Korth Fundraiser

I’m tearing up as I’m typing this because I just finished doing the lock cancellation and the withdrawal worksheet for this loan.

I have a borrower who passed away from COVID this past Saturday 9/25

We were working on closing conditions with her just 2 weeks ago when she was hospitalized with COVID symptoms and sadly she never made it back out of the hospital.

Ashley Korth was just 33 years old when she passed. Her husband DR Korth has been serving our county in the US Navy for 10+ years and shortly after their offer was accepted he was unexpectedly shipped out so Ashley was left handling all of the loan paperwork on her own with plans of her doing the final signing with a POA for her husband. They were excited to be purchasing their 1st home to start their family in!

We were days away from submitting for final underwriting review when Ashley was hospitalized. At first I thought she would get better and we would maybe close a week later so I worked on a 1 week extension with the agents but she didn’t get better. The Navy sent a messenger to DR’s ship and he flew back overnight to be with his wife. She fought hard for over a week but ended up getting put into a medically induced coma and she suffered multiple heart attacks before she passed.

While she was still lucid, DR was able to video call with her and through her breathing machine she was able to tell him that she still WANTS this house! (insert all the tears ) We tried to figure out how to get her to sign a POA for him to sign closing docs for her. I was working with escrow and the hospital on some solutions until we found out that Ashley took a turn for the worse.

As our extension was coming to an end I tried my best to do a denial on the loan so that the borrowers could get their $5000 EMD back. I got stuck at compliance stating that we can’t deny the loan unless Ashley had passed away (she was still fighting at the time) or she had lost employment (her husband was filling out forms to put her on medical leave in case she got better). As of last Friday 9/25 they were out of contract and on 9/26 she passed. We all assumed the seller would maybe just give the EMD back to the borrower given the situation but the seller was contingent on their own new purchase so they fought us to keep the Korth’s $5000 EMD.

I am working with Fairway Cares for a financial aid package to be issued to DR Korth. I don’t think its right that he lost his wife and also lost his $5000 EMD. They absolutely would have gone through with the purchase if Ashley didn’t get sick and their loan was just days away from closing.

Fairway Cares may award up to $2,500. I’m working on filling out the request today, but I want to try to get this family back as much of the EMD as possible and I know some of you have reached out to me about being willing to chip in so I started a fundraiser for them. If you are able to help at all, even a little goes a long way, it would be truly appreciated!!!

Thanks Fairway Fam!

XOXO Ericka and Team LaRoche