The land of idiocy and aggravation.

Post #99,098 by cwbrenn 4/28/03 3:48:11 PM Reply	The land of idiocy and aggravation. We're closing on the house Thursday. Or Friday. Nobody seems, to know, actually. It's Monday, it's three OR four days till closing, and nobody knows when the hell it is. So when am I supposed to get the utilities put in our name? Nobody knows. When am I supposed to take off work to move in? Nobody knows. When am I supposed to tell my family members (the ones who want to help me move in) to show up? Nobody knows. Nobody knows a damn thing, and nobody is answering my phone calls. This is ridiculous. It's bad enough that I won't know what my final closing costs are until 48 to 24 hours before closing, but now I apparently won't know what my final closing day until 48 to 24 hours before closing... And my buyer's agent hasn't returned a single phone call I've made to him for two weeks. I guess he figures the percentage he's getting from the house is already a sure thing, so he can leave me twisting in the wind. I'll be glad when I finally move into this house. I'm going out of my mind right now. I've got all kinds of colorful phrases I'm forcing myself not to use... "We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?" - Edward Young
Post #99,100 by admin 4/28/03 3:51:12 PM Reply	If you think this is fun, wait until the actual closing. Suggestion: bring EVERYTHING you ever sent the mortgage company: tax returns, credit card bills, EVERYTHING. And then add to that pile the stuff they didn't ask for: more credit card bills, loans, whatever. Treat it like an IRS audit. Chances are someone there will ask a question like: "Why doesn't this balance show up on such a such form, and can we see the statements for that account?" They did at my closing. We didn't know for sure whether we actually owned the house until FIVE HOURS after we signed the papers. :-P Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #99,102 by cwbrenn 4/28/03 3:52:23 PM Reply	cries you are mean. :) "We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?" - Edward Young
Post #99,104 by admin 4/28/03 3:56:16 PM Reply	I beg to differ... True cruelty would be failing to warn you of this, then laughing maniacally afterwards while capering about, chortling out, "I could have told you so! I could have told you so!" Be glad I don't care to dance about the belittlement bush. ;-) Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #99,105 by cwbrenn 4/28/03 4:07:56 PM Reply	You're right... but I'm not a strong man. And my ability to distinguish between kindness and cruelty is not, ah, very well-developed right now. I have spent the last hour rocking back in forth in my cube. It's very comforting. I'm not entirely sure that I'll ever stop. "We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?" - Edward Young
Post #99,115 by admin 4/28/03 4:39:44 PM Reply	:-D It does get much better... the first time is a bastard, though. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #99,258 by drewk 4/29/03 10:51:45 AM Reply	ICLRPD (new thread) Created as new thread #99257 titled [link\|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=99257\|ICLRPD] === Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
Post #99,248 by lincoln 4/29/03 10:32:02 AM Reply	Beats my closing When we closed on our house a few months ago, I asked for the keys from the title agent. "Oh, we don't bring the keys to a closing. They're at the house." "EXCUSE ME???" "The keys are never brought to a closing, they're at the house, hidden, so you can get them AFTER you take possession. I kid you not. So we close, go to the house as darkness is falling, look for the keys which we were told are hidden within the circuit breaker box for the A/C units, and find that THEY'RE NOT THERE. Go to a local grocery store to use the payphone to call our buyer's agent, who comes over with a flashlight, confirms that we have no keys, calls the listing agent at his home to bitch him out, only to get his answering machine, and lets us in with her pass key. TWO DAYS later, the listing agent calls our buyer's agent back, gives a shitload of excuses, then sends a locksmith over to rekey the house, WHICH WE PAID FOR AS PART OF THE CLOSING (it was hidden in a small paragraph on one page of the stack of papers we signed.) This was supposed to have been done BEFORE the closing, but wasn't. We owned a house but almost couldn't get into it for 2 days. Incredible. lincoln "Four score and seven years ago, I had a better sig" [link\|http://users3.ev1.net/~bconnors/resume.htm\|VB/SQL resume] [link\|http://users3.ev1.net/~bconnors/tandem_resume.htm\|Tandem resume] [link\|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net\|contact me]
Post #99,117 by Another Scott 4/28/03 4:49:33 PM Reply	In my case, my loan officer knew all. She actually went with us to the closing. She was very good. She found some mistakes on the paperwork and had them fixed while we were there. Even though the power went off in the closing office for about an hour, it was a generally pleasant experience because of her. Try to contact your loan officer. They should know what's going on. As you say, your agent doesn't care at this point. If your loan officer doesn't know, they should be able to find out because they usually have a pretty close relationship with the closing company. Best of luck. Cheers, Scott.
