The people at Guaranteed Rate were patient. It's really the process that was a disaster. I'm sure going with a traditional mortgage would have been easy and hassle free. (Or at least as hassle free as something like that can be.)
The real problem was with the construction loan process. We knew there were multiple things wrong with the house that would need to be worked on in the first few years, and this might make those fixes easier to afford.
The crux of that problem was choosing from those projects with no guidance. Which would add enough value in the eyes of the appraiser to justify the work and give us the green light to move forward? I asked this question, what seemed like hundreds of times, to the GR folks, my agent, the HUD consultant that you're required to pay, even the contractors that we were required to get bids from. None of them would provide this guidance except in very vague terms. We also had to pay for an appraiser (a very expensive one) but we were not allowed to talk to them.
So over the course of two or three months while we are jumping through the hoops that GR is putting out for us, I became more and more worried about the choice I'd made for the $100k project. As a first time home buyer, what do I know about home improvement??
Sure enough, after months if sleepless nights and thousands of dollars spent to get to this point, we get to the final step of the process: the appraiser. GR arranged for the appraiser to come over on a Friday. I didn't even find out that it had happened until the following Monday, and that was only because I made sure to stay in constant communication throughout the process. (I found I couldn't trust any of these folks to get back to me as quickly as I'd like. Not just GR, but the many, many people I was required to contact for this complicated process.) So, the appraiser gave the final verdict, and it was that our $100k project would add $0 of value to the house. Zero!!
The GR rep and our real estate agent both said they'd never seen that happen before. That wasn't much comfort considering the months of work I'd put in, thousands of dollars I'd spent, and nights of sleep I'd lost worrying about exactly this outcome.
So, after all of that we ended up going with a traditional mortgage, as it was our only option at that point. I really wanted to part ways with GR at that point to find a company that would listen to my concerns from the beginning, but if you know the mortgages process, you know we were too far in to go somewhere else. It would have added weeks to the already very delayed closing date, and we were worried the seller would walk and we'd lose the house completely.
So, now we're so far in on the beginning of the construction process that we need to find other ways to borrow the $100k if we want the work done on the house... 401k loan, 0% credit cards, etc.
This whole nightmare could have been avoided from the beginning if Guaranteed Rate would have had someone answer my question from the beginning about the viability of the choice of project I'd made. I needed education and support and none was provided. If anyone else goes down this road, and you're not sure, I recommend hiring your own appraiser to consult with you. Because, it is a long process, and you don't want to be worried the whole time.
GR was nice enough to waive some of the closing fees, but it only amounted to about 1/4 of what I had spent. For this, I'm giving them 2 stars instead of one.
The good new is that we're in the house, we can put this whole situation behind us, and look forward to many happy years in our new home. read more