Consumer complaint received 2018-06-01
Company: Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation
State: OH
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I closed on a house serviced by Fairway Mortgage Independent Mortgage Company Corporate office is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, WI XXXX. 
This past year I received a letter from my neighbors attorney, that they had a boundary survey done and my garage was encroaching on their property by 2 and feet. I immediately contacted the title company and explained the situation. They put me in touch with a company called XXXX XXXX XXXX that the mortgage company hired to conduct the mortgage survey for the loan. After talking to the owner, XXXX XXXX, he told me that he would come out and re-survey the property. 

After many, many phone calls he finally came out to survey the property in XX/XX/XXXX. The only paperwork he brought was the neighbors survey and the original that his company preformed. On the neighbors survey, they reset the pins that mark the property line and XXXX XXXX did nothing to consider whether setting the pins were proper or not. He just conceded that they were correct. I took a day off work and went down to the XXXX County Auditors office and pulled every deed on the property since it had been split in XX/XX/XXXX. I found many measurements that did not line up with the neighbors survey XXXX asked me to scan and email them to them and they would consider it. 

Several months passed and with no results from the surveyor, I went back to the title company, who told me they were not responsible because they did not hire him and told me to contact the mortgage company as they were the ones who hired him for the closing work. 

I contacted the Fairway branch that did the mortgage work and they told me they would contact the surveyor and have him work with me to resolve the issue. 
He sent me what he said was a boundary survey that his company did, however he never came back to my property and when compared to the neighbors boundary survey was exactly the same as if he just copied it. He took none of the deeds that I sent him into consideration as none of the mismeasurement I found were ever addressed. He refused to submit this issue to his errors & omissions insurance because his deductible was {$10000.00} dollars. I have emails and texts where the surveyor admits its his fault and that he would settle with me. By this time, it was XX/XX/XXXX. When I contacted the surveyor again, he told me I needed to speak to his attorney. 

I contacted his attorney, who told me he was working on a deal to resolve the problem with the neighbors. The surveyors attorney and the neighbors attorney were involved in talks without including me. And this went on for 3 months. The neighbors would not settle with the surveyors attorney and had since built a fence on what they perceived was the property line and built it right up against my garage, now denying me access to the right side of my garage and now I could no longer maintain it. 
I contacted the surveyor attorney, who basically told me there was nothing they could do and that the surveyor would not turn it into his insurance because they felt my damage was less than {$10000.00}. I told him he need to put my garage on my property because that is how I purchased the house. They refused to negotiate with me and sent me back to the mortgage company. 

When I contacted the mortgage company, they told me that even though they were the ones who hired this surveyor, they were not responsible because it was disclosed to me on the HUD closing papers that I could have hired someone else. 

The disclosure papers I received for the property stated that the survey was something I COULD shop for, however they did. On the first set of settlement services I signed on XX/XX/XXXX, the name of the surveyor was XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The next set of GFE I signed was on XX/XX/XXXX. The property however was surveyed on XX/XX/XXXX by XXXX XXXX XXXX, 2 weeks prior to me receiving and signing my GFE. This was a second set. 
I was never provided with a CFPB booklet and they never informed that I could or had to hire a surveyor to confirm the legally of the property. Since they already hired and conducted a survey that showed the property was legitimate, I had no reason to believe that it was not, therefore I purchased the property. The entire transaction was handled via the internet and they didnt speak to me about any of my rights. 

I feel the mortgage company errored in hiring a shotty survey company and presenting me with a survey that make the property appear to be legal. I would never purchase a property where my garage would be encroaching on the neighbors property by 2 feet. 

The resolution I am looking for is to be made whole. I now own a property that is 2000 square feet smaller than I thought, has a garage that the neighbors have made impossible for me to maintain as well as a property I cant sell because of the encroachment. 
The mortgage company either need to move my garage and compensate me for the loss of property or purchase the home back at the current value.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation