I get where you’re coming from—templates are a lifesaver until they aren’t. Still, having a checklist as a starting point is way better than reinventing the wheel every time. I’ve had lenders ask for the weirdest stuff out of nowhere (once it was a hand-drawn map to the wellhead…), so I always keep my template but double-check with the loan officer before I get too comfortable. Your system sounds solid, just gotta stay on your toes with these rural deals.
I get why people love templates, but honestly, I’ve had them trip me up more than once. Like, I followed my “standard” checklist for a property last year and left out a tiny thing—proof of road maintenance for a private lane. Ended up costing me a week because the lender wouldn’t budge until I tracked it down. Sometimes I feel like these checklists give me a false sense of security, especially with rural stuff where every deal is just... different.
Lately, I’ve been leaning more on just having a running doc with weird requests from past deals. It’s not as neat as a template, but at least I can see what’s actually come up before. Still use the loan officer as my reality check though—those curveballs never really stop coming. Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes too much structure slows me down instead of speeding things up.
Templates are like those IKEA instructions—great until you realize your bookshelf is missing a screw and now it’s wobbly forever. I’ve had the same thing happen with rural properties, especially when the lender suddenly cares about something random like “shared well agreements” or wants to see a 1970s septic permit that probably never existed. Your running doc idea actually sounds way more useful than a one-size-fits-all checklist, honestly.
I still keep a template for the basics, but I’m always scribbling notes in the margins or adding sticky notes (digital and actual ones... my desk is chaos). Sometimes I wonder if there’s a magic bullet for keeping track of all these oddball requests, or if it’s just part of the rural loan circus. Ever had a lender ask for something so weird you had to Google what it even was?
Sometimes I wonder if there’s a magic bullet for keeping track of all these oddball requests, or if it’s just part of the rural loan circus.
Honestly, I think it’s just part of the circus. I’ve tried everything—color-coded spreadsheets, apps, even voice memos when I’m driving between properties. Still, something always pops up that I didn’t see coming. Last year, a lender asked for a “soil percolation test from the original build date.” The house was built in 1968. I had to Google what that even meant and then spent two days tracking down a county clerk who’d never heard of it either.
I do keep a basic checklist, but like you said, it’s more like a starting point than an actual solution. The running doc idea is solid, though. I’ve started using OneNote for this—just dump every weird request in there with the property address and lender name. Not perfect, but at least I can search for stuff later instead of digging through sticky notes.
If there’s a magic bullet, I haven’t found it yet. Maybe the real trick is just being ready for anything and not getting too stressed when the next curveball comes your way.
- Totally get what you mean about the “circus.” I’ve had lenders ask for stuff that sounds made up, like a “well yield test from the last 12 months” on a property where the well’s been capped since the ‘90s.
- I keep a running doc too, but honestly, it’s more like a graveyard of weird requests than an actual system.
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That’s probably the best advice I’ve heard in this whole process.“Maybe the real trick is just being ready for anything and not getting too stressed when the next curveball comes your way.”
One thing I’ve started doing is asking up front for a full list of possible docs—even if they say “we’ll let you know as we go.” Sometimes it helps, sometimes it just means I get a longer list of things to chase down. Has anyone actually gotten a lender to stick to their original checklist? Or is that just wishful thinking?