I closed a few weeks ago with Mike from Fairway on a construction loan and.. well, it's been a bit of a process, to be honest. I was fortunate enough to purchase my first home back in 2016 before COVID happened. I worked with Mike back then when he worked with a different mortgage company and the fact that I worked with him again should say enough but I still want to say, working with Mike is a good experience. He is very persistent and a genuinely good person. The persistence was true ten years ago when I was a one income household trying to buy my first home and three submissions to underwriting, a lot of back and forth with them on why I could or could not afford to own. Between my lower income, short credit history, and a fair amount of debt, the process was long and stressful but Mike didn’t just give up, he fought to help me buy my first home, even though it took probably two, maybe three times as long as the average closing time frame at that point. This time around was no different (persistence, not processing time). Between the complexity of a new construction loan, rising costs to build, a lower appraisal value (compared to the cost to build), and interest rates rising over 1% throughout the process, Mike made sure we were still able to close even with underwriting sending the application back. If you're looking for someone who will fight for you and help you with one of the most important decisions you will make in your life, Mike is a great choice.
Now.. some things I wish were a little different. Fairway, their process, specifically for a new construction loan, I would give maybe 4/5. The biggest upside is that once the loan closes, the draws are handed over to another company who is pretty easy to deal with that has an option to take pictures rather than sending out an inspector, allowing construction to move and draws to be made without waiting on them to send someone down. This could save weeks over the course of the build.
If I could suggest some stuff I wish would have been different throughout this process, I would make changes to their order of operations and transparency. By order of operations, I mean that the appraisal is ordered much later in the process. My appraisal wasn't ordered until a few weeks prior to closing, a couple months following submitting my residential plans, and the appraisal forced us to cut costs and then needed to be resubmitted (no additional cost) to verify the appraised value didn’t decrease; I think the appraisal should be ordered as soon as the residential plans are ordered. Second, the transparency, or lack thereof.. it's not deceptive, but almost feels like a lack of process. Most banks and credit unions show their current rates on their website whereas Fairway doesn't, even once you've submitted the application. At the bare minimum, that should be shown when you're logged in, better if it was just shown on their site. Also regarding transparency, or maybe the lack of process, there should be a checklist or something that specifies everything you'll need throughout the process so you're not scrambling to locate certain things last minute. Most of them are common sense like w2s, paystubs, and proof of assets, but make sure to keep proof for any deposits made into your account not related to your work, avoid using cash, and anything you pay for, keep your receipts.
But, regardless of the few negatives I've dealt with, I know I would work with Mike and Fairway again in the future although I'm hoping this home is my forever home. A coworker of mine just built with my second choice, our local credit union, and expressed they were difficult to work with so it seems toigh now all around.
