when do I give dealer the title?

[InfraRedZX3]

I closed on my loan and put a $5500 deposit on my new home. I'm not sure when the home will be delivered, but I do know the entire process (building the home, pouring the foundation, installing septic, etc) will take at least 3 months. The dealer is taking my old home as a trade-in, and is asking for my title now. Is it customary to hand over the title on the trade-in at this point?

[rmurray]

Yes...Since you have closed the loan..this is part of your required downpayment..Should be given over now...You might ask him to pay your insurance costs for the next 3 months..

By the way...3 months sounds way too long...rates are low today..encourage him to move along as fast as possible to ensure you take advantage of the very low rate today..

[InfraRedZX3]

>>3 months sounds way too long

[rmurray]

Geez...you must be moving to backwoods USA...Try talking to the mayor or city administrator..They can step in in these small towns...
By the way...permits could have and should have been aquired prior to the closing..so constuction could start the very next day...Sounds like you have a very inexperienced dealer...

Good Luck

[InfraRedZX3]

Maybe they do things differently around here...? One of the documents I have to provide a copy of when I apply for my building permit is the deed that shows I am the new owner of the property. Of course, I did not get that until the day of the closing.

So, I finally got to talk to the zoning inspector. It's "funny" how he tells me he can't issue me a building permit until AFTER I get my septic permit (or a letter from the health dept stating I applied for the permit), when the sales rep and construction foreman at the dealership said I would have to purchase a building permit BEFORE the county would issue me the septic permit. I had asked if I could get a septic permit first, and was told I could not. I spent an entire week doing absolutely nothing (while the zoning guy was unavailable) when I could have applied for AND received my septic permit. I'm dumb and inexperienced when it comes to the fine art of getting a permit for one thing or another. I have to go by what the experts here tell me, and so far it's an awful lot of conflicting information....

[Peggy]

This is the kind of thing that burns me up! I work in the building department of a small town and the way it is here - you DO have to have your septic permit before you can be issued a building permit, but - this is the part that makes me furious - these damn bureaucrats think nothing of being "unavailable" for a week or so while tax-payers are putting their lives on hold. I see this every day! There's absolutely NO CONCERN for the residents/tax-payers who are paying us parasites.

Let me tell you what you should've done - you march straight up to the mayor's office, or the county commissioner - and start raising hell! I've seen it get results over and over again. You have to light a fire under the bureaucrats who are too stupid to realize that they're just obstacles in the way of progress. They spend all their time in meetings, meetings, meetings, or going to seminars, or just taking time off and couldn't care less about you and your life's plans.

I'm somewhat unpopular in my office because of my views and my insistence that we do everything we can to make the process as easy as possible for people. I've stated over and over that the contractors are NOT our adversaries, that they're the ones fueling the economy - NOT US! - that they are actually PRODUCING something - NOT US - and that we are public SERVANTS! Emphasis on the word "servant."

But the foot-dragging indifference continues - mainly because most people will not raise hell - they take the attitude (and I know because they've told me) - "I don't want to make him mad because I'll be building more houses here in the future." Folks - STOP BEING SO SUBMISSIVE ! Everybody has a boss! If Billy Bureaucrat is giving you the run-around, go higher - or better yet - go straight to the top! It's YOUR tax money paying these turkeys. Demand that they do their job!

Yours for the America we used to have,
Peggy

[rmurray]

GO FOR IT GIRL...

In one of our counties..you have to go to 7 different offices...some just accross the hall...but first you must travel to the step inbetween's office 15 miles away...then come back to finish the process..

At every step the consumer MUST fill out paperwork with exactly the same info..over.over.over.over...No one must have ever heard of networked computers in government...

If private industry worked this way..there would be no stock market to complain about..because there would be no profit to give to the shareholders...

[Peggy]

You're absolutely right, and that's the problem! The "consumer" (I call them "victims") in this case can't threaten to take his business elsewhere. I can't imagine walking into Wal-mart and wanting to buy an item but having to wait for a week because the one person who could handle it is on vacation - yet this is the way the government operates. But as already mentioned, the discouraging thing about this situation is the submissive nature of most of our victims. Very, very few get aggressive and take the problem higher - but those who do get results. Those who do are usually older - in their 60's or beyond. This new generation of Americans is pretty wimpy.

One day an older gentlemen (in his late 70's) wearing bib overalls came in to get a permit to put a shed on his property behind his house. His application was turned down for some reason - but he was not deterred. He told everybody in a very gruff voice - I"m gonna build MY shed on MY property and I DARE anybody to tell me I can't. And if you come on my property without permission, I'll have you arrested."

I thought he cut a very manly figure as he strode out of our office. "There goes a great American," I commented and everybody thought I was joking. Their reaction actually brought tears of frustration to my eyes because I realized that the World War II generation is dying out and they are the last great Americans. We've become a country of wimps (or a "nation of sheep" as somebody said - who WAS that?) and people like me are viewed as eccentric or even dangerous.

It's lonely at the bottom...................................

#

[Peggy]

I forgot to mention that - to my knowledge - nobody ever went after this elderly gentleman.

Bureaucrats are basically cowards. They gang up in groups or committees to do their dirty deeds, but when they come up against a fighting force, they scurry off to their cubicles to tremble in private.

#

[Lynne S]

Our county had several steps
flood/water something
zoning permit
septic permit
well permit
construction authorization permit (which involved reassessnig the septic and well situation, something I found terribly funny since only a week had passed..what coulda changed!!!
We did all this prior to close.
Then we got the building pemrit which required all the three permits from before and several more smaller steps (and about $1700 worth of money-impact fee for the schools) This was a mess as the dealer wasn't liscensed in that county to set modulars and a bond took 3 weeks...arrrrr
Though all of this as overwhleming at time, esp with little help from the dealer, I will say that in our experience, the one group of people behind us 100% was these people. I felt alot better about my home knowing they had been out to inspect it, any complaints or issues they balked at were issues that in the end helped US.
I have no doubt, things vary from place to place and there are many bad stories, I'm just pleased to report that in my case, I fellt the res tape worked in my favor...