Lennar - Sales Agent lied and UAMC (their lender) LIED
I recently purchased a Lennar Home in Sacramento California and am very upset at the deceitful sales tactics and the essential extortion committed by their lending company UAMC.
The sales agent first told me (knowing that I am an inexperienced first time home buyer) that I am not allowed to have a realtor represent me in the deal. This alone should have tipped me off that they are operating with shady business tactics. The during the contract signing she says that eventhough I am already pre-approved for a loan, I still MUST give their affiliate lending company UAMC a chance to pre-approve me (which, knowing my profession and credit she knew I would be approved) and said that if I am not happy with them for whatever reason, I can use my own lender. It is ILLEGAL for them to force a buyer to use their lender. So, I applied for the loan with UAMC and was of course given a conditional pre-approval (I needed to submit a few more documents for final approval). I was not happy with the rate they offered me AND over the next week, found out how terrible their customer service is (they would not respond to questions without me sending repeat requests) so after doing some research, I found that UAMC charges an origination fee that is twice that of most companies around. So of course to decrease my closing costs, I wanted to change companies. At this point my realtor had contacted them and although it does not state this anywhere in the contract, they said I cannot have an agent on my side. They also then said I will lose my buyer incentives towards closing costs if I change lenders, although this is not stated in the contract.
They are also being pushy on the closing date, so I am running out of time to make any changes or investigate this further. And, they will probably try to keep my deposit if I walk away even though there is nothing in the contract stating I will lose the deposit at this time.
Basically the sales agent took advantage of an inexperienced buyer, she lied and said I cannot have an agent representing me and then lied about the flexibility with the lender and is forciing me to use their expensive lender UAMC.
AVOID LENNAR AND UAMC at all costs! You will also find many negative reports on home quality and difficulty getting repairs done within the 1 yr warranty period-you will lose money in the end. Their homes are supposedly eneergy efficient, meaning they are built very tight and are likely to develop mold-when it comes time for you to sell, this will cost you BIG TIME. And if you decide to rent the place, your renters might act in ways to allow mold growth (keeping home too hot, not opening windows or venting properly) and it will cost you money or a law suit for health hazards to your renters.
BUYER BEWARE!!!!!
Location: Dallas, Texas
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When you register with a builder a realtor cannot represent or help you. You on your own.
On a positive note I've watched construction from day one and I think the homes are built extremely well I have Construction in my background and I have had nothing but good experiences with the managers in construction not quite the same good experience with the sales and front-office lesson learned next time I will use a realtor
Sorry I lost you towards the end of your comment. 'Not quite the same good experience with the sales and front-office lesson learned next time'? Does this mean that the primary post was correct in shady dealings on your end as well?
Having the same experience with UAMC the car dealer I mean lender...doing a VA loan should be simple yet they are charging an origination fee that we actually have in writing they would not chatge due to the delay in construction being on the builder. Lock extension fraudulently being charged...investigating now... if I don't receive a response today with an explanation I'm filing with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and contacting the VA benefits office, I'm done!
go to www.cfpb.com Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and file a complaint
same experience here in Surprise Az. Lennar set all times and dates without asking us what would be good. Worst home buying experience!!!!
IF you check out the property on your own, and hadn't spoken with the listing agent about an agent representing you, then the listing agent would represent you. Perhaps the Lennar agent had accounted the commission difference in the sale price.
Its totally just practice.
I had taken a loan through UAMC for a non Lennar property. I am going for a loan with UAMC for my new property purchase.
This adventure started in April 2014,my wife and I were moving to Florida from The North East..our house was sold so we came down to look for a purchase or rental..we fell in love with a new gated community and had made the decision to buy there..uamc as you know are lennar's lending company,our credit was not that good and our dept was pretty high..so UAMC hooked us up with a credit counselor to help us clean up some stuff and raise our credit scores to qualify for a home..in the beginning they were very helpful and told us what to payoff with the proceeds from our sale and then we should be in good shape by june..we applied in May for the house..because we were re-locating,our loan officer told us to get letters from our new employers stating our salary's and commitments..we did that! both of had secured jobs before we came down and pretty close to what we were making up north.all we needed was the dept payed down and 4 weeks of stubs..we were supposed to close on or around June 30th..we are looking good we were told several times..we locked in to a 4.85 conventional loan with 5 % down.our credit scored went up 70 points each..we paid off 40 grand in dept..so far so good right?
