How I lost my life....
Seven years ago, I owned my home and car outright.
I invested (loaned) a considerable amount of money to the family company which meant taking out a mortgage on my home. When the money was being repaid too slowly for the mortgage repayments, I decided to sell my home and move to the country. Something I had wanted to do for many years, so I wasn't perturbed and it meant buying a cheaper property.
I bought a house that needed extensive renovations and as I was still owed money from the family company, I borrowed the money to make this house our home (which of course cost more than planned).
Four years down the track and I have a home I am very happy with and a new car, but I owe the bank over $200,000. Not too bad, by today's standards (actually, not today's, but back then).
But I am still travelling to Sydney 4-5 days a week for work; over 400kms a day! 4.5-5hours a day in the car!
Then, my father, who lives in Sydney, has a stroke and his 'partner' has decided that she "didn't come into this relationship to be a carer"! So much for 'till death do us part'!.
Anyway, so rather than quitting the family business, which would have been the smart thing to do (with hindsight), because of my dad, I decide to move back to Sydney.
I bought a beautiful house, at a very good price, and I knew that with some changes, it would be a great investment.
BUT....I did it on a Bridging Loan! With the Bank of Adelaide.
The home I was selling was truly a beautiful home in a beautiful setting. I had renovated with the highest quality components, as it was meant to be my home to retire and spend my twilight years in. Everyone who came to visit, loved it and didn't want to leave!
So why should I have any problems selling it?
Of course, then, I couldn't see what was just around the corner.
The Global Financial Crisis!!! (or affectionately referred to as the GFC).
Not only did interest rates go through the roof, but the result of that meant the crashing of the real estate market (as you all know).
I didn't have to make a payment for the first year of my mortgage, which was handy as I was running 2 houses at the time, which was costing way too much in upkeep. Especially the property I was selling as it was 25 acres and had to look picture perfect for any potential buyers. I was there every weekend, weeding, planting, paving, cleaning and improving the property in any way, and every way, I could.
But alas, no buyer.
When my year of not having to pay was up, interest rates had almost doubled my payments!!!
Now I was in trouble. So after about 8 months of erratic payments to the bank, I knew I had to change tactics, so I put the Sydney house on the market as the area I was in was still doing OK (good investment!).
So, once again, I was painting and redecorating to improve and make the house ready for sale.
Then, the dreaded letter came from the bank. I knew it was coming, so I had contacted them and told them I was selling the Sydney house and had a buyer lined up.
Not good enough, apparently. When they have made their minds up, they want it NOW!
So even though the house was on the market for $850,000 I had to take the first offer of $770,000 even though the house had only been on the market for 2 weeks and was showing good interest, because the Adelaide Bank refused to wait for another couple of weeks.
So, anyway, sold the house in Sydney (very sad, as I really loved that home, had good neighbours and was close to my dad and children again - not to mention a LOT less time spent travelling to work).
So, out of a loan of $1.1million, I paid the bank $750,000 in November 2008, BUT they insisted that I still had to pay one more full payment of over $9,000 before I could go down to the lower amount now due. WTF!!! I have just had to sell my home because I am having trouble paying such huge mortgage amounts....give them $750,000 and they want another $9,000+ before I get reduced loan repayments!!!
In the meantime, the family company has real problems and I am not getting all of my wages!
On 14th December, a lovely young couple arrive, who have a friend in the area and are interested in my home. They obviously love it and ask if they can come back on Christmas Eve, on the way back from a holiday up the coast. Of course, I say yes! and am very excited that I could not only have a buyer, but my home would be in the hands of a lovely young couple.
Christmas Eve and the couple arrive and are very happy, once again, and tell the agent that they will contact her next Tuesday with an offer!! Finally, I am saved!
Not so! The guy from this couple, Simon (I wish I could remember his surname) is a journalist, and he is in Canberra with something happening with Rudd. Then he is in Victoria helping a friend who was in the bushfires. But always telling the real estate that he wants the house, he just has to organise a few things.
So of course, there is no need for me to worry about the bank; I have told them I have a buyer.
In February, 2009, I get another eviction notice from the bank! I owe them just over $12,000 in loan repayments (remembering that over $9,000 is that one crazy payment). Then my brother sacks me, because he can't pay my wages AND his. The company owes me $12,000 in back wages (ironic) and $40,000+ in super.
PLUS, I am now caring for my father, full time, at my house. So I appealed to the bank and asked for some more time, as it is impossible to pack up your whole life, kid's stuff and all, in four weeks, especially, whilst caring for my father.
