By Navar Watson

It all began with three bad construction loans.

Last year, a builder working with 1st Signature Lending on three of its construction loans went out of business. Vic Vance, COO of the lending company, decided to build the homes anyway. Today, the families live in their homes, lien-free.

Then, Vance had an idea – what if he “married” building with lending? This led to the creation of Signature Series Homes, an independent building company working closely with 1st Signature lenders and their clients.

“We process your loan, we underwrite your loan, we close your loan, we fund your loan,” Vance said. “It’s all under our roof … The buck stops here.”

Signatures Series Homes introduces a team of experienced design specialists. Vance, who worked 16 years in the building industry, is CEO of company.

Normally, when a person is building a home, there’s a miscommunication between the builders of the house and the bank lending them money, Vance said. The builder doesn’t know what the lender wants, and the lender doesn’t know how their money’s being used. With 1st Signature Lending and Signature Series Homes, the lender and the builder collaborate, working with the same clients to build their “dream home.”

“We’re, in essence, watching our own back,” Vance said. “We’ve got the whole viewpoint of the whole thing.”

Vance said banks break a lot of people’s hearts, denying loans due to low credit scores or demanding high down payments to build a home.

Rather than requiring a 20 percent down payment for a construction loan, 1st Signature allows its borrowers to build a home with little money down, like 3.5 percent, depending on the type of loan the borrower qualifies for.

Additionally, if the borrower is working with a realtor, the realtor is paid at the closing of the selected lot – not once the house is finished. There is no second closing on the house, Vance said. The borrowers already own their home and move it once it’s built.

“We designed our loan as it will be, not as it is,” Vance said. “When you look through the loan, you see the house.”

1st Signature’s construction-to-permanent loan is eligible anywhere in Indiana, though Signature Series Homes builds only in the metropolitan area. Their offices are at 54 N. Ninth St. on the downtown square.

Since February, the two companies have started about eight projects together.

“We’re still warring it out,” Vance said. “We want to develop and give to people the best possible service we can … as well as a concept like none other.”