Letting off steam

I can honestly say that the process we’ve been going through to get financing for adding on to our house has been most aggravating. And I’m not talking about having to get copies of every financial record we’ve accumulated over the last 2 years. That’s been the easiest part. I’m talking about finding a lender that offers a refinance/renovation combination (this must be akin to finding the Holy Grail), getting the person to call us back (apparently there’s only 1 guy and he’s real busy), and learning how the process actually works (which seems to change as often as the weather).


I found an email today where I emailed our contractor on March 24. March 24th people! That was before the Easter bunny! It stated that we finally decided on a lender, which means we were 2 weeks into the process. I know because I spent 2 weeks leaving messages and finding out how much these programs would cost at different banks. Once we picked a lender, it took 2 weeks for my loan officer (I use this term loosely, as in Barney Fife loosely) to acknowledge receipt of my loan package, which I downloaded, filled out and emailed to him over a week before we ever even spoke (yes I’m anal like that).

It is now June 21 and I’ve been told for over 2 weeks that everything seems to be in order and he’s just waiting to hear back from Corporate . My contractor is ready to start the foundation. Charlie is ready to see some tractors. Rocky is ready for me to relax. And I’m ready for this to be over! We could have built the addition in the time it has taken to get the financing.

ARGH!