FHA Lenders Causing Buyers to Become Homeless!!??...

[Brandon Sturgill]

Alright, take the title of this post with a grain of salt, but it's an important topic...maybe a story for context:

So we're selling one of our duplexes to a nice young couple that wants to house hack...very commendable. And they don't have much cash on hand, so they are using an FHA secured loan...good deal. We just renovated the duplex and it's in good shape...old but good...so it should pass FHA requirements right? Here is the horror of this:

We were set to close 11/20/2018 (45-days from contract)...the appraiser came out around a week prior to walk-thru the unoccupied unit to get things moving...good deal...it passes with flying colors and he moves to the outside…no mention of any issues and he gets comps in order…the contract price is good based on comps, so we just need to walk through the occupied unit then we’re clear to close..

He gets to the occupied unit...and he notices a small bit of water on the basement floor near the furnace (Image attached)...maybe the condensate line is dripping a bit, no big deal, we’ve already agreed to a $3,000 post inspection concession for repairs, so the buyers can fix this...the next day the lender decides there is peeling paint around some of the windows...three days prior to close...not in the appraisers report!...and the appraiser comes back out to verify…so we pay $800 to have the windows capped and painted, and $150 to get the furnace wrapped up...all voluntary on my part to get these folks in their new home...the lender rejects it...no closing on 11/20....

Ok, we have 10-days before this couple's lease ends at their current apartment so we should be fine, right? No...the lender begins to pick apart the work that was completed by a licensed HVAC tech and the handyman that capped and painted the windows...then they note an 18" piece of trim on an exterior door that may have peeling paint...not in the appraisers report! They refuse to close...this couple is about to be homeless and their lender is refusing to close the deal despite our previously reached concession post inspection and our pleading to escrow funds to repair any items after the loan closes.

The end of November comes and the buyers are now out of their lease and have moved all their belongings into a truck...with nowhere to go...homeless. We continue to plead with the lender for a solution, but she's unresponsive...We draft a short-term lease that night to get the buyers into to the empty unit. The lender comes back and requests that all the gas lines to the furnace be replaced despite the fact that they are to code and perfectly fine...WTF?! Not in the appraisers report!! The buyers (now our tenants) agree to the lenders demand so we can just close the deal...the cost is $1,600...holy s*%t...

So, we're still not closed...with no plans to close...the lender has simply gone silent. I filed a complaint with HUD stating that the lender refused to extend a mortgage to a qualified buyer causing them to become homeless, falsified and appraisers report, issued instructions on repairs they were not authorized to do...and have effectively "redlined" a low-income client...all violations of fair housing and fair lending...

So, what do you think...I've never seen anything like this in my career...not even close. The lender is Huntington Bank.