Bank Improvement or Home Improvement
Finally, after many months (actually 2 years) we sold a home we were carrying as unwanted inventory. All it took was discounting the property to half its original price; which meant the sale could be classified as subsidized housing…. Uncle Sam isn’t the only party passing out money. Anyway, it’s gone so lets be thankful.
But there is a subplot; with the protagonist as the bank. Closing day arrived and everyone had done their job. The realtors lined up the buyer, the punch list was completed, the buyer had wired their funds and the title company had all the documents ready and had made sure all the right parties had the documents well in advance.
The economists at the Federal Reserve are telling us that the seeds of a recovery are underway and the banks are on solid ground ready to service the public. Maybe so, but we haven’t seen it. The home we sold had a mortgage that needed to be released to convey the property. The title company obtained the payoff from the bank and placed this number on the closing statement. Unfortunately, the bank could not wait for the closing to occur to receive the funds that it rightfully deserved. The bank took the extraordinary steps to deduct the interest it was due, and calculated in the closing statement in advance from the borrower’s (us) account. Why not get paid twice when you can? After all, consuming the TARP money did not seem to cause too much indigestion. At least not for the ones that took the money, but what about those that foot the bills like bank customers, taxpayers, etc.
The story has a satisfactory ending. After lots of phone calls and countless bank approvals the bank put the money back in our account and waited for closing to occur (later that day) to be paid
Happy Thanksgiving.
Michael Stein, The Gentleman Builder, is a home building and remodeling expert located in Bonita Springs, Florida. Michael has over
twenty-seven years experience in the home building and real estate development
business and has built thousands of home throughout the United States.