I realize you wrote that you don't care what anyone says, but maybe the situation isn't quite what you're assuming.
Is it possible that your home's location vs. the potential buyer's job site is too great a distance to meet Fannie Mae guidelines? Lenders have to apply a reasonableness test to determine if the borrower is being honest about the property being owner occupied. There are different standards and interest rates for investment property vs. owner occupied homes, and some borrowers lie about their intentions to try to get better terms.

Love,

Wednesday you posted that you weren't getting any action, and within a day you had a contract and he applied for and was denied for a loan? Wow, that's a fast denial. Maybe your potential buyer should try another bank or type of loan.

Do you know how far his commute will be? I know of people that commute from PA to DC, Hancock to DC etc. If the banks were denying people for commuting distance, I don't think I-270 would be a gridlock every day :)

Wow - I didn't know that banks looked at a home's distance from your job. Just curious - do you know about how far away his job is? I work in Washington, DC and know several people with commutes of around 2 hours (one way).

Sorry this is happening to you.

These days, lots of folks work from home, at least part of the time. How would they know this on the loan app?

When we bought our home last year, our mortgage broker asked us to write a letter "to whom it may concern" outlining WHY we were buying a house nearly 50 miles from where we both work, to prove it wasn't an investment property.

Basically, I wrote that we like the small town, lower taxes, love the house itself, and the commute isn't much longer than if we had to drive across town to a suburb (we can head almost straight into the country and escape the traffic now), blah blah blah.

Maybe your buyer needs to provide something similar--ours was a VA loan, and they just needed some reasoning behind it. On paper, it seemed like a long commute, but in practice it takes me the same time to get home (50 miles) as my co-worker in the suburbs (15 miles).

We also had to write a letter as to why we were purchasing over 70 miles from where we work. Didn't have an issue getting the loan though after that.

It's 100 miles. It would be a two hour commute. No traffic. We're in the country. He was planning to transfer at some point later after they got settled in and I actually warned him not to mention it to the bank because I lost another buyer because he was changing jobs! lol He didn't mention anything about the bank asking for a letter stating he's really going to live here. He's trying to get the transfer now instead of later so it may be a waste of effort anyway. We'll see. It's just crazy because it's one thing after another with these banks!

Sweet tea, I guess he had to put down his place of employment on his application and I guess they Mapquested the miles!

Barb, I'm getting lots of action. And I didn't say I was under contract. I said I got an offer and he's pre-approved. What I posted was that I'm not getting any action from a flat fee company putting my listing on the MLS. I think I posted that I got six "inquiries" from my own advertisements during the same two week period I didn't get a single one from the MLS. This "buyer" was one of those. And actually, since then, I've gotten two more from my own advertisements for a total of eight as of today. Some are hot, some aren't. Most aren't capable of buying my house even though they want it because at this time their own houses aren't sold or they live far away and have to change jobs and that's why I went to the MLS, to try to get the ready, willing, and able buyers who are the ones most likely to go to an agent. I know lots of people who commute too. I also know people who have relocated and changed jobs. I know people who have bought horse farms. These are all the reasons the banks have denied my buyers. The game is a little bit different nowadays. It's called "The Banks Will Only Lend Money to Jesus."

>The Banks Will Only Lend Money to Jesus."

Golly, I wouldn't have thought he'd have had much of a FICO score at all. :)

Golly, I wouldn't have thought he'd have had much of a FICO score at all. :)

Probably lives too far away, also.

My husband's commute is 110 miles. We didn't have issues after writing the letter.

Since he is local and is doing the commute
anyway it seems odd the bank would see this
as an issue in his case as he would still
be living in the same area.
IMO it might help if he makes them aware
of that as they seem to not have noticed (how
I don't know) that he already lives
in the area and his commute would not
change.

Logic, I called him "local" compared to everyone else who's been interested in my house. It's a horse farm and I attract a lot of out-of-state buyers who want to get acreage that's cheaper down south. So I called him local but he's a couple of hours from me. I never asked him the location of his job. I now know, since he told me what the bank said, that the actual job is about 100 miles from my house. He was going to commute for a while and get the job transfer later. But now he's trying to get it now because of what the bank said. I IMAGINE the bank would have suggested a letter if that was good enough, wouldn't they? I will mention it to him the next time we talk. But I don't have any confidence that it will make any difference. Did you guys write these letters RECENTLY?

