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| January 2010 |
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THE MIRACLE ON
KENILWORTH AVENUE
The Story of Shauna Markey &
Mr. Lewis
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| Once upon a time... |
 In May
of 2009 I answered a message on Facebook from my acting friend
Shauna Markey. She was preparing to enter the world of homeownership
and was looking for a real estate agent to help her navigate the crazy
Los Angeles market and buy her first home. We had no idea the roller
coaster ride we were getting on. Our cast included a seller named Mr.
Walter Donald Lewis, her parents Rick
and Kathy Markey, an amazing Team of supporters including Susan Van
Wagenen of Terra Mortgage, Advantage
One Escrow Officer
Linda Hoshaw, a Hero: Matthew from Bank of
America, and Villain:a collections agent from south
Jersey who I affectionately refer to as Guido.** Disclaimer: No offense to any of my Italian brothers and sisters for the stereotype. His real name is John. It's just that every time I spoke to him on the phone his regional accent was so strong and his manner was so intimidating that I felt like I was in an episode of "The Sopranos." My loving knickname helped me to keep things light. |
 After
searching unsuccessfully for almost 2 months, one day
Shauna's dad Rick spotted the photo of a charming new listing in
Glendale. I found out the current listing agent was holding an open
house that day. It was the first and ONLY time Shauna got really
excited about a house...
enough to want to put in an offer. (For those of you who haven't been
watching the crazy market, most buyers have to put in a minimum
of 12 offers before they get the house they want.) So we put together
an offer and made the appointment to present
it the next day feeling very upbeat. That was just the
beginning of the
craziness. The next day the agent seemed to have amnesia about our
conversation, then when we arrived at the house the
owner informed us that he had fired the agent and was going to let the
house go into foreclosure.
|
 That
seems like it would have been the end of the story...
Not so— just the beginning as it turned out. A dozen other
interested people had gathered in front of the house. Shauna was able
to distract
everyone in animated conversation giving me a chance to speak to Mr.
Lewis
privately and give him Shauna's offer just in case
he changed his mind. Then he and Shauna struck up a conversation and I
just had that eerie
feeling that this was no accident. This house was meant to be Shauna's.
I could even tell by the way Mr. Lewis was talking about his house that
he was starting to consider he might be able to "choose" the
"right" person to be the next owner— someone who would take care of the
family home he was losing and obviously very emotional about. The
next day I got the unexpected, yet hoped for call from Mr. Lewis
asking me lots of questions about how I could help him. |
 Next chapter... Mr. Lewis decided he
wanted Shauna to be the
next owner of his house and he wanted me to make that happen. I
began the journey of putting together a short sale package and working
with the bank representatives. After submitting a large amount of
paperwork the first part came rather smoothly. Our hero Matthew from
Bank of America was able to get an approval from the investors of the
first loan and I thought it was going to be a breeze to close escrow— Not
so...I had to deal with Guido on the equity loan next. Wamu charged it off and sent it to collections with his firm. The next 5 months proved to be a test in endurance, patience, tolerance and persistence. Even when I finally got verbal approval, Guido almost jeopardized the whole deal by stalling on the approval letter. We were left with less than two weeks to secure a loan and close escrow or we would have to start all over again from scratch. |
 Enter
our heroine Susan Van Wagenen. She somehow accomplished the impossible.
With only 6 working days until we had to close escrow (due to the
Thanksgiving holiday), she was able to get the appraisal ordered and
back, loan approval and documents delivered to escrow in the
nick-of-time. Shauna had to sign everything by November 30 or we would
be out-of-luck. Susan was on top of everything and in constant
communication with the lender, escrow, Shauna, her dad Rick and me! Yes, there were many moments we were ready to pull our hair out. |
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After
Shauna signed her loan documents we could breathe again and actually
celebrate!
  And
they lived happily ever after...
This is just the beginning of new journeys. Shauna has moved in and is busily painting and decorating with her parents and friends making the Kenilworth house her home. Mr. Lewis is off on new adventures in his truck camper and reconnecting with family in Oregon. Me? Well, I'm on to new adventures too and looking forward to helping more home sellers and buyers so I can share their success stories with you. |
| Rates
continue at low levels
with 30 Year Fixed Conforming (up to $417,000) at 4.875%, High Balance
($417,000 to $729,750) at 5% and Jumbo (over $729,750) at 6.25%. 5 Year Fixed Conforming is at 3.875%, High Balance at 4% and Jumbo at 4.75%. (Information courtesy of Susan Van Wagenen of Terra Mortgage) |
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