Consumer complaint received 2018-02-15
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: Home American Mortgage Corp (AZ)

My husband and I recently entered in a contract to build a home with XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, AZ - Subdivision : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. We signed the contracts in late XX/XX/XXXX with a projected closing date of XX/XX/XXXX. As we continued moving through the process, we agreed to use their in-house lender - Home American Mortgage Company. We are pre-qualified without a contingency to sell our previous primary residence, also in XXXX XXXX. However, we intended to sell once we were closer to the closing date. In late XX/XX/XXXX, we received a call asking us to move up our closing to XX/XX/XXXX. They didn't even have our house framed yet. We declined and they pushed for a later date and were advised to prepare for a XX/XX/XXXX closing. We immediately began to work with our buyers to accelerate the sale of our home during the holiday. Throughout the process we received financial disclosure statements estimating our mortgage, which included property taxes, homeowners, and P & I. As signed our final disclosures the week before closing, our escrows were estimated at {$710.00}, which I contacted the lender about being high. I was told it was an estimate and we have better numbers at closing. The afternoon we got to the closing table on XX/XX/XXXX both the title company and us struggled to understand a number of changes to their documents that didn't add up. The property tax estimated had skyrocketed to almost {$10000.00} per year for escrow changing the total monthly payment by over {$500.00}. The new amount was {$1000.00}. I immediately called our loan officer while the title company worked with those preparing the papers to make corrections and we were told they estimated our taxes based on a mil levy estimate received by XXXX County Treasurer 's  office and this was their high figure. When they ran their numbers again, they couldn't determine who that number was derived as XXXX Conty calculates tax at .85 % of the assessed value, which would be approx {$450.00} per month in property taxes. I was advised that everyone had already left the office for the day ( on a Friday ) and they would work to resolve it on Monday. They aslo reminded us that we had signed a document correction agreement and we would not have to return to title company for them to resolve. 

Monday came and we were told that given we has signed and the loan would be sold so we would have to wait to be contacted by the new servicing company at completion to resolve the issue. This didn't make sense because they were still sending me documents that were not signed or incorrect so they could fix things found in their audit of the paperwork and I entered into a contract with HomeAmerican Mortgage. In the interim, I called the XXXX Country Treasurers Office and the Assessor 's office and neither could determine how the lender came up with their {$9700.00} tax estimate. I again asked it to be reviewed and was told they were sorry for giving us incorrect information, but it would have to resolved later after the loan is sold. How is this fair to the consumer and what does another lender have to do with this when my assumption is they can correct before supplying the loan information to whomever they sell it to. I entered an agreement with Home American Mortgage. All my paperwork and contracts reference them. I have text messages and email reflecting even after a 3rd audit their was a gross miscalculation, but their leadership was unable or unwilling to help. 

Today, I again spoke to the Assessor 's office and they provided the following info - 1 ) our home will only pay property taxes for land this year and next year. The valuation we receive in XX/XX/XXXX will still only be for land. We are estimated to pay and approximately XXXX $ for XX/XX/XXXX and no more than 5 % more next year. In XX/XX/XXXX, we will receive that actual valuation for our property at which point they can find multiple parcels in our subdivision who have actual property tax bills. They advise property taxes are calculated on lot size and livable space and since most of the homes that have their final tax bill are of similar size in land and livable space our property taxes in XX/XX/XXXX should be between {$4500.00} and {$4800.00}. The gentleman gave me his name and phone number in case someone wanted to speak to him because regardless of the calculation used there would be no way our property taxes would ever be anywhere near {$10000.00}. More like half that amount. Comparable parcels included XXXX, XXXX, XXXX. I have about 6 more that all reflect property taxes for my neighbors all printed out for comparison. Given the fact Home American still has my loan and I recently sent back documents to correct that benefit them, I am asking for them to re-evaluate my escrows and correct my loan before it is sold. I was told to make the XX/XX/XXXX payment to them and since they are still the servicing company this gross error should be corrected and we should not have to live with the error for a year and risk financial hardship over something that was communicated at the closing table as an error. 

We were rushed to the closing table with 2 hours notice and we bent over backwards to work with this company. When you have a family and XXXX children and are living in a temporary house, we would have moved mountains to be able to be in our forever home and we took their word they would make this right. My current escrow payment is {$1000.00}, which includes homeowners insurance and property tax. My homeowners insurance through XXXX is {$850.00} a year, not {$1300.00} as priced by XXXX and referenced in the docs. The declaration page and info was sent to Home American on XX/XX/XXXX. Our property taxes should be closer to {$4800.00} a year if they want to make sure they are collecting on the high side even though we only owe {$1600.00} for this year, which is already in the escrow account. We estimate our escrows to be approximately {$470.00} a month ( high and based on final tax bill, which again can only go up 5 % per year ) and even with a potential uplift to over overages, that would still be a {$500.00} savings on our current monthly escrow payment and overall monthly mortgage. I am asking for assistance for someone to help us get Home American Mortgage to do the right thing and correct this issue so we don't have to wait a year once the loan is sold to have a new company complete an escrow analysis. A 40-50 % overcharge on escrows is unacceptable and I would like to resolve this jointly before I engage an attorney for assistance.