I am writing to request any help that you can provide. I purchased a newly constructed house in 2007 and have experienced a myriad of problems and the builder has gone bankrupt. I have made numerous attempts to seek help, from lawyers to government agencies with no results. We have been served notice of foreclosure and have a court date of January 13, 2010.
As you can see by the enclosed correspondence, I have exhausted every possible avenue of governmental and/or leagl assiatance and have come up empty. Essentially, I have been "passed along" by government agencies whose protectionI supposedly paid for (and never received) and have been consistently advised by the legal community that " you can't fight city hall in the rural South." In a nut shell:
a. I am a single mother of five children, ages 8 to 14. Three years ago I separated from my husband of 13 years and moved my remaining family from New York to coastal North Carolina to begin a new life. my research showed that Pender County, North Carolina had excellent services, schools and economic opportunity. In February 2007, we bought what appeared to be an ideal home for me and my children: a $350,000.00- plus home in a gated (safe) community. We immediately began having problems. We did attempt to have the builder do the necessary repairs but he just kept make and breaking promises to do the repairs.
b. Today our water is green, our septic system has completely failed so we now have raw sewage in our yard as well as noctious fumes in our master bedroom, our house is sinking which has caused damage to almost every area in the house. Everybody from County inspectors to the home owners' association, as well as a trio of lawyers and a N. C. State Representative is saying, "sorry, but it's your bad luck." It is my bad luck when a once quality builder builds one of his last four homes before declaring bankruptcy on land that, I find out later, should have never been built on and probably never "perked." A contractor who has a well drilled too short, doesn't shore up the house supports and offers a 3 bedroom house for sale which, further investigation reveals can only be considered (for resale) a two bedroom house due to building code violations. A house that has two different property surveys on file with the county. We have an estimate for at least $150,000.00 in repairs needed to correct the defects and damages so far. This doesn't include thousands for a new well, septic system, cracks in the countertop which the manufacturer sells as unbreakable.
c. I have been continually harassed and fined by the Homeowners Associationwhich resulted in an Order of Protection being issued against them. This expired September 15, 2009 and the harassment started all over again.
To date, my only help from the government is sympathy and unsolicited advice from my State Representative on how to go about foreclosing. I was never late on a mortgage payent (over 13 years) in my life before moving here. My mortgage holder, Citimortgage has started foreclose this week and has provided no interest in helping with the situation other than a short sale, although we have been in contact with Citimortgage and kept them informed to our dilemma. I contacted my homeowners insurance who sent an adjuster to see the damage. Their response was to drop our coverage for wind and hail due to "faulty construction". We have lost everything, this house is a health and safety disaster for our family!
I have been forced to move my children back to New York to live with their father because our home is not in liveable condition. We have not been able to keep making mortgage payments and pay moving and rental expenses. I have photos, estimates, well water test results, an engineer's report and other documentation, as well as all correspondence and notes of phone calls make which I can provide if you wish. I was advised by North Carolina Attorney General Ray Cooper's office that the statutes of limitations runs out in February 2010. Please, if you can do anything to help us please let me know.
Sincerely,
Ms. Nancy Hastings
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