Thread: I'vee Heard Some Dumb Stuff......But This One......

So I have a past client for whom I've done two inspections. The 2nd inspection which I performed a few weeks ago went pretty well from a defect standpoint. The ceiling joists in the basement had extensive termite damage but the repairs made were some of the best I've ever seen. I notated in my report that there was termite damage on multiple ceilings joists in the basement and that the repairs appeared satisfactory.

Fast forward to early this week and I get a call from the buyer's realtor who says the bank (Bank of America) needs a letter stating that repairs were made to the termite damaged ceiling joists. I stated that my report covered this but the realtor didn't want to provide that page of the report to BOA as I had mentioned the presence of mold on some drywall and BOA would likely hold things up if they saw that. Trying to be helpful, I told the realtor I would put together a letter on my letterhead stating repairs appeared satisfactory but my letter would be nothing more than a copy and paste of the verbiage in my report. She said that would be fine. I put the letter together, print it to PDF, and e-mail it to the realtor to pass along to BOA.

Well, BOA nixed my letter because I didn't sign it. OK. I print out the letter, sign it, scan it, and e-mail it to the realtor. She calls me again today saying BOA won't accept this letter because....get this.....they can't read my signature and my name does not appear in print next to my signature. WTF????? It's a signature. That's how I sign my name. They want me to include my name in print near the signature AND they want me to redo my signature so they can read it. HUH??????? I've never heard such a moronic request. Never mind that my full name and company info appear in clear black lettering at the lower right-hand corner of the page. Who the f#ck do they think is signing the letter? How many of the letters in my name do they want to see in full formation to be satisfied? Absolute morons. And they are in control of millions of dollars. The last time I redid my signature was when I went to catholic grade school, and I am not doing it for these jackasses.

I called the realtor and told her my signature is my signature. I'm not changing it or resigning to satisfy these idiots. I'm not getting paid for this and I'm only doing it to try and help the buyer and BOA is wasting everybody's time. I told the realtor I would agree to a 3rd version and this is it. But......BOA has to first send me something outlining what they are looking for. IF, and only IF, I find their request agreeable, I will do this one last time. But there will be no changes to the content of the letter or the verbiage.

This is the last time I try to be helpful with one of these letters. BOA tries to make it seem like it is the inspector who is holding up the loan when they are the ones slowing things down with their dumbfounding demands.

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Let's get this straight - no signature that's used for checks, driver's license, tax returns or check in at the local no-tell-motel. Sounds like they want a non-signature - kinda like forging. I thought that this is the way banks operated today. I think that our pal Nick is out of step with the times.

_____X___________

I'm sure if I had a mortgage through BOA and had to send them a mortgage check every month, they'd have no problem with my check signature. Morons.

IMO, this bank clerk got reamed out big time for some screw up in the past.
It is just one individual, most likely.

How about insurance agents? I was asked to inspect a MH roof for a HO trying to get home insurance. The original metal roof was ok, with a few rust spots, needed a bit of paint. I reported it as a good roof on a mobile home. Agent says, no we want it replaced , or we want a written guarantee that the roof won't leak for 3 years.
My client wants me to write another letter. I said no, they don't want a letter, they want you to find another company to deal with.

They must only be able to deal with "robo-signed" documents.

‘course it probably took you longer to create this thread than it would have to edit slightly the darn thing, sign it a bit slower and resend it. Just sayin’

That being said, yes they are morons. So are a lot more people. Move on, it's not worth getting worked up about. As the saying goes, “pick your battles.”

Some people aren't lemmings Ken.

The issue may revolve around the fact that they are not receiving an original copy.
It may also be someone at BOA that is new and is paranoid about perfection in the paperwork.
Or just an idiot. Like dealing with government offices, just give them what they want so there egos are maintained.

What is probably going on is fallout from the load debacle. Unlike the old days, lenders do not hold onto mortgages, they bundle them and sell them on the secondary market. If there is some incomplete paperwork, the new owner of the loan can demand the original lender buy back the loan. Lenders don't want to hold loans, they want to move them on so they can free up cash and make new loans. Consequently, lenders require buttloads of redundant paperwork to ensure that they have all possibilities covered and they don't have to buy back a loan.

Banks are a little different, they have loans that they sell and loans that they hold onto. But, they are all treated the same and the paperwork has become horrible. It will take some time for the stupid requirements to be filtered out.

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

Some people aren't lemmings Ken.

Nick, you make an excellent point with the original post: it is not our job, nor worth the effort, to deal with banks through a third party (real estate agent). It could be that they want a nice signature block to paste onto an altered version of your letter. That's not paranoia; that's recognizing the reality of what banks (and others) will do to make money. America followed those fast-talking money mongers into this mess, and we can't seem to shake the propensity to follow stupid leaders. Why would the taxpayers bail out the banks that just finished ripping them off? So those banks can rip off the taxpayers again by taking in the loan guarantee money, make even more money through a short-sale or foreclosure (ripping us off again), and turning around to set it all up again. Some folks have scruples; glad you are one of them. I would not change a thing in how you handled this, other than to stop at the point where you reported on the re-inspection. The inspection profession needs more like you.

First post, but I just had to say this... When I signed on the refi of my house, I wasn't allowed to use my legal signature, the one that appears on my license, credit cards, passport, every legal document I've ever signed.

They insisted that I sign my FULL NAME, first middle and last, legibly. Like 3 dozen times. Since when does anybody sign their name legibly??

This was not the case when I initially bought the house. I assume this is a change put in place, as mentioned above, as fallout of the mortgage crisis.

PS: great site BTW. Very informative, if you don't mind all the damn bickering.

Originally Posted by thaddeus cox

First post, but I just had to say this... When I signed on the refi of my house, I wasn't allowed to use my legal signature, the one that appears on my license, credit cards, passport, every legal document I've ever signed.

They insisted that I sign my FULL NAME, first middle and last, legibly. Like 3 dozen times. Since when does anybody sign their name legibly??

This was not the case when I initially bought the house. I assume this is a change put in place, as mentioned above, as fallout of the mortgage crisis.

PS: great site BTW. Very informative, if you don't mind all the damn bickering.

How else are they going to copy your signature for their "RoboSigning" machine??

I thought the banks had some guys on the payroll to go out and check houses. Tell them to send that guy to sign off on the repair.