Homebuilder's Trade-In Offer To Prospective Buyers Sours, Leaving Them Mired In Mess

In Genesee Township, Michigan, WJRT-TV Channel 12 reports:

• Some homebuyers are calling it one of the worst mistakes of their lives. A deal that promised the house of their dreams turned sour. [...] The pitch sounded great: Trade in your old home, trade up to a new one. "To tell you the truth, I think it's a great deal," said Carol Eberhardt from Symphony Homes during a 2007 interview. But for Tony Grubish, it was no deal at all. "It's probably one of the biggest regrets I have in my life."

***

• Grubish says he and his then-pregnant wife filled out the paperwork and were about to move into a new Symphony home in Genesee Township. But one week before closing, the deal ran into a snag. "At the last second, they said, 'Oh, I have bad news. We can't finance you for two FHA loans," Grubish said.

• So instead, he says, Symphony convinced him to sign a land contract for that new home. "My first instinct was to get up and walk out. But again, I had a pregnant wife who was pretty torn and distraught about it. We were pretty much led up, up until that point, to believe this was going to happen."

• He learned Symphony wouldn't lease or buy his old house, either. Eventually, the old home slid into foreclosure, and Grubish couldn't afford the new one. Now, he says he's out roughly $25,000 and 180 points off his credit score. "I probably won't be able to get financed for at least 10 years, probably," he said. "We're throwing the thought around of even just filing for bankruptcy."(1)

For more, see ABC12 Investigates: Symphony Homes.

(1) Reportedly, Symphony Homes' headquarters in Davison is empty. That hasn't changed for months. But what has changed is the growing list of debt collection notices on the front door, according to the story. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2008 and had been run by two men: realtor Steve Burges and builder Don Mahoney, the story states.