I've purchased a house with Lennar in August of 2016. Alex Lemmo, Lennar's realtor referred me to US Mortgage of Florida, one of their companies. After get denied from Helm Bank, Alex Lemmo called me and said Tony and Dana, both from US Mortgage of Florida had a solution for my case. Another loan with a slightly higher rate, but that I wouldn't need to spend a dime at closing because the bank was more flexible and they would 'fix' the appraisal, so I would keep the $10,000 extras in my pocket and Lennar would keep the discount purchased price, also that would be FAST because they already had my documents, around 15 days they imagined. I said that I need to think about that and check the loan conditions and my options, and then I and my family moved for a week to a hotel to see what to do.
Next day, I said to Alex Lemmo that I couldn't be in a hotel for "15 days" and couldn't rent anything for this period, that I have a little kid, a dog, and we need to move on and as he said to me that If I had a denial letter from a mortgage company Lennar would refund me, so I requested Alex my down payment restitution ($106,570).
He said would be hard to get refunded, because Lennar was expecting my closing for December, that they weren't charging penalties, that I changed from Strock & Tanner, and that he was not his decision, but he would try. On the same day, Dana from US Mortgage of Florida called me and said that the rate would be 7.75% APR and a high prepayment penalty (around $7k) for this new loan, something that is very higher than what we were expecting, around 5.5%.
I said that I wouldn't do that, that I want my money back, and she said that Lennar wouldn't refund my money If I walk from the application, that the ONLY case that they would refund is if I try All the options that US Mortgage of Florida has on the portfolio and all of them deny the loan, besides that they would keep $55k from me. After that, my money for the same reasons explained before, contradicting everything that he explained to me on the whole process. I think that is the first problem in this process. Someone acted wrongly, or Lennar now or Alex from the beginning until now, someone lied or misinformed me to this point. I was REALLY pissed off and sad because I would need to pay around $1850 only for a mortgage, IF they approved, don't know WHEN, and I had no place to live until that and no other option because I can't afford to lose half of my life savings.
I said to them IF this was my only option, to move on with the process, against my real desire, and that was very explicit. During all this part of the process they never informed me correctly about what was going on, never said anything about the expected date to close, always saying that "was close", and always requesting more documents, and saying that we are close. I was in a horrible living condition because as I said I couldn't rent anything for few weeks, couldn't afford to stay in a hotel close to my daughter school for nobody knows how long, so I rent a bedroom in a friend house for us 3 and a dog. They know that I begged them to at least give us a direction, an estimate, give us information. They never treated us with respect.
By the second month of this second process, Dana informed us that our mortgage was applied as an 'investment loan', instead of a 'second home loan' something that is not true and I consider it's a mortgage fraud because was done without my knowledge and consent. Because of that, they said the bank didn't accept the incentives that Lennar gave to me on the purchase, around $21,000 toward closing costs, and requested me to sign an addendum to my Lennar's contract changing the amount for $7,000, but I should not have any concern because Lennar would pay the difference directly to the bank on the closing date. I asked them to CONFIRM to me that I wouldn't need to pay the difference (from $7,000 to $21,000) and they confirmed several times, Tony confirmed, Dana confirmed and Alex confirmed.
Lennar and US Mortgage of Florida would work around the numbers so for me would be the same, at the closing I would need to pay only a few bucks. After the whole week without gave me any answer, on Thursday, 04/06, Alex called me and said that I had two options, the first one that I should pay part of the difference $7,000, because Lennar took care of the other $7,000, and they wouldn't keep their promise to Tony probably because they figured out they had some kind of loss on the deal, and the other option would be to me don't pay and 'walk away' and they retain around $55k of my down payment, considering that my loan was approved by the bank and I've signed the contract reducing the incentives. I had NO options. Or pay the $7k and get the keys or LOSE $55k and TRY to go after my rights. Don't trust these guys.
US Mortgage of Florida Reviews
I've purchased a house with Lennar in August of 2016. Alex Lemmo, Lennar's realtor referred me to US Mortgage of Florida, one of their companies. After get denied from Helm Bank, Alex Lemmo called me and said Tony and Dana, both from US Mortgage of Florida had a solution for my case. Another loan with a slightly higher rate, but that I wouldn't need to spend a dime at closing because the bank was more flexible and they would 'fix' the appraisal, so I would keep the $10,000 extras in my pocket and Lennar would keep the discount purchased price, also that would be FAST because they already had my documents, around 15 days they imagined. I said that I need to think about that and check the loan conditions and my options, and then I and my family moved for a week to a hotel to see what to do.
Next day, I said to Alex Lemmo that I couldn't be in a hotel for "15 days" and couldn't rent anything for this period, that I have a little kid, a dog, and we need to move on and as he said to me that If I had a denial letter from a mortgage company Lennar would refund me, so I requested Alex my down payment restitution ($106,570).
He said would be hard to get refunded, because Lennar was expecting my closing for December, that they weren't charging penalties, that I changed from Strock & Tanner, and that he was not his decision, but he would try. On the same day, Dana from US Mortgage of Florida called me and said that the rate would be 7.75% APR and a high prepayment penalty (around $7k) for this new loan, something that is very higher than what we were expecting, around 5.5%.
I said that I wouldn't do that, that I want my money back, and she said that Lennar wouldn't refund my money If I walk from the application, that the ONLY case that they would refund is if I try All the options that US Mortgage of Florida has on the portfolio and all of them deny the loan, besides that they would keep $55k from me. After that, my money for the same reasons explained before, contradicting everything that he explained to me on the whole process. I think that is the first problem in this process. Someone acted wrongly, or Lennar now or Alex from the beginning until now, someone lied or misinformed me to this point. I was REALLY pissed off and sad because I would need to pay around $1850 only for a mortgage, IF they approved, don't know WHEN, and I had no place to live until that and no other option because I can't afford to lose half of my life savings.
I said to them IF this was my only option, to move on with the process, against my real desire, and that was very explicit. During all this part of the process they never informed me correctly about what was going on, never said anything about the expected date to close, always saying that "was close", and always requesting more documents, and saying that we are close. I was in a horrible living condition because as I said I couldn't rent anything for few weeks, couldn't afford to stay in a hotel close to my daughter school for nobody knows how long, so I rent a bedroom in a friend house for us 3 and a dog. They know that I begged them to at least give us a direction, an estimate, give us information. They never treated us with respect.
By the second month of this second process, Dana informed us that our mortgage was applied as an 'investment loan', instead of a 'second home loan' something that is not true and I consider it's a mortgage fraud because was done without my knowledge and consent. Because of that, they said the bank didn't accept the incentives that Lennar gave to me on the purchase, around $21,000 toward closing costs, and requested me to sign an addendum to my Lennar's contract changing the amount for $7,000, but I should not have any concern because Lennar would pay the difference directly to the bank on the closing date. I asked them to CONFIRM to me that I wouldn't need to pay the difference (from $7,000 to $21,000) and they confirmed several times, Tony confirmed, Dana confirmed and Alex confirmed.
Lennar and US Mortgage of Florida would work around the numbers so for me would be the same, at the closing I would need to pay only a few bucks. After the whole week without gave me any answer, on Thursday, 04/06, Alex called me and said that I had two options, the first one that I should pay part of the difference $7,000, because Lennar took care of the other $7,000, and they wouldn't keep their promise to Tony probably because they figured out they had some kind of loss on the deal, and the other option would be to me don't pay and 'walk away' and they retain around $55k of my down payment, considering that my loan was approved by the bank and I've signed the contract reducing the incentives. I had NO options. Or pay the $7k and get the keys or LOSE $55k and TRY to go after my rights. Don't trust these guys.