I’m not sure if this forum is for pros only, or if home owners can ask questions here also, so pardon me if I’m posting here in error.
We purchased a home some time ago that was in dire need of repairs internally, much of it due to mold issues, and we managed to buy the place with a HUD repair loan built in. To say the HUD component has proven a nightmare would be an understatement, as we’ve had no end of grief with the banks involved. The first bank in charge of the process were SOB’s who made life hell - until they were shut down by the Feds. Then it all got passed on to Bank of America, who have been just as bad. At one point they reduced my wife to tears with the attitude we were receiving, and we’ve had to carry $40,000 or so in repair work on credit cards all this time because the bank refuses to cut us checks as each large component of the work has been completed - in essence we’ve been hit twice for interest on the money, the first through the HUD loan we’re paying for, the second via the interest rates on the credit cards we’ve been using.
My wife eventually complained to the top brass via email addresses she obtained via the net, and BOA’s response was to back down and half apologize for the static we were getting. A Vice-president contacted us and told my wife ‘not to worry’ and to take all the time we needed to fix up the house after all the delays they’d caused. We took them at their word, as we really wanted to do a nice job on this house with both the HUD money and our own, and to that end I’ve worked away carefully on my own completely rehabbing the place from top to bottom, gutting whole rooms, installing a new kitchen, custom making bar cabinets, a built-in enterntainment center, arches and art niches in appropriate areas, etc, etc, and along the way we’ve changed a few things or been forced by circumstances to spend money where we hadn’t planned to (such as spending nearly $1,000 in concreting to level a floor for wood flooring) . In the midst of all this my wife also inherited a small amount of money from her grandmother and we modified our plans again to incorporate the idea of building a new garage and incorporate the old one into the living area - which we haven’t done yet.
Then a few months ago BOA dropped a little bombshell on us by calling us and stating that they were suddenly going to enforce a deadline after all (claiming that HUD were forcing their hand) and that we had three months to finish the house off. This created a real panic at out end, as I’ve been doing virtually all the work myself to make the money go as far as possible, and with all of our plans for the house, plus our intention of sinking in ust as much of our own money as the HUD component, we really were never going to be anywhere near finishing the house to the level we really planned for - including the converted garage. So basically I’ve been finishing off the living spaces and touching up as best as possible the areas that we’ve really planned to completely revamp - the two bathrooms, a 4th bedroom that had to be completely gutted and which is going to eventually be a study, a sunroom that we’re going to open up, etc. The pool deck also needs some touchup but we wanted to leave it until we could completely redo the area with pavers.
So anyway, we’re due for the HUD inspection on our work next week, and we’re virtually having a nervous breakdown wondering what kind of inspection to expect, whether it’s just someone who’s a number cruncher who’s going to ensure that we have spent the money on the house as promised (we have all the receipts) , or whether it’s all like a normal home inspection, outlet by outlet, climbing in the attic, tapping on walls, etc. Because there’s a bit of disparity between the quality of the work I actually have done, versus the stuff we’ve touched up to look neat and acceptable until we can REALLY work on it with our own money, I’m hoping the person doesn’t complain and say we haven’t really finished the job. It’s all neat and fine enough to look at, it’s simply obvious that we haven’t really stripped out areas like the bathrooms to really give them the kind of makeover they need. In essence, the money went where it was really needed (mold-damaged rooms, rotting kitchen, etc) while the remaining work will come out of our pockets. By the time we’re finished it will look a million dollars, but there is no way we could have done it entirely with the HUD money, or with the use of contractors - it’s all been off my own sweat and hard work.
So bottom line, are we going to be okay for next week, what should we expect, and/or should we look for any surprises or manage any last minute details before the inspection? We’ve put so much hard work into this house and sacrificed so much (I haven’t earned an income in over a year) that we’d hate to see it all put at risk by some nasty surprise. the hardest bit about all this is that we’ve been working blind throughout - no one has ever told us much on what the protocols are, simply that there were certain things like tools that we couldn’t claim and so on. And as staed earlier, we were told to take as much time as we needed and worked and planned on that basis all this time. We’d hoped to totally complete the house and show it off as an example of what can be accomplished via a HUD loan and some sweat - instead we’ve had to rush it over the last few months and compromise, even to the extent of temporarily repairing, plastering or painting areas that I know I’ll be tearing out after the inspection so I can get around to doing what I really planned for.
Sorry for the long post. If anyone here could give us a heads up on what to expect next week it would be appreciated, as we have no idea what the process is.
Thanks