A few months ago I posted a blog about the uncooperative staff at the City of Burton and their policy on temporary water service for the purpose of a pre-sale home inspection. To familiarize you, the scenario was that a then bank-owned home was being marketed for sale and an owner-occupant (non-investor) buyer was procured with the only pre-sale contingency being an acceptable home inspection. Our issue was that we couldn’t get temporary water service turned on in the potential buyers name for the purposes of the inspection without the buyer paying all of the delinquent and past-due balance of the former owner which at the time amounted to well over $500.00. Even with the understanding that the seller, the bank, fully intended to pay that bill, in full, at closing, the City of Burton wouldn’t allow the water to be temporarily turned on… and was unwilling to even discuss a solution…. That was then….now, after much discussion, they have revised their policy to allow for temporary service for the purpose of pre-sale home inspections for a fee of $25.00. Very reasonable and I applaud their reconsideration. Now, if they could only work on the rudeness and unfriendly nature of their customer service staff…but I will fight the battles I feel that can be won.
Fast forward to today, and we have a new Fight with City Hall on our hands. This time it is the City of Mt. Morris, and this time the arrogance and rudeness far exceeds that of any I have experienced. I have a very young single mother attempting to purchase a HUD home in the City of Mt. Morris. Same story, different suppliers of the red tape. When my young and struggling mother went to the City to apply for temporary service for her home inspection, she was sent away and told not to return until she could pay the over $400 the former owner had amassed in water/sewer usage. My attempts at a fair resolution went nowhere and the C.F.O. of our local association of Realtors even called and left a message for the Mayor. Instead of the Mayor, he received a call back from A.J. LeFurgey, who is the City Manager. This “pillar of the community” felt compelled to state that since he was a “retired real estate broker” who has purchased plenty of HUD homes in the past and never had the water turned on prior to buying them, that he didn’t deem it necessary to revise their policy. Basically this meant that they will not be turning the water on until the past-due balance is paid in full. He even went on to say that “the problem is ChangingStreets.com...”, which I interpret to mean that since I am putting the needs of my client ahead of just fast-tracking and pushing through a transaction in lieu of representing my client, I am the bad-guy. Wow, I find it ironic that the very company that is bringing owner-occupants into the community to put lawn-mowing, water-using, tax-paying citizens into otherwise blighted properties is deemed the enemy. I am not sure what makes me angrier, the fact that this so-called public servant has so drastically lost touch with what his job really is and that his ego is now affecting those people he was hired to look after, or the fact that this uncompassionate individual was actually out there selling people homes when he obviously cared only about one thing, and that was NOT the best interests of the people that he was working for….
We need your help…the readers of this blog. We need you to be as outraged and angry at our elected officials and the often unfriendly and uncooperative people that our tax dollars pay to work for us. If anyone has any positive suggestions please post a reply… if you think I am wrong…go ahead and post one too. For those of us bold enough to “fight” city hall, Mr. A.J. LaFurgeys phone number is 810-686-2160 and his fax # is 810-686-7330…feel free to reach out and let him know how you feel. Please feel free to email the State Senator, Deborah Cherry-D at sendcherry@senate.michigan.gov as well.

UPDATE: 3/28/08
Yesterday, I sent out a bulk email to several other professionals in the real estate industy that included a link to this blog and I encouraged them to respond. I also sent one to Joel Fieck, a reporter with WJRT TV 12 News. He called me to get more information. Clck here to see what happened next.

As is more-than-evident with the news segment above, not only is Mr. Lafurgey a member of the old-school, good ole boy network, he likes to fabricate facts. According to his interview with Mr. Fieck, I threatened him. For the record, I have never spoken to him, to his office, or to anyone in that building. All attempts to make contact were done by either the buyer, a representative from my local association of Realtors, or the loan originator for the buyer. I also find it humorous that when Mr. Fieck called Mr. Lafurgey to make an appointment to speak with him, he tried to intimidate the reporter by strongly mentioning that he has dinner with his boss once a week. Someone needs to wake Mr. Lafurgey up. This isn't 1960 when cronyism was the norm. His arrogance and inability to be a leader, just a follower of the old school ways, is affecting the very people he is supposed to be working for. It is time for someone with vision, modern common sense and basic humility to take over. I think a "changing of the guards" is in order. Please reply...anyone.

I started working at my families Mortgage Bank when I was very young, and grew up George Bailey style listening to dinner table talks about how important we were to the community and responsibility that came with that.

We helped people realize a dream, helped families grow and build wealth, I remember how excited couples would come into the office with their last mortage payment and cry and kiss with enjoyment. They would invite us to the mortgage burning party over at the hall.

I also remember my first FHA mandated eviction during the holidays, I will never forget the sound of the youngest sons voice as he chased the Christmas tree out the front door and his Drugged out loser father just sat there. I literally cried for six days, the eviction crew had to drive me home. I left out the part this took place accross the street from the home I was born in and on December 20. There is not a Christmas that goes by that I do not wonder where that little boy is or if he is alive or if he is happy.