Thankfully, the bank gave me another month :)
So I gathered all of my jewellery (including what my mother had left me) and a couple of antique items and headed down to Lawsons Auctions house.
Because of the market being a buyers market, I received less than $3,000 for about $30,000 worth of stuff. I was hoping for around $10,000. I gave $2,500 to the bank and used the balance for food and medical supplies (for Dad) as we were, at that point, living off the eggs from my chickens. I also paid a guy to mowe and whippersnip so the property would look it's best. I was still gardening and improving on anything I could, whilst I was packing; that buyer could still turn up! Right?
No! After over 2 months of promises, he finally tells the real estate his wife isn't sure she wants to live there anymore!
So, now all we can do is pack like crazy and hope for a miracle.
The eviction day was the Tuesday morning after the long weekend. It rained all weekend and so we couldn't pack anything else into the container as things would have got very ugly when stored wet in a container for however long.
So, when Tuesday morning arrived, so did the Sheriffs, the locksmith and the banks appointed real estate agent! Bryce Gibson from L. J. Hooker in Cessnock. A young man with no soul or experience.
Firstly, they were all chatting away about who they had evicted and how the people had behaved. Then my son overheard the locksmith telling Bryce that he had finished now and he would send the bill and Bryce told him to "add on another zero or two to the bill" and they both laughed as the locksmith said "of course"! Who do they think is ultimately paying the bill? And how can they be so damn callous?
We had to leave a fair amount of stuff behind because of not being able to pack over the long, rainy weekend, but Bryce assured us that it is the bank's responsibility to lock up the place and he would request a date from the bank for me to come and pick up the rest of my belongings and he will organize someone to be there.
I can't tell you how many times I rang Bryce, from Hookers, over the next 2 weeks trying to make the arrangements to pick up my belongings. I think out of about a dozen phone calls, he only answered one and told me he was waiting to hear back from the bank. Every other time, it rang out, so I left messages asking him to call me and let me know what was happening.
In the meantime, every time I drove past my gates, they were open, not locked. So I would close them and they would be open again next time. Apparently, it is only illegal for me to enter the property, but it is open house for everyone else. I also, informed Bryce of this via voice mail messages.
Finally, I am frantic and sick of waiting for Bryce to call me, so, on a Tuesday morning, I contacted the Bank's solicitor via email, and she informed me that I could pick up my goods anytime and to let Bryce know. I told her that Bryce had been ignoring my calls and she apparently emailed him about this, to which, the lying sod, told her he had answered all of my calls and messages!
I then received a call from Bryce (what a surprise, only an hour after my email to the solicitor) and he told me that Friday was the earliest time he could organize someone to be there.
When we arrived on the Friday, not only had no-one been taking care of the gardens; they were full of weeds and the grass was high, due to rain, but there were tyre marks in the long grass where a truck had backed up the day before and stolen nearly everything!!! Including copper piping so the dam was emptying into the shed and my son had to close the pipe off to stop it.
Does this sound like a coincidence? I'm not allowed there until Friday, after repeated requests, and on Wednesday or Thursday the place is emptied? After nearly 3 weeks of delays?
I lost at least $10,000 worth of furniture and personal belongings. They even stole the pond from my fountain and emptied the wheel barrow of Water Iris (that I had in there to empty the pond) and stole that!
It is amazing how many people are willing to kick you when you are down. Did they think I had it too easy? I was living out of a borrowed car (I had also lost my car at this point), with no income and no home and someone thought "lets steal from her whilst she's not looking...she doesn't need it"?.
Then the worst part happens!!!
The bank does nothing for 3 months with my property and it looks like crap! I offer to go and do the gardening and make it look good (which apparently, by law, it is the bank's responsibility to upkeep the property and keep the gardens weeded and mowed like you left them), but once again I am told that under not circumstances am I allowed onto the property.
So then they finally put it on the market and Bryce is advertising it with a listing at the bottom of the page that suggests pricing from houses sold in the area.
The properties listed are in Cessnock (nearly 25kms away) and are cheap fibro 2 bedroom homes on suburban blocks and have sold from between $180,000 - $240,000!!!!!!!! Also those listings were from many years ago!!!
My home was valued (by the bank as well as 2 real estates that know the area) at over $620,000!!!!!
Now I know that the market was not doing too well, but you can't say that is was doing as badly as America!!!
