Actions Speak Louder Than Words!

Wrongful foreclosure?  Not in this case!

In Garcia versus World Savings, the Garcias brought an action against World Savings for wrongful foreclosure and a few other issues, including unfair business practices.

The Garcias had bought property and began construction on their home in 2004.  Between October 2006 and August 2007 they failed to make payments on their loan. 

January of 2007 rolls along and World Savings filed a notice of default.  By June of 2007  World Savings was scheduled to take over the property, however that date was postponed until August 2007 since the Garcias were attempting to refinance other property they owned to cure the default. 

Luckily they had obtained a written conditional loan approval for the refinance and asked World Savings to postpone the sale date to September 2007. 

The bank manager gave the assurance that the property “won’t go to sale because I have the final say-so and as long as I know that you could close it the first week of September, I’ll extend it…If I kow that you need a few more days.”

World Savings instead  foreclosed on the property on August 30, 2007.  The Garcias didn’t check in with them and went ahead and refinanced their other property and send World Savings the check to cure the default.  The check was returned uncashed.

The appellate court stated that, “A gratuitous oral promise to postpone a foreclosure sale or to allow a borrower to delay monthly mortgage payments is unenforceable.”

The moral of the story is an oldie but a goodie, in San Diego real estate and in most things…get it written in stone!  I can’t tell you how many times I have had people come to me in tears because they had a verbal agreement and one party rescinded…I don ‘t know what else to tell you except:  If it ain’t in writing, it don’t mean….you fill in the rest of the saying.