With a solid cost estimate in hand, the next step in the process was getting financing. Since we are building in Northern Minnesota it made sense to try to get financing from a local bank. Local banks are very familiar with local building codes and local contractors. You might not get the best possible construction loan interest rate, but be less of a headache than having to deal with an out of town lender. After talking with a couple of different banks we found one that was offering acceptable residential construction loan rates. Also, they didn't require a cash down payment since we would be using the land as collateral. The approval process was painless, and there wasn't an unreasonable amount of paperwork required.
At this point it was the middle of October. In Northern Minnesota it gets cold in November and we usually get snow at the beginning of the month. We needed to get the hole dug and concrete poured ASAP. Before we could dig we still had a bunch of paperwork that needed to completed.
- Survey
- Administrative subdivision approved by the county
- Appraisal
- Title Search
- Liability and Builder's risk insurance in place
The survey was on the critical path and unfortunately the survey company told us that it was going to take 2 weeks before they could get started on it. We waited patiently and the survey was eventually completed at the beginning of November. We now had a 7.84 acre of parcel of land to work with. Luckily the weather was mild during this time. It took an additional week to get the rest of the paper work completed, and on Friday Nov 13th were finally ready to close. Everything went smoothly at closing except that there was a small tax lien against the property. It turned out to be a mistake, and we were able to close as scheduled. Arrangements were made to start digging the hole on Monday.
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