Where is the Martini Factor? We missed our regularly scheduled episode due to a small problem with Homebanc. They closed.

When Kevin lands on his feet, we look forward to a summary of his thoughts surrounding the current state of mortgage finance, and how it can affect buyers, sellers, and everyone else in the industry.

Meanwhile, I want to relay a story of how Homebanc closing caused problems for a client of mine, and the amazing outcome.

A local real estate investor that we have worked with in the past had a closing for a rental property near NCSU – scheduled for last Friday. On the prior Tuesday, Kevin informed me of the bad news. By Friday, despite a valiant attempt to get something worked out with Countrywide, he wasn’t going to be able to get a loan closed.

As it turned out, the mother of the seller works for BB&T. She referred me to a co-worker and with every single person pulling out all the stops, the home closed escrow Monday evening at 4:30PM. That’s right – 1 business day. Big props to Cathy Ingram at BB&T in Cary, and Kevin for facilitating getting the paperwork over first thing Monday morning. Unbelievable.

To make it an even more amazing story, my client was scheduled for a 2 week vacation in Puerto Rico – and the plane left RDU (with him on board) this Tuesday morning at 9:30AM.

Hey Matt, you better have a Pina Colada for me!