We are steadily selling houses in this market but our great dilemna is in getting a bank that will finance the building process. Financing a construction loan is like expecting your taxes to go down. We stumble through bank after bank until we can convince our customer to use just 2 local banks that will do the construction loan and the end loan. We are putting into our contract that we strongly recommend using these 2 local banks.
Our average time for getting financing through starting with other banks is averaging 3 months, what a way to make our customers happy. Here's the scenario, 1.The customer comes and tells us they have a great banker with whom they have dealt with for years and he tells them he can take care of evrything for them. 2.The customer and our company get them all of the information in about a weeks time. 3.We wait 3 weeks while my wife calls them every 3 days. they say no problems, everything is going good. 4. The banker then says we need more information, they need blood samples and drug tests from our customer and us and our employees or whatever other silly thing they can think of. 5. We resubmit our info and we go into another 3 week circular flight pattern. 6. No problem says the friendly banker "all is good now". No call back after our repeated calls and we know that things smell a little toe-jammy. 7. Finally we reach the bank and they say we can give you a one month construction loan, (not too bad if a modular is showing up on your lot in a week). 8. Sorry we can't do better than that and we will not answer any more phone calls because we look really stupid for telling you we could make it happen.
I know there is some tongue in cheek coughed up here but the reality of that scenario is the rule and not the exception. Take the time to find a couple of banks that can get you approved quickly and within reason of your ability to finance. Find that banker hug em and send every home you wish to actually sell or build straight to them.
In our struggling to come out of this recession there is only one thing customers, realtors and builders should be screaming about and that is to relax the banking regulations that have swung the pendulum way outside the giant gong. The underwriters of the banking industry have shriveled up any real growth in the one industry that would quickly bring us out of the recession, and that is housing. If housing begins to recover everything else will be righted quickly.
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