Finally, you will want to seal up the walls about 3' or so with Kilz or Shellac ( I prefer pigmented shellac as it seems to work better) Another thing you can do is go through with a black light at night and run it along the walls.

I’ve been saving for the past couple years and finally saved enough to put a large down payment down.

> Fannie Mae/Freddie MAC is not a lender and the final underwriter of the loan 2.

Based on what I'm hearing, I'm going to try to reach out to them one last and final time, they've been unresponsive for a week.

The best thing to do would be to consult an attorney, but likely, that is not an option for everyone starting out.I'm not an attorney, and this is not legal advice, but some of the information that we include in our contracts is:- A clear scope of work - Payment schedule / Milestones- Change order approval process- Allowances for finished materials- Reasons to terminate the contract- Expectations for start date (X amount of time after final plans /permits are received or X amount of time after the contract is executed)- General schedule and timeline (This is where you could specify an end date - however it may be better use incentives rather than liquidated damage if your general contractor is late - we've done both, but found General Contractors respond better to getting something if they get done early instead of being punished for being late. 

The market is getting expensive and I’m worried it might be more difficult after I finally get current on my loan. 

Extensions on downspouts 10 ft away from the building, grade the surface to slope away from the foundation at least 6 inches in 4 feet, provide positive surface drainage around the structure, and finally stop irrigating landscaping within 10 ft of the structure.

Finally, look at lenders that have been doing this a long time- they have insurance companies that they usually use (if the client agrees) that know exactly how to write it up based off of the lender's stringent guidelines.

The final problem I have with their style is the location selection.

Finally, as Chris mentioned- this deal has some additional layers of possible risk.