Okay, more info for those who may find themselves in my shoes one day. I wanted to confirm our potential appraiser is qualified, so I returned to the handbook (HB-1-3550 ch. 5) and found this:
When using a contract appraiser, the Agency will contract with qualified appraisers that are active on the Appraisal Subcommittee website (www.asc.gov).
I went to the website, put in his info, hit enter, & held my breath. He's in there & active! Maybe this will work afterall!
Almost there!
@Anonymous wrote:I wish I had found out a month ago that the USDA will allow you to hire your own USDA-approved appraiser. If we wanted to wait for the USDA to schedule it, they would pay, but since the guy I found isn't on the list of appraisers this office uses, we have to hire him ourselves. But doesn't the USDA get that money back from us through closing costs anyway if they pay for the appraisal? What's the point of making us wait for an entire month going BONKERS?!
We're 5 months into this process & I was also just told today that there is one man in the entire state of Virginia that can sign off on closing homes. They don't know how busy he is, so we have to wait & see what he says about a closing date after the appraisal, I guess. The good news is the sellers are fantastic people & were planning to live with in-laws until moving into their new construction at the end of June, so at least they'll be benefitting from this delay. =D
...USDA = US Dept of Agriculture = fed govt = bureaucrats = absolutely no point necessary, they'll get to you when THEY are ready ...move along, nothing new here 
@Lemmus wrote:
...USDA = US Dept of Agriculture = fed govt = bureaucrats = absolutely no point necessary, they'll get to you when THEY are ready ...move along, nothing new here
Yep. And with that in mind, we rented a 10' by 30' storage unit. It's actually our second because the first has been holding half our stuff since we moved into this apartment last spring. Anyway, we'll begin loading it tomorrow & if we don't close by the end of the month, we'll get a hotel or something until closing. If we end up able to close before then, it's only $150 for the unit, so no big loss. The peace of mind we feel from having a place to put our stuff is worth that much.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Jeez is that a dumb scenario. I realize virginia is not as big as texas or wyoming, but 1 appraiser? Good luck. Glad I just paid my rent where I am thru july to limit any problems.
Not one appraiser-- one closing agent. The office has two appraisers on their list to use & both are booked solid. We could stay in our apartment into July, but the landlord won't prorate for us, so if we pay July's rent, we won't get any money back if we close on July 2nd. We don't like that option & would rather just leave.
I'd do that too in that situation. I'm pretty much not going to turn in my own 30 days until CTC and clear title... looked around at a flop house and short term rentals are all moer expensive than living here if this house buying expedition goes back to indeterninate time.