Bruce Breedlove
05-24-2007, 12:44 PM
A couple of first-time homebuyers were taken in by a scam perpetrated by a real estate agent appraiser and lender. A local $139 home inspector inspector inspected the home and did not report the significant structural problems. I hope some serious prison sentences are handed out his this case.
The only home inspector in my area that advertises home inspections for $139 advertises in the local Thrifty Nickel. I don't know for sure that he is the inspector that inspected this dump but I highly suspect that he is. Unfortunately his name is also Bruce. According to his web site he is a member of a national home inspector organization with "Certified" in their name.
I don't want to link to his web site but you can easily find him by Googling "home inspection" "colorado springs" $139 .
Living a homeowner's nightmare (http://www.koaa.com/news/view.asp?ID=7846)
News First has learned that complaints are being filed with state regulators against several people involved in a mortgage deal that's left a young family in a bad situation. Not only are they facing foreclosure, but it appears the Colorado Springs home they paid $284,000 for is crumbling beneath them.
The home is on Kinnikinnik Dr. It's the first home for Tim Archer and his wife Alicia. They admit they had no idea what they were getting into when they bought the home last year. "Very, very bad. I'd rather rent again. As of right now, I'd rather rent again," Tim Archer said as he described the situation to us.
In the living room, Archer shows how a bowling ball will roll on it's own toward the southern wall. The home was built in 1954 and appears to have very few upgrades. The original furnace and stove are in the home. There are cracks in the foundation, which the Archer's say showed up when water from their sprinklers washed away what were apparently recent patch jobs. There are tiles in the bathroom that broke right after they moved in and walked on them. And there are ants coming in through the floor of the basement bathroom.
"The vacuum cleaner, even though it doesn't have a lot of sucking pressure, made the wall crumble," Alicia said. She's talking about a section of the basement wall that has a wide crack in it. You can see two tree roots, each about a half inch in diameter, coming in through the wall from outside. It appears they'd been cut and plastered over before the Archer's moved in.
Outside the home, there's a split in the street that lines up with a large crack in the home's foundation. It also lines up with those roots in the basement.
Archer says he asked the previous owner for a report on the home's foundation before he bought it. "And she says don't worry we have it. I talked to our real estate agent and she says don't worry we'll get that engineer's report and we were promised the engineer's report that the foundation was ok," he said. But it now appears a report was never done.
We know the home sold on April 21, 2005 for $200,000. It then appraised on September 15, 2006 for $284,000. We went to Colorado Mortgage Fraud Task Force Member I.J. Hill. "We have inspected the property, we have reviewed the original appraisal, we have serious questions on that original appraisal, about the validity of it and the reliability of the concluded value," Hill said. Hill thinks the appraisal may be just a piece of a bigger problem for the Archer family.
News First backtracked through a dizzying trail of papers. From the 10.75% adjustable rate mortgage, to a $139 home inspection, in which the inspector spelled the street name wrong, to the loan application that shows Archer makes $7,500 a month. Archer says he told the mortgage broker he averages around $4,000 a month, and the $7,500 amount is only a high end that he makes a couple of months a year.
"It was our first house. We were excited we were getting approved for a house, no more renting," Archer said. So he signed all the papers he was given. But now, his house payments are up to $2,500 a month and rising. "We don't want to lose our home, but we might not have a choice because they might foreclose on us very soon."
Another broker told the Archer family they're upside down in the loan and can't refinance out. I.J. Hill is filing complaints on the Archer's behalf with state regulators.
We tried to track down everyone involved. Several said there's much more to the story and that the home buyers are at fault. They told us the Archer family wanted to get into a house fast and were warned about all the pitfalls. But no one would agree to an on camera interview with News First. The seller told us he'd have to talk to his attorney first, but never called us back. We'll keep you informed as the story develops.
The only home inspector in my area that advertises home inspections for $139 advertises in the local Thrifty Nickel. I don't know for sure that he is the inspector that inspected this dump but I highly suspect that he is. Unfortunately his name is also Bruce. According to his web site he is a member of a national home inspector organization with "Certified" in their name.
I don't want to link to his web site but you can easily find him by Googling "home inspection" "colorado springs" $139 .
Living a homeowner's nightmare (http://www.koaa.com/news/view.asp?ID=7846)
News First has learned that complaints are being filed with state regulators against several people involved in a mortgage deal that's left a young family in a bad situation. Not only are they facing foreclosure, but it appears the Colorado Springs home they paid $284,000 for is crumbling beneath them.
The home is on Kinnikinnik Dr. It's the first home for Tim Archer and his wife Alicia. They admit they had no idea what they were getting into when they bought the home last year. "Very, very bad. I'd rather rent again. As of right now, I'd rather rent again," Tim Archer said as he described the situation to us.
In the living room, Archer shows how a bowling ball will roll on it's own toward the southern wall. The home was built in 1954 and appears to have very few upgrades. The original furnace and stove are in the home. There are cracks in the foundation, which the Archer's say showed up when water from their sprinklers washed away what were apparently recent patch jobs. There are tiles in the bathroom that broke right after they moved in and walked on them. And there are ants coming in through the floor of the basement bathroom.
"The vacuum cleaner, even though it doesn't have a lot of sucking pressure, made the wall crumble," Alicia said. She's talking about a section of the basement wall that has a wide crack in it. You can see two tree roots, each about a half inch in diameter, coming in through the wall from outside. It appears they'd been cut and plastered over before the Archer's moved in.
Outside the home, there's a split in the street that lines up with a large crack in the home's foundation. It also lines up with those roots in the basement.
Archer says he asked the previous owner for a report on the home's foundation before he bought it. "And she says don't worry we have it. I talked to our real estate agent and she says don't worry we'll get that engineer's report and we were promised the engineer's report that the foundation was ok," he said. But it now appears a report was never done.
We know the home sold on April 21, 2005 for $200,000. It then appraised on September 15, 2006 for $284,000. We went to Colorado Mortgage Fraud Task Force Member I.J. Hill. "We have inspected the property, we have reviewed the original appraisal, we have serious questions on that original appraisal, about the validity of it and the reliability of the concluded value," Hill said. Hill thinks the appraisal may be just a piece of a bigger problem for the Archer family.
News First backtracked through a dizzying trail of papers. From the 10.75% adjustable rate mortgage, to a $139 home inspection, in which the inspector spelled the street name wrong, to the loan application that shows Archer makes $7,500 a month. Archer says he told the mortgage broker he averages around $4,000 a month, and the $7,500 amount is only a high end that he makes a couple of months a year.
"It was our first house. We were excited we were getting approved for a house, no more renting," Archer said. So he signed all the papers he was given. But now, his house payments are up to $2,500 a month and rising. "We don't want to lose our home, but we might not have a choice because they might foreclose on us very soon."
Another broker told the Archer family they're upside down in the loan and can't refinance out. I.J. Hill is filing complaints on the Archer's behalf with state regulators.
We tried to track down everyone involved. Several said there's much more to the story and that the home buyers are at fault. They told us the Archer family wanted to get into a house fast and were warned about all the pitfalls. But no one would agree to an on camera interview with News First. The seller told us he'd have to talk to his attorney first, but never called us back. We'll keep you informed as the story develops.