Sometimes I take my preferred loan officer for granted.  He makes it look so easy.  Once in a while he does something incredible that makes me realize how lucky I am to know this guy.

Last year I was working with a first time buyer who had found me over the Internet. He was preapproved with a lender who he had found on the Internet also.  I tried to get him to talk to my local loan officer but he insisted that his guy was giving him a great deal.

I'll make a long story short.  After weeks of the lender assuring me that everything for the loan was in great shape and we should have no worries, at 5:00pm Thursday, with a closing scheduled for 10am Friday morning, the lender called and said he needed 7-14 more days.

I couldn't believe it.  It sounded like they were just backlogged and didn't have the time.  Six weeks and they needed 7-14 more days.  Unbelievable!!! 

I told my buyer that we had the right to unilaterally extend the contract for 7 more days but if he stayed with his current lender he would be making a huge mistake. He finally gave in an gave my preferred lender a call.

I gave my lender, Craig Bland, a heads up call at 5:05pm on Thursday afternoon. I was hoping that he would be able to get a loan done within 7 days.  My buyer called him at 5:15pm with all of his financial details. 

At 7:00pm that evening, Craig called me up and said that he could do the loan.  I asked him what day next week should we reschedule the closing for.  He said, "Tim, don't bother to reschedule.  We can close tomorrow at 10:00am as originally scheduled."  I asked him how can that be?  He said he had to pull in a few favors, but my buyer had pretty good credit, and all he needed was to get an appraisal done.  He had his appraiser pulling up the comps on the computer that evening and if I could have someone let the appraiser in the home the next morning by 8:30am, he could get it done.  He was going to email the package to the lender the next morning at 9:00am.  Since they had title and everything else done, there was no reason to delay the closing.

The next morning went off like clock work.  The buyer got the same rate that he was going to get from his other lender and I think his closing costs were a bit less.  I was in complete disbelief. 

Craig has told me that a big reason he can pull off these "miracles" is due to the products and support system he has at SunAmerica Mortgage.  A loan officer can only do so much by himself.  But when you combine a great loan officer with a great lender, you get some opportunities to make the game saving play that the fans talk about for years to come.

I've invited Craig to be a member of Active Rain but he says that he is just too busy taking care of his business.  Do me a favor.  If you think that what he did was really amazing, send him an email.  I'd love for him to share his stories and experience with us.  craig.bland@suntrust.com