by Stacy Jackson
October 23, 2024
The Georgia mother lived with her sons in a hotel for weeks with no updates from the lender about a closing date on her home in Perry.
After finding their dream home in Perry, Georgia, Chayla Kendall and her three sons reportedly awaited a move-in date for months due to alleged delays from an affiliated mortgage lender of the Georgia Dream Homeownership Program.
The teacher moved her family from Gwinnett County to seek homeownership in the more affordable small town. However, after the mother of three was approved for the Georgia Dream Homeownership Program, she called 11Alive Investigates when DHI Mortgage, an affiliated lender of the program, pushed back her closing date four times over four months.
The Georgia Dream Homeownership Program offers first-time home buyers lower interest rates and down payment assistance if they meet requirements below certain income limits.
Kendall says she was prompt with uploading all required documents into the portal, including tax returns, a credit report, and an application affidavit. The Georgia Dream recipient says she entered the contract and submitted her earnest money on April 27, 2024, only to have DHI Mortgage delay the closing date three times by September. “They kept saying it’s going to delay; Georgia Dreams takes time,” Kendall said. “But to be able to come with down payment assistance and closing costs was something that I thought it would be worth the wait.”
The Georgia woman alleged the lender’s goal was to see her walk away from the deal, but giving up her dream home wasn’t an option. She enrolled her three sons in the Perry school system and stayed in a hotel for several weeks. The mother and her boys even stayed in a temporary rental property with no furniture, but there was still no communication from DHI Mortgage about the closing date. “It is a disconnect between the Georgia Dream and helping families and the lenders and making money.” With just 72 hours to move out of the temporary rental, DHI Mortgage had set a closing date for Aug. 28, only to push the process back again. “DHI Mortgage claims they weren’t able to reach the Georgia Dream to get final approval to release the down payment assistance to close,” Kendall said.
According to Wesley Brooks, Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs’ deputy commissioner for homeownership, turnaround and processing times have been longer than usual. Brooks noted that the DCA, which runs the Georgia Dream Homeownership Program, increased staffing and made leadership changes to move the process along smoother and faster for recipients. The commissioner claimed the fault for Kendall’s four-month delay may lie with her lender. “Unless one of those lenders is getting us the right information, we can’t process it, and that’s when you see those extended timelines,” Brooks said and added that the agency guarantees Georgia Dreams lenders are reputable, trained, understand the system and “have the homebuyer’s interest at heart.”
A spokesperson told 11Alive Investigates that after working closely with Kendall, they were awaiting final approvals from Georgia Dreams’ end. Approvals have been finalized as of 11Alive’s October report, and Kendall and her family have moved into their new home.
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