Building A House: The Bank Process

You guys, it is finally happening! As of last week, we closed on our construction loan and are ready to start actually building our forever home.  I am so excited I could squeal.  Actually, I have already squealed quite a few times.  I keep looking at Justin and saying “I AM SO EXCITED!”

Can I talk to you for a minute about this whole bank process, though?  It’s been like hurdling one mountain after another.  We had our first appointment with the bank on June 9.  We filled out the loan application, were assured we both had excellent credit and were given an estimated loan closing of the first of July.  Enter aforementioned mountains.

First, there was an issue with our income tax paperwork.  The wrong pages were copied and we had to contact our accountant who, naturally, was on vacation for that entire week.

Then, when the lawyer was doing title work, a random ten-thousand dollar mortgage popped up.  This mortgage wasn’t showing as something we owed, but it was a paperwork issue that needed to be cleared up before we could move on.  The problem was that the actual mortgage was issued under First American Bank, which is no longer a working bank.  First American has been absorbed by PNC Bank and when I contacted PNC Bank they could find no record of this mortgage in our name.  PNC Bank can’t release a mortgage that it can’t find.  In the end, our lawyer was able to write an affidavit that made the mortgage null and void.  All this fuss over a little paperwork added about three weeks onto our loan process.

THEN, when we were {this} close to closing on our loan, the construction inspector discovered that our driveway doesn’t actually belong to us.  If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you know that we are building right in the middle of family land.  We already built a structure on this land eight years ago and the driveway wasn’t an issue.  We have legal right of way to our property, it just isn’t where the actual driveway is.  Originally, the bank insisted that we either move the driveway or have the existing right of way deeded to us.  Either of these options would have taken MONTHS.

After several days of begging and pleading, we were able to get yet another affidavit written by our lawyer in which we agreed to have this right of way issue taken care of within 60 days.  This affidavit allowed us to go ahead and close on the loan and start building, rather than waiting for that legal issue to be resolved. PRAISE JESUS!

On Wednesday afternoon, Justin and I met our loan officer at the bank and essentially signed our life away.  (I’m kidding, of course, but when you sign a 30-year mortgage it sort of feels like you are signing your life away!)  Our first contractors came out the following day and staked out the block line of our house.  I have bright pink flags in my yard designating where each corner of our home will be.  It’s not much, but it’s progress.  And progress makes me happy!