Discrimination or Not (foreclose, HOA, condos)

[letdannylive]

I placed an offer on a REO property that was accepted by the bank. I went through the underwriting process and received the final mortgage commitment from my lender. I had already submitted and Earnest Money Deposit, and had more than enough money to go to closing.

My deal fell though when I was denied approval from the association, even though I have worked in the same industry for 10 years, have solid credit and have no criminal history. I am also a Black male in his 30s.

Am I overreacting to think that my denial was based on discrimination? Are there any factors I am not considering?

[carrypositive]

Did you actually have to sit down and meet the association? When I got approved for one a few years ago I didn't even meet them. I sent a representative and they just looked at our history (criminal & professional). They also didn't ask what my race, religion, sex, or personal creed was [sound familiar?].

Also, some boards look at your civics to see if you'll be contributing to the community.

This reminds me of that 30 Rock episode where Liz couldn't get approved by the board.

[letdannylive]

No. I never actually met with the board, although it was suppose to be part of the process. My paperwork was processed by the management company and then passed on to the BOD who managed to reach a denial decision without ever actually meeting me.

One of the required documents, however, was a copy of my driver's license.

In my opinion, the only basis for denial are the 3 Cs. Credit (mine is strong), Character ( no criminal history), color.

[solseeker]

i feel for you, i dont believe its racial, this happened to us 2 times!!!!we had settlement set up, went to nj and packed our truck. the day we were leaving we got fed ex with denial!!!!!shocked so we found another condo same thing!!!realtor told us reos accept our offer but wont pay association the back back dues owed so condos shoot down all offers!!! we just bought a beautiful new double wide on river in fort lauderdale!!!!approved and moved in in 3 days. a beautiful friendly neighborhood if you want info just ask!!!!!!!i know how awful you feel. they never met us either!!!!!even sent us the 100.00 app fee back!!!!!good luck

[fauve]

I think if you really want the property, you should probably see a lawyer. It actually sounds to me like it has some legs. REOs are strange tho...it may be the bank has a story here that you're not privy to because so many of those deals fall through.

[carrypositive]

Originally Posted by solseeker

i feel for you, i dont believe its racial, this happened to us 2 times!!!!we had settlement set up, went to nj and packed our truck. the day we were leaving we got fed ex with denial!!!!!shocked so we found another condo same thing!!!realtor told us reos accept our offer but wont pay association the back back dues owed so condos shoot down all offers!!!

This sounds more reasonable than just claiming racism. HOAs are a funny beast at best and generally a bastion for mediocre minds to wield unwavering and undeserved control over others...

[letdannylive]

Originally Posted by carrypositive

This sounds more reasonable than just claiming racism. HOAs are a funny beast at best and generally a bastion for mediocre minds to wield unwavering and undeserved control over others...

Would be a valid consideration except that I did get the bank to agree to pay the outstanding dues.

For the record, there is nothing unreasonable about calling a spade a spade. Racism wasn't my first thought, but the way the process has been executed leaves very little room to consider anything else.

If there is another reason, the Board has been less than forthcoming with it.

[lydialuna]

Why don't you ask the association to give you a reason for the denial? If they can't give you a legitimate excuse you can talk to the Civil Rights Division in Broward County for the suspision of discrimination. I had terrible experience with my HOA and for a while I thought they discriminated against me. They issued warnings about five times to me in my first year of moving in for not keeping up with the yard and driveway maintenance (for things such as weed in the flower beds). Every time I corrected the so-called violations but then I noticed many of my neighbors' yard always looks much worse than mine. I wrote an email to assert my concern of suspected discrimination and from then on I haven't received any warnings.

In some worst nightmares they can use code violation to foreclose on people's homes if the violation is not corrected. Unless you really like the house, if you really don't like this HOA I would just let the deal fall through, get your earnest deposit back and move on to another neighborhood which has a better HOA. Afterwards a complaint to the County might help if you really feel bad about it.