Redcurls and WritersBlock, you're right. Jesus definitely lives too far away and has no FICO score. No one's going to get a loan....

I know that in my area about 70% of sales are cash these days, and I don't think it's because everyone hates the idea of having a mortgage.

I just saw this with a friend who's from this area, moved to Panama for a while and is moving back. She has puh-lenty of money (she goes to the Berkshire Hathaway meeting every year) and wanted to buy an 80K house, got pre-approved, and then got denied at the last minute. In her case she just anted up the cash, but how silly to have to, and that they didn't raise any of these objections during the pre-qual.

She probably could not prove where her cash or her future income was coming from...

>She probably could not prove where her cash or her future income was coming from...

Well, I suppose that's true of anyone then, given that she lives mostly on interest and dividends even in this economy. But if this was such an issue why wasn't it raised in the prequal, so it could be more easily dealt with?

WritersBlock, that also happened with one of my buyers. He was pre-approved for a loan with 20% down and one year's worth of mortgage payments to be put into escrow because he is self-employed and would have to restart his business in this area. He was PRE-APPROVED for this. The bank knew all the details. Later the 20% turned into 40% and my buyer could only come up with 35%. So I lost that one. Why didn't they tell us that from the beginning? Nothing about my buyer's credit changed. And I know the buyer was not lying because I spoke to the loan officer myself. This keeps happening. They tell us one thing, pre-approve my buyer, we put things in motion, and then boom! For some crazy reason they reject everyone I've gotten so far for all different reasons and this is all different banks!

NCRealEstateGuy, are any of your clients getting loans?

WritersBlock, what do you write? I'm a writer.

LITH,
I wrote this to you last nite but it did not post:

I would get with this buyer ASAP and tell him that he needs to call his lender, broker, Credit Union rep, or whoever, and ask if this type of letter will help. Sounds like it has for others.
Let's hope he did not spill the beans to the lender that he wishes to relocate and find a transfer position in the new town. That would raise a RED FlAG to me if I was a lender in a jobless economy.
If he does get approved for the loan, make sure that this loan officer speaks personally with the firm's underwriter who will be handling this loan. Get the word from the underwriter that the buyer is good to go, and that his loan program does not prohibit agricultural zoning. Do not rely on what the processor tells him. Make sure the buyer understands how important this step is.
LITH, I have not run into underwriters who totally call off the deal after a client has applied, unless the buyer does something to affect his/her credit worthiness during the transaction. The underwriters almost always cause delays and headaches for all, by asking for more documentation right up to the day of close.
Here is a contact name and number to a mortgage broker that I have used before to get a real sticky buyers deal to go through. He got the deal to close, where two other lenders failed. His name is Jim Garrison @ 704 488 5020. He may or may not remember me from two years ago. He is a very creative and intelligent guy. He teaches some mortgage elective classes for us agents, and takes the loan process seriously.

LITH,
You never said if you have seen your MLS listing. Is it in the correct MLS of your region?

We are also trying to sell a horse farm on 85 acres and our realtor told us that we will need to find a cash buyer - that the banks just are not lending and the appraisers have done a 180 and are under-appraising everything. This after they were over-appraising everything 5 or 6 years ago. We already have our farm listed at $250K less than we have invested in it and we still can't sell it.

Cymraes, if they are under-appraising, then someone is going to get a real deal on this one because I priced it under the appraisal! Have you looked into your buyers getting a USDA loan?

NCRealEstateGuy, I think that's exactly what happened. I bet he spilled the beans! And I warned him to be careful. I told him about my other buyers. Changing jobs would raise a red flag to me also. After he told me what the bank said, I thought, oh, that's it; it's over. I don't want to say what his details are, what kind of field he's in, but he said he was confident he could get the transfer. We'll see...

You said get the word from the underwriter and not rely on the processor. Can I ask to speak to the underwriter?

I've also warned the buyer not to mess up his credit worthiness by purchasing anything, etc.

Yes, the property is on the correct MLS. I think it may be like someone said, maybe you? that agents may have ready, willing and able buyers, but they have less of them just because there's less of them out there.I get more buyers who aren't quite ready because of where my advertisements are. It's the only thing I can think of.