People in the Mortgage Business were educated, honest, and well capitalized. We had to do the right thing it was OUR money, well at least at first. My father would have done something really bad to me if we ever had A foreclosure, It makes him so sad now to what happened to the industry he was a pioneer in, 30 years ago. He actually helped.

I was a loan officer in the first refi boom, rate went from 13% to 11% to 9% to 6.25% over a three year period. I personally wrote over thousands of loans in three years 90% refi's and very, very few where cash out refi's. Equity was cheerished and only used for Major Home Improvements or College Educations for their children.

We have all scene what happened when greed and no accountability happened...

Those additions and educations have been sold down the river for big screen TV's and McMansions on interest only ARMS. The world of mortgage financed changed when people could get into the business cheap and looked at mortgages as product, not service.

It makes me sad.

Speaking of rentals, with leasing and renting being so prevalent these days and individuals who never considered it before but are now contemplating being landlords, would some of you rental gurus share some of your expertise on the subject for the folks who are too shy to ask?

We all know they can pick up their rental agreements at Office Max or their Realtors can help them along, first month last month... blah blah blah, but what about the good stuff? We want to hear about the tax write offs... how to get hooked up with Section 8... tips for screening potential renters and avoiding disaster.

I for one will be waiting anxiously for your replies to flood in!

I overheard the details of an interesting deal cooking at ChangingStreets today. At first I thought LuAnn had spiked everyone's coffee. Again. But the more I heard and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense! I am going to share it with ya'all to maybe inspire some good creative ideas that will help your clients!

Buyer/Seller H lives in the Grand Blanc district and is looking for something bigger. Their sale price is 140k. Their shopping price is low 200s. The house is gorgeous and "feels" as good as it looks. There is no reason that it hasn't sold other than all the competition from the low priced short sales and repos.

Buyer/Seller K live in Flint in a well maintained adorable house. Having recently gotten married and started a family, The K's are ready for a change and wanting to move closer to Family toward Grand Blanc/Davison. Listed at what they owe, the $40k price has proven to be too high for investors to pay and being situated in a highly concentrated rental area, no buyers are biting.

Both Sellers have ALMOST sold their homes a couple of times, and both Sellers have lost their "dream home" more than once to ready buyers, while they watched it from a far, hoping for a purchase agreement to come through their door before that of the one they wanted.

Both Sellers have briefly entertained the idea of buying the house they love and maintaining two mortgages, and both ultimately decided against it. Until a few days ago. The Sellers H found yet another house they loved and the price was good enough that it made them think about two mortgages again. They decided that in addition to the new 200ish mortgage, a second $140 mortgage was just too high... but that's where the wheels started to turn...

What if Seller H bought Seller K's house, which would free Seller K up to buy Seller H's house, then Seller H, having only a $40k mortgage on the side, would be able to afford the morgtage on the new house he's mooning over? To top it off, don't feel bad for poor Seller H who has to buy two houses to make the deal work because that $40k house is so cute and in such great shape that he is going to be able to throw a renter in there to cover the second mortgage and even MAKE some money on the deal!

Both parties are pretty excited and are spending the next few days looking at each other's houses, working with their lender, and hammering out details!

How's that for brainstorming?! Any other cool deals going on out there or that you have already closed? Share them! We all need as much creative thinking we can get right now!

Well, as predicted, Mr. Reba and I started our big day out with an early dinner at Red Lobster, then dropped the munchkins off at Grannys in Mt. Morris and headed to Cinema Hollywood for our big night out. We chose the comfy Birch Run theatre because being kid free for a rare occasion we thought we'd enjoy something from the bar. So clearly, already, I am in a good mood... My tummy was filled with cheddar biscuits and shrimp, no sibling rivalry to referree, and a long island iced tea to sip. By this time I had heard the soft FLINT TROPICS reviews but was still giddy for two reasons... 1 Flint. 2 Will. I was there to have fun, not to critique the show. We were not disappointed. It was fun to see Will driving down Saginaw Street under the arches. That was awesome, actually. And it was fun to see Will squatting over the ball from that unique "from the floor up" angle to shoot his free throw. I admit that some of the bigger gags were not as funny as maybe they were intended to be, but I don't need "scenes" to make me laugh at Will Ferrell. He need only be there and I am in stitches. So what a bonus to find so many fantastic supporting characters whose lines and delivery were spot on hilarious! Everyone in this movie was so fun to watch and I wanted to see it again as soon as it ended. (I felt the same way at BLADES OF GLORY.) Next time I watch it I am going to count how many times they say FLINT, MI. That was fun to hear. I am a little bummed that people are being so critical. It's a Will Ferrell movie, for the love of Ron Burgundy, not an Oscar Contender. Someone asked if we would find the movie funny if it was set someplace other than Flint. My answer is yes, that the dialogue, characters, and tiny moments are what entertained me, not just the Flint references. And I suggest back, leave that judgement for those who do NOT have any association with Flint to worry about. Why can't we all just enjoy it?