Anyway, then I get the news that my home sold at auction for $405,000! Over $200,000 under the agreed value!!!
I contacted the bank's solicitor and asked them how that could happen and they informed me that Bryce Gibson had valued the property at that price! Bryce sells properties in suburban Cessnock! Hooker's didn't even have one property in my area, on the market. They had NO idea of what mine would be worth.
Here are some examples:
THE PROPERTY NEXT DOOR TO MINE:
5 acres
NO house
one timber shed
one tank
NO electricity
NO phone
NO dams
NO internet
NO tv (free or paid)
NO horse paddocks
NO gardens
NO bathroom
NO kitchen
No patio, gazebo or verandahs
No house alarms
It does have olive trees
Floods when it rains
It's price $320,000
MINE:
25 acres
fully renovated 3 bedroom home
2 corrugated sheds
5 tanks
Yes, electricity
Yes, phone
3 dams
Telstra internet satellite
Foxtel satellite
Yes, horse paddocks
Beautiful gardens and lawns
$50,000 bathroom
$50,000 kitchen
Yes, patio, gazebo and verandahs (on 3 sides)
Top quality, back to base alarm
No, I didn't have olive trees
No it doesn't flood
Mine, valued by Bryce, at $405,000!!! Does that sound right or does something stink?
Just installing the electricity, phone, dams and tanks would cost $100,000 and that is without the house, gardens, patios, horse paddocks etc etc
Just a couple of quick examples:
35 acres with NOTHING on it (less than one km away on dirt road) $360,000.
25 acres with NOTHING on it (although it is in a better position than mine) $600,000+.
Bryce should not have been allowed to sell my property! He is inexperienced and worse than that, he didn't care.
I pleaded with the Bank's solicitors to let my real estate handle the auction, as she knew the property well AND she wanted to get the best possible price.
Bryce just wanted a sale and he lied and cheated in the process of getting that sale.
If he had even sold it for $500,000, I would have been able to pay my debts and put a deposit on a house and start again.
Now, I am Bankrupt.
Rudd asked the 'Big 4 Banks' not to evict people who had lost their jobs due to the GFC, but I guess the Adelaide Bank is not one of the Big 4 and doesn't care.
Bryce Gibson didn't have to try to impress me, because he thought that I would never be buying a house again, so it didn't matter how he treated me.
I had bought and sold 6 times in six years (I had also bought an investment unit for my retirement..haha..which I sold so I could buy the house in Sydney).
I also have 3 sons who are now at the house buying age and I can tell you that even though they love the Cessnock district, there is no way they will ever deal with L. J. Hooker!
What kind of society puts profits before the rights of someone to keep their family home. I had money invested in that property too. What happened to my right to my share?
My next exciting episode is about a corrupt real estate in Sydney.....stay tuned.
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Labels: Adelaide Bank, bankruptcy, Bryce Gibson, dishonest estate agents, GFC, greedy banks, L J Hooker Cessnock, undervalueing real estate, bridging finance, eviction,
Home
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Borrower's Beware...
How I lost my life....
Seven years ago, I owned my home and car outright.
I invested (loaned) a considerable amount of money to the family company which meant taking out a mortgage on my home. When the money was being repaid too slowly for the mortgage repayments, I decided to sell my home and move to the country. Something I had wanted to do for many years, so I wasn't perturbed and it meant buying a cheaper property.
I bought a house that needed extensive renovations and as I was still owed money from the family company, I borrowed the money to make this house our home (which of course cost more than planned).
Four years down the track and I have a home I am very happy with and a new car, but I owe the bank over $200,000. Not too bad, by today's standards (actually, not today's, but back then).
But I am still travelling to Sydney 4-5 days a week for work; over 400kms a day! 4.5-5hours a day in the car!
Then, my father, who lives in Sydney, has a stroke and his 'partner' has decided that she "didn't come into this relationship to be a carer"! So much for 'till death do us part'!.
Anyway, so rather than quitting the family business, which would have been the smart thing to do (with hindsight), because of my dad, I decide to move back to Sydney.
I bought a beautiful house, at a very good price, and I knew that with some changes, it would be a great investment.
BUT....I did it on a Bridging Loan! With the Bank of Adelaide.
The home I was selling was truly a beautiful home in a beautiful setting. I had renovated with the highest quality components, as it was meant to be my home to retire and spend my twilight years in. Everyone who came to visit, loved it and didn't want to leave!
So why should I have any problems selling it?
