Strange

 A few weeks ago, Mia, the young woman buying our rehab messaged me. The bank official wanted to speak with us, a 3 way call with us, Mia, and her on the line. I messaged back, asking why. Mia didn't know. She just needed to speak with us.

Mia has been working hard to get the house ready for the appraisal. We didn't want to do anything to jeopardize her loan. I said okay, and Tim and I would both be present for the conversation.

First, she rescheduled the call at the last minute because she was at the DMV. When she did call, she introduced herself, and said Mia was on the line as well. 

She was very giggly which struck me as odd. Very unprofessional. She also didn't seem to have a clear reason for calling. I was in the middle of painting trim. Tim and I looked at each other. 

I said, 'I am not really clear on what you need from us. We have never had the bank calling us before. Any questions would normally be answered by the lawyer."

She said, "Oh you have done this before then."

"Many times."

That giggle. "Well, I wanted you to know that I can handle the closing for you."

I said, "No. Our lawyer will handle this. Mia has signed paperwork to allow him to handle her side of it as well, since he's worked for her family in the past."

The woman said, "What is his phone number?"

"Just a second," I said, looking around for something to wipe my hands on. "I am not at home where the papers are..." and I gave her his name and his address.

Much to my surprise, she said, "Mia has given me the paperwork."

I was starting to be a little irritated. "If you have the paperwork, you will see his name. His address. His phone number."

She said, "here it is...I just looked it up."

"Is there anything else you need from us?"

She said, "Do you have any questions for me? I want you to know that I am here for you as well as Mia."

"We have no questions." 

And that was that. A very odd call. 

Immediately afterwards, Mia forwarded something that the bank officer wanted her to address with us. She wanted us to increase the asking price by $6000, agreeing to give Mia the extra money back. This would be to cover all the closing costs.

I was pretty shocked. We would never agree to that. I explained to Mia how it was done. The bank talks to the lawyer who gives her a full breakdown of the balance on the mortgage, the prorated taxes, the filing fees, the deed search, lawyer's fees. He takes care of properly dispersing the funds, and gives us a check for the asking price. To do it her way meant that the government would tax us on the full purchase price plus the $6000 we were expected to give back to her.

Yesterday, I got a call from the lawyer's office, and his clerk was pretty upset. The loan person got hold of them and was quite shockingly rude. She informed them that this deal needed to close by the end of the month. She claimed that we were demanding it. She also said she tried to talk to us about paying the closing costs and we had absolutely refused. 

I was shocked. It wasn't true. Not at all. Mia isn't speaking to us at this point. We had no idea what was going to happen.

Today, we signed the paperwork agreeing to an extension of the closing. The clerk was still pretty upset. "She has been sitting on this paperwork since mid-April and then gives us a two week notice?!!"

I said, "I am more upset that she flat out lied. We did not discuss paying the closing costs at all. Mia talked to us about increasing the asking price to cover the closing costs. I explained how it is properly handled and that those fees would be rolled right into the mortgage. We never demanded that it be done by the end of the month."

The clerk said, "I told her that under no circumstances is she to contact the sellers again. If she has questions, she calls us, not you. I told her the deadline is extended by one month and that both parties have agreed. I think she now realizes that she is not running the show."

Tim and I walked out of there feeling much better.

In other news,  I stepped into a hole and twisted the hell out of my new knee. 

Freddie is such a funny cat. He jumps on the porch rail and knocks on the door when he wants in, which is the funniest thing.

Chicks are so cute. They are quite playful.

So that is it. That's life on the funny farm.