G-Team Fan Mail: Accentuate the Positive!

I just got copied on this email from one of our Bridgewater homeowners to John, our Assistant Construction Manager in Holly Springs.  That's John in the picture above, second from the left with Brian (left of John), Gerry and Me.

The Marltons 1 year walk-thru was today and they sent us this lovely note after our visit.  I love the spirit of this email...so often each of us is guilty of pointing out the negative and missing opportunities to accentuate the positive.  I'm glad The Marltons didn't miss an opportunity to let us know they had a great experience!

Thank you Brian, Emily & Ramsey Marlton, we are honored to have you living in a house we built!

Hey John,

Just wanted to start off by saying thank you from Emily and I for taking care of every single thing today in a very quick and timely manner. We couldn't be more pleased with the quality of work done today by you and the other trades. 

On that note we would also like to rave about the Cortez crew that took care of the nail pops. They went above and beyond touching up every little thing that not only we pointed out, but they saw along the way. They were fast in getting everything done, and left the house as clean as it was when they arrived. They even took into consideration the noise level when working near our 4 month old daughters room while she was napping. If you don't mind, please pass along our thanks again to their owner and crew for an outstanding job.

Thank you again,

Brian, Emily, and Ramsey Marlton

I'm Keeping Score: Preferred Lender 2, Outside Lender 0.

It's January 27th and so far this month we've had one house close on time, two houses that didn't close on time and one loan package waiting at the attorney's office for closing next Tuesday.

I'm speaking in terms of loans, closings and houses here but the important thing to remember is that each loan, each closing, each house has a person attached to it.  A person waiting to move in.  A person who is making a major investment and a person, I believe, deserves an on-time closing.

I'm keeping score because I want our future buyers to know what they can expect from our preferred lender and to know what our past buyers experienced with outside lenders.

Our one and only on-time closing so far came courtesy of our preferred lender, Brad Arendt at Prime Lending.  The interesting part about this loan was the fact that the buyer was out of the country for 3 wks leading up to closing and Brad's team needed something from the buyer last minute.  Some lenders would have thrown their hands in the air...tried to delay closing 'just in case' but Brad & Kathryn (she's Brad's right hand and pretty much the wizard behind the curtain over there) got it done.

Our second closing was delayed due to an outside lender error.  Internal review took longer than they expected.  They had to push out the closing a few days.  That buyer deserved to move in on time.

Our third closing was supposed to happen yesterday.  A different outside lender.  This time it was an appraisal report that came back 'subject to completion'-the appraiser said the house was incomplete because the utilities were not on...yet somehow the buyer, the buyers' agent and builder walked the house the day before the appraisal, with all the utilities turned on.  A new appraisal was still required before the house could close.  Another buyer the deserved to move in on time.  [a message from future A$:  this one closed on the 30th]

Our fourth closing is scheduled for Tuesday.  The loan package is already waiting at the attorney's office courtesy of our preferred lender.  The funny part...I accepted this contract on January 13th and called Brad & Kathryn asking for a January 31st closing.  A mere 12 business days away.  After they stopped laughing, and verified it was a conventional loan, they told me we'd go for it. [a message from future A$: this one closed on time!]

The bar is high around here on most things...but especially on closing dates.  If we're going to guarantee our closing dates and back it up with a $1000 in additional closing costs if we miss that date, then we expect our lending partners to do the same.  Our preferred lender, Brad Arendt at Prime Lending backs up his closing dates.  If he misses a date, he pays the additional $1000 in closing costs.  He's had to do this ZERO times but still, it's there because Brad agrees with us that buyers deserve on time closings.

Why I Prefer my Preferred Lender...a Tale of 3 Buyers

Picture it...you just finished packing up the moving truck in your driveway.  Triumphantly you pulled down the back door of the truck with a resounding CLINK!  You're exhausted but still in good spirits...after all you're running on adrenaline because in just two days you're going to be unpacking all of your things in your BRAND NEW HOUSE.  It took a lot of work to get to this point but it's finally here.


Just then your phone rings...it's your lender...there's been some sort of delay...something they didn't anticipate...something out of their control...they need to move your closing date back a few days.


You hang up the phone, look back at the moving truck in your driveway and think...WHAT NOW?!

If you've ever been in this situation personally or know someone who has, you know what comes next is anything but fun.

Consider this (cautionary) tale of 3 of our buyers:

All three buyers purchased similarly priced homes last year and were planning to close within a week of each other.

All three buyers chose to finance the purchase of their new home with a USDA loan.  100% financing!  It's a great deal and we're happy to build in areas that qualify for such a great program.
**One BIG thing to remember about USDA financing...sometimes those loans take a little longer to close because of the additional underwriting step at USDA.  And those turnaround times vary from a few days to more than a week or so.  It's important to know which turnaround time you're up against and it's important that your lender plan accordingly.  You know, so you can close on time.

All three buyers chose a different lender.  2 chose outside lenders and 1 chose our preferred lender, Brad Arendt at Prime Lending.

Can you see where this is going? Probably, but keep reading anyway...

Buyer 1: Outside Lender
Got a call from their lender much like the one I described above.  They had a moving van full of their belongings and nowhere to go.  Their lender said it was an unforeseen hiccup...USDA turnaround times were running longer than expected and they didn't submit their file early enough to close on time.

Buyer 2: Outside Lender...converted to Preferred Lender
Got a call from their lender several months into the building process telling them they didn't qualify. They couldn't purchase the house.  Heartbroken, we suggested they call Brad.  Maybe he could find a way to save it?  He could.  He did.  A cosigner and a different loan type later he got them to the closing table.  Even better?   With all that, we still closed on time.

Buyer 3: Preferred Lender
Closed on time.  Happy.

I prefer my preferred lender because I prefer happy buyers that close on time.
Which buyer would YOU prefer to be?