Of course, then, I couldn't see what was just around the corner.
The Global Financial Crisis!!! (or affectionately referred to as the GFC).
Not only did interest rates go through the roof, but the result of that meant the crashing of the real estate market (as you all know).
I didn't have to make a payment for the first year of my mortgage, which was handy as I was running 2 houses at the time, which was costing way too much in upkeep. Especially the property I was selling as it was 25 acres and had to look picture perfect for any potential buyers. I was there every weekend, weeding, planting, paving, cleaning and improving the property in any way, and every way, I could.
But alas, no buyer.
When my year of not having to pay was up, interest rates had almost doubled my payments!!!
Now I was in trouble. So after about 8 months of erratic payments to the bank, I knew I had to change tactics, so I put the Sydney house on the market as the area I was in was still doing OK (good investment!).
So, once again, I was painting and redecorating to improve and make the house ready for sale.
Then, the dreaded letter came from the bank. I knew it was coming, so I had contacted them and told them I was selling the Sydney house and had a buyer lined up.
Not good enough, apparently. When they have made their minds up, they want it NOW!
So even though the house was on the market for $850,000 I had to take the first offer of $770,000 even though the house had only been on the market for 2 weeks and was showing good interest, because the Adelaide Bank refused to wait for another couple of weeks.
So, anyway, sold the house in Sydney (very sad, as I really loved that home, had good neighbours and was close to my dad and children again - not to mention a LOT less time spent travelling to work).
So, out of a loan of $1.1million, I paid the bank $750,000 in November 2008, BUT they insisted that I still had to pay one more full payment of over $9,000 before I could go down to the lower amount now due. WTF!!! I have just had to sell my home because I am having trouble paying such huge mortgage amounts....give them $750,000 and they want another $9,000+ before I get reduced loan repayments!!!
In the meantime, the family company has real problems and I am not getting all of my wages!
On 14th December, a lovely young couple arrive, who have a friend in the area and are interested in my home. They obviously love it and ask if they can come back on Christmas Eve, on the way back from a holiday up the coast. Of course, I say yes! and am very excited that I could not only have a buyer, but my home would be in the hands of a lovely young couple.
Christmas Eve and the couple arrive and are very happy, once again, and tell the agent that they will contact her next Tuesday with an offer!! Finally, I am saved!
Not so! The guy from this couple, Simon (I wish I could remember his surname) is a journalist, and he is in Canberra with something happening with Rudd. Then he is in Victoria helping a friend who was in the bushfires. But always telling the real estate that he wants the house, he just has to organise a few things.
So of course, there is no need for me to worry about the bank; I have told them I have a buyer.
In February, 2009, I get another eviction notice from the bank! I owe them just over $12,000 in loan repayments (remembering that over $9,000 is that one crazy payment). Then my brother sacks me, because he can't pay my wages AND his. The company owes me $12,000 in back wages (ironic) and $40,000+ in super.
PLUS, I am now caring for my father, full time, at my house. So I appealed to the bank and asked for some more time, as it is impossible to pack up your whole life, kid's stuff and all, in four weeks, especially, whilst caring for my father.
Thankfully, the bank gave me another month :)
So I gathered all of my jewellery (including what my mother had left me) and a couple of antique items and headed down to Lawsons Auctions house.
Because of the market being a buyers market, I received less than $3,000 for about $30,000 worth of stuff. I was hoping for around $10,000. I gave $2,500 to the bank and used the balance for food and medical supplies (for Dad) as we were, at that point, living off the eggs from my chickens. I also paid a guy to mowe and whippersnip so the property would look it's best. I was still gardening and improving on anything I could, whilst I was packing; that buyer could still turn up! Right?
No! After over 2 months of promises, he finally tells the real estate his wife isn't sure she wants to live there anymore!
So, now all we can do is pack like crazy and hope for a miracle.
The eviction day was the Tuesday morning after the long weekend. It rained all weekend and so we couldn't pack anything else into the container as things would have got very ugly when stored wet in a container for however long.
So, when Tuesday morning arrived, so did the Sheriffs, the locksmith and the banks appointed real estate agent! Bryce Gibson from L. J. Hooker in Cessnock. A young man with no soul or experience.
Firstly, they were all chatting away about who they had evicted and how the people had behaved. Then my son overheard the locksmith telling Bryce that he had finished now and he would send the bill and Bryce told him to "add on another zero or two to the bill" and they both laughed as the locksmith said "of course"! Who do they think is ultimately paying the bill? And how can they be so damn callous?
