I am a Real Estate and Mortgage Broker working with a property owner of a property in Aurora, CO 80011 -- the Seller had to move back home to Australia because of cancer and its treatment. She needed to be near her family. The property owner's ex-husband was given Power of Attorney to sell the property for her. Unfortunately he was involved in a serious automobile accident that incapacitated him for a number of months and the property went into foreclosure.
When the ex-husband recovered sufficiently he contacted me to help him sell the property, so his ex-wife will not have a foreclosure on her credit or owe money because of a deficiency in a foreclosure sale. In June 2004 we found a Buyer-- had a contract and even an approved loan. All of the paperwork was submitted multiple times to the Wells Fargo foreclosure department. We made many calls to them for updates on status of the offer. After two months we had heard nothing and the Buyer walked from the deal-- no longer willing to cope with the aggravation.
In mid- August the ex-husband and I found another Buyer -- and put together another deal -- including a fully approved loan -- the offer price is actually more than Wells Fargo's later VPO showed the property is worth. This time we have actually talked a couple times with representatives of Wells Fargo's foreclosure department who assured us that our Offer is a great offer and should be approved any minute. NOW -- 6-8 weeks after our initial submission -- and four Amend-Extends later -- we are still waiting for an approval -- or even a disapproval. Ourmost recent Wells Fargo contact assures us it looks like a good deal -- and fits within the number-crunching parameters they look for -- and STILL it just sat for FOUR DAYS on his supervisor's desk while he went on vacation --and had not even been touched by the supervisor when he returned. (This is not the first time we have gone through a similar scenario -- only to have the file given to a new employee who starts the process all over!)
Our latest amend-extend runs out in two days. The Buyer is reluctant to re-extend the contract -- cos he doesn't think Wells Fargo will ever get the file cleared and approved. I am tending to agree with him. And ultimately the Owner, still in chemo for her cancer -- and the ex-husband trying desperately to help out his ex-wife despite his own physical pain will be the one's to suffer.
I have found the Wells Fargo Foreclosure department to be the most inept system and the most apathetic, incompetent bunch of people I have ever run into. generally speaking they do not even return phone calls and when they do, they lie about where your deal is at in their process.
I seriously think the Seller should SUE Wells Fargo. The Bank and foreclosure department are obviously blocking any attempt on the part of the Seller to sell the property pre-foreclosure-- so that she does not have a Foreclosure on her credit record-- and so that the full amount of her principal balance is paid nearly in full by the sale of the property, making the deficit a small one. If they do decide to sue, I, a single mom working to make a living, will probably join them as I have put hundreds of hours of time into this project-- and stand to lose a lot of money on commissions.
I know that Wells Fargo is kinda like the five hundred pound gorilla in this situation -- and it can do whatever it wants -- AND it makes no sense to me to blow off a deal that serves the Bank -- as well as the other people involved. Nor does it make sense to me for any organization to allow such incompetency and apathy and inefficiency and etc. within its ranks. Eventually WF will pay the price -- the Bank, the organization. I think all the media reports right now reveal that not only corruption, but also ineptness and inefficiency within the corporate culture eventually brings the coropration down. in one way or another. It does not work to ignore and screw the customers, just because the company is bigger than they are. Attitudes that say the little guy doesn't count just can't prosper anyone in the long run.
I doubt if this will reach anyone in time to fix this situation-- and I want to let people know about it. The people involved with this deal -- the Seller who is still recovering from cancer -- the ex-husband still recovering from severe accident trauma -- and the Buyer who has finally after some hard times been able to get it together to buy a home for himself -- deserve better than Wells Fargo is giving them.
All of that is just my opinion -- and as an Independent Mortgage Broker, you can bet I will never place a loan with WF -- and I will be very vocal in letting my customers and cohorts know why.
Geji
Broomfield, Colorado
U.S.A.
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