Finally - Loan Approval

Finally Approved!!!

We received an email today from our LO with a Loan Approval.  This has been probably the most nerve racking part of this entire experience. 

We weren't too worried about it... but we weren't sure what impact the recent legislation and belt tightening in the mortgage industry was going to have on our file.  What were they going to find that even we didn't know about?  Or were we going to become victims of some sort of pet peeve that the underwriter had?  Either way, you just don't know anything, and have no control over any of it.  For a control freak that controls every part of their lives, I did not like this.

It took a whopping 6 1/2 weeks (UPDATE: 7 Weeks by the time we got an approval letter).  I'm not sure what the industry average is but I'm pretty sure that's not it.  I would safely say with 95% confidence, this is on the right side of the bell curve.  We were asked for one small thing the other day but other than that, it was just a lot of silence and waiting.

If you were to ask me right now if I would do this again...I would have a hard time saying "Yes".  If I would have bought a resale home and used my Credit Union - I could have already closed on the home, and completed any upgrades and improvements I wanted to make.  We would be moving in now, rather than waiting to start building. 

We've come too far to turn back now and I know once our home starts to be built, the frustration I am still feeling will begin to fade.  Not so much that I will forget it when I fill out those surveys they send you.  The other option would have been for me to have found these Blogs before I got involved with NVRM and used my own bank from the outset.

Based on NVRM's reputation and the issues I've already experienced, it's difficult to feel good about the Loan Approval.  My gut tells me, they aren't done torturing me or my family.  I'm just waiting for when we get closer to closing and like many out there can't move into your new home because of some dysfunction on NVRM's end. 

(UPDATE: I was right.  NVRM failed to ask RH when the estimated closing date was, so they put an arbitrary Loan Commitment Expiration date on our Approval Letter.  The dates is 2 weeks prior to our estimated closing date and if we exceed the Expiration date, we have to go back through the entire loan processing process again.  This is the most dysfunctional relationship I've ever seen between two organizations that are owned by the same company.  I've asked for clarification on this but if the date doesn't really mean anything than why put it on the letter at all.  And if you are going to have a date, then get one that at least lines up with a realistic closing date.  Well, that would mean they would have to talk to their sister organization and I'm sure like many siblings they are better at fighting than communicating.)

I know RH is very efficient at building homes but it took their lender nearly as long to process a simple loan as it does for them to build a home.  I could not be more displeased with this part of the process.  I'm a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (Process Improvement Methodologies developed by Toyota and Motorola but used by many large companies like GE) and I would have an absolute field day with their processes.  Normally when doing an event and looking for a root cause, you don't blame the people, you blame the process... but in this case I would make an exception and do some much needed house keeping.

The Good News.  We should have a Start Date by late next week.

My promise to anyone reading my whining and rambling.  Future posts will be much more cheerful and useful.  I did not want the issues I've had with NVRM to go undocumented just in case someone out there hasn't purchased yet and can save themselves a lot of heartache.  On the other hand I set out to write about Good Lessons Learned, Gotchas and other Useful Tips that Builder's can Learn from.  I will make every attempt to ensure future posts have more of that and less wanking.