Their tactic was pretty simple. We put in our offer, they said another couple was also interested...so we bid higher and won (I'll always wonder if there really was another couple!). Then they proceeded to ignore our contract for 2 months. We wanted an answer but stayed calm. We'd locked in a rate and had a VA inspector check out the property in order to approve the loan. He pointed out minor repairs that needed to be made before closing and we asked the bank to address them...the silence continued. We then extended our interest rate lock more times than we, or our saint-like mortgage man Eric, can remember and kept waiting for an answer on the original items we requested be addressed before closing, which was all septic repairs that legally should have been remedied before they ever attempted to sell the property.
After 4 months, interest rates went up and we had our real estate agent (Casey Margenau, an amazing agent and person) contact them to say they needed to make a decision or we were walking. Our rate lock would expire in one month and after that it would be too late. That worked- they agreed to our stipulations and got working on fixing the septic issue along with our smaller VA inspector items!
But not so fast...the septic system turned out to be the MOST complicated and convoluted system ever constructed. Like I said, they should have dealt with this way before trying to sell the house. I'd never known anyone who used a septic system before this experience. Sure, I'd seen Rid-Ex commercials like everyone else but I had no idea how they worked. To be honest, I'm still pretty fuzzy on a few details but I do know that you have to have the right kind of dirt and without the exact right kind of dirt, having a septic system is a huge pain. Apparently, where our septic system is located (out of alllllllll the places to put one on almost 12 acres) it's not an ideal spot. The system primarily needed an overhaul of its connector box and the box needed to be buried to prevent freezing of the lines. Blahblah, something. Just make it go away when we flush it!
Beyond that, the bank needed to get permission from the county to allow their septic company to start work on the system and the county wanted a plan from an engineer on how the system would be fixed before they'd sign off. It dragged on and on for weeks. County not answering calls, septic people unable to start work, bank agent dragging her feet, until finally, we only had one week left.
As the septic issue was dragging, we were also dealing with he fact that the "small items" the VA inspector pointed out were not properly taken care of by the bank's contractor so the inspector failed us...TWICE before we decided to take matters into our own hands. Each time he failed us, this inspector would add more things to his list in the interest of protecting us. The irony! By the time we stepped in he'd requested that broken windows be repaired (despite the fact that we intend to replace the windows immediately if we closed), the front porch be sanded and painted (why?!), interior holes in drywall be painted over with primer (why?!) with no mention of fixing wires protruding from hallways, broken doors that barely fit their frames, etc. It didn't have to make sense, we just needed to fix it.
The bank was DONE putting money into that house and they let us know that it would be up to us to pass the third and final inspection. I can't confirm it but someone, not necessarily us but someone that the bank gave permission, bundled up and came out to that freezing house to sand and paint the porch, sand and paint over drywall and remove and pay to have window panels repaired. That same someone-entity also left a nice note for the inspector laying out all items addressed per his request. At least that's what I heard through the grapevine. Either way, we passed inspection and were free to go back to worrying whether or not the septic work would get done in time.
I kept a positive vibe but was starting to think this was NOT going to happen in that last week. It seemed impossible. I definitely underestimated how bad the bank wanted to be rid of this house. They'd already put too much time and effort into it to back out now. We signed papers on the very last day possible while work was still being done on the septic system. The bank worked out a deal with our agent that they would pay in full for all the septic costs up front as well as reimburse us for our fees to extend our rate lock because of their delays. We'd take possession of the house with the understanding that the septic system still needed a few more day's work to be completely finished.
SO, that's how it all worked out in the end. It was a complicated, muddled mess and because it snowed three feet just after signing, almost a month later we're still waiting on that septic work to be 100% complete. The snow is melting now so we hope to have it all done this week - we'll see what happens! Either way, it's a relief to have made it through closing and it can only go up from here!
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