From Detroit Eviction Defense:
Local 600 retiree Jerry Ellis needs our urgent help to save his home in Romulus.
ACTION: Make phone calls and send emails
Last month, our calls and emails to Caliber Home Loans and Orlans Associates stopped the imminent eviction of Jerry Ellis and persuaded Caliber to say that it would honor the agreement to sell him back his home for $70,000– twice its market value. Mr. Ellis has a pre-approval letter for a loan from Opportunity Resource Fund, the non-profit that will help Jerry buy back his home. But the loan process requires a letter from Caliber confirming its intent to sell the home back to Jerry, rather than evict. Neither Caliber nor Orlans has returned calls from Mr. Ellis or his lawyer since July, when they announced that Jerry would be evicted after August 19 if he didn’t come up with $70,000. (Case summary below)
We need to flood Caliber and Orlans with calls and emails telling them to do the right thing:
Jerry Ellis is prepared to buy back his home for twice the value Caliber will otherwise get in this market, but the loan process at Opportunity Resource Fund requires a letter from Caliber confirming its intent to sell. Once this happens, Opportunity Resource Fund needs 45 days to process the application. We can’t stand by and watch another home go empty because of this company’s indifference to the needs of homeowners and communities.
Caliber Home Loans: 1-800-401-6587, and/or CustomerService@CaliberHomeLoans.com. Mr. Ellis’ account # with Caliber is 9800849417.
His address is 6819 Arlene Court in Romulus, Michiga.
Orlans Associates, Attorney David Dell, 248-502-1580, 248-502-1400, and/or ddell@orlans.com
Jerry Ellis Case Summary (8/23/13)
Retired UAW Local 600 member Jerry Ellis got a construction loan and mortgage from Flagstar Bank in 2006 (loan # 501134114-5) to build a home for himself and two children at 6819 Arlene Court in Romulus. The mortgage payment was initially pegged at $1,200 a month but the bank unilaterally raised that in stages to $1,900— a 60% increase— after first finding “mistakes” in its calculation of escrow, then adding additional payments for forced insurance and taxes.
Mr. Ellis’ retirement income could not support continued payment on the inflated cost of the mortgage, and he sought a modification from Flagstar. Flagstar refused, then sold the mortgage to Vericrest Financial in 2010. Vericrest refused to modify the loan and the house was sold at sheriff’s auction for $48,000.
In 2013, Vericrest merged into Caliber Home Loans, a mortgage company owned by Lone Star Funds, a private equity firm. Caliber is centered in Texas and Oklahoma.
During eviction proceedings in front of Judge Oakley in 34th District Court, Romulus, Caliber agreed to sell the property to Mr. Ellis for $70,000– twice its market value. . Mr. Ellis applied for a loan to cover this amount from the Opportunity Resource Fund, a non-profit organization that provided Mr. Ellis with a letter of pre-approval for the loan. Mr. Ellis continued paying into the escrow account established by the court, with $12,000 going to Vericrest/Caliber while Opportunity Resource Fund waited for Caliber to confirm its intent to sell the home back to Jerry. Their loan process requires such a confirmation.
On July 15, however, Caliber said it would no longer accept a pre-approval letter and now demanded something called a “guaranteed letter of approval.” Opportunity Resource Fund cannot provide a guarantee of approval without a letter from Caliber confirming its intent to sell the home back to Jerry. Caliber insisted on full payment of the $70,000 as of July 19 or they would seek an immediate writ of eviction on July 22. Opportunity Resource Fund tried unsuccessfully to communicate with Caliber to reverse this sudden scuttling of the deal.
Our calls and emails to Caliber Home Loans and Orlans Associates stopped the imminent eviction of Jerry Ellis and persuaded Caliber to stay the eviction until August 19. But Caliber has still not provided the document confirming its intent to sell that Opportunity Resource Fund needs to process the loan. Neither Caliber nor Orlans will return calls from Mr. Ellis or his lawyer.
Eviction is again imminent. We need to flood Caliber and Orlans again with calls and emails telling them to do the right thing.
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