Question About Lending in Charleston

[Jason Merchey]

I am a lender and was meeting with a borrower prospect yesterday in the West Ashley/Charleston area. This issue popped up I wanted to throw out there. Totally unpredicted.

You take one look at the house, built in probably 1970, and you instantly see a sagging ridgeline of the roof. I thought I heard him tell the G.C., who was there to give a bid, that he wasn't planning on remedying that. I asked him, Did I just hear you say you don't plan to remedy that rafter issue?

He said yes! He believes it will sell for $205 a square foot, and he believes that the roof is just too expensive to fix. This, while he is putting new shingles on the roof! This is a massive sag, maybe 10-11 inches. When asked what he thinks is going on, he told me the seller's agent reports that this was a remnant of Hurricane Hugo. The rafters that were put up were apparently too short. No matter - deck and shingle that $hit anyway! I almost put my head in my hands.

Can you imagine this logic? Am I taking crazy pills, or would lending on this Charleston house be crazy? It strikes me as a very unprofessional move on his part.

I know and like the guy but doing business with him, that sounds like another matter.

Well, dodged a bullet on that one. Back to pounding the pavement.