THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406240491
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940624 LENGTH: Medium
Two appraisers, Thomas P. Claud of Norfolk and Certified Residential Appraisers Corp. in Norfolk, won judgments against the company, TransCoastal Mortgage Corp., earlier this week in Virginia Beach General District Court.
{REST} Certified Residential Appraisers said it is owed $600 for work its appraisers had done.
Claud said he is owed $550 for two appraisals he performed. A check fromTransCoastal for one of the appraisals bounced in March, and he never received payment for the second appraisal, Claud said.
In Portsmouth, Richard Carmichael said he is trying to recover $1,500 from TransCoastal for appraisals he performed for prospective borrowers.
Telephone calls to TransCoastal officers in Bellevue, Wash., seeking comment on its unpaid bills were not returned.
The State Corporation Commission said the mortgage company notified the SCC's Bureau of Financial Institutions in March when it closed an office in Fairfax. However, TransCoastal never notified the bureau that it was closing its offices in Virginia Beach and Newport News, something that is required by Virginia law, said Lisa Hill O'Shea, an SCC spokeswoman.
The company, she said, still is licensed to do business in Virginia but is delinquent in paying its annual assessment to the commission.
Some Hampton Roads appraisers said the closing of the Virginia Beach office took them by surprise. Others, however,said there were indications earlier this year that TransCoastal might have encountered financial difficulties.
``I found them to be a very slow pay back in January or February,'' said James O'Keeffe, a Virginia Beach appraiser. O'Keeffe said he learned that the company's Virginia Beach office had been closed when he inquired about payment of an overdue bill for $300.
Page Johnson, property manager for the office building at 2697 Dean Drive in Virginia Beach, said TransCoastal defaulted on its lease in the building in April. He said TransCoastal had about 12 employeesat the office, located near Lynnhaven Parkway and the Virginia Beach-Norfolk expressway.
Like other mortgage lenders licensed to do business in Virginia, TransCoastal had filed a $10,000 surety bond with the SCC, said O'Shea, the SCC spokeswoman. Consumers who have lost money from a transaction with TransCoastal may be able to recover at least part of their loss by making claims against that bond, she said.
by CNB