A Disappointing Visit

We went to our local branch bank today to find out exactly what we needed in order to apply for a construction loan. It was one of the most frustrating experiences either of us has had in a long time.

We went in looking for what we needed (Just the facts, ma'am.) But what we got was far different.

We had spoken with the president of the local branch, on a previous occasion, for an introductory meeting and an overview of what we were looking for in terms of a construction loan. On the that visit, he admitted he had been on the job for only seven days and was not up on all of the banks specific policies regarding construction loans. But he gave us some high-level indications of what we might need.

Today, he sounded as if he had not gained much more competence or knowledge than before.

We heard over an hour of "worst case scenarios" about what we might expect from our contractor and subcontractors. Nevermind that we repeatedly told him that our contractor was family (Linda's brother-in-law Maxie), and we were personally interviewing each subcontractor. He never got the point that we weren't just turning the project over to someone, but we were going to be intimately involved in every decision and were also going to be doing a lot of the work ourselves.

He spent an inordinate amount of time telling us of worst-case scenarios, mostly based upon his personal experience in building a home. This included, by the way, the issuance of over $30,000 of change orders, even though his wife grew up in the "home building industry." We tried to remind him that we were not going to contract, in advance, for a fixed-price but were going to work interactively with Maxie to create this new abode within an estimated budget. This point, however, never seemed to change his approach.

And, the main problem Carl has with him is that he never looked directly at me. . .

So, we are disappointed. This bank was recommended by friends, but in the meantime the bank changed hands and the person who handled their loan is gone. We believe that this guy's past experience was not in the home-building arena and we probably need to go elsewhere.