ComplaintsforHometown Lenders, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  10/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I've had a loan with them since March and I'm not being reported to the credit agencies. I've tried calling for 2 months and no one answers the phone. Now they don't even have a working number. Also tried to send an email to them and it won't even let me submit that. I've got my tax bills and have questions about that and can't get an answer on that now either.

• Initial Complaint

  10/15/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was sold a house with an FHA loan and the house does not even meet the requirements for the loan. The electrical throughout the house is not up to date and at least one floor has asbestos wiring. It was not checked for lead paint. It was listed as a three bedroom but one of them does not have a closet at all. The roof is in severe condition with at least 5 layers on it. The termite bond was not completed and has not since been mentioned. I am a first time home buyer and I was going entirely on the information from the lender and agent that I hired, as they are the professionals in the field and I trusted them to guide me in the correct direction. Instead, I have ended up with a house that has been deemed dangerous because of the electrical and have been informed that they do not care beyond the house being sold and that there is nothing that they are willing to do to help take care of this. I literally just want the house to be rewired to where it is actually safe to live in.

  Business response

  11/10/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2021/10/25) */ Hometown Lenders, Inc. was very sorry to find out that our customer was not satisfied with the house she purchased. We spoke to her about her concerns, and they center on the the wiring in the house being faulty. After listening to the customer's concerns, I explained that Hometown was not responsible for any defects in the home and asked if the borrower had an inspection done prior to the purchase. The borrower became quite irate and stated that she believed the appraisals that Hometown conducted for the FHA should have caught the problem. She also stated that Hometown didn't conduct the FHA required appraisals, which does not appear to be correct. Ultimately, Hometown was not able to address the borrower's concerns with the electrical problems in the house, since Hometown is not responsible for the conditions of the houses our borrowers select. We wish Ms. **** the best. Consumer Response /* (3000, 9, 2021/10/25) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Their response does not suffice. They are also lying. I spoke with an attorney who had informed me that certain extra inspections are required to be done in the state of Alabama to meet FHA loan requirements to be granted the actual loan in the first place. They had a visual inspector come out he did not check anything beyond just looking at them. They also did not schedule a follow up inspection, they did not schedule one to check anything to do with the age of the house as it is about 100 years old. And these inspections would've caught all of these issues. The reason that I became "irate" is because the person who was speaking with me and made it a point to speak on top of me the entire time that we were speaking. Every time I try to say anything he would speak on top of me and not listen to what I was saying. I wish to God that I had record of the phone call. Also, as far as the following walk-through on the house, which requires the house to be moved out and empty without the sellers here. This was impossible because the sellers were still at the house as of 6:45 PM the day that we closed on the house and the walk-through was at 8 AM. Being a first time home owner I was not informed that this is not how things should be done, I was misled by the company overall because they did not guide me nor tell me the truth about several things. The person that I spoke with on the phone told me that it wasn't their fault nor their problem but I didn't know about the extra inspections, regardless of the fact that it is now their investment which was not inspected and has all of the problems with it which is going to cost me at least $40,000 to fix. I hired professionals to prevent the singer from happening because I am just a homebuyer I don't know the legal stuff and they horribly misrepresented me and stuck me with a house that has long-term lasting problems. The inspections were not completed. Items that were wrong we're not caught. The electrical on the house is not to code, and legally should not have been sold. Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2021/10/26) */ Ms. ****'s complaint centers around the wiring in the home she purchased recently. Hometown Lenders, Inc., is the mortgage lender that financed Ms. ****'s purchase of the home from a private seller. According to Ms. ****, Hometown bears responsibility for the alleged faulty condition of the wiring. I. Hometown and the FHA made no warranties about the condition of the home; Alabama law and the documents signed by Ms. **** put the burden on her to inspect the home's condition. Ms. **** was informed, in writing, as early as 8.29.21 that she had the responsibility to have the home inspected. The sales contract between Ms. **** and the sellers states: "NECESSITY OF INSPECTION: Buyer acknowledges that Alabama law imposes a duty on Buyer to thoroughly inspect a property for defects or otherwise." The contract is not clear as to whether it was contingent on a home inspection or not. Ms. ****'s digital signature appears both on the provision that it was not contingent upon inspections and the section that states it is contingent upon inspections. The sellers' initials appear on the section that says the contract was contingent upon inspection. Hometown does not appear to have a copy of the inspection in its file and the author of this response is not aware of whether an inspection was actually conducted. There is also an additional term, added to the contract and signed by Ms. **** and the seller that says "If buyer elects to terminate this contract and a result of the home inspection, Seller agrees to promptly sign the Mutual Release and return the Earnest Money to Buyer." The 6th page of the contract, title "Buyer's Disclosure Statement: Very Important Document-Please Read Carefully" states "BUYER IS ADVISED EITHER PERSONALLY OR THROUGH OTHER OF BUYER'S CHOOSING, TO INSPECT THE PROPERTY AND NOT RELY ON ANY VERBAL, PRINTED OR WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF PROPERTY." Paragraph 1 states: "Buyer understands that lenders may require certain inspections . . . and that although the results of these inspections may satisfy the requirements of these authorities, they may not meet the requirements of Buyer. Buyer is responsible for determining any of the above conditions of the property material to Buyer's decision to buy the property." Ms. **** initialed that paragraph and signed the Contract on 8/29/21. In addition to the contract, the FHA forms included in the loan paperwork specifically warn that the borrower should get their own inspection in disclosures provided to Ms. **** and all customers receiving FHA loans. One notice states in large, bolded letters: "For Your Protection: Get a Home Inspection." It notes that the buyer must ask for a home inspection, that appraisals are not the same as inspections, and that the FHA does not guarantee the condition or value of the home. It closes with: "Be an Informed Buyer - It is your responsibility to be an informed buyer. You have the right to carefully examine your potential new home with a qualified home inspector." Ms. **** also signed the FHA's "Important Notice to Homebuyers" which states, among other things, "The property you are buying is not HUD/FHA approved and HUD/FHA does not warrant the condition of the property. ***An appraisal will be performed to estimate the value of the property, but the appraisal does not guarantee that the house is free of defects. You should inspect the property yourself very carefully or hire a professional inspection service to inspect the property for you*** (emphasis added). Ms. **** signed another document called "Notice to Purchasers" which also stated in bolded letters that "HUD does not warrant the condition of a property." Following the bold warning, it states "it is important for you to have a home inspection performed on the property." Ms. **** signed another document titles "NO HUD WARRANTY" which again stated that the property was not warranted to be free of defects and encouraged Ms. **** to have a home inspection. Ms. ****'s theory that Hometown was supposed to perform an inspection of the property that she was going to rely on for determining the condition of her home AND her assertion that she did not know she was supposed to have the home inspected are contradicted by all of the forms and disclosures detailed above. II. Alabama is a "buyer beware" state Alabama law limits the liability between the buyer and seller of real estate. Nesbitt v. Frederick, 941 So.2d 950, 956 (Ala. 2006). Any duty to disclose conditions such as wiring would have rested on the seller or their agents. Simply put, there is no Alabama law that requires a lender, like Hometown, to inspect or discover the condition of the property. As discussed above, the FHA is clear that its loans and the inspections or appraisals associated with getting a FHA loan, are not to be relied upon by a buyer in a real estate contract because they are not intended to discover the condition of the property. So even if Ms. **** is correct that Hometown didn't perform the required inspections - and she is not correct - it is clear she would not have been able to rely on them for determining the condition of the property. III. Conclusion Hometown helps its customers realize the dream of homeownership by lending money for them to purchase the homes they choose. Hometown, and the author, are very sorry that Ms. **** is dissatisfied with the condition of her home. We wish her the best and hope she is able to seek relief from any parties who may have had a duty to disclose the alleged faulty condition of the wiring. Consumer Response /* (4200, 13, 2021/10/27) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I understand everything that has been said. However, your lender and my agent should've been the ones to point these things out to me and instead told me very clearly that everything should be fine. I was under the impression and told that everything should be good to sign and I took that on good faith and trust in the people that I chose to represent me in buying a house. I was taken advantage of and knowingly sold a house that had problems. This is immoral and a huge character flaw on anyone involved, and unforgivable. But clearly the workers of this company care more about making money than actually doing anything right by the people that they use so I guess this response is exactly what I should've expected considering the fact that it is a whole bunch of people more concerned about making a paycheck then giving any kind of care in the world as to what condition they're selling people for living in. Also have any of those things actually been pointed out to me the way they should've been in discussions with anyone that was on my team when I was buying this house, I never would've bought the house. But thank you for making it entirely clear that you are a careless person who hides behind paperwork and doesn't actually make sure that anyone does anything which actually reflects their job as a decent human being. And also thanks for not giving a flip that you sold me a limit of a house. You're a horrible company and a horrible human being with really terrible values based off of this. I guess you can drop this case, but I honestly have no clue how you sleep at night. And I will still be sure to share my experience with anyone and everyone I ever hear from who's trying to buy a house because I don't want this experience to happen to someone else. In my circle goes far and wide.

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