Re- financed the condo

Hey, I forgot to blog about the process of re-financing my Illinois property.

This post is going to be long... If you already know all of the story, just skip it, HA! If you only know parts of the story, read on for the glorious details!

In early August, I got a notice from my mortgage company that I MIGHT qualify for a HARP re-finance before the program ends at the end of this September.

So, I called.

I had been told previously that I could not re-finance under HARP for a rental property, but I was now told that I would qualify.

I decided it would be worth it to eliminate my monthly shortfall, and moved forward.

At first, it was just a lot of paperwork being sent back and forth, and waiting. Something would be missing or wrong, and I would have to re-do it.  No big deal.

Then, right at the end, when I got the mortgage disclosure in the mail to sign on hard copy, I noticed that they had my name wrong.

I was able to just scan it back to them via the scanner at work to notify them that they had made an error.

None of the other stuff I had signed prior to that time had been wrong.  I am not sure WHY they did it, but on some of the items, they had changed my middle initial back to H.
(It has been B since I remarried in 2008)

In order for THEM to correct THEIR error, they advised me that I then had to provide evidence of my name change that took place 9 years ago.

I asked why I had to do that when they had changed the name themselves NOW, at the end of this process-- with no prompting from me-- to one that was not correct.  I never got a satisfactory answer.

I found a copy of our marriage certificate showing my name with the middle initial H, and I sent a copy of my Social Security card, showing my name changed to middle initial B after the wedding.

That was satisfactory to them, and we moved forward.

I was told that closing was scheduled, and that I could have it at my own dining room table at home at a time of my choosing that day.  A notary would come with all of the paperwork for me to sign, and the notary would take it from there.

Great!

The day before the closing, I got a phone call from the notary.  "Ms. Brown?"  I corrected her, but she didn't seem to notice or listen.  We confirmed my appointment.

A little while later, she called again... "Mrs. Brown?  I didn't realize you are married.  I see here your spouse's name is ____" and she spelled it out.

I said "Yes, and that's MY name, too.. it's NOT BROWN.  I'm not sure where you got that."

She also said that my husband would need to be present, and provide two forms of I.D., for the papers that HE would have to sign, blah blah....

?? No one had said anything about him having to sign anything, since this is a property that he has no ownership of in any way.

But then....She paused.  As if she suddenly heard what I had said about my name.

Then she said "Oh my, they have your name all wrong on this paperwork."

I about went off, even though I knew it was not her fault.

We hung up (this is all happening while I am at work mind you), and I got onto the closing agent at my mortgage company, while she got with her third party company supervisor and told them what was going on.

My mortgage company rep apologized, and said she saw the errors right away, it was being corrected, and they were scanning the new documents over immediately.

As it turned out, they had my name three different ways, one of which was COMPLETELY incorrect!

Okay, so we thought everything was fixed and ready to go.

Closing day came, and the notary arrived right on time.  She brought the paperwork out, and started to go through it.

She asked us for our copies of our I.D.s, and Dave asked "Why do I have to sign anything on this?"

She tried to explain it, and said that because we both live here in the house, he would have to sign, too.

Dave and I looked at each other.

I interrupted her, and said "This loan is not for THIS HOUSE! It's for a property that I own on my own in Illinois!"

This time, the error was her fault.

She looked totally confused, and started going through the papers. Dave and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

She exclaimed "OH, I had not even noticed that!"

REALLY???

She got on the phone with her supervisor, and explained that we were questioning Dave's having to sign anything, blah blah blah.

She also demanded that I get on with my mortgage company, even though I explained to her that they were already all closed up for the evening.  I sent an email that I knew would not be answered.

Ultimately, it was explained that BOTH Illinois and Oklahoma are what's called "spousal states," and that, even though he is not named on the loan, he DOES have to sign certain forms for ME to be able to get the loan.

Okay, whatever, let's PLEASE just MOVE ON.

She started handing me papers.

First was another copy of the mortgage disclosure.  She said to review it and make sure that the name was corrected.  It was.

She never had me sign it, or hand it back to her.

Dave and I signed everything we were told to sign, I had to correct my name myself on two forms (!!), and she MOVED THE MORTGAGE DISCLOSURE FORM off to the side, packed up the rest of her stuff, and left.

I was told that I would be receiving a check for $250, for the difference.  Cool!

FINALLY!!!  It was all over.  The whole process took about six weeks, and was kind of a pain.

Well, first thing the next morning, the notary called me.

"Do you have the mortgage disclosure I handed to you last night?  I must have walked out without it."

I said "You gave that to me first, to make sure the name was corrected.  You never told me to sign it or hand it back to you.  I even watched you move it to the side when you packed everything else up."

"Oh, no.  I need that, too!  How can I get it from you?"

"Well, I am at work until the same time as yesterday, you can come by and get it at 5:15."

Within minutes, her boss called me and asked to email the documents to me to sign and scan back to her.  Sheesh!

SO I did.

FINALLY DONE??

Nope.  At 5:15, the notary knocked on the door.  She said she still had to have the forms with my original signature on them, the scanned one was not sufficient.

I am glad we came home instead of doing an errand first, because no one told me that this was going to happen!!

I went and got the papers, signed them, and handed them to her.  She said that she HAD to get them to UPS before 6 pm, or the whole thing would fall through.

It was Friday night, too, and we were out of time.  Dave and I, once again, looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

As she left, she called over her shoulder, "Thanks, Belinda!"

BELINDA?!?!?!  Oh my EFFING GOD!!

Anyway, I heard on Monday that all was well.

FINALLY DONE!!!

A week later (this past Friday), I got the check in the mail.

It was made out with... you guessed it... the WRONG middle initial.

As if that was not hysterical ENOUGH,  my name was also on the check STUB, and THERE, it was correct!!

I just endorsed it, and took it to the bank without pointing anything out.  They took it, and deposited it.

That story is just too good not to tell.  Thanks for sticking with me to the end of it!

Apparently, I am Belinda H. Brown!!

The only other news is that we had a great day yesterday.  We trapped our first feral cat in over a year!  While Dave was taking him to get fixed/vaccinated/ear tipped, I went out and did errands.

I went to the weekly (all year!) Farmers' Market over at the OSU/OKC campus.

We had gone when I first moved here, and I was disappointed.  A friend of mine has been talking about it lately, though, so I went to check it out.

Oh my goodness, our weekly shopping process just changed completely.  I will be going every week.

We also tried the online shopping offered by the grocery store we usually go to.  That was amazing...order groceries on line, go pick them up. Done.

The only drawback is that they charge a fee (first time is free).

But with the Farmers' Market, we may very well not need much from the grocery store anymore. Maybe just for packaged goods.  Either way, this makes our drawn out Friday night errand routine MUCH easier.

I've been fighting a virus most of this past week, thanks to the stupid attendance policies at work.  Co-workers come to work sick, because they have no more "occurrences" to use, and the person with the compromised immune system gets sick.
Every. Time.

Thanks, puppet master!

Feeling better today, but still dealing with annoying congestion and a cough.

I still have only lost 2 or 3 pounds.  It's aggravating, but I am not giving up.

Have a good week!