Patience...it will happen. We were crazy. We were 7 years in design and 3 years in build.

But I'd much rather hear a loan officer say, "That's never happened before" than a surgeon!!!

If you are quibbling about a $400 appraisal fee, you really need to rethink this whole build a house plan. Can you really afford to build a house? This forum is full of stories of people needing to come up with tens of thousands of dollars for "things that came up" during their build.

The loan officer also said we are going to have to pay even more money down as well. He said it was because our new plan is smaller in size, yet the cost of the house is higher because we switched from BFF who wasn't charging us a builders fee up front to a builder who was.

I'm confused. Did you not think this would happen? Since this is usually a percent of the build cost, it would be expected that you would have to come up with more money when the price of the house went up.

We can afford our house now since we redesigned and cut some good square footage now that we are with a different builder...its just frustrating having to pay all those fees all over again and they don't help us continue to pay down the actual cost of the house. The $400 is the only figure he has told us thus far.

The cost of our house is going up $20K which is pennies for some based on the cost of living, but that isn't for us. Loan officer originally said we had to have a certain percentage of the cost of the house down for the interim construction loan and we have worked hard to cover that but also have continued to put extra money down "just in case." I guess I thought that would be enough wiggle room. We'll just have to hope it isn't too much more!

Sometimes I have to remind myself that as frustrating as this whole process has been, he is healthy as am I, we have a (rental) roof over our head because we were able to sell our old house, and our happy in our careers. Can't ask for much more.

This post was edited by aimless07 on Wed, Aug 6, 14 at 9:36

Pixie Lou, I'm not the original poster, but I'll respond to your comment:

I can easily afford $400, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be irritated at having to pay it for a second appraisal. I wouldn't mind paying extra for something that seems reasonable, and, yes, all builders should expect some extra things to pop up -- but a second appraisal would just set my teeth on edge. I'm building a small house on a small budget -- not because that's all I have, but because it's what I want -- but I do expect value for every dollar spent, and paying for something that benefits the bank instead of me doesn't meet my criteria.

I'm thinking that the real moral is don't mix business and friendship, given that the trouble seems to stem from the original deal with the BFF. It makes me kind of glad that I have no personal contacts in the building trade who'd be angry if I do business with strangers.

Have you really explored existing homes for sale? Building is more frustrating, takes longer, and costs more than just buying an existing house and moving into it. If finances are tight, perhaps building isn't the right move for housing your family.

I had an appraisal done not too long ago. The appraiser said it should be good for 10 months.
If it has never happened before I'd try to push back a little, and courteously agree that there are differences but that they are minor, and ask that they reconsider the extra appraisal and closing costs.

Mrs Pete - I based my remark based on this comment from the OP

So if we don't have the finances that it takes to cover the closing costs and additional money down that is needed, we will delay this process longer until we can get those funds.

She's also been on this forum numerous times asking for advise on how to cut square footage, cut costs. So I just asked the question. If $400 sets her off so much, I thought it was a legitimate question to ask. Obviously you disagree. That doesn't make you a superior person.

She went back to the bank with a new builder, new floor plan, new cost structure. In other words, she is not building the house she got a construction loan for. Obviously the bank wants to reevaluate the loan.

We already bought our lot and have paid almost all of it off. We aren't interested in going through the hassle of trying to sell it and then go house shopping.

I still haven't completely forgiven BFF for screwing us over, but I will come to terms with it eventually. DH has been friends with him since they were toddlers so its not worth throwing that away.

And yes, MrsPete you hit the nail on the head. All these fees do nothing to help us pay down what really matters. I would rather put the money of that reappraisal and new closing costs to something else.

This post was edited by aimless07 on Wed, Aug 6, 14 at 14:37

I'm with pixie lou on this one. Everything has changed since the original construction loan except the lot. The original build was never started. They will be starting the build with a new contractor and a new plan that will cost more to build. Why shouldn't the bank require a new appraisal? From what I recall, they are not building the same number of square feet, bedrooms and bathrooms that the appraisal was based on.

Clearly y'all are aware of some backstory that I don't know, and I'm basing my comments on this post alone. I'm not getting into any discussion of "superior people", which is not even remotely what I said earlier.