Post #99,153 by Ashton 4/28/03 6:56:58 PM Reply	I thought this was how the Agents earned that 6% It's been a while since my last purchase/sale (except the one I did myself). If the standard has dipped as low as this thread indicates - neither Agent nor 'loan officer' displaying any interest and, leaving the closing paperwork to Chance + newbie!? Then there's a word for this: malpractice .. time to talk with local, State Realtors Board; see what licensing enforcement is about (if they still have that! in bizness '00, The "Unregulated Way") {sheesh} Ashton
Post #99,154 by Another Scott 4/28/03 7:08:18 PM Reply	I think the agents figure their job is done when the contract is signed. My buyer's agent told me when I contacted her with a question about the closing a week or so after the home inspection was approved, she said, "Contact Marianne [my loan officer]. She's taking care of everything now." It may well be that Chris is just having difficulty because the title company is swamped. But I'm sure it's frustrating for him. Cheers, Scott.
Post #99,118 by Steve Lowe 4/28/03 4:51:47 PM Reply	You got it easy. I don't have time to detail it all, but our closing got put off no less than FIVE times. We didn't even have figures until an hour before the closing. It was pure hell for us, especially my wife. I understand that this not at all unusual, mortgage companies, title companies, and processing outfits are extremely busy, and understaffed. ----- Steve
Post #99,121 by gdaustin 4/28/03 4:58:51 PM Reply	Got you beat... We closed on our refinance on April 16th. We were told at that time by the title company that our recision date would be April 19th (Saturday), and that our loan should fund sometime the following week (April 21-25). We are now at April 28th, and our loan STILL HAS NOT FUNDED. In three more days, we really need to make a house payment on the old loan if they aren't going to fund. I've called the contact name on the closing information twice, no call returned. I called his supervisor this morning, no call returned so far today. I called a third person at the company, voicemail, and no call returned. What do I do on the 1st? Pay the old loan? I think I'll be getting myself a lawyer if they don't have me funded by May 1st. This is friggin' fraud!
Post #99,130 by gdaustin 4/28/03 5:29:14 PM Reply	More... When we got to our closing on April 16th, the paperwork did not show that we had made our house payment April 1st. Apparently the paperwork was pulled as our check was clearing the bank. We made the title company requery our old loan to get a new payoff balance. Took $700 off our "interest" we were supposed to be paying in arrears. If this loan isn't funded by May 1st, I'm callin' my lawyer.
Post #99,187 by Silverlock 4/28/03 9:21:07 PM Reply	All of that plus... The scheduled closing of my first house was the same day and time as my final exam in Discrete math. The prof wouldn't allow me to reschedule with one of his other classes. Somehow the exam was a breeze. I think the worry I had about my future wife being alone at the closing put me in some kind of mental overdrive. I came in 5 minutes late (overslept) and left 30 minutes early and aced it, as I found out later. Once I got to the closing (still going 3 hours later due to seller silliness) all my self confidence and mental acuteness dribbled away. Gawd, my ex was stupendous. Never lost her composure, always polite, and as relentless as a landslide. In the dictionary under "tenacious", they have replaced the picture of a bulldog with hers. Because of the seller's silliness and her composure, we got about $2,500 in repairs/cleaning done on the seller's tab along with our original deal. I miss her. The world is only a simple place to the simple.
