The title company behind the old report was gone.
That was the latest complication in trying to buy a badly damaged house in Poughkeepsie. A new title report was being prepared, the contract needed another extension, and the bank was still working through its list.
Then my broker wrote that we could schedule the closing. He had learned that while writing the email about the extension.
I signed what he sent and asked my lawyer what happened next. Did we just compare calendars and pick a closing date? The answer was not quite. The title issue had cleared, but the bank still had to finish.
The next request looked like the last one. Underwriting wanted an addendum connecting the sales contract to the renovation financing. I sent the question to the lawyer and lender because I could not tell who was supposed to create it.
The lawyer pointed out a basic problem. This was a foreclosure contract and could not simply be modified. She would call the bank and sort it out.
I replied, “Great thanks!”
That was optimistic. We were close, but close had already included a vanished title company, an extension, a replacement report, and a contract that could not accept the document the bank wanted.
The house itself was going to need an enormous amount of work. Before any of that could begin, the paperwork had to agree that the house, the sale, and the renovation were all one project.
I thought this was the last thing for underwriting. For the moment, it was at least the next thing.