FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Countrywide writes its wrongs, at last! One mortgage company leads ethically and with a heart.
After an adjustable arm FHA mortgage was refinanced on an over-estimated home value and mortgage payments increased by 50% in a downward spiraling housing & mortgage market, Countrywide approved a short sale and not only helped sell a house, but make a home for a new family.
Mandeville, Louisiana, April 9, 2009 – 18 months, a 6 page hardship letter, volumes of financial and legal information, in excess of 150 emails and numerous phone calls, our home was finally sold and title passed thanks to two wonderful ladies at Countrywide Mortgage. It may take a village, but in this case, it took two women who believed, who persevered and who relentlessly partnered with me to fight the good fight and truly make a difference.
In my lifetime that has included the end of the Vietnam war, the sexual revolution, our first president up for impeachment, Madonna, the crash of 1989, waves of real estate booms, desert storm, Madonna, our first black president and all the wonderful highs and the few lows, I never imagined that avarice would take our country to where it is now and how it would impact me and my family personally. After all, we even survived Katrina and housed a family of five virtual strangers in our little three bedroom house across the lake because theirs was destroyed by 11 feet of water.
Financial hardship as a result of the American nightmare – credit cards - a judgment and garnishment of wages led to my only recourse of re-financing the mortgage. Our house survived Katrina suffering only wind damage and needed only a replaced roof and was overvalued by the refinancer. I bought the house in August, 2003 for $156,000 and it is a great 3 bedroom house with an open floor plan in a wonderful subdivision with a pool and clubhouse with rules and regulations that keep the area safe, tidy and very well maintained with the best public school systems in the state. In just 2 short years it was preposterous to think that sweet little house was worth $250,000. I was desperate and need the surplus ‘equity’ to pay some bills and get my financial health in order. My mortgage payments (including real estate tax and homeowner’s insurance) went from a palatable $1,200 to over $1,800 per month.
We had decided that we would head back to the northeast to be nearer to family. I moved to Washington, DC taking a lower paying position and it made it nearly impossible to maintain the mortgage payments and my family stayed behind. I was offered a better paying job in Boston and this was a destination that was best for me and my family so after only 5 months in DC, I moved to Boston in August, 2007 and immediately took advantage of my relocation benefit and put the house in Mandeville on the market. We worked closely with Kathy Petz, a dynamic real estate professional with Coldwell Banker who poured her heart and soul into ensuring the home was staged well, priced right and anything it took to find a buyer. Open house after open house, advertising, last minute showings and all that goes into selling, we only had two offers. The first offer made in April, 2008 fell through because no one from Countrywide Mortgage ever contacted us to approve/deny/comment on a short sale and a three month period expired and the prospective buyer moved on.
Nearly one year later, mid February, 2009, the second offer came. The balance on my mortgage was just over $200,000 and the offer was for $185,000. Enter Countrywide mortgage and now the magic begins!
Lori Raya, Workout Negotiator, who works in the Office of the President at Countrywide worked very closely with me and requested payroll data, checking account information, a hardship letter, personal financial records and balance sheet and every available piece of information so she may make a reasonable business decision. In a short sale, she used a percentage of market value to the balance of the mortgage as one piece of the multi part puzzle to make her determination. Throughout my interactions with Ms. Raya, she treated me with respect, dignity and as if I was a million dollar customer and not someone on the edge. On Monday, March 9, 2009 Ms. Raya sent the approval letter of the short sale. Ms. Raya then turns over the process to another Workout Negotiator to close the sale.
Debra Spaulding, Workout Negotiator II with Countrywide took over. She was responsive, professional and again, treated me as a valued customer and in her case, she partnered with me through some very touch-and-go times and at two specific times, thought we would have lost the entire sale. We were at the home stretch and nothing could go wrong. Expect paragraph 15.
In the short sale approval letter, there is legal language that Countrywide put in to protect themselves from fraud. My relocation company who assumes power of attorney and ‘buys’ the house from me and sells it to the buyer refused this language and in the 11th hour, walked away from it and set policy refusing to work with short sales. Here we were left to start from scratch and the short sale approval was only valid until 4/6/09 so a week and a half before the expiration and about a week before the close, we had to have new contracts written, a HUD form and all new documents and papers signed, notarized and passed. Then the title companies hit a legal road block with this language and were not willing to neither write insurance on the sale nor participate in the close.
At this point, title companies were sending blast emails and memorandums to their affiliates not to accept short sale language such as this and specifically cited Countrywide. Ms. Spaulding went back and forth with her superiors and legal team and Ms. Raya was consulted and both of these ladies were not going to see this sale dissipate. They made it their personal mission to make sure nothing barred this sale from going to fruition; both of them had worked too hard to get to where we were. Through the power of persuasion, the legal expertise and years of mortgage experience and the old fashioned business ethic of truly caring for your customer; Ms. Spaulding and Ms. Raya were able to make the appropriate legal refinements and the title company accepted the change. Ms. Raya wrote, “I have done everything in my power to help you accomplish closure of this transaction. I know that you have great things to come and look forward to offering as much assistance as possible to help you complete this short sale.”
On April 2, 2009 1140 Milan Drive in Mandeville Louisiana was graciously delivered to a wonderful family and proud parents of a newly born baby girl. Countrywide has been in the papers, they have been in the news and under extreme scrutiny for their business practices. Ms. Spaulding and Ms. Raya, who represent Countrywide, singlehandedly forever changed the face of this company and I am forever grateful for all they did for me, my family and the family that will be able to have years of memories in their new home because two women genuinely cared.
# # #
Timothy Kirkpatrick, former homeowner and advocate for Countrywide
Nedan139@hotmail.com (504) 2220-1565