Oh, thanks so much for Jim Garrison's name! What do we tell him--NCRealEstateGuy recommended you? lol

I would think the bank should take a commuting letter into consideration, but I think it really depends on this guy's job and exactly what he means by "transfer".
It might mean same company, same job, different location. Or same company, lateral transfer to different division. Or new company, but lateral transfer to identical job.
We were lucky to have a loan officer who understood that in my husband's field, the latter is quite common and company transfers are cooperative and part of the business.

You would think C9pilot. I wonder how long ago those letters worked for everyone. The banks are worse than ever! This guy truly was going to commute for a while--until he settled in. Then he was going to deal with that later. But maybe like NC said, he told the bank he was going to transfer. And that probably caused them to question, hmm, just how far is his job from the new house?

It's the same company, same job, different location.

I hate to think what would happen if I needed to get a mortgage for my new place. We're self-employed. We're moving to a whole new state and will have to restart business all over again but it doesn't worry us about work because the nature of being self-employed means you have to get new business constantly. When we finish a job, we have to find a new one. I guess you could say we keep getting unemployed and then employed again. What a horror story that would be if I needed a mortgage!

Wow, these are crazy stories. Are banks in some evil scheme to own whole towns of abandoned properties as people walk away from the mortgages? Cuz when that story hits 60 minutes and stays in the news like it has you know more and more people are going to start doing it.

I think they're just over-compensating because they made terrible decisions in the past and they'd rather just keep all the money we lent them AND take people's houses they made bad loans on. This way they've got it all. They're the kings!

Other lenders are doing the same thing. I have excellent credit and very little debt, have never been late on a bill, and when we bought a new truck last year, it wasn't until we had the truck for a about a month and had already made our first payment to the company that gave us the loan, that we got a letter from, I'm not sure who, the dealer or the loan companies they use, that we found out two or three other creditors rejected us before we got the loan. We had no idea and were flabbergasted. And furious. One of the lenders was Ford Credit who we paid off two loans with and were never late once. Actually paid them off early. And they rejected us! I'm going to remember this. I'm not giving any of those companies my business and I'm determined not to use credit cards anymore.

>>Are banks in some evil scheme to own whole towns of abandoned properties as people walk away from the mortgages? >>

>>I'm going to remember this. I'm not giving any of those companies my business and I'm determined not to use credit cards anymore. >>

This 'us against them' idea is interesting....but flawed. Credit is being restricted by a number of factors out of the control of financial institutions, from the new laws passed by Congress to the recent downgrade of US credit-worthiness, which affects the Treasuries held as cash reserves on ALL loans made by companies.

In order to make a loan of any kind, cash reserves must be set aside in proportion. The bigger the loan, the bigger the reserve. These funds can't be used for ANYTHING else. They must be liquid, and up until now Treasuries are the accepted instrument. With the downgrade, regulators are weighing whether to require a larger cash reserve amount.

Uncertainty is the enemy of business. If a bank can't be certain they're holding enough reserves for new loans, they'll be reluctant to make them, or try to delay the process in the hopes that regulatory clarity will come sooner rather than later.

When the media throws around phrases like "restricting credit", it's helpful to understand what that means both from the business end and how it affects the consumer. The collapse of the CLO market means that banks are finding it difficult/expensive to reinsure the risk - so any loans they make, they keep...which means they need sufficient capital to keep lending new loans. If they fear being judged by regulators and Wall St. as having insufficient capital, they stop lending - it's as simple as that.

Taking it personally doesn't hurt them, and doesn't help you.

Then we shouldn't have lent them our money so that they could keep lending. I've brought them excellent, qualified buyers and every time they drum up some crazy reason to say no. They shouldn't have taken our money if they can't do what they promised. They're not performing!

I don't need their help. I can live without credit.

LITH,
All of the funds given to the banks from the government have been repayed... with 6% interest. It was more of a short term loan, as opposed to anything else.
You know as well as the banks, that your 4 buyers had lending issues... one had NO JOB, one had to sell his own home first to meet the debt to income ratio, one lender did not even do agricultural loans, and this latest buyer is trying to purchase a second home and wants to switch jobs. If you bring the lender a qualified buyer, they will be happy to lend money to them.
Is the latest buyer willing to write a note to the lender? If he is not, then he has more issues than we even know about.

"I've brought them excellent, qualified buyers and every time they drum up some crazy reason to say no."

Ummm... that is NOT the case at all!
QUALIFIED buyers get loans.
Yours obviously had problems....

"All of the funds given to the banks from the government have been repayed."

