Complaint Review: Hubzu.com - Internet

I saw that a property nearby was listed by Hubzu.com and decided to bid on it online. I should have seen the red flags waving all over the place when the website said I had been outbid after the bidding time was over, and we (the two bidders) had been given 24 hours to give a final bid, yet, when I went and checked the main site, there were only 4 bids and 3 of them were mine, which meant I was the last bidder. Magically, five minutes later, the website stted that my bid had been accepted. I should have just walked away at that point. But I didn’t.

The first part went smoothly. They sent the documents via docu sign and everything was signed on time and earnest money was wired and everyone was happy. But then the title company got involved. This particular property is located in Chicago and the title company, run by Altisource, was unable to get the zoning certificate for the property. Naveen Ramachandriah was the closing agent of the title company, and he hired someone in Chicago (so he claimed) to get the zoning certificate.

They applied for it, but the application as denied.

The listing agent, Tim Litchford, e-mailed me asking me if I could be so kind as to figure it out for them. I, of course, flatly refused. Another week or so went by, nothing happened, and I said fine, I'll walk away from the deal. Mr. Litchford promised that the closing would happen on Friday 9/16/3016. Friday came and nothing happened. I e-mailed, I got a response from Cheryl Rabin, who said Mr. Litchford was off that day and no, he had not prepared any closing documents. I had a phone conversation with Ms. Rabin that didn’t end well. She insisted that we could not talk about who had done what and when, which means no one in this company is willing to take responsibility for what they do.

I was told the zoning certificate was going to arrive the next Friday and that I had to accept that the house was zoned as a single family, instead of the two unit house as the county assessor has it. Ms. Rabin sent me the e-mail chain between the title company and their agent and the listing agents. When I saw it, I finally realized what they had been doing all along.

20 minutes online revealed that the zoning and the tax assessment were correct. The zoning explained what the size the lot was, and that the house could contain a 1-3 single family units. The tax assessment said the house had 2 units. There was no conflict. The problem was that title company’s agent hadn’t checked with the county tax assessor to find out how to fill out the zoning application, instead he went by the property listing which was incorrect, and they all spent two weeks trying to figure out something that took me 20 minutes, and failing at it.

These people are supposed to be real estate experts, but I, a home buyer, had to explain to them the rules of real estate buying in Chicago.

I was given the option to cancel, and I did. A real estate company that asks the buyers to do their job is not a company I want to work for. Avoid Hubzu at all cost.