Ever have an experience where you narrowly avoided disaster? Like almost being hit by a truck or something? On the one hand you are relieved to be alive but on the other you are in shock by what could have been. I felt like that when I got an email from the bank near the last week of January.
Our closing date was supposed to have been January 23rd. The contractors were scheduled to preview the jobs on Friday, the 25th and start the roof and HVAC on Monday. I emailed our loan officer to see if she had heard anything and if I should cancel the contractors or not. She responded with this,
"Can you make any appt to come in to see me tomorrow? I have all morning available... I just heard back from underwriting and they still don't like the appraisal. I want to talk to you about another option for financing and it will actually work out better for you without the need for mortgage insurance... "
I ended up calling her to find out more details. She said the value was there for the appraisal but the underwriters didn't like the comparables. With riverfront acreage the other houses that sold recently weren't close enough to our price range, square footage, etc. My real estate agent even provided them with more recent comparables that were closer in value but they still didn't like it. She told me that they work nationally and our situation wasn't fitting tidily into their little forms. So, they rejected our loan.
She and another fellow in the bank had come up with a way for us to avoid the mortgage insurance altogether. They would still do the construction loan but for 80% of the amount instead. Then the remaining balance that we needed to borrow would be loaned as a second mortgage. She said they didn't normally offer this option but they were willing to take the risk because they knew the area, the value was there and we were well qualified.
I just can't imagine what we would have done if we hadn't been able to get a loan to buy this place. <<shudder>>