Post #99,240 by cwbrenn 4/29/03 10:09:35 AM Reply	Ooops. Looks like I'm getting angry at the wrong people. My buyers agents cases have been taken over by the office manager. All they'll say is he's dealing with personal problems. Whether that's a death in the family, or he's in the hospital, or rehab, or whatever, they won't say. However, they never bothered to tell us this either, and while I can conceivably see a scenario where our buyers agent had an emergency, and all he could do was call his office and then go, I can't think of a situation where the office wouldn't get around to telling one of his customers, DAYS away from BUYING ONE OF THEIR PROPERTIES, that we need to start talking to someone else. I mean... geez. "We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?" - Edward Young
Post #99,243 by gdaustin 4/29/03 10:24:07 AM Reply	Take it up with the Office Manager... The office manager is supposed to be "dealing" with the quality of his salepeople. He should definitely get on to the salesman for not covering his current salespeople. That being said, Real Estate (at least in Texas) is a very "individual" business. Each salesperson is his/her own boss, an independent contractor much like Mary Kay. Each salesperson draws no salary from the office (with the exception of a handful of companies), and actually "funds" the office out of their sales. The office and the salesman share the sales fee, usually provided by the seller (unless you use a buyer's agent, then the buyer pays the fee).
Post #99,332 by Ashton 4/29/03 4:45:00 PM 4/29/03 4:49:05 PM Reply	No wonder Texas needs a Death Penalty.. ..or maybe the world needs for Texas to cull its population.. Somehow? PS - yeah, I still blame 'Texas' - for letting Karl Rove & his marionette Shrub grow in that petri dish which nourishes so many sociopaths; then they leave this hothouse environment for growing e coli-- and wreak havoc on innocent non-Texans everwhere. Edited by Ashton April 29, 2003, 04:49:05 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #99,463 by gdaustin 4/30/03 11:05:11 AM Reply	Real Estate independent contractors.... I think it's pretty much a NATIONAL thing Ashton. I know when I include "here in Texas" you and Ross seem to jump on the Texas hatred bandwagon. I speak out of my experience, which I will admit is mostly Texas, with some Oklahoma and Lousiana to boot. But, based on conversations with people, real estate agents are pretty much independent contractors anywhere you go in this country. Give me a state where most or all real estate agents are paid salary and are employed by their office.
Post #99,471 by SpiceWare 4/30/03 12:10:22 PM Reply	where the f' did that come from? Man, you need to take a serious "chill pill" or something. Your rabid hatred of Texas is just consuming you. It's not very becoming. PS. wow - didn't know Texas was responsible for the selection of the Republican Party's presidential candidate, let alone who ends up as the prez. Darrell Spice, Jr. [link\|http://www.spiceware.org/cgi-bin/spa.pl?album=./Artistic%20Overpass\|Artistic Overpass]\n[link\|http://www.spiceware.org/\|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
Post #99,478 by jb4 4/30/03 1:21:56 PM Reply	If Tejanos had a lick of sense... ...they'd never have allowed someone a vapid as Shrub to be (s)elected to the Guv'ners Mansion (or someone as Macheavelian [sic] as Carl "The Puppetteer" Rove anywhere near the Guv'ners Mansion) in the first place. Ash, have I got it right? jb4 "We continue to live in a world where all our know-how is locked into binary files in an unknown format. If our documents are our corporate memory, Microsoft still has us all condemned to Alzheimer's." Simon Phipps, SUN Microsystems
Post #99,484 by gdaustin 4/30/03 1:34:12 PM Reply	Who is Carl Rove? Our governor is Rick Perry. I've lived in Texas a long time and never heard of Carl Rove...
Post #99,487 by inthane-chan 4/30/03 1:50:40 PM Reply	Shrub's political advisor... ...the guy who's been pulling his puppet strings pretty much the whole way up the political chain. After 9/11, Bush made two statements: 1. "Terrorists hate America because America is a land of freedom and opportunity." 2. "We intend to attack the root causes of terrorism." Sounds like everything is going according to plan.
Post #99,488 by rcareaga 4/30/03 1:59:01 PM Reply	Minding our cees and kays Th-th-that's Karl Rove, K-K-Karl with a "K." kordially, "Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist."