We had to leave a fair amount of stuff behind because of not being able to pack over the long, rainy weekend, but Bryce assured us that it is the bank's responsibility to lock up the place and he would request a date from the bank for me to come and pick up the rest of my belongings and he will organize someone to be there.
I can't tell you how many times I rang Bryce, from Hookers, over the next 2 weeks trying to make the arrangements to pick up my belongings. I think out of about a dozen phone calls, he only answered one and told me he was waiting to hear back from the bank. Every other time, it rang out, so I left messages asking him to call me and let me know what was happening.
In the meantime, every time I drove past my gates, they were open, not locked. So I would close them and they would be open again next time. Apparently, it is only illegal for me to enter the property, but it is open house for everyone else. I also, informed Bryce of this via voice mail messages.
Finally, I am frantic and sick of waiting for Bryce to call me, so, on a Tuesday morning, I contacted the Bank's solicitor via email, and she informed me that I could pick up my goods anytime and to let Bryce know. I told her that Bryce had been ignoring my calls and she apparently emailed him about this, to which, the lying sod, told her he had answered all of my calls and messages!
I then received a call from Bryce (what a surprise, only an hour after my email to the solicitor) and he told me that Friday was the earliest time he could organize someone to be there.
When we arrived on the Friday, not only had no-one been taking care of the gardens; they were full of weeds and the grass was high, due to rain, but there were tyre marks in the long grass where a truck had backed up the day before and stolen nearly everything!!! Including copper piping so the dam was emptying into the shed and my son had to close the pipe off to stop it.
Does this sound like a coincidence? I'm not allowed there until Friday, after repeated requests, and on Wednesday or Thursday the place is emptied? After nearly 3 weeks of delays?
I lost at least $10,000 worth of furniture and personal belongings. They even stole the pond from my fountain and emptied the wheel barrow of Water Iris (that I had in there to empty the pond) and stole that!
It is amazing how many people are willing to kick you when you are down. Did they think I had it too easy? I was living out of a borrowed car (I had also lost my car at this point), with no income and no home and someone thought "lets steal from her whilst she's not looking...she doesn't need it"?.
Then the worst part happens!!!
The bank does nothing for 3 months with my property and it looks like crap! I offer to go and do the gardening and make it look good (which apparently, by law, it is the bank's responsibility to upkeep the property and keep the gardens weeded and mowed like you left them), but once again I am told that under not circumstances am I allowed onto the property.
So then they finally put it on the market and Bryce is advertising it with a listing at the bottom of the page that suggests pricing from houses sold in the area.
The properties listed are in Cessnock (nearly 25kms away) and are cheap fibro 2 bedroom homes on suburban blocks and have sold from between $180,000 - $240,000!!!!!!!! Also those listings were from many years ago!!!
My home was valued (by the bank as well as 2 real estates that know the area) at over $620,000!!!!!
Now I know that the market was not doing too well, but you can't say that is was doing as badly as America!!!
Anyway, then I get the news that my home sold at auction for $405,000! Over $200,000 under the agreed value!!!
I contacted the bank's solicitor and asked them how that could happen and they informed me that Bryce Gibson had valued the property at that price! Bryce sells properties in suburban Cessnock! Hooker's didn't even have one property in my area, on the market. They had NO idea of what mine would be worth.
Here are some examples:
THE PROPERTY NEXT DOOR TO MINE:
5 acres
NO house
one timber shed
one tank
NO electricity
NO phone
NO dams
NO internet
NO tv (free or paid)
NO horse paddocks
NO gardens
NO bathroom
NO kitchen
No patio, gazebo or verandahs
No house alarms
No driveway
It does have olive trees
Floods when it rains
It's price $320,000
MINE:
25 acres
fully renovated 3 bedroom home
2 large corrugated sheds
5 tanks
Yes, electricity
Yes, phone
3 dams
Telstra internet satellite
Foxtel satellite
Yes, horse paddocks
Beautiful gardens and lawns
$50,000 bathroom
$50,000 kitchen
Yes, patio, gazebo and verandahs (on 3 sides)
Top quality, back to base alarm
No, I didn't have olive trees
No it doesn't flood
Mine, valued by Bryce, at $405,000!!! Does that sound right or does something stink?
Just installing the electricity, phone, dams and tanks would cost over $150,000 and that is without the house, gardens, patios, horse paddocks, sheds etc etc
Just a couple of quick examples:
35 acres with NOTHING on it (less than one km away on dirt road) $360,000.