here is where it all went to ***!! they told us because of our score we can only qualify for an FHA with PMI..we kinda knew that was a possibility so we were OK with that.we can re-finance in 2 years, the only problem she told me was the loan amount was too high can we put another 20 grand down..option 2 was to get the exact house minus the pool which would bring the price down 55 grand..we said fine we can add the pool later lets just get in the house..that house would not be finished until the end of july..not a problem since we had my in-laws house until late august..so we had to sign another Purchase on the other home..not a problem.then the endless signing,faxing,scanning the same documents over and over and over to 2 to 3 different loan officers..looking good again I was told..can you just pay off 2 more credit cards and close them out she asked? we did that!!there is a problem with my pay stubs she stated..the letter does not match your pay stub! I actually made more money but the wording on my pay stub stated commissions not salary..OK I will have my boss change it..no she stated, we have a better loan using just your wife's name since she has a higher credit score and makes more salary plus has less dept in here name..the loan was even better..it was now a conventional at 4.55 and the PMI will go away after 2 years..we said fine can we please get this going?
we were told we would be closing around July 30th..ahh but a week before closing there was a little problem but we UMAC''can fix it..we will have to change the loan to an FHA,,this time a 3% down 4.15 and we pay off that other dept and put the rest of your down payment towards closing(which at this point still do not have the figures..we said great lower payment and Interest..so 65 more documents to sign(this is the 4th loan so we have to sign all the paper work over and over each time they change the loan!dept we had to pay was home depot and lowes which totaled $3200..we recieved a quote for home owners insurance that was $ 400 less per year than their company..It took my guy 5 days to reach them, so now we get to the walk through on July 22..2 days to close !!everything was set,Direct Tv,Phone/internet,2 furniture deliveries,movers,informed my storage company I will be out by the 26th.electric,water,had check printed with the new address, you name it we did it.LENNAR gave us all the numbers and told us to call everyone 10 days before closing. I called my loan officer after the walk through for the final closing cost figures..I have to wire the money to the closing attorney by 10 am Friday the 25th..she told me that we are set for closing just waiting for the soil test to come back..the following day wed the 23rd my loan officer called me to inform me that my wife's pay was not going to work!huh? why I asked as almost passed out..WE ARE CLOSING IN 2 DAYS I yelled..what are you telling me? well all you have to do is put your wife's auto under your name!REALLY, just like that..I said why cant they use my salary again?
she said the underwriter did not want to use a commission Job..I asked her if my company changes my pay structure to salary will they then except it..she said yes with a letter from your employer explaining why the change and this will be permanent..done! so I had we had to sign another 65 documents with me back on the loan..fun fun.I had it changed and It did show up on my pay stub the next day..she said get the stub to me asap..so I did,along with the letter..this is now Thursday..Friday morning day of closing still no closing figures..no calls,we don't know whats happening..finally I got a call around 9 30 am (still at underwriting) why? are we good? yes she states..we are looking better than yesterday, stay patient we will push the closing till 3 pm..445pm no call!!
finally she calls me around 5 pm to tell me they will not except my pay..too many discrepancies..huh? but! we can put the loan under your wife's name and switch you to a 5 year arm with a bla bla bla bla..and all you need to to is pay$10.000 off of the car and the closing cost..but that will leave you a negative $4300 in your bank account but we can shoot for Monday to close!huh?what ?are you kidding me !I'M done!
I am going to another lender Monday..I filed a complaint with their president..we have never been through anything like this EVER. there was more but I think you get the picture...my wife and I have been embarrassed,mortified,we feel like we are not worthy of buying a house.we are not innocent by any means we did dig *** but that is why we moved down here..our home which we never had a late payment was $2900 a month and I co signed a car loan for my son .which killed my score..but I paid it off in April 2 years early and we cleared our dept .no lie we have $1,300 in Dept payments and make combined 9 to 10 grand a month..I just don't get it
I am going through this right now with Lennar. UAMC told me we were good, then decided that my wife needs to work 3 months longer.
I dumped them to the curb ASAP, but now Lennar said they won't pay my closing cost since I'm not using a preferred lender, ever heard of this? My new lender is saying its illegal, and that they can't do it...
it's about to get fun!
Your New lender is wrong. I went through a Similar issue and when I started researching the issue, I came across the truth.
These builders give incentives because they make up for those incentives from their preferred lender. As far as the three more months goes, that is not the lender in this case UAMC, but its banking and mortgage regulations that came in place after the meltdown. You have to understand that many mortgage firms and banks have to follow guidelines.
It was those guidelines that caused the whole economic meltdown. If they were followed from the beginning, than we would not be in this situation.
UAMC was the worse!! I dealt with a loan officer named Kim out of Fl.
who was so unprofessional. She would call me and list the items that I needed to prepare for my closing and when I would send those items to her she would call me back and say I didnt send her certain things. It was one of the worse experiences I have ever had as a new home buyer. I have since found a new lender and close in 25 days on my first home.
Kim would even sigh on the phone when she spoke to me and I regretted each time I answered my phone when I saw her number. Avoid UAMC!!
I haven't had any issues with Lennar thus far, but dealing with UAMC has been the most inconvenient and terrible experience I have dealt with concerning anything related to a home. The people working on my loan are completely incompetent.
They keep asking me to explain "deposits" that have hit my account when my statement clearly shows they are simply money transfers from my checking to my savings or vise versa. Every day I have to deal with these idiots has made me want to go home and drink heavily.
This has been one of the worst experiences of my life. DONT USE UAMC UNLESS YOU HAVE TO!
Really sorry to hear about your experience with the lending side of your transaction but I suggest those reading this also read a newer article found here http://www.legalnews.com/detroit/136****
Robert Nusgart, The Daily Record Newswire
Pity the poor loan officers.
All they want to do is make their customers happy. Make their builders happy. Make their real estate agents happy. Make the company that they work for happy.
But to magnify the saying that โno good deed goes unpunished,โ many times all they do is get beaten to a pulp.
A loan officerโs primary job is basically to sell money. Ten years ago, it was relatively easy, with a multitude of programs that would solve just about any scenario that a borrower could fall into.
But now, five years after the mortgage meltdown, all you are basically left with is Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA government insured loans โ and a dizzying multitude of guidelines and bank overlays that are ever-changing and evolving and tightening that work on the premise that a borrower is guilty until proven innocent.
Heaven forbid you are a successful, self-employed borrower.
Heaven forbid your income as an entrepreneur *** like a rocket.
What the mortgage business wants in every loan is no risk. Underwriters seek perfection. Therefore, sometimes a borrower will get caught in underwriting *** because underwriters underwrite for a guideline and not for common sense. (I can see every loan officer nodding his head yes.)
One of the most annoying and controversial guidelines that underwriters and loan officers have to deal with is โlarge deposits.โ Some of you reading who have just gone through the mortgage process may know what Iโm talking about. For others, be prepared.
Underwriters need to know the source of โlarge depositsโ in a personโs bank account that do not come from payroll.
Your company reimbursed you $1,500 for expenses. Explain it.
Your brother owed you $750 that you lent him last year and now he repaid you. Explain this and show me where that money came from.
You deposited $5,351 in wedding gift checks. Prove it. And we want copies of every check and it better total $5,351.
Large deposits are a pain. It used to be that if you had someone with two months of bank statements that showed she had $130,000 in the bank and she just needed $50,000 to bring to settlement, you could just back out any large deposits from that $130,000 and what the new total would be is what you would use to qualify the person as long, as she had enough verified funds to buy the house.
No big deal. It made sense. Common sense. Letโs not bother and pester the borrower about a couple deposits that donโt affect the ability to purchase the home. Just back it out.
Today, forget about it.
โI know you have $200,000 in the bank and you only need $68,000 to settle on the home, but we canโt move forward until we know where this deposit for $1,300 came from. I will need a letter of explanation, the deposit slip, a copy of the check and maybe even the account as to where the check came from.โ
Ouch!
Moronic! ***! And more times than not, a loan officer will then spend the next 10 minutes hearing those words coming from a borrower who keeps shouting in his ear: โCanโt they see I have the money!โ
Thereโs the story of a highly successful borrower, an entrepreneur, who has several bank accounts where he regularly transfers money for his business or personal needs. He gets paid in lump sums from various institutions โ large deposits: $15,000 here, $12,000 there.
The pattern of income and deposits are consistent, and if you consider the overall picture, itโs easy to conclude that there is nothing sinister about how he goes about earning a living. Heโs not borrowing money to bulk up his account. Heโs not banging his credit card for cash advances.
And as he explains and shows where one set of large deposits comes from and reveals a particular account, it spawns another set of questions as underwriters look at the new account and discover that there are large deposits going into that account.
And the frustrating cycle begins. The borrower gets angry because he has to keep explaining himself, even though it is apparent how his business works. The loan officer gets beaten up not only from the customer, but also from an inflexible underwriter who ignores common sense and just underwrites to a guideline.
Despite the borrower having excellent credit, income and more than enough money in various savings accounts and letters from accountants stating as such, the loan will not close because there is a never-ending cycle of explanations being required.
In many cases, underwriters have to be skeptical of where a personโs money is coming from, especially if the funds needed are just barely there. But in cases where it is apparent that a borrower has more than enough money to settle on a home โ who cares where some large deposits come from?
Without question, this is the No. 1 complaint from borrowers, and there is no relief in sight.
So if you are getting ready to apply for a mortgage and go through the process, take a quick look at the bank statements you are giving to your loan officer. If there are any non-payroll deposits going into them, make sure you can explain where they came from and have the documentation to back it up.
And donโt yell at your loan officer too much. Itโs just his job.
Explaining large deposits can be frustrating. I do not work for UAMC, however, I am a underwriter with 12 yrs of experience with multiple programs.
This issue is a program guideline that all lenders follow. When underwriting loans we have to make sure the deposits are not loans, cash advances, etc that would have a loan payment that would need to be included in your qualifying ratios. After the mortgage crash in 2007, program guidelines tightened and honestly they needed to. As uw's we are required to verify everything with documents.
It can be frustrating, however it is not just one lender requiring it. It's a program guideline that all lenders have to follow.
I think most of us agree what happened in 2008 was a catastrophe. However, those who are suffering from this are the older generation [gen x and babyboomers who are still upside down] and "older" millennials [ages 26-34] who graduated college during one of the worst economical times, comparable to the great depression.
Those who were just leaving college in 2010-**** were unable to get jobs that could barely pay rent let alone for a DP for a mortgage. What many forget to talk about is there may be another bubble due to rent being extremely high [almost everywhere you go, a decent 2/1 will set you back about 1200+ a month...keep in mind rent deposits/app fees....could easily cost you 2400+ upon move in].
Government has put in place too many regulations, to the point where lenders don't want to lend ANYTHING unless, you were blessed enough to have wealthy parents, landed that perfect career [to meet the 2 year employment] , and a 640+ credit score.[which kinda makes you wonder why does FHA keep lowering credit score requirements because MOST LENDER(s) will not take a score under 620?] Many lenders scoff at the "measly" 3.5% down payment. Well, 3.5% is not NOTHING. In 2008, you could get a home if you just dyed your hair green.
I am not saying give a loan to anybody but be reasonable.
If you are paying $1200/mo rent , car insurance, gas, food, electric, basic cable [if you need a phone-not a cell phone], and can't forget govt. regulated health insurance [either you have itor pay a fine],saving 3.5% is a HUGE deal. Banks do realize, you need to cover inspections, upfront home insurance [which you don't have to pay upfront for any other type of insurance],and other closing costs [which is easily another 10-15k+ depending on the home price].
Consumers need to do whats best for their situation just as lenders have been doing for themselves. I MAY be using Lennar's in house financing but it truly depends if they can surpass QuickenLoans offer[ which by the way is great for those have the income but just had a few rough times in life like most people and it shows on your credit report], many first time home buyers fall into this category.
Life happens and 3/4 of most Americans dont have 10k sitting in the bank, and even if they did, 10k may get you through paying ALL bills w/o late payments for 3 months [if you are like many and could not find a job for over 6 months] lenders may deem you "unworthy" of home ownership. Just wanted to offer another perspective besides lenders constantly reminding us that we should be glad that they make consumers jump through hoops b/c of a few bad lenders and the government that created a breeding ground for chaos in 2008/2009 housing crisis.
I HIT THE *** BUTTON BY MISTAKE....THIS IS TRUE!!!!! I PURCHASE A HOME WITH THEM IN 2006 AND THEY GOT ME. I READ ALL THE PAPERS...
building a lennar home scheduled to be complete in late october. absolutely awful experience with UAMC thus far.
you can NEVER get ahold of anyone. you can email, call whatever. they will NOT get back with you.
had to use this lender to get any incentives, which of course we want. but these people are an absolute joke.
Same thing happened to me in Brandon Fl. Lennar made a big deal about me having a realtor.
Which thank God i had one for all the hard times they gave. I was supposed to close mid May 2013 but lennar sold MY HOME with a down payment on it and tried to convince me to go into another unit i did not want because they did noy want to tell me they sold it. Now im waiting for the same house to finish being built August 2013 and interedt rates have gone up....so this increases my house pmts over $100/month for the same exact house. The interest rate jumped from 3.5% to.4.35%.
However all of this would not have happened if lennar were an honest company and not be so fullof tricks and scams. Disgusted.
Clearly these response to this posting are coming from Lennar. If Lennar sold a good product and had nothing to hide they would not feel the need to focus on damage control. The truth is so obvious.
I just closed a loan through UAMC and had zero issues. If you read your loan documents you won't have issues, end of story.
I chose to use UAMC and didn't even buy a Lennar home. I built through another builder but still chose to use Lennar's lender because of the great rate they offered.
Very professional loan officer and loan processor handled my loan and did a great job. The loan officer was based out of Houston and she was fantastic.