Banks and Builders

The next step in the process proved to be one of the more difficult and time consuming processes. Finding a bank for financing and a builder to make your dream come to life isn't for the faint of heart. There are a lot of factors at play and making such a big decision is not only hard but a little terrifying! You need to do a lot of research and if it doesn't work out, you only have yourself to blame. Fortunately for us, at the time of this writing, everything seems to be working out despite a few hiccups

Let's start with the bank. Getting financing isn't as easy as it used to be under any circumstance but for us, we had two things working against us. 1) We were building a second home, and 2) We were doing an owner/builder. This means the builder is taking us to under roof and Scott and I are tackling all the interior. Banks look at that and all they see is high risk. So it's not surprising that most said no. Then we found First Federal of Lorain located in Avon. A very helpful and patient woman named Michelle took on our complicated process and did all she could to make it easy as possible, which to no fault of her own, wasn't easy at all. We started the process in February of 2017 and our loan didn't close until September 14, 2017. They require every piece of paperwork you've ever come across, every detail about your financial history, we may even have sold the rights to our first born, I'm not even sure. And then to get an appraisal for a property like this, in an area where no two houses are the same, age, style, size wise, well let's just say it took a long time. It was a long, grueling process and even after we signed the final paper work and the loan went to closing, we still had to fax over more paperwork and add Michelle to our last will and testament. That last part about the will is a joke, but seriously, it took a lot.

September 14, 2017 was probably one of the most rewarding days we have had as a family. After all the hard work, stress, worry, doubt and fear, we never thought the day would come. And then Michelle gave us the call to come in and sign the papers. The cottage build was finally moving forward.

This empty piece of land near the lake was finally going to have a cute little house sitting on it.

Michelle not only helped us with our loan, she also helped us by giving us the name of a builder she knew would be willing to do an owner/builder. Just like the banks, not all builders are willing to take on a project like this. We put Dale Yost Construction on our list of potential builders, along with the original company we were going to go with the first time around and a couple others. We met with the companies on our list, received their bids, and started another decision making process. I am a huge believer in first impressions and I believe I'm a pretty decent judge of character. I was never thrilled about the first company we were going to go with because even though they were perfectly nice and their work was good, I didn't get the feeling that our personalities would vibe well. They were very sales oriented and our meeting didn't feel like they were genuinely concerned with our best interest.

As soon as we met with Dale Yost Construction, I knew immediately they were who we were going to choose, no matter what bid they came back with. They were warm and friendly, informative and genuine, and we felt very safe with putting our cottage dream in their hands. They are a family owned business that has been around for 50 years and we've heard a lot of great reviews. Fortunately for us, their bid came back at a great price and as of today, they have proven to have the character and skill that I immediately knew they would. Even with a couple of hiccups we have had as of today that are barely worth mentioning, they have gone above and beyond to correct without us even having to ask. We couldn't be happier with our decision thus far.