Trying to buy a house is like trying to pull teeth…from a Dragon…a fire-breathing one…that’s awake and has had no anesthetic…AND she’s crabby too!
Should be pretty simple…we need a bit of financing, our credit report and income/debts readily support/permit it, we’ve made an offer and it’s been accepted. We’re putting in excess of 30% down on this place.
Simple, right?
Nah, not really. There’s the “underwriting” process…in short, yes, the bank will loan us the money, but WILL they loan it on THAT house?
Even that should be simple…is the house worth what we are borrowing? Yes. Appraisel done. Insurance? Check. Flood plain? Nope. Cool, everything checks out…
A few days later…
But wait…now we need a survey, says the bank…well not WE…but the title company needs it. Well, nope, that’s not true either. The title company only needs it if the bank requires it. Both of them insisting they don’t need it unless the other requires it…but neither will move forward without it.
Back and forth we went on that. We finally managed to determine that somebody, somewhere, might possibly need a new survey, so I ordered one. Sigh. I could have done that two weeks ago.
Next, well the appraisel is done, but now we need a different kind of appraisel. We’ll let you know about that. Oh, and while we’re at it, get a licensed contractor to inspect the roof.
Gad. All things they explicitly said would not be required simply because those items are between the buyer and seller. IE, if I pay a contractor to tell me the roof is not great that’s a negotiating point with the seller.
I’m aware of the condition of the roof (pretty good, not all new). I’m aware of any other problems the house has as well. That’s why it’s worth $68,000 instead of $250,000…and is the reason we are buying it. I have the skills, the tools, and I have the means.
In the mean time, time ticks by. Our contract on the house expires December 1, and now it seems we don’t even have final approval on the underwriting yet.
I’m already buying stuff we need to fix this place up…
I just want to scan the big bar-code, swipe my card through the reader, and be done with it.
If this deal gets nixed (for us, it really is a deal of a lifetime), we’re done with banks as creditors. Why help them earn money when they aren’t around to help us?
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
