Hello,

You may have seen my story on TikTok or in the New York Times. My home was broken into by an extremist in June as he claims my home is on his ancestral land. He took advantage of a home he thought was vacant/abandoned which sat unoccupied for an extended period of time at the start of the year. He claims that when he looked into the public records, the dates of the when I got the deed and claimed to have purchased the home did not make sense. Using public records and scouting my home, he attempted to simply take it from me. And when that did not succeed he went on a smear campaign about me even going as far as to print out defamatory statements and pass them out door to door to my soon-to-be neighbors. The experience of buying my first home has been ruined because of this whole ordeal. And I am still waiting on justice.

What hasn't been made as public is that the reason my house stayed unoccupied and undisturbed for so long was that my lender kept me from closing and kept me beginning my renovations. I decided to go through the Neighborhood Assistance of America (NACA) backed by Bank of America for my home loan. On paper it's a no brainer--below market interest rates, uses rental payment history vs credit, no closing costs, and no income restrictions. I was sold. What they do not tell you is that you they are understaffed, the people in charge could care less about you purchasing a home, and that they delay everything in an attempt to manage the workloads. They make you sign a lot of agreements to move forward (agreeing to get things in on time, taking webinars to become educated, agreeing to their process for closing) but they fail to disclose their timeframes up front. For example, they provide PSLs (letters used to submit your offers) that tout a 30 day close. They do not tell you it can take around five months to close. Yes, they took five months to close on my house.

During that time my seller (Fannie Mae) threatened to cancel the deal while me, my realtor, the seller's realtor begged for communication, updates, and clarity. They knew my house was older and needed a total renovation and took advantage of that fact. They repeatedly asked for additional inspections, extremely detailed estimates, and architectural drawings--all things that cost money--on a house I didn't own. I specifically recall being held up because I wanted to add a half bath to the first floor. They kept asking me to get my contractor (who had not been hired) to provide that to them essentially at no cost. Drawings like that cost $3k-$5k. I told them to just remove that item from the renovation if that meant I could close and they kept insisting on it to in the end, just let me draw it out on an app in my phone. Explaining it clearly to them was not enough--they said they needed photos. And during that time weeks were passing. When I escalated my issue the person in charge of the HAND department threatened to cancel my deal. That is just one example of the unnecessary delays and bullying I endured.

I finally closed in February thinking the worst was behind me. But again, more delays in the request of specifically written out scopes of work (mind you all of this had to be done prior to close to they had it on file) from the hired contractor. Processing times were weeks at a time meaning, something would be turned in and the HAND confirmation email would disclose AFTER the fact how long it would take to process. The way the scope of work was written was unfamiliar to my contractor and they were not able to get anyone to explain what they needed to send in until I repeatedly had to send nasty emails. I could go into so much more details but this went on for FOUR months. The only reason I got the clear to star work was my house being broken into went viral and I shared them some articles claiming that it all happened because of them. In that nine months, not only did it leave me wide open for that break in but it skyrocketed the costs of my renovation.

Now, in getting the renovation loan I knew my house could not be lived in while being renovated. So, I took advantage of the option to include six months of the mortgage in the budget. After closing, the payments automatically started being paid a little over a month after I closed. The program designed it with that "free time" to find and hire your contractor. Which I did. I should have gotten a clear to start working in April when the mortgage was being paid. But the house just sat there for three months while I fought to get a clear to work. Now, six months have past and six mortgages have been paid. I am living in an apartment while the renovation is happening and designed my lease to end when the renovation was complete. Not only did I have to beg my landlords to extend my lease just six months instead of 12 so I could get out without penalty but I already knew I was behind with starting on the house and kept stressing that to HAND. It made no impact. They had no sense of urgency and I believe squandered those months of payments simply because they could. I would not be surprised if they made everyone regardless of need add six months of payments simply to allow them the time to not move a file forward.

And here I am, still obligated to pay my rent due to the lease and obligated to pay the mortgage. I could break my lease and move into the house but the house is not even halfway done--the walls aren't even up. There is a solid three months of work left to be done. I cannot afford to pay both my rent and mortgage. I haven't been late on a housing payment in close to a decade, let alone talking about foreclosing on a house I haven't lived in. I feel like NACA's process with HAND is predatory, taking advantage of an underserved community who they feel is just desperate enough to go along with the their lack of customer service, lack of urgency, and their manipulation. I should not have to ask strangers to help me cover the mortgage (and lawyer fees because I definitely suing) but both Bank of America and HAND have made it clear to me that the payments are still due and are my responsibility. I will be able to pay my mortgage once the house is done and I can move in. I am asking for help so I can simply get to that point. The next three months are crucial and I could really use help. I do not want anything negative on my credit nor do I want to go into foreclosure.