The Homeless Veterans

Mrs. Veteran was deployed about ten years ago. Mr. Veteran was a stay at home dad with young'uns. As a veteran, one of the perks is a special loan, which frankly, isn't easy to qualify for. So, to get a VA (veteran) loan, in addition to having served in the US military, one must have great credit and low debt. Both of which Mrs. Veteran had.

One can only have one VA loan at a time. So, if you live in Oregon and you move to Colorado and you have a VA loan on your home in Oregon, you must first sell the home in order to get your eligibility. And then, the expediency in which the eligibility comes back can take anywhere from (I have heard) one day to two weeks.

In Mrs. Veteran's case, we found out last Friday afternoon she hadn't received her eligibility back. It is simply a matter of someone at the VA office pushing a button somewhere and voila! However, when Mrs. Veteran--who, mind you, served our country and was honorably discharged and is entitled to this perk--called the VA office Monday morning, she was told, nope. No loan for her. She was "ineligible." No matter that she had a VA loan for the past several years. It didn't make a difference. According to some bureaucrat she wasn't ever getting another VA loan. This was extremely unfortunate because Mr. and Mrs. Veteran were closing on the home they were buying the very next day. And worse, they were homeless at 11:59 p.m. today.

Mr. and Mrs. Veteran also have six children. Did I mention that?

It has been a long two days. Somehow I managed to convince the selling agent to allow my clients to move into the home they are still buying (the loan is changing. It will take a couple of weeks for this to get straightened out). This is truly unprecedented. The sellers were not keen on this for obvious reasons. Prepossession can be a nightmare. Things can go wrong. Very wrong. I would tell you some of the horror stories, but I am superstitious.

The sellers originally agreed to allow my folks to move in. Then, they had time to think about the consequences and obtain legal advice. Their attorney wisely advised against allowing my clients to move in. When the selling agent told me this, I said, "Of course the lawyer told them not to allow this! If the sellers were my clients I would tell them no way in hell would I let strangers live in my home under these circumstances." I then went on to explain even though this was the case, would he pretty please with sugar on it ask the sellers to change their mind and ignore their lawyer?

"Can't they just get a hotel?" the agent asked.

"No." I replied, and I hope to Heavens I shouldn't have said yes. Because prepossession is like walking through a minefield. And one wrong move takes everyone involved down, myself included.

Even once the selling agent managed to pester convince his clients to allow my folks to have keys, he had to run it by his broker.  El Jefe however, had surgery yesterday so he doesn't know about all this. He will find out today but I will make sure to time it with when he takes his pain meds.

The selling agent also didn't allow me to get away with writing a prepossession agreement that didn't include compensation, though I tried (and he told me he was duly impressed that I would be so bold as to attempt this). I prepared my clients they were writing a check for the honor of living in this home. People don't generally live for free, but they are living pretty cheaply.

It took more than 24 hours, about 896 e-mails and 90,761 cell minute to get all of the details sorted out, but finally we came to some sort of agreement that was written up on three different drafts of two different addendums. Another addendum is in the works, but it isn't as crucial. Nor do I have the energy to word-smith anything else at this point.

The other agent reminded me of my role ended as soon as the buyers were denied their loan. Even if they were getting a new loan, it wasn't up to me to find them short-term housing. "That's like the pharmacist filling up the prescription, driving to the patient's home and giving patient a bottle of water and witnessing while he drinks," he threw out at me.

True. I understand this--and so did he. Sometimes our job isn't black and white. Sometimes there are creative solutions. Tonight my folks have a roof over their heads and their children are tucked in bed. They can sleep well knowing the worst is over (I hope). I offered to make a friendly wager with the selling agent that he and I will be sleep deprived by the time this is done, because prepossession has a way doing that. He wouldn't take me up on the bet. He knows better too.