How one buyer ended up in a bind over a mortgage
WHEN April Underwood Troquille bought a mobile home in Emerson Estates in 2002, she thought she was agreeing to a $60,000 mortgage with payments of $700 a month. But she ended up a few weeks later with an $86,500 mortgage, a payment of $879 a month and, eventually, a house in foreclosure.
Houston Chronicle
How one buyer ended up in a bind over a mortgage By PURVA PATEL
April 1, 2006
Copyright 2006 WHEN April Underwood Troquille bought a mobile home in Emerson Estates in 2002, she thought she was agreeing to a $60,000 mortgage with payments of $700 a month. But she ended up a few weeks later with an $86,500 mortgage, a payment of $879 a month and, eventually, a house in foreclosure.
How did it happen?
Troquille couldn't be reached for comment. The account of what happened to Troquille is based on Montgomery Central Appraisal District records and documents filed by ABN Amro Mortgage Group in litigation against Emerson Manufactured Homes. The lawsuit claims Troquille's case is similar to that of dozens of others who bought mobile homes from Emerson. The first jump in price came at a "pre-closing" where Troquille signed a document that stated she had secured a $77,600 loan from Emerson to buy the property. Pre-closings aren't common to the home-buying process, but ABN Amro alleged Emerson held the meeting to transfer title of the property to Troquille and then immediately refinance it. Troquille's closing followed eight days later — and the price climbed higher still. She and the mortgage broker, Royal Lion Mortgage, refinanced the loan to Emerson for $86,500. Court documents say Troquille didn't believe she was refinancing an existing home loan, but that she was purchasing a new house. The refinancing application said she had $30,500 in stocks and savings. But Troquille never owned the stocks or had that much in savings, and she didn't realize she was applying to refinance a loan, court documents say. The application also said she owned a house — presumably the mobile home she signed for at the pre-closing — worth $108,500. The paperwork said she had been paying $950 a month on it since 2000. But in the initial paperwork she filled out for Emerson, she wrote that in the year 2000 she was renting a Houston apartment for $750 a month. The mobile home was also a 2002 model, according to court documents, meaning she couldn't have lived in it in 2000. At the end of the closing, Troquille ended up with an $879 monthly payment. Emerson allegedly used the money from the refinancing to pay its creditors. The lawsuit against Emerson claims that among payouts shown on Underwood's closing statement, $13,000 went to Raybon Land & Co. to cover the land, $21,200 went to a creditor of Emerson to cover the actual cost of the house, and $9,250 went to another Emerson creditor. Another $7,843 was paid in closing fees, escrow and other charges. And Emerson received $35,207.54, about 40 percent, according to the lawsuit. Troquille received a mobile home that the county appraiser assessed at just $50,860 in 2003. Unable to make the payments, Troquille lost her house to foreclosure almost a year after she bought it. She later retook ownership under a settlement with the bank after the fraud allegations surfaced, but two years later she again defaulted on the loan and once again lost her house.
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