25 acres with NOTHING on it (although it is in a better position than mine) $600,000+.
Bryce should not have been allowed to sell my property! He is inexperienced with that area and worse than that, he didn't care.
I pleaded with the Bank's solicitors to let my real estate handle the auction, as she knew the property well AND she wanted to get the best possible price.
Bryce just wanted a sale and he lied and cheated in the process of getting that sale.
If he had even sold it for $500,000, I would have been able to pay my debts and put a deposit on a house and start again.
Now, I am Bankrupt.
Rudd asked the 'Big 4 Banks' not to evict people who had lost their jobs due to the GFC, but I guess the Adelaide Bank is not one of the Big 4 and doesn't care.
Bryce Gibson didn't have to try to impress me, because he thought that I would never be buying a house again, so it didn't matter how he treated me.
I had bought and sold 6 times in six years (I had also bought an investment unit for my retirement..haha..which I sold so I could buy the house in Sydney).
I also have 3 sons who are now at the house buying age and I can tell you that even though they love the Cessnock district, there is no way they will ever deal with L. J. Hooker!
What kind of society puts profits before the rights of someone to keep their family home. I had money invested in that property too. What happened to my right to my share?
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Labels: Adelaide Bank, bankruptcy, Bryce Gibson, dishonest estate agents, GFC, greedy banks, L J Hooker Cessnock, undervalueing real estate, bridging finance, eviction,
Home
Seven years ago, I owned my home and car outright.
I invested (loaned) a considerable amount of money to the family company which meant taking out a mortgage on my home. When the money was being repaid too slowly for the mortgage repayments, I decided to sell my home and move to the country. Something I had wanted to do for many years, so I wasn't perturbed and it meant buying a cheaper property.
I bought a house that needed extensive renovations and as I was still owed money from the family company, I borrowed the money to make this house our home (which of course cost more than planned).
Four years down the track and I have a home I am very happy with and a new car, but I owe the bank over $200,000. Not too bad, by today's standards (actually, not today's, but back then).
But I am still travelling to Sydney 4-5 days a week for work; over 400kms a day! 4.5-5hours a day in the car!
Then, my father, who lives in Sydney, has a stroke and his 'partner' has decided that she "didn't come into this relationship to be a carer"! So much for 'till death do us part'!.
Anyway, so rather than quitting the family business, which would have been the smart thing to do (with hindsight), because of my dad, I decide to move back to Sydney.
I bought a beautiful house, at a very good price, and I knew that with some changes, it would be a great investment.
BUT....I did it on a Bridging Loan! With the Bank of Adelaide.
The home I was selling was truly a beautiful home in a beautiful setting. I had renovated with the highest quality components, as it was meant to be my home to retire and spend my twilight years in. Everyone who came to visit, loved it and didn't want to leave!
So why should I have any problems selling it?
Of course, then, I couldn't see what was just around the corner.
The Global Financial Crisis!!! (or affectionately referred to as the GFC).
Not only did interest rates go through the roof, but the result of that meant the crashing of the real estate market (as you all know).
I didn't have to make a payment for the first year of my mortgage, which was handy as I was running 2 houses at the time, which was costing way too much in upkeep. Especially the property I was selling as it was 25 acres and had to look picture perfect for any potential buyers. I was there every weekend, weeding, planting, paving, cleaning and improving the property in any way, and every way, I could.
But alas, no buyer.
When my year of not having to pay was up, interest rates had almost doubled my payments!!!
Now I was in trouble. So after about 8 months of erratic payments to the bank, I knew I had to change tactics, so I put the Sydney house on the market as the area I was in was still doing OK (good investment!).
So, once again, I was painting and redecorating to improve and make the house ready for sale.
Then, the dreaded letter came from the bank. I knew it was coming, so I had contacted them and told them I was selling the Sydney house and had a buyer lined up.
Not good enough, apparently. When they have made their minds up, they want it NOW!
So even though the house was on the market for $850,000 I had to take the first offer of $770,000 even though the house had only been on the market for 2 weeks and was showing good interest, because the Adelaide Bank refused to wait for another couple of weeks.
So, anyway, sold the house in Sydney (very sad, as I really loved that home, had good neighbours and was close to my dad and children again - not to mention a LOT less time spent travelling to work).
