When John and Rachel Lewis set out to purchase their dream home in 2022, they were filled with excitement at the prospect of settling on an idyllic 80 sprawling acres in Brown County, Indiana. They were quickly met with disappointment, though, as they struggled to find financing for the large property.
“The bank we were initially working with was going to force us to parcel off our home from the rest of the property,” explained Rachel. “This meant we were going to have to seek out two separate streams of finance—one for five acres and the house itself and another for the remaining 75 acres.”
Traditional lending institutions don’t typically have the risk appetite to hold larger acreage properties or vacant land as collateral, so John and Rachel were faced with incurring not only a survey fee, but with potentially paying two sets of closing costs to bring their dream to life. Fortunately, a friend referred Rachel and John to a loan officer at Rural 1st, who presented them with alternatives to help find a solution that would meet their unique needs.
“After talking through the options with John and Rachel, we decided the best course of action would be to bundle the land and home into a single loan,” recalled Connor Welch, the Lewis’s Rural 1st loan officer. “Because we offer a variety of flexible loan options, we were able to finance them with no issue.”
Rural 1st helps customers find solutions as unique as their situation. By working with a lender in their community that truly understands the reality of home buying in a rural area, John and Rachel were able to see their dream through to fruition.
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