possibly lost the house? (RE agent, appraisal, agent, mortgage)

[emb23]

FTHB here. still not happy. please read the emails below... first from seller's listing agent, next my response. background details (not even half of them) would be in previous posts. do you think i lost the house?

Hi {emb23} -
I am the listing agent for the property you are interested in purchasing.

I am not trying to be difficult, but the loan situation is very difficult in this market. Since you are having an (i) FHA loan, (ii) seller's concessions, and (iii) low downpayment, your loan is very risky. There are not many sellers who will entertain a loan like this in this market.

I have other offers on this property. I told {buyer broker} from the beginning that the seller would consider your offer only if you agreed to use {bank}. I recommend {retail sales manager} because I trust him 100%. When he tells me he can get a loan, he does. He is quick and honest. I do not get anything from recommending him, its just that I have had bad experiences with lenders and your deal is very risky.

If fees are the issue, please speak to him. I am sure he will work with you to make your deal happen.

I am not sure that the Seller will proceed with your deal if you dont use {bank}. This was a major reason your deal was selected. Sorry I dont mean to make things difficult for you, but FHA loans are tricky and I cant have this fall apart once we are under contract. I need to give the seller an answer by midday tomorrow.

Please call me with any questions.
Sincerely.


Hi {listing agent},
Funny you should write, obviously my husband and I were just thinking about you. The ongoing fact seems to be that you and/or the sellers are not happy with our loan situation (in this market). But James and I are completely comfortable with it. And so are three separate lenders now. We did not intend to waste your time, but {buyer broker} gave me the impression that the sellers would be willing to go to contract if "your guy" approved us. It is my understanding there is nothing even in the contract that states we must use the seller's broker's lender. I respect your knowledge and experience in the real estate market. You mention having bad experiences with lenders and this deal being very risky. This leads me to believe that we should be very cautious with who we work with. What you are asking us to do is work with {bank} on our gov't home loan, now, and for the next 30 years because you 100% trust {retail sales manager}. It is nice to know that he can make this deal happen, and get your client paid, but please tell them we are fully committed to using our lender of choice.
Best regards.

[FalconheadWest]

FHA loans are not "risky" loans. This guy is full of it. He might be interfering with the sale and his seller can, and you for that matter, report this guy if the deal doesn't go through. Seller concessions are very common and they go along with the FHA low downpayment of 3.5%. It sounds like the agent is scaring his own seller to which they might lose a deal...

[MikeyKid]

Another bad apple poisoning the RE profession... It's ridiculous that this continues to happen. An agent can NOT dictate who you use for funding. This is immoral and illegal.

OP - I would forward on the email to the listing agent's head broker (if exists) and/or threaten to report them to NAR (if they're a realtor) and/or forward to your buyer's agent questioning the legality of what this agent is doing. Light fires and really make a stink.

Report this agent to anyone and everyone.

[Silverfall]

FHA loans aren't risky. It's the questionable mortgage professionals that are risky. The listing agent is overly paranoid. If they have a better offer with better financing then they should have taken it.

If the seller is paying 100% of your settlement costs they can ask you to use a specific person. If you are paying any of your settlement costs then it is illegal for the seller to dictate whom you are going to use per RESPA.

[andreaspercheron]

I'm not a real estate expert in ANY sense but I'm curious as to why you are corresponding directly with the sellers agent and not having those communications going through your agent and theirs? Just curious... again. I don't know a thing about real estate other than my own experiences.

[Sco]

I would lay the smackdown on this unethical agent. I would contact the broker they are affiliated with, file a formal complaint with the state licensing agency, and contact law enforcement to explore possible criminal fraud. A listing agent cannot force buyers to use a specific bank. I don't buy for a minute that the agent is not receiving some type of illegal kickback for this behavior.

[DMenscha]

I also question the listing agent contacting you directly. Discuss this with YOUR agent and let him/her handle it. I also have a mortgage broker that I just implicitly, but the best I can do is recommend him to MY clients.

[Lacerta]

I wonder if the agent has had bad experiences specifically with your lender. As building contractors, we have turned down offers because of the lender the buyer wanted to use on several occasions because of bad experiences with the loan officer. We have had deals go as long as 6 months after the proposed closing date purely because the lender was an idiot. Recently, we had a short sale go 90 days after bank approval (they had about 120 days BEFORE bank approval to sort out the loan) to get closed, due to a loan officer who repeatedly messed up and lied to us on multiple occasions. That name went on our Do Not Use list.

As others have said, a seller can require you get approved or pre-approved by their lender of choice, but not that you actually use that lender. They can turn down your offer because of your lender of choice, but they can't require you to use a specific one.

It sounds to me like they got a better offer after they accepted yours, and now are trying to buffalo you. It sounds like you do have an agent. I suggest speaking to them to find out what legal outs the seller has. If the seller has other offers, they should try to negotiate accepting one in backup position if they are concerned your deal will fall through.

If you are confident in your lender, maybe you could write an addendum to the contract that says that if your lender can't get docs ready for closing by xx date, you will pay the seller a penalty of $xx and switch to their lender. That might give the seller the warm fuzzy feeling they want.

[Silverfall]

I just popped on one of your previous posts and it says that you have a real estate agent AND a real estate attorney. Why in the world are you talking directly with the listing agent? Where is your representation in all of this?

[emb23]

this woman is unbelievable. she emailed me again. my broker told me that it is illegal for her to contact me just as it is for him to contact the sellers directly. my attorney (required for home sales in NY) is working on something for the contract to fix this. but i do still feel as though i should report her to whatever authorities i can, as this entire process has been "sketchy."

Hi {emb23} -

Thank you for your email.

{buyer broker} - would you mind clarifying the conversation that we had. You had told me that your customer didnt mind using {bank} so long as the fees were not more than she would normally incur. This is reasonable. We also spoke about the appraisal and that it was risky so that was an important reason to have someone who would expedite matters. You told me all along that would be fine. This is a little different than getting preappoved with "my guy." Now it appears that the deal is being changed so please understand where I am coming from.

{emb23} - I understand your frustration. I actually dont care who you use. Please understand that my job is to screen buyers. {buyer broker} and I work for the seller. Houses are coming Back On The Market everyday where agents do not do their job and screen the loan process. In my experience, the loan structure is risky (concessions, low downpayment and FHA). That being said, I feel comfortable that {retail sales manager} has said that you could pass through with {bank}. I am nervous with the FHA portion though. I have never recommended a lender to another agent's customer before, but I have also not done a deal like this in this market. So I am not trying to be difficult.

If there is a lender that you are thinking of using, I would like to see the preapproval letter and speak with the loan officer. Please understand this is my job.

Thank you.

my reply...
Enclosed please find our pre-approval letter from {well-known, established, FHA-specializing, equal housing lender}. You will find contact info included. {buyer broker} is an exclusive buyer broker, whom we have on retainer. And since you do not done a deal like this, please be advised, seller concessions are very common and they go along with the FHA low downpayment of 3.5%.