So, out of a loan of $1.1million, I paid the bank $750,000 in November 2008, BUT they insisted that I still had to pay one more full payment of over $9,000 before I could go down to the lower amount now due. WTF!!! I have just had to sell my home because I am having trouble paying such huge mortgage amounts....give them $750,000 and they want another $9,000+ before I get reduced loan repayments!!!
In the meantime, the family company has real problems and I am not getting all of my wages!
On 14th December, a lovely young couple arrive, who have a friend in the area and are interested in my home. They obviously love it and ask if they can come back on Christmas Eve, on the way back from a holiday up the coast. Of course, I say yes! and am very excited that I could not only have a buyer, but my home would be in the hands of a lovely young couple.
Christmas Eve and the couple arrive and are very happy, once again, and tell the agent that they will contact her next Tuesday with an offer!! Finally, I am saved!
Not so! The guy from this couple, Simon (I wish I could remember his surname) is a journalist, and he is in Canberra with something happening with Rudd. Then he is in Victoria helping a friend who was in the bushfires. But always telling the real estate that he wants the house, he just has to organise a few things.
So of course, there is no need for me to worry about the bank; I have told them I have a buyer.
In February, 2009, I get another eviction notice from the bank! I owe them just over $12,000 in loan repayments (remembering that over $9,000 is that one crazy payment). Then my brother sacks me, because he can't pay my wages AND his. The company owes me $12,000 in back wages (ironic) and $40,000+ in super.
PLUS, I am now caring for my father, full time, at my house. So I appealed to the bank and asked for some more time, as it is impossible to pack up your whole life, kid's stuff and all, in four weeks, especially, whilst caring for my father.
Thankfully, the bank gave me another month :)
So I gathered all of my jewellery (including what my mother had left me) and a couple of antique items and headed down to Lawsons Auctions house.
Because of the market being a buyers market, I received less than $3,000 for about $30,000 worth of stuff. I was hoping for around $10,000. I gave $2,500 to the bank and used the balance for food and medical supplies (for Dad) as we were, at that point, living off the eggs from my chickens. I also paid a guy to mowe and whippersnip so the property would look it's best. I was still gardening and improving on anything I could, whilst I was packing; that buyer could still turn up! Right?
No! After over 2 months of promises, he finally tells the real estate his wife isn't sure she wants to live there anymore!
So, now all we can do is pack like crazy and hope for a miracle.
The eviction day was the Tuesday morning after the long weekend. It rained all weekend and so we couldn't pack anything else into the container as things would have got very ugly when stored wet in a container for however long.
So, when Tuesday morning arrived, so did the Sheriffs, the locksmith and the banks appointed real estate agent! Bryce Gibson from L. J. Hooker in Cessnock. A young man with no soul or experience.
Firstly, they were all chatting away about who they had evicted and how the people had behaved. Then my son overheard the locksmith telling Bryce that he had finished now and he would send the bill and Bryce told him to "add on another zero or two to the bill" and they both laughed as the locksmith said "of course"! Who do they think is ultimately paying the bill? And how can they be so damn callous?
We had to leave a fair amount of stuff behind because of not being able to pack over the long, rainy weekend, but Bryce assured us that it is the bank's responsibility to lock up the place and he would request a date from the bank for me to come and pick up the rest of my belongings and he will organize someone to be there.
I can't tell you how many times I rang Bryce, from Hookers, over the next 2 weeks trying to make the arrangements to pick up my belongings. I think out of about a dozen phone calls, he only answered one and told me he was waiting to hear back from the bank. Every other time, it rang out, so I left messages asking him to call me and let me know what was happening.
In the meantime, every time I drove past my gates, they were open, not locked. So I would close them and they would be open again next time. Apparently, it is only illegal for me to enter the property, but it is open house for everyone else. I also, informed Bryce of this via voice mail messages.
Finally, I am frantic and sick of waiting for Bryce to call me, so, on a Tuesday morning, I contacted the Bank's solicitor via email, and she informed me that I could pick up my goods anytime and to let Bryce know. I told her that Bryce had been ignoring my calls and she apparently emailed him about this, to which, the lying sod, told her he had answered all of my calls and messages!
I then received a call from Bryce (what a surprise, only an hour after my email to the solicitor) and he told me that Friday was the earliest time he could organize someone to be there.
When we arrived on the Friday, not only had no-one been taking care of the gardens; they were full of weeds and the grass was high, due to rain, but there were tyre marks in the long grass where a truck had backed up the day before and stolen nearly everything!!! Including copper piping so the dam was emptying into the shed and my son had to close the pipe off to stop it.