Post #99,610 by jb4 5/1/03 9:50:02 AM 5/1/03 9:50:45 AM Reply	G'morning Glen.... Glad to see Carl's Shroud of Secrecy worked so well! (But then, a good puppetter is not supposed to be seen, now is he?) jb4 "We continue to live in a world where all our know-how is locked into binary files in an unknown format. If our documents are our corporate memory, Microsoft still has us all condemned to Alzheimer's." Simon Phipps, SUN Microsystems Edited by jb4 May 1, 2003, 09:50:45 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #99,492 by SpiceWare 4/30/03 2:20:05 PM Reply	what I don't see is how Ashton's "Bash Texas" response relates to the discussion at hand about real estate. As Glen notes, Ashton and Ross seem to foam at the mouth over any mention of Texas. Darrell Spice, Jr. [link\|http://www.spiceware.org/cgi-bin/spa.pl?album=./Artistic%20Overpass\|Artistic Overpass]\n[link\|http://www.spiceware.org/\|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
Post #99,495 by deSitter 4/30/03 2:50:04 PM Reply	Re: what I don't see I froth over about how ALL the South has been adjoined by the carpetbagging right - exploiting as they did the drooling progeny of leftovers from the war, the cowards and self-interested shirkers, after the best men were wasted mentally and physically. Texas is just the first offender among 11 equals. I wish the South were still livable. -drl
Post #99,523 by Ashton 4/30/03 5:51:59 PM Reply	knee-jerk reaction, I guess.. I tend to view "how places handle the humongous-greed quotient in Real Estate\ufffd" kinda like the old saw: "you can determine the character of a country by how it treats the least-powerful who live there" I have some (past) experience of the "Title Insurance Scam" and other cash cows of RE - surely almost as scurrilous a trade as Billy and the Barbarians (and much older). So I just looked at the thread and the 'wishy-washy' behaviour of the folks involved in this deal and concluded: Yup, Texas is no beacon in the Night in THIS area. Either. Individuals are not "The State" however - even I Know That. It still sucks. What great contributions to civilization have emerged from the collective actions of 'Texans' -?- [Ans: damn well nothing at all in the way of Civil Liberties, unless I've missed something Big] Ashton, Irrational like most
Post #99,524 by rcareaga 4/30/03 6:00:13 PM Reply	Re: knee-jerk reaction, I guess.. Ashton wonders What great contributions to civilization have emerged from the collective actions of 'Texans' -?- [Ans: damn well nothing at all in the way of Civil Liberties, unless I've missed something Big] Aren't we overlooking the freedom granted to the Texas governor to execute the aged, the infirm, the halt, lame, blind and poor in job lots, week in, week out, the year long? The governors in less enlightened states face all sorts of obstacles when they wish to work a bit of judicial homicide on the pee-pul's behalf. Credit where due, old son. cordially, "Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist."
Post #99,542 by Ashton 4/30/03 7:40:45 PM Reply	Credit grudgingly slathered, for consistency. cf above :-\ufffd And.. the LRPD walketh with moi! Forsooth I espied just now - They may disagree on who is an idiot, but they agree that most are.
Post #99,565 by a6l6e6x 4/30/03 10:10:36 PM Reply	But, but, are you forgetting... *"the Alamo!"* :) Alex Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Post #99,717 by Ashton 5/1/03 5:43:02 PM Reply	Saw that, read the perpetual Press Releases - saw the nose grow longer with each retelling. The excitement I felt was.. What if the Mexicans had won (and stayed)? Kinder, gentler culture.. Cinco de Mayo, Dia de los Muertos ... same amount of thieving likely (but less hypocritical about admitting it) and a mellifluous language instead of - - Oh well, next incarnation Ashton
Post #99,724 by Arkadiy 5/1/03 5:55:44 PM Reply	You would be in Canada now, sending money back home Ashton, this is another case of "nuking Redmond". I do not think that you really want to live in Mexico. You just wanted to say something nice, right? -- Want to be original? Start with a great template!
Post #99,764 by Ashton 5/1/03 8:44:53 PM Reply	Actually.. While their 'judicial system' is clearly more overtly fucked than even ours.. and remnants of PRI will persist for years. etc. - having spent now several weeks in various parts, with remnants of knowledge of la lengua + native speaker along: I'd take Mexico As-Is (and with new prospects) over.. several possible scenarios of an Aschcrofulated Bush-league Murica - say, several years hence -?- depending on whether an election is held? is stolen or [sorriest of all] 'won' by the Karl Rove Corporate group. But given Canada too, and the present equations: you might be close-enough ;-) Ashton Patriot (in wherever Patria the principles next have a chance of surviving)
Post #99,760 by a6l6e6x 5/1/03 8:35:36 PM Reply	I know what you mean. I saw the Alamo on my one and only (business) trip to San Antonio. It's almost inconspicuous. Alex Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

Welcome to IWETHEY!