MowryJournal.com   Life's Passions

I had been living with it for a while before I decided I was done. She was done. The problem, you see, was her knees. Going up stairs had become a painful process for her … and I wanted to end her pain.

You know what I mean. At least, I hope you know what I mean.

So I suggested it was time to leave the familial home of 37 years. Leave the 2nd story behind, and find a one story house. It was time.

And just like that, we were searching for a new house.

It didn’t take long for us to find a local, new development called Williams Ranch. The models were oh-so-spiffy, and we began the process of selecting our new forever home. It took a minute, but this planned community of a development had a few features that caught our eyes. Mrs M could get her dream kitchen, at long last. And I could get a nice shop as well, in an oversized garage (they called it an RV garage) that could be the new home of the Woodshop.

Thus began a courtship that lasted over a year. This whole buying a house thing was not easy, we found.

We met our first sales rep in November of ’23. We had settled on a model #9 as our target, and he showed us a couple that they had built. One was ready to move in, one just needed us to select the flooring.

But there was no RV garage. We said no.

And the sales rep said “I don’t think this will work out for you,” kicked us to the curb, and assigned a new sales rep to handle us. OK, whatever. I spent more than 2 decades running a sales team, and I do understand that things happen. I also understand that when a rep doesn’t like the prospect, nothing good will happen.

Our new sales rep, however, was wonderful. It was now January of ’24, and she took us to the site of a future model #9, plot 40. We could even get it with an RV garage!

But, sales rep #2 told us, we would have to buy a retaining wall to move the slope on the lot back to make room for the RV garage. No worries, the developer would split the cost with is, so it was only an additional $75,000. Further, #2 told us, when we went to contract we would have to put down $25,000 as a deposit, plus pay 50% for all upgrades as they were added to the contract. So, in this case, the opening deposit would be $25,000 + $75,000 for the wall + $70,000 for the RV garage. Due immediately.

But first, before we could do ANYTHING, we needed to get credit pre-approval from their approved lender, which would do a loan application, credit check, and verify that we could actually buy the house.

That was all fascinating information. Information that our previous rep never shared with us (because it wasn’t going to work out for us, I’m sure).

So we had 2 things that had to get done: get credit approval, and get down payment funds lined up. We did the application and got a contingent credit approval on January 30, 2024. The contingency was that we needed to sell our current house to buy the new house.

After consulting with our excellent real estate agent, Kim Thompson, (who is a long-time client of the Woodshop), we determined that we needed to get a HELOC.

Which I had never heard of.

Home Equity Line Of Credit, HELOC, would allow us to cash out some equity from our current, mortgage-free home, and use those funds to purchase a new house. OK, that would work. Our days of having no mortgage were over, and we got the HELOC to prepare for our purchase of the mythical model # 9.

Which Williams Ranch would not sell to us. Apparently the lot #40 that we rejected due to the retaining wall was the only possible RV garage available in the development until … well, we don’t know when. Later. Whenever the developer releases a lot that is big enough. Which we don’t know when it will be. At all.

We offered to make a down payment so we were first in line for this mythical new house. No, sorry. No down payment wanted. They didn’t want our money, because they had “no idea” when they might be ready to build a house for us.

It was April ’24, and we were beyond frustrated. The developer shared almost no forward-looking information with us. We could buy what they had … or wait.

We waited.

Summer heated up, as expected, and eventually the upcoming “phase 15” was identified as having 2 homes that might work for us. Lot 75 had a model #12 which would have an RV garage. The money was a bit more for this larger home, but finally we had a shot. Also, lot 76 would be for a model #9 which might be able to have an RV garage, too. Maybe. Our sales rep, #2, told us our credit pre-approval from their preferred lender was first in line, so this could work. We were first in line.

September rolled around, and there was trouble in paradise. Yes, they were building the homes. No, we were no longer first in line. Because someone with an all-cash offer jumped the line.

Which sales rep #2 never told us would be a possibility.

We immediately found another way forward, and received “credit” approval for an all-cash offer on the house within a week. The new approval letter was dated September 14. But, our new all-cash offer date was in September, so we were no longer in first place. We were too late to the dance.

And the model #9 … would not have an RV garage. It would have “just” a 3rd car garage, because that was all there was room for on this particular lot.

And no, no deposit was possible. But we were not first in line for the #12 and although we were first in line for the #9, that could change at any moment since the developer could choose to do business with someone else if they chose. Pre-approvals were not binding.

It was September, and after pursuing a home purchase with Williams Ranch for 11 months, we had NOTHING. No schedule. No commitment. No plan.

Kim, our real estate agent, was as hot as we were, and she escalated the issue to Sales Rep #2’s Sales Manager. And her Vice President. And his President. They all said we were out of luck. Their choice. Their development. Buh-bye.

We were beyond angry.

Then Sales Rep #2 got fired.

This actually offended me, as Sales Rep #2 was the only company representative that shared relevant information with us. To this day, I do not believe that Sales Rep #2 cost us our purchase. I believe Sales Rep #1, to use the vernacular, snaked the sale by knowing our original contingent credit approval date, and worked with his client to beat it. Do I know that? No.

But I do know that #2 got fired as this whole bunch of crap came to light, and I very much regret that, as I believe she did nothing wrong. Perhaps she did not understand company policy correctly. Perhaps her boss or her boss’s boss did not train her properly. I’ll never know.

But I do know this: when the client is angry, nothing good follows. I am enough of a sales guy that when I am mistreated by a company, I don’t want to give them my money.

At all.

So in the Fall of 2024, we began to look for alternatives, as we continued to keep our eye on the #12 or the #9. Which would be available for sale … someday. Maybe to us, or maybe not. No way to know.

Next Up: Widening The Search