Does this sound like a coincidence? I'm not allowed there until Friday, after repeated requests, and on Wednesday or Thursday the place is emptied? After nearly 3 weeks of delays?
I lost at least $10,000 worth of furniture and personal belongings. They even stole the pond from my fountain and emptied the wheel barrow of Water Iris (that I had in there to empty the pond) and stole that!
It is amazing how many people are willing to kick you when you are down. Did they think I had it too easy? I was living out of a borrowed car (I had also lost my car at this point), with no income and no home and someone thought "lets steal from her whilst she's not looking...she doesn't need it"?.
Then the worst part happens!!!
The bank does nothing for 3 months with my property and it looks like crap! I offer to go and do the gardening and make it look good (which apparently, by law, it is the bank's responsibility to upkeep the property and keep the gardens weeded and mowed like you left them), but once again I am told that under not circumstances am I allowed onto the property.
So then they finally put it on the market and Bryce is advertising it with a listing at the bottom of the page that suggests pricing from houses sold in the area.
The properties listed are in Cessnock (nearly 25kms away) and are cheap fibro 2 bedroom homes on suburban blocks and have sold from between $180,000 - $240,000!!!!!!!! Also those listings were from many years ago!!!
My home was valued (by the bank as well as 2 real estates that know the area) at over $620,000!!!!!
Now I know that the market was not doing too well, but you can't say that is was doing as badly as America!!!
Anyway, then I get the news that my home sold at auction for $405,000! Over $200,000 under the agreed value!!!
I contacted the bank's solicitor and asked them how that could happen and they informed me that Bryce Gibson had valued the property at that price! Bryce sells properties in suburban Cessnock! Hooker's didn't even have one property in my area, on the market. They had NO idea of what mine would be worth.
Here are some examples:
THE PROPERTY NEXT DOOR TO MINE:
5 acres
NO house
one timber shed
one tank
NO electricity
NO phone
NO dams
NO internet
NO tv (free or paid)
NO horse paddocks
NO gardens
NO bathroom
NO kitchen
No patio, gazebo or verandahs
No house alarms
No driveway
It does have olive trees
Floods when it rains
It's price $320,000
MINE:
25 acres
fully renovated 3 bedroom home
2 large corrugated sheds
5 tanks
Yes, electricity
Yes, phone
3 dams
Telstra internet satellite
Foxtel satellite
Yes, horse paddocks
Beautiful gardens and lawns
$50,000 bathroom
$50,000 kitchen
Yes, patio, gazebo and verandahs (on 3 sides)
Top quality, back to base alarm
No, I didn't have olive trees
No it doesn't flood
Mine, valued by Bryce, at $405,000!!! Does that sound right or does something stink?
Just installing the electricity, phone, dams and tanks would cost over $150,000 and that is without the house, gardens, patios, horse paddocks, sheds etc etc
Just a couple of quick examples:
35 acres with NOTHING on it (less than one km away on dirt road) $360,000.
25 acres with NOTHING on it (although it is in a better position than mine) $600,000+.
Bryce should not have been allowed to sell my property! He is inexperienced with that area and worse than that, he didn't care.
I pleaded with the Bank's solicitors to let my real estate handle the auction, as she knew the property well AND she wanted to get the best possible price.
Bryce just wanted a sale and he lied and cheated in the process of getting that sale.
If he had even sold it for $500,000, I would have been able to pay my debts and put a deposit on a house and start again.
Now, I am Bankrupt.
Rudd asked the 'Big 4 Banks' not to evict people who had lost their jobs due to the GFC, but I guess the Adelaide Bank is not one of the Big 4 and doesn't care.
Bryce Gibson didn't have to try to impress me, because he thought that I would never be buying a house again, so it didn't matter how he treated me.
I had bought and sold 6 times in six years (I had also bought an investment unit for my retirement..haha..which I sold so I could buy the house in Sydney).
I also have 3 sons who are now at the house buying age and I can tell you that even though they love the Cessnock district, there is no way they will ever deal with L. J. Hooker!
What kind of society puts profits before the rights of someone to keep their family home. I had money invested in that property too. What happened to my right to my share?
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Labels: Adelaide Bank, bankruptcy, Bryce Gibson, dishonest estate agents, GFC, greedy banks, L J Hooker Cessnock, undervalueing real estate, bridging finance, eviction,
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