Utah Housing Corporation.

I am helping a young relative find a home to buy. I came across this organization but the deeper I look the more weird it feels.
Anyone with experience with this group? They apparently make money but from whom?
People are being thrown out of their homes for not paying rent or mortages. What the heck is going on here?


https://utahhousingcorp.org

It's a corporation started by the developers, builders, bankers, realtors and title company owners in the Utah Legislature. Stay away. They prey on people that get turned away from legit mortgage companies. They make money by taking a larger portion of your monthly payment, thus extending your mortgage payments and lessening your principal ownership.

So it's a 'pay day' loan company posing as a mortgage company? Sorta like that?

Yes. Backed by Utah government. BTW- many Utah politicians own, manage or invest in Payday loan places. Utah has more of them than we do McDonald's and Burger Kings, combined.

Ugh. That's one of my "tells" for a sketchy neighborhood. Another tell is adverts for the bail bondsman.

Well, it's not the neighborhood. Utah allows the highest interest rates on Payday loans in the country.They are everywhere-even in the nicest neighborhoods. Utah lawmakers that charge 1200% interest would be arrested in any other state.

...like I said, "sketchy." ;) If there are that many people in a given neighborhood in search of short-term, high interest loans to support a payday loan business, something is wrong. And I don't care how fancy the houses are. These people are in over their heads.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2020 05:42PM by summer.

At some point after the housing bubble burst, I was in talks with a respected local bank to refinance my 30 year mortgage to a 15 year mortgage. I asked the banker, how was it that your bank never got into trouble after the bubble burst? And he responded that they never lowered their lending standards.

So the appropriate corallary would be "Don't lower your borrowing standards!"?

Thank you...
Your information gave me a good place to start investigating. I think they purposely try to confuse people.
Yup. Payday loan company posing as a mortgage company.
Their customer feedback was terrible. A Utah TV station should do an investigation on them.

Why don’t your young friends use the services of a licensed Realtor? You could always go along and oversee their showings and look over any paperwork before they made any commitments. How qualified are you to help someone to buy a home? I’m not saying you are not, but asking important questions to strangers on a Religious recovery board generates a little doubt perhaps.

I am not sure what you are implying but RFM is a GREAT site to find out all things Utah.

I frequently go online to find out as much as possible--good and bad-- about a business before using them. This Co.seems to be dodging stuff. There was no BBB rating.
What does."generates a little doubt perhaps" mean?
I should dig deeper.

Buying a home can be a complicated process. My only point was that it seems like your relatives who are looking to purchase are missing an opportunity to get some valuable free information from a licensed Realtor . Whether they use this information or act upon it will still be their choice and as their helper you can be involved in the process as much as they want you to be.

I was not making any implications, just a suggestion. It seemed to me that you wrote to RFM for information and suggestions.

Yes I wanted info on this particular company UHC.

Thanks for your help, There are so many scams in Utah one can't be too careful

Suggest that your house-hunter friends research rates on line, then apply to different mortgage companies and banks. When they think they have a deal, have them take the blank mortgage contract and "good faith estimate of closing costs" to a real estate lawyer of their own choice and hire--who will represent THEIR interests, not the realtor's or the seller's or the bank's.

They should ask if there are any surprise clauses they need fixed, and if the rates and terms and consistent with the mortgage market.

I did that with some land I just bought, and my lawyer found four or five things that we removed.

Your friends can get their credit rating for free. I have credit card outfits that provide it as a customer service. They need to know this to determine how much mortgage and interest they can get.

Lots of mortgagees have pre-qualifying web-pages. Have them collect their financial info and see who will offer them what. They need to realize these are not offers, and that once they fill out a few google will bombard them with all sorts of banking and real estate ads. C'est la vie.

Have them pester everybody they know for help in putting a downpayment together. Including the guy on the exit ramp with a cup and a cardboard sign. I made a private off-the-books loan with a friend of my wife's family to get the downpayment for our first mortgage.

Have them start collecting three (maybe five) years of tax records & schedules, pay stubs, bank and investment statements (3 months), utility bills, insurance records, etc. etc. They'll want a fat-pocket accordion file to organize everything. Make sure their printer has lots of ink. (You get the point.)

AND HAVE A LAWYER REVIEW THINGS BEFORE THEY SIGN!!

Yes.

This is not about the scam but for anyone thinking of buying property (or maintaining your own) I highly recommend it. I love all his shows and I have learned a LOT but this one is specifically for buying. He points out the problems then tells you how much they will really cost to fix correctly. Some are a lot more and some are a lot less.

https://www.diynetwork.com/shows/holmes-buy-it-right

A few things that stood out to me -

Never go in the front door, always walk around the house and go in a back door or garage checking the foundation as you go.
Take a golf ball or marble with you to check for grading around the house and the driveway and if the floors are level.
If you can, take a heat signature camera to look for moisture leaks.

And never EVER let a "home inspector" inspect without you and go with them every step of the way from roof to crawlspace. Ask questions, take your own pics.

My home inspector missed a clothes washer that would only fill up a little bit before stopping totally. So one week after move-in, I was in the market for a new washer. Good times.

OTOH, my brother who worked as a builder during his career, was less bothered by certain things than I was.

Speaking of home inspectors, don't hire one unless he has a good drone with a good camera to examine the roof, eaves, chimney, property boundaries, etc. A good aerial shot gives you a better idea of how a property fits into the neighborhood.

I like the golf ball trick. My house is over 100 years old, with vintage timbers: studs that are TRUE 2x4, and joists that are TRUE 2x12. Solid!! But nothing is level, and nothing is square.

But it's home!

The Mormon church steals from its members twice. First by GAs who enrich themselves by levying unaffordable tithing on its members and 2nd by the same GAs sticking to the members who need to get payday loans and pay usury interest rates because they cannot afford the tithing bill.