Good Instincts

I always thought of my house as a blank canvas; one where I could experiment with color and style.  Some of my friends marveled at my bravery for painting the walls other than the white they came in, saying that they were so unsure of themselves they would never try it.  One memorable wall treatment involved paint, stain, water, and plastic grocery bags.  I loved that room, and felt a little sad when I finally painted over it when remodeling.

When I remodeled my kitchen in Texas, I obsessed over the details before I ever called the contractor.  I knew in my head exactly what color, style, and grain I wanted in my cabinets, where I wanted shelves as opposed to cabinets, and even designed a wine rack for that ackward space over the fridge.

I remain proud of my kitchen to this day.  The contractor told me that his job was relatively easy - he just had to do what I told him to do!

So now, I've put in an offer on 5 acres of land in Minnesota, and I'm working with a builder.  He's one of those guys that know that they have no design sense, so there's not a lot of judgement at my choices (other than "that's going to be expensive").  Turns out I can't afford a true Craftsman home, but I'm going to get as close as I can.

Did I mention that I'm about to buy 5 acres?  Turns out not being able to have chickens on the 2 acres I looked at for a year was a good thing.  Just down the road there's a 5-acre parcel that's zoned agricultural and is heavily wooded.  They've even cleared a spot for a home and started a driveway.  My contractor, after looking at it, called me all excited and told me that I must jump on it - it's a special piece of property.  After negotiating a bit, the seller has verbally agreed to a price - whoo hoo!

I've gone to two banks for the construction loan.  My problem is that my home in Texas is still on the market, and I can't come up with the 20% down payment until it sells.  The first bank said to give it awhile, and if it doesn't sell, perhaps I could take out a home equity loan.  I started adding up the monthly payments for a mortgage, 2nd mortgage, and construction loan in my head and mentally shouted "EEK"!

So I went to another bank, and told her my situation.  She very calmly said that they could roll the remaining principle of my Texas home into the construction loan in addition to the property.  Sounding too good to be true, I asked about the interest rate.  Well, a construction loan has a higher interest rate (5%), but you only pay interest for the amount used, and at the end, it converts into a real mortgage at a much lower rate.  My mortgage in Texas is 5.75%, so that's a good deal.

Then the kicker.  "How much cash do I need to come up with to make this work?", I said.

She looked surprised, looked down at her figures, then looked back up at me.  "Nothing", she said.

"But you don't know me, you haven't looked at my credit - how can you say that?"

"Well, you'd have to qualify, of course."

"My credit rating is 814, and I was told by your competition that I would qualify for xxx".

"You qualify".

You gotta love a small town bank!

So now I'm running around the region to pick out tile, flooring, cabinets, countertops, plumbing, etc. in order to give to the bank for the construction loan.  I spent quality time at the tile and flooring place yesterday afternoon, where a designer was on hand to assist me.

I had told her on the phone that I would be easy - I knew exactly what I wanted.  I could tell that she didn't really believe me, but once I started to explain my vision to her, she got very excited.  At the end, she said that I could work there, and that I was the easiest client she'd ever had.

Here's an idea of what my bathroom is going to look like:



I can't wait to talk to the cabinet maker!