Never-ending Closing

I must say, I grow weary of writing so many posts about how we still have not closed on the house. The latest news behind the scenes has to do with the letters we submitted (see the post I wrote about it last week) about why we have chosen a house in a flood zone. First off, it is ridiculous. We feel as if they wonder whether our intention was to go out and find a house in the flood zone. Second, the USDA backed loan has one stipulation about a house in the flood zone: the first floor must be above the flood zone. The first floor of our house is well above the flood zone. But we understand, they want to cover all their bases, so to speak. Well, now that they have read our letters, they insist on a letter from our real estate agent "stating the number of other properties the [she showed us] and why those did not suit [us]." Our mortgage broker's reaction to this? "I have never had this request before[,] so it is a new one on me. The lender does not even know of this request." UGH!