Nightmare on Escrow St.

Not a good day. The escrow situation is rapidly disintegrating.  A week ago, it was determined we could sign the loan docs before BH went to Germany.  At that point, it was discovered that some of the money we had been credited by the seller was still not being used up.  The credit was issued for pest control work, repairing the roof and fixing some drywall in the garage, but we didn't want to do any of that work until after closing.

For the past week, we've gone back and forth with the idea of doing some work prior to closing versus having what is called a repair hold in escrow.  In the latter case, work would be done after closing, but the money for it would be sitting in escrow and paid out upon completion.  Getting the work done ahead of time was beginning to look too complicated, so we decided to go with the repair hold.  This was initially suggested by the mortgage broker, I'll call him Freddy Krueger since his real name is very close and this is turning into a horror story.  The Dynamic Duo, our real estate agents (alias given by BIL), thought this was not a hot idea b/c they thought the lender would balk.  But time is running out and Freddy said it wouldn't be a prob.

So, yesterday I finally order the work to be done (some woodwork and fumigation), beginning the day after closing.  I didn't authorize all the termite work on the inspection report to be done b/c I had spoken with the inspector and he said certain items were not critical at this juncture.  So, I figured we'd wait.  I was feeling pretty good about having finally made some progress on at least one thing that needs to get done.  But then suddenly Freddy comes back today and says the lender wants the work done before closing.  Well, that's basically impossible at this point b/c of the lead time needed to order a fixed window frame.  And now all of the sudden they want to see the pest inspection report and I'm worried they will now require the other items to be done that I didn't yet authorize.   Getting these other items done would take even longer, especially as one involves fixing a leak from the shower pan in the downstairs bathroom -- that means getting a replacement pan (which apparently takes time) and tile work.  Every day that we go beyond the contractual closing date of 7/29 costs us a $300 fee and $100 per day for up to 10 days.  Not even sure what happens if we don't close within the extended 10 days.

At this point, I've sent the mortgage broker the pest inspection report for him to send to the VP and CFO of the Credit Union.  I've explained to him that we're gonna get the work done, but that it's unrealistic to expect it to be done before closing.  I've also assured him our interests and the lender's interests are the same -- we want a house that is a great place to live and a good investment.  And I sent him an initial pest inspection which was commissioned by the seller that didn't even catch 1/4 of the items found in the pest inspection we commissioned.  Had we simply gone with that initial inspection, the bank (and we) would have never known about the other issues needing repair.

I'm trying not to lose it here, but this really sucks.  I feel really betrayed.  The Dynamic Duo are trying to help, but at the same time they've got a bit of attitude going on; an "I-told-you-so" for not going with the mortgage broker they recommended.  Sorry, but they guy they recommended was not working for me--took too long to respond to requests for info, sent wrong info, slick Willy type.

Hoping tomorrow is a better day.