True - but only in the narrowest of senses. The direct loans have been repaid. The banks did that as quick as possible to avoid the regulations that came with the loans.

We still have hundreds of billions of taxpayer money tied up in the underlying securities though. The taxpayer is serving as a backstop to buy up MANY loans and theoretically keep the lending markets open. That isn't a direct loan, but it is a huge subsidy to the big lenders. We are basically providing price support to the entire industry. That is good for their profits but a horrible deal for taxpayers.

Bill,
we agree that it is a mess all the way around. Do people realize how many true bailouts that Fannie and Freddie have had since the big one? The latest one was just days ago...

I'll echo what the others have said. You're viewing your situation through an extreme pair of rose colored glasses. You haven't had any buyers at all. You've had lookie lous who don't even know how to make a real offer because they don't have sense enough to know their own financials and only dream that they should be able to get a loan. If you had a realtor to help you with the process and act as a buffer for you, you wouldn't have gotten all excited about these people at all because she would have warned you of the issues that they would probably face. And at least that would have saved you some emotional grief! You are so close to the process that every single thing sends you yo yo-ing.

I think it's time for you to have some local REAs do a pricing comparison for you of the sold properties and pick one of those to help you through this. You need some distance. When you have a property with a marginal buying pool, you need all the help you can get. Especially in a buyer's market. And being on your local MLS doesn't seem to have helped, right? You're already paying for minimal help, so you can get a lot more help with just a little more expense.

"I don't need their help."

Sorry, but you do. Somebody will need a mortgage to buy your house. Cash buyers are very scarce.

I understand why you want to do a FSBO, it saves money. But it is more stressful. You may want to try what we did. Every time someone called about the house, I told them they should get a buyer's agent for their best interest. This was mainly because it was a vacation home 5 hours away so I couldn't "show it". But now I realize I would have gotten worn out if I showed the house to every prospective buyer, and was let down when I realized they couldn't really buy it.

Hopefully now that you are on the MLS, a RE Agent will bring you a qualified buyer.

I haven't gotten one single call from an agent since I've been on the MLS but I've gotten a number from my own advertisements and have two showings coming up. My problem is not because I don't have a real estate agent. This is not the first time that I've sold a home by owner. It's the 5th time. All the other times I've sold them almost immediately and for close to or for the full asking price. The only thing that's different now is the banks.

No GreenDesigns, I did not have looky-lous. I have been under contract with qualified buyers and in fact one of them was declined two days before closing. The bank must have been pretty dumb if they let it go that far and paid for an appraisal, etc. Well, they were dumb actually. They knew from the beginning it was a horse farm and that's what they rejected it for.

NCRealEstateGuy, you've got it wrong. My latest buyer is not buying a second home and he did not want to change jobs. The bank is telling him to transfer because they think his commute is too long. The other buyer had a job. He was self-employed. Just like you. Just like me. There was no problem with a debt-to-loan ratio with anyone. The bank initially told us the buyer needed 20% down with one year's worth of mortgage payments in escrow because of being self-employed and later changed it to 40%. All of my buyers had excellent credit and debt-to-loan ratio. If you guys think that sounds like banks willingly giving loans to qualified buyers, we must be on different planets. I think you just want to argue with me and tell me how wrong I am for selling by-owner and how all my problems can be solved by hiring one of you.

On your current buyer... is he gonna take the 5 minutes out of his day to write the letter of explanation to the lender stating why he needs to commute the 100 miles? If not, then there is more to his story, as usual.
On the previous buyer... he was self employed, you are correct, but he was in the position of starting up a new business, was he not. If so, then that is considered unemployed. And, given the fact that 80% of small bussiness start ups fail, the bank was right in denying him the loan.
Believe me, the banks are loaning money. I see it done every day.
I have never once suggested you hire a Realtor; in fact I have even sent you a prospect w/o even asking for a signed fee agreement. I am a do - it - yourselfer myself. I could care less if someone tries to sell thier home themselves. I even installed my own hardwood floors in my current home!

"The only thing that's different now is the banks. "

And the market.

Banks are lending money. They have tightened their standards though and are in full CYA mode. After years of handing out loans like candy, they have over-corrected and put very rigid guidelines in place. They want plain vanilla loans to plain vanilla borrowers on plain vanilla properties. You don't have a plain vanilla property and your potential buyers haven't been plain vanilla either.

