To Lamb-Baste A Lender

I am usually not a very vindictive person.  Accidents happen, mistakes are made, and people just have to move on.  However, if someone can help others by sharing their bad experiences, I think it should be done.  This is true for our experience with our lender.  I don't wish to sound whiny or bitter, so here are some points laid out as impersonally as I can manage.

• Our lender (American Financial Resources) was found for us by our broker.  They were the only ones who would finance a manufactured home under FHA guidelines.  Our broker had not had a bad experience with them before so he had no reason to believe this time would be different.

• Despite having a broker, AFR tried to contact us three times on their own in order for us to sign "their" paperwork.  They essentially tried to cut our broker out of the process.

• As our original closing date was approaching AFR began having problems receiving documents.  Our broker was forced to resend bank documents and the appraisal reports on more than one occasion.  The appraisal report actually took three weeks to finally get transmitted properly.

• As our second closing date approached AFR called our broker and informed him that we did not have enough money to close escrow.  This was a mystery to us, seeing as we had enough money in the bank to close escrow twice.  It took two days of arguing (and a second extension) before our broker was able to decipher that all they wanted was proof that the "outstanding" earnest money check was cancelled and replaced with a cashier's check, per their request, at the beginning of the process.

• Once everything was finally in and ready to go AFR sat on the documents for two days, forcing us to request a third extension.

• Finally the documents were signed, the down payment was wired, and all that was needed was for AFR to wire the money to the Title Company.  Once again, they sat on it until literally two hours before our deadline.

While their national reputation is mixed, I did read some complaints online that almost mirror our experience with them.  My recommendation is that if you can get a loan somewhere else, do NOT use American Financial Resources.  If you cannot get a loan anywhere else, find a broker.

In fact, find a broker at the beginning.  It is their job to navigate the paperwork, find you the best loan, and fight for you if things start to turn nasty.  If you live in Salem or the surrounding areas, I highly recommend calling Nelson Lomax at Landmark Professional Mortgage.  He was totally our champion and got the job done by sheer will power.