The Log house Project begins........

[ttriff]

We made a 'lift' for our place (it has a walkout basement but no stairs to get there).

Vertically mounted boxed barn door tracks attached to wall studs hold it in position and guide the platform on the first floor. The lower section is supported by sections of Unistrut bolted to the concrete floor.

4 glides or trolleys are barn door units each with a ''puck' made from HDPE (aka white plastic cutting board) acting as dry lubricant against the barn door tracks

Currently a HF 1200lb hoist provides the lift. The upper section is in a closet so it's pretty noisy due to the cable hoist noise. Eventually the cable hoist will be replaced with a quieter and safer chain hoist.

 

[MotorSeven]

Sorry gang...bad news. After a couple of power surges yesterday my satellite internet would not work. I spent an hr on the phone this morning talking to the tech(s) and the determination was my modem was skewed and a service call needed. So I left to run an errand, come home and noticed the power has been off AGAIN...so what the heck, I try the computer and wala...it's working:confused3: I call the power company to ask what the heck is going on and get the "we have no record of any failures in your area"....

{Rant on}:
Then, after our application for a re-finance has been in for 2 weeks we get a call saying DENIED. It seems the underwriter didn't like our tax return and this is after the agent told us to "make sure you show a farm profit on your taxes this year" as one of the hoops he made us jump through. Well, this is Farm Credit, and we have a small farm that is in it's second year of producing marketable hay. Apparently, a farmer is supposed to go out and by thousands and thousands of dollars in equipment, then turn a profit immediately...sheese. The other hoop, was get the house in the "dry" and Lesley's real estate business(year 2) also had to show profit.
So, we did all that was required/requested 8 months ago and it was done in their requested time frame, then get denied. I have to say this makes me furious. We are only asking for a total of 50% of the value of the place in today's market. They claim to finance up to 85%....horse apples:smiley_aafz: As soon as we can we will refinance with another company...Farm Credit(with whom we have been with for 11 years) can pound sand. I know what your thinking, but no, our credit & income is good, no late payments(I missed two in 2003 during a divorce) at all anywhere. Yes- debt ratio is high and the reason is the house build and the whole reason for the re-finance. What I think their problem is a blatent act of homeowner builder discrimination. I am sure if I had a contractor things would be peachy...while spending 4x more money
{Rant off}

So, the spiral stair and the "elevator" is out:laughing: We are just going to keep plugging along and finish the interior. The well and septic will have to be last when funds are available. We are close, I know we can do it even after getting kicked in the teeth.

Time to go tedder hay for the "profitable farm"........

 

[brin]

Motor...the underwriter is probably spooked because you do not have a well or septic yet and the house is not complete...they are afraid some homeowner/ builders lack the skill to finish or just will not manage their money in a way that will bring the whole house to fruition. Why don't you call the the agent back and ask him if you can get a construction loan to specifically add the well, septic and other things that must be bugging the underwriter and then go for the permanent financing. The other option, just go to a local bank and ask for the construction loan to finish up...and take the loan officer out and show them what you have done and how close you are...Just a thought.

 

[firefighter9208]

I think a lot of the problem is the underwriters don't like "non conventional" homes. AKA log homes. What you have is a beautiful home, but to them it would be very hard to sell if you were to foreclose, because the type of construction would severly limit the buyer base.

When we constructed our home in 2001 we were our own contractor. The home is 3200 square feet brick/vinyl heated and cooled. We were asking for a $125,000 construction loan to build the house. We were denied by three lenders, because our house wasn't conventional to the community. We live in a small farming community that didn't have comparable houses at the time. Most were in the 1200 to 1500 square foot range.

We finally found a small hometown bank to loan us the money. When the house was completed it appraised for $300,000 and we had to go to a mortgage company to get the permanent loan.

We refinanced last year, when rates dropped to 3 1/2% and still had problems getting a "comp" for the appraisal. They had to go 10 miles away.

I have included a couple of pictures for reference:

Chris

 

[GGB]

Lack of "comparables" has been an issue for a lot of folks, us included, thanks to the housing decline. We wanted to refinance to take advantage of the lower mortgage rates, but can't because there have only been a few sales in our area, and foreclosures have hurt the remaining values.

Couple in the much more restrictive lending policies the banking industry has been forced to adopt and it is even more difficult. And this is at a time when the housing market needed relaxed lending policies to stimulate the economy.

The reality is that when we need loose lending, we see tightened lending practices, and when we don't need loose lending practices, that's the case.

 

[woodlandfarms]

There has not been a 40 acre parcel for sale in our area for more than 3 years. No comps, No loan, Nightmare. We have been told to never show income on the farm on our tax returns. We are trying for a refinance right now, figgin nightmare.

 

[tnmike]

Rick that sucks. I would put the septic in first. You can always install a catchment system or use the spring until you save up the money for a well. .You could put a large tank above the house and fill it from your spring manually if you had to. Keep on plugging. It will all work out.


In all seriousness an elevator would not be that expensive and. Would take up.less room than a staircase. Take this time to smoke it over.


I don't think the loan problem is you. Its nationwide and it stems from all the outstanding loans that are underwater and the number of foreclosures in the pipeline. The economic turmoil in this country is far from over. The
banks are spooked. My son cannot find a bank who will make a VA loan.

You can have momentary outages caused by faults on the line under an oil circuit breaker that cause havoc with PC hard drives. The power company does not recognize these as actual outages. A UPS is a must in a rural area.

 

[MotorSeven]

Yeah, the whole mortgage situation coupled with a homeowner build coupled with a non conforming. Doesn't a "non conforming guy" building a "non conforming house" cancel each other out? :laughing:

It's funny, when we were in the Farm Credit office, right there on the counter was a brochure...."Build your Dream LOG HOME"......gimmie a break. On top of that the loan officer working on our "case" said that he estimated our completed house to be worth .....wait for it.......$200K. That would put the value of our 100 ac w/ log home at almost half a mil.....and silly us are asking for a total of $205K. We must be outta our minds eh?

We talked to a local credit union that promises to take us on after the house is finished and their interest rate is 1% lower than FC. Their closing costs are $500...Farm Credit was going to be $4,000. So maybe this is all happening just to save us some $.....eh?


Back to the build..................:thumbsup:

 

[MotorSeven]

Solar Kiln getting moved to it's resting place:

 

[MotorSeven]

I used roofing tar to set the glass in so it can flex a bit when being moved:

The glass is sitting on rubber blocks: