Ownership dream turns to nightmare

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, August 11, 2001

By Theresa Goffredo

Herald Writer

GRANITE FALLS — After nine years living in government-assisted housing, Valerie Cook believed she was ready for homeownership.

"It was a scary jump," Cook recalled. "But I wanted to be out on my own and do it myself."

Cook had a good job at Dagmar’s Marina. She had a devoted boyfriend. And she had help from friends who loaned her some money for the down payment. So Cook and boyfriend Nathan McBryde, 41, with their three girls, settled into their dream home in Granite Falls. Hung pictures on the walls. Threw away the packing boxes.

Then there was the phone call.

The couple’s lenders told Cook and McBryde they had to be out of the house by midnight because the loan hadn’t gone through. But how could that be, the couple asked. We had the keys. We’re moved in.

With help from their real estate agent, Cook and McBryde scrambled and managed not to be thrown onto the street. But in the end, the couple wound up borrowing about $7,000. And they lost their dog, Tuffy, who had to be kept in the pound before the couple took ownership of the home and was adopted before they could retrieve him.

"We were so high when we watched them put the sold sign on the house," Cook said. "And then the next week they told us to get out. You just don’t know what that feeling is like."

Applicants are entitled to know in a timely way whether they have qualified for a loan and what it will cost, said Andrea Kirby, sales associate with Keba Realty and the couple’s real estate agent.

"It was just horrible for everyone involved because there was no communication," Kirby said.

Officials with American Home did not return phone calls from the Herald seeking comment.

The lending company had referred Cook and McBryde to Kirby, who helped them find their $147,000, three-bedroom home in Granite Falls. Initially, Cook was told by the lender that all she needed was $2,000 down to qualify for a loan, she said. Cook borrowed that from a friend.

Then, the lender told Cook she would have to pay off the couple’s debt on the van before the loan would clear. So the couple borrowed $4,900 from another friend. At the time, the couple thought they would get reimbursed for most of that because they had replaced some rotting boards on the home’s exterior, Cook said.

When the closing date was set, Cook gave notice on her rental home. At the last minute, the lender said the closing date had been changed. But Cook had no other place to go. Kirby then set up a deal with the home’s owners that the family could rent the Granite Falls home until the loan cleared.

So McBryde, Cook and the children, Brandi McBryde, 10, Chandra Olson, 13, and Chantal Olson, 15, moved into the home May 26 — Cook’s 47th birthday. But when the June 2 closing date came around, Kirby learned at the last minute that the couple had not qualified for the loan.

"It’s illegal to not give them the truth-in -ending disclosures and a settlement statement, I believe, within 24 hours after they apply for a loan," Kirby said.

The couple wound up transferring to another lender, but that didn’t work out either because that lender told Cook that McBryde would have to pay off $48,000 in back child support payments he owed before they could qualify for a loan.

While trying to find a new lender, Cook recalled that she would get physically ill from the stress and wound up missing a week of work.

"It was like being on a roller coaster," Cook recalled. "They (the lender) got you so high, and then they got you so low."

Finally, taking advice from her brother, Cook called Crane Financial Group of Everett. Kris Crane found a way for the couple to qualify for a loan despite the child support debt.

"She’s a miracle worker," Cook said of Crane.

Kirby also helped the couple by paying for their refrigerator, Cook said.

So now, Cook and McBryde have made their first house payment, replaced their dog Tuffy with a black lab puppy, Cruiser, and are already planning home remodeling projects.

But the couple says they didn’t get reimbursed for the siding they replaced, and the struggle continues to make ends meet while paying their friends back.

Cook said she knew it would be hard paying for a house on her own and being free from the government dole. But she said she wouldn’t have tried it had she known this would happen.

"People shouldn’t have to go through this," Cook said. "Buying a house should be a happy occasion. I wouldn’t have wished this on anybody."

You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097

or send e-mail to goffredo@heraldnet.com.