It takes teamwork to clear the contract hurdles and sometimes a shovel

I liken contract contingencies to hurdles. We take them in stride, some with ease and all smiles and others by biting our lip and working against the odds. Sometimes it takes repeated attempts but sheer determination and creative thinking will eventually send us flying over them.

A couple of years ago my buyers and I got stuck clearing the final hurdle underwriting. Come to think of it, that seems to be a common theme nowadays but that's a topic for a different blog.

The problem: the buyer's very thorough home inspector had made a suggestion for their information only to further improve the grading of the back-yard. Somehow this suggestion made its way to the lender ... into the appraisal and onto the underwriter's desk. Just like playing Grapevine, at its final (unintended) destination the suggestion was suddenly a condition which needed to be satisfied before the loan could be declared clear-to-close.

The condition required the regrading of the back-yard to the tune of $2,500. Needless to say my First Time Buyers were not thrilled and did not have $2,500 laying around. The sale was an Estate sale - as-is and the sellers were not going to pay for the regrading of an already graded yard. According to the underwriter, no grading = no loan approval. That hurdle suddenly seemed incredibly tall...

There were multiple people involved on the selling side and one of them remembered that grandma had had a French Drain put in around the whole house 10 years or so ago! Woohooo, right?! Not so fast. Ms. Underwriter can't just depend on a memory and demanded the original invoice from the contractor who completed the work! Once provided she would clear the loan to close! However, this was still an Estate Sale - all belongings had been cleared from the house, donated, sold, dumped and shredded! There was no invoice, not even a name for the contractor.

Frustrated with the situation but not willing to give in and regrade a graded back-yard the listing agent and I continued brain-storming about what to do next. I blurted out that I would just get a shovel, dig a hole and Ms. Underwriter could see with her own eyes that a French Drain was in fact present ... light-bulb ON!!

After much back and forth, it was agreed that it would suffice to prove existence of the French Drain by digging a hole and having the appraiser reinspect and verify. If our inspector was willing to write a statement that said French Drain would negate his suggestion of further improving the grading of the already graded yard, we would get the clear-to-close!

The inspector was willing, the hole was dug, the appraiser reinspected and we closed! Woohoo! It pays to dig deep sometimes!