.

I once helped a friend and my life was put in danger because of it.  I learned something about myself which was important and a blessing.

God may close a window, but he will open a door.  Keep your chin up and see what legal ramifications you may have.

[Anonymous]

Although this is not the same issue, it is some advice.

I had a builder build my house and screw it up royally.  To make a long story short I sent certified letters and proof of the issues with my builder to 3 officers of the mortgage company asking for assistance in the form of a forbearance for 6 months. (the faulty construction fotogs were probably a big help).

I got a call two days later from the VP and Cendant mortgage and a 6 month forbearance with no negative credit reporting(needless to say Cendant is a better company than Countrywide... but...).

So my recommendation is you build a press kit with all of the details and legal documents showing that you were the victim of a property scam.  Make it as professional a presentation as possible.  Write a short cover letter saying we need your help (keep it short and get right to what happened and mention attached is supporting documents).  Tell them what you want - e.g. a loan modification or reduced payment or whatever will help.

Send this certified mail to a few in this list (like the first dude and cc one of his bosses).

http://about.countrywide.com/bios/SeniorMgrDir.aspx?ir=yes

http://about.countrywide.com/bios/ExecMgrDir.aspx?ir=yes

You can also see if these people still exist and email them directly.

Michael Bloch
First Vice President
Loan Administration
(805) 955-8706
Mike_Bloch@countrywide.com

Ann Maree Paglia
Vice President
Loan Administration
(805) 955-8747
Ann_Maree_Paglia@countrywide.com

You can also look at this list and try a few folks here via email as well.
http://www.chl-mrb.com/ContactUs.aspx

Message Edited by JimmyMagno on 03-26-2008 07:54 PM