Deal gone awry leaves 5 homeless Couple seeks $2,325 paid to Hampden-based lender

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HAMPDEN – A family of five poised to move into a new home last month instead wound up homeless and out more than $2,000 after a disastrous encounter with a Hampden-based entrepreneur.

Since the deal fell through on the house in Augusta they were promised, Michelle Paquette, her partner and their three children – one of whom is recovering from an injury that required reconstructive surgery – have spent the last few weeks homeless, living out of a U-Haul. Paquette said the family has been forced to spend their savings on motel rooms and meals on the go.

As of late Monday afternoon, the Paquettes were down to their last $3, Michelle Paquette said. On Tuesday, she said that she and her partner, Tina Paquette, had no money left and had yet to see reimbursement of the $2,325 they put toward the house, despite numerous promises. The family was staying at a Super 6 motel in Augusta, thanks to the generosity of management there touched by their plight.

Shellie Robinson, owner of Creative Financial Solutions in Hampden, however, said she did nothing wrong.

“All I was trying to do was help them get into a home,” she said.

According to Michelle Paquette, the trouble began this spring, when she and her partner found an ad for a home in Hampden being sold through Robinson’s company. Though that house ultimately was sold to another party, Robinson offered to help them obtain a loan for another house.

The Paquettes found one on Eight Rod Road in Augusta that they thought would be perfect for them and their children, ages 8, 11 and 13, Michelle Paquette said.

The couple signed a purchase agreement with Diane Sherman, a Sidney businesswoman who had acquired the house to fix up and sell.

On June 26, Michelle and Tina Paquette signed a loan commitment prepared by Robinson for $85,000 at 8.25 percent interest over 360 months. Believing that they had obtained the financing for their new home, the Paquettes gave their landlord in Westbrook notice and began preparations to move.

The family’s arrival at the house in Augusta took Sherman completely unaware, Sherman said Tuesday. The Sidney businesswoman, who has five years’ experience in banking and 10 in real estate, teaches a course for first-time homebuyers for Kennebec Valley CAP.

The Paquettes told her that Robinson had told them that the house was ready and that they could move in anytime, Sherman said. Sherman said that without a valid agreement, she could not allow the family to move in. Out of sympathy, however, she did let them camp in the yard. The family stayed there until Friday, when they left so Sherman could show the house to another prospective buyer.

Sherman said that two closing dates were set. The one set for July 15 was canceled because Robinson did not have much of the needed work done and because she did not show up, Sherman said. Some of the tasks that had not been taken care of included such basics as the title search, appraisal, inspection and good-faith estimate.

Sherman said she urged the Paquettes to get out of the deal, but said Michelle Paquette kept insisting that Robinson would come through because Robinson had promised her.

However, when the time came for the second scheduled closing on July 30, Robinson failed to show up. Paquette said that the family sat on the steps of a Waterville lawyer’s office waiting for Robinson. When they contacted her by telephone more than half an hour later they determined that there was no mortgage.

“She can’t keep doing this – it’s a cruel way to treat people,” Sherman said Tuesday.

Paquette said, “I’ve always been a very trusting person. I’ll never trust anyone again. … We are going to pursue this because we don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”

Robinson said that she did not tell the Paquettes that the deal fell apart because she hoped to come up with an alternative solution and worked to that end until time ran out.

Now homeless, the Paquettes sought reimbursement of the money they’d paid to Robinson toward the deal. The total came to $2,825, which included $825 in closing costs and a $1,500 consulting fee.

They said Robinson told them that she could not pay them immediately because she didn’t have the money. Robinson instead gave them a check for $2,325, postdated to Aug. 15.

Robinson acknowledged that there were insufficient funds but said she would have the money on hand Monday. On Monday, she said she’d been told by state officials not to deal with the family directly but rather to allow state officials to serve as liaisons.

Hampden police confirmed last week that they fielded complaints from clients of Robinson earlier this year but said she eventually reimbursed the clients. The complaints involved allegations that Robinson collected money from several people for the same property, property that Robinson said last week she was selling on behalf of a relative. Paquette said she and her partner filed complaints with the Hampden Police Department and the state Office of Consumer Credit Regulation, which regulates “nonbank” lenders such as pawnshops, rent to own, mortgage companies, loan arrangers and credit bureaus as well as money order issuers, nonbank ATMs and debt management service providers.

Hampden Public Safety Director Joseph Rogers confirmed that his department was looking into the matter and that his department’s aim was to see that the Paquettes were reimbursed. Beyond that, he said, the matter was more regulatory than criminal and as such fell under the state’s purview.

The issue, he noted, was complicated by the fact that Robinson’s status in the deal was unclear.

In Robinson’s loan commitment with the Paquettes, a copy of which was obtained by the Bangor Daily News, Robinson refers to herself as a loan officer. On Friday, she said she had done that to make the document “look more professional.” She said her role was more that of an “investor” and as such, was not subject to state oversight.

David Stetson of the Office of Consumer Credit Regulation said that he could neither confirm nor deny that his office had been contacted. Stetson did say that nonbank lenders must be licensed by, and brokers registered with, the state, and both are subject to state regulation and oversight. He recommended that would-be home buyers contemplating borrowing from nonbank lenders check with the office or its Web site to make sure the lenders were authorized to do business in Maine.

A check of the state’s online database turned up no listing under Robinson’s name or the name of her company.

On Monday morning, Robinson reported that she had the money on hand, and had found a “better” home, financed by its owner, which she was prepared to make a down payment on for the family.

As of Tuesday, the matter remained unresolved.

The Paquettes were still waiting for their money. Michelle Paquette said she and her partner would consider the other house in Augusta but only if it did not require any future dealings with Robinson or her company.