BTW - when you posted about your original "buyer", I believe multiple people told you that lenders would require significantly more than 20%. You found a lender whose employee told you what you wanted to hear, but when it came to actual closing time, the loan wasn't approved. I'm sure that was disappointing, but it was predictable.

Ultimately, if you want to sell your home, you are going to need a buyer who has the cash or can meet current underwriting standards. It doesn't do you any good to sit around blaming the banks. The rules have changed and you need to adapt your thinking accordingly.

I don't personally know of anyone who doesn't "need" credit. Unless they've used it in the past to build up enough liquid assets that they no longer use it or are criminals who are forced to do everything on a full cash basis, everyone who is not wealthy uses credit. I'll bet that you even have a house note? A car note? An emergency charge card? As with anything, credit is a tool. It serves those who use it wisely and burns those who do not. Not everyone is cut out to be homeowners, and that's why banks look at many things on a credit report in order to be able to judge if they'll get their money back if loan default happens. If the risk is higher than the money they'll earn on the note, they pass on it. Simple. It's not some vast conspiracy to choke the housing market down to zero. A person with a long term steady job with a single company who lives in the community and has saved their money will still get a loan. Period. Anyone who doesn't fit that description is a questionable prospect. Any person who is selling a home should know this.

Just because you've received offers, doesn't mean that they were "buyers". I can offer a museum 1 Billion for an original Van Gough , but that doesn't make me a buyer. It makes me a deluded idiot. No museum would even talk with me without proof that I had 1 billion or had lined up credit partners. I'm afraid you've been encouraging the deluded idiots by accepting contracts from them that they cannot fulfill. That does nothing but frustrate you and give you a questionable reputation among local financial institutions and your property a jinx reputation among realtors.

Take a deep breath and stand back and gain some distance. What is the harm of interviewing local realtors for their opinions on your pricing and marketing and how they would approach selling your home? At the worst you gain some outside perspective and maybe some clues as to why you're not receiving legitimate offers. At the best, one of them thrills you with their skills and you choose them and they sell your home. It's a win/win situation.

BTW, despite being a center for economic distress and a sky high bankruptcy rate, banks are still lending money to qualified buyers here. Stress qualified. The house 2 streets over was just bought by a local family who owns a local car wash and saved for 15 years for a substantial down payment. They brought all the right ingredients to the table. All you have to do is to find a local buyer like them, or a distance buyer who is all cash. Don't give up. Just reevaluate and regroup.

LIYH,
Did you contact the mortgage broker whom I referred to you? These are the types of scenarios that he deals with well.

I'm willing to bet that the buyers are getting pre-approved, then the bank is looking at the property and saying "These people are going to buy this, quit their jobs and run a horse boarding operation- not with our money!".

I think one of the "buyers" didn't get the loan because the agriculture zoning on the property. Nothing related to the buyer not having a good local job or good credit.

I think another buyer had a contingency to sell his home but his home sale fell through when his buyer found out about a flood zone. (not 100% about this one, might have been related to another post). In this case, you can't blame the banks at all. This is simply one of the risks you take when there is a home sale contingency.

Question to LITH:
Did the current "buyer" get his transfer? Did the current buyer write a letter to the lender? Are you still under contract with this person or did they go away?

"The bank must have been pretty dumb if they let it go that far and paid for an appraisal, etc."

The bank probably didn't pay for the appraisal. They usually charge the borrower the appraisal fee up front.

If your problem is getting a bank to lend money to qualified buyers, then have you considered carrying the note yourself?

Alrighty, let me see if I can answer you guys in order.

NCRealEstateGuy, I gave the buyer all the information you gave me and thank you for that. I am not sure what he's doing with it. I got scolded on here before for trying to help my buyers get a loan. Trying to hold their hands and being too much in their business. So I didn't ask. We are not under contract yet. He called me today to let me know things are progressing.

Sweet tea, he applied for the transfer and is waiting to hear. Don't know if he asked his bank about the letter. I suggested it.

