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The FHA has a new requirement that an engineer provide a survey report before HUD will ok a mortgage. Does anyone know how to find such an engineer in central Maine?
The FHA has a new requirement that an engineer provide a survey report before HUD will ok a mortgage. Does anyone know how to find such an engineer in central Maine?
CES is a big engineering firm, but they might be able to lend an opinion just the same.
Old time Mainers had two wells, one for the house and one for the barn. From the time they were able to lift a bucket, children were told to never use the barn bucket in the house well and vice vera. Those old timers knew what worked.
I have seen a lot of homes sold with dug wells and have never heard of a bank refusing a loan because a home had a dug well.
I know a lot of engineers since my family is full of them. I don't know of any engineer who would sign off on a dug well or certify it in any way other than a passing water potability test. This boondoggle is going to be worse than the vernal pool rule.
I have seen a lot of homes sold with dug wells and have never heard of a bank refusing a loan because a home had a dug well.
Dug wells are prohibited by loans backed by FHA unless an exception is made as the OP has mentioned. This is from the FHA website:
Properties served by dug wells are unacceptable unless a complete survey
conducted by an engineer is delivered to the lender. To be considered
acceptable, the engineer’s survey must include these items:
i. A health report with no qualifications
ii. A pump test indicating a flow of at least 3-5 gallons per minute
supply for an existing well, and 5 gallons per minute for a new
well.
iii. No indication of exposure to environmental contamination,
mechanical chlorination or anything else that adversely affects
health and safety
Most buyers aren't willing to wait for a seller to perform this exercise and elect to move on to a house with a drilled well or public water. Agents who list properties with dug wells should share this information with their clients before putting the house on the market.
This is news to me. I had never heard of it before. How long has this been in effect?
It reminds me of the legislator a few terms back who put in a bill that any house sold in Maine had to have a chimney inspection by a certified chimney inspector using a video camera that is lowered down the chimney. It was all for the safety of homebuyers.
It turns out that the only person in Maine with such certification and equipment was the legislator's brother-in-law. The bill was promptly withdrawn.
This is news to me. I had never heard of it before. How long has this been in effect?
It reminds me of the legislator a few terms back who put in a bill that any house sold in Maine had to have a chimney inspection by a certified chimney inspector using a video camera that is lowered down the chimney. It was all for the safety of homebuyers.
It turns out that the only person in Maine with such certification and equipment was the legislator's brother-in-law. The bill was promptly withdrawn.
After the mortgage meltdown of 2007, we started looking at FHA again as it is the only option for many who don't have a large down payment. As long as I've been working with FHA guaranteed loans, this rule has been in effect. When buyers do a little bit of research about dug vs. drilled wells, they tend to move away from the dug wells.
My dad is a dowser and dug many a well with his backhoe including my first well which never went dry and produced excellent, and safe water. Only three tiles deep, too.
I was replacing the foot valve at the bottom of a dug well and standing on an aluminum ladder when I heard a clap of thunder. I came up that ladder like a rocket taking off. Talk about a potential lightning rod!
Whew! I waited for blue sky before finishing that job.
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