Gasifier said:
Batten,
How is that new place man? Are you in and settled?
Oh, not even close. USDA is killing us with one "we need more information on..." thing after another. Each time it sets us back another week. The credit union told us they haven't done a USDA backed loan yet (seems pretty hard to believe), but we just assumed they'd get all their ducks in a row so we could do the same.
For example, during the inspection period (many weeks ago) we paid for all of the recommended inspections. Septic and water quality were high on our priority list, so we had the septic pumped and inspected and the water quality tested. Results were submitted to the bank and we felt we were good to go. Well, about two weeks later we find out that USDA wants to know the distance between the well head and the septic system. Now, if we knew that when the thing was serviced, we could have paid to have the leach field scoped. After the fact, they would have to come back out and dig the thing up again at our expense... $275. That would almost double the cost to us.
So, we had the realtor call the town office and get the original engineered plan. Turns out the only woman who could provide us with this info was out on vacation. When she came back we got the plan and submitted it and we thought we were good to go.
Oh, no. Now they needed three more bits of info. We needed a certificate of potability of water (yes, we submitted this before but USDA wanted it from the testing lab itself). They also wanted other financial info, like a signed and notarized statement of earnings.
Yup, two years of tax returns and bank statements weren't enough, they need us to swear on papar that we have no other income. This ran us into the weekend, so we lost another week.
This morning, we get an e-mail that USDA needs proof of rental at our current place, and proof of repayment on my wife's student loans. That's right, two years of rent receipts weren't enough, they had to hear it directly from the landlord. So they means the application won't get submitted until at least Monday.
I'm getting the sneaking feeling that USDA is stalling on this whole thing until after the first of the year for budget reasons and to prevent us from claiming deduction on this year's tax return. Problem is, we were supposed to be out of here by Nov. 30. The landlord here is breathing down our necks and we may be forced to move all our stuff - about two 26' trucks worth - into storage for a lousy couple weeks and the move it all into the new house after we close. Plus, spend the holidays in a motel room.
We were initially very excited to have the kids and grandkids in our new home for Christmas. My wife is pretty distraught. We haven't bought a single gift for the grandkids yet because we don't even know where to put the stuff. Plus, it is not too likely that we will get the help we were counting on if we have to move around the holidays. Can't expect folks to drop their holiday plans to come help lil' ol' us.
So, anyway, keep it coming guys, I am reading it all. But I ain't pulling the trigger on anything until I have my fat fist wrapped tight around those keys.