Yes Bill, the difference is the banks AND the market. Yes, multiple people told me the banks would want more than 20% but that was not for my original buyer. That was for my second buyer. After HE was rejected. After I lost the original buyer, I did what you're supposed to do and I called banks and asked them what they required. I told them I was attracting a lot of out of state people and at least one of them was self employed. They told me what he'd need. They told him what he needed. He got pre-approved. We went under contract. Later what the bank said he needed changed. That's why I lost him. It really had nothing to do with his house NC when it comes down to it. He was not coming out with as much money as he originally expected because of the flood insurance issue with his house. But at first that wasn't a problem. It wasn't a problem until the bank changed its criteria from him needing 20% down and one year's worth of mortgage payments in escrow to 40% and one year's worth of escrow payments, that it became a problem. Now he was short--he could only come up with 35%. The bank knew his whole situation being self-employed and relocating from the start. That was the purpose of the mortgage payments going into escrow. He was not starting a different business, just relocating his same business. But they knew all that. That's the point. We told them. Who knew you couldn't count on what the bank employee says? Now I know. And that's the point of this board. Not to constantly be picked on for being a for-sale-by-owner. Not saying that is specifically you NC. And what do you mean you put your own hardwood flooring in? How long do you think that's going to last? Ha!

Funny you should say that live_wire_oak, because no, I don't have a note on my house. I paid for it with cash. All my vehicles except one were either paid for with cash or paid off early. Credit cards paid in full monthly. Yes, you're right, credit is a tool and I use it wisely. I will be paying off my only truck loan asap. I'm the customer. I'm a good customer. I don't really NEED them. I guess if you want to split hairs some buyers might need them. But I don't even really NEED to sell this house.

I received more than offers. We were under contract. Why does the word "buyers" bother everyone so much? Okay, let's call them "pre-buyers,"--they're more than lookers, they're more than interested, they're more than people you are negotiating with--you are out of attorney review, you are under contract, but you haven't closed yet. So how about "pre-buyers?"

No harm in interviewing realtors because that's what I did before I even put it on the market. There is nothing wrong with my price or my marketing. In fact, I just saw the agent who gave me comps, an expert in the area who specializes in horse property and she could not believe the action I've had on this place. I've been under contract three times, once for the full asking price, twice for close to it ($3,000. under) and I have a fourth one cooking. All in about eight months. I hate sounding like I'm bragging but some of you keep on insinuating that I am doing something wrong because I'm a FSBO. My problem is the banks giving someone a mortgage! I know this is not a vanilla kind of house and I know that's all they're giving out loans for--vanilla houses being bought by vanilla buyers. That's what I'm saying! That's what this post is all about! How the banks are over-correcting and making it almost impossible to get loans unless they are absolutely perfect and there's no risk whatsoever involved! And all I wanted to do was vent about how hard it is nowadays and maybe get some board buddies to shake their heads and say, "I know, it's a nightmare out there."

Chrisdoc, I swear I have gotten at least two dozen people asking me if I'll hold a mortgage or rent with option to buy. More evidence people can't get loans. I can't because I'm using the money for my next place. And Live_Wire, the banks can go jump off a bridge because even though I could afford a mortgage, I'm not getting one.

Is it possible you are trying the wrong type of lenders? If it is a horse farm, why not look for a local bank that specializes in that kind of lending? Those types of banks are still out there and, most are doing pretty well. I'm from an agricultural area and we still have many local or small regional banks with large ag lending portfolios.

I think if you want to use properly terminology you should say instead of sold it 4 times, under contract 4 times. Just think of them as contracts - and unless you had a contract then they were just potential buyers.

I hope you'll be able to get something worked out soon. Trying to buy rural property has never been as easy as a regular city neighborhood even when mortgages were done left and right to less than qualified buyers. Utilizing local banks has often been the only option for those along with banks doing agricultural loans. Especially harder when it what would be considered a hobby farm as it falls somewhere in between a regular property and a farm. Been there done that during the good real estate times. Only banks that were local were of any help. However, we never closed on that property after they change their mind and weren't willing to release the mineral rights to us.

Just note we were well qualified with highest credit scores, plenty of cash reserves and down payment and the regular banks were not interested due to the nature of the property. We had no interest in operating it as a farm, we just wanted the land and to use the barns for workshops and garages.

One of the banks was Farm Credit. But I should probably dig around for more. Two properties ago I bought a 110 acre farm in Oklahoma and financed it through Wells Fargo. One property ago I bought a 53 acre farm, with a hundred-year-old farmhouse to boot, also financed through a major lender. This is a simple 10 1/2 acre farm in an area that is all similar farms. But it's not a farm business. You're right, it's one of those in-between places. Ah, there's not much I can do except wait. Maybe I'll get a new horse. That'll help!