Problem with conventional lender in Dallas

[Nick Smith]

I am a new investor in the Dallas area.  I'm supposed to close on a house in 5 days, and my lender just came back saying I had to fix a bunch of cracks in the walls before I could get the loan.  I figured the cracks might be a problem, so I explained everything to the lender up front and he said that it should be fine.  I bugged him pretty regularly to make sure that everything was on track with the loan, and he waited to drop this bomb on me 5 days before closing. Needles to say, I'm not very happy.  The seller doesn't have the means to fix the walls and I obviously can't fix a property that I don't own. Does anyone have any advice on how to move forward?

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[John Chapman]

Why don't you just pay to have the sheetrock cracks fixed prior to closing? (I'm in your area so I feel your pain on sheetrock cracks. ) I can't imagine the owner would object as you're fixing up his house. (I've repaired a foundation before closing once and it was no big deal.) Yes, there is a risk that if it doesn't close, then you will be out the money of the repairs, but sheetrock repairs are cheap. Seems cheaper than losing your earnest money, which I presume is around $1K. Also seems cheaper than going the HML route, paying points and higher interest, and then paying the cost of a refi to get out of the loan.