Thinking about buying, renovating, and somehow keeping it green at the same time?  You might want to check out this article on Bankrate:

Green mortgages save on energy, loan costs

Excerpt:

“Most energy-efficient mortgage, or EEM, programs let you qualify for bigger loans than you would otherwise by folding in the additional cost of making improvements for energy efficiency or of purchasing an already energy-efficient home. Another version of the green mortgage provides discounts on loan fees or interest rates for homes that are certified as energy-efficient.

Because mortgage interest payments are tax-deductible, an energy-efficient mortgage can be a more cost-effective way to finance home-energy improvements than using a credit card, bank loan or cash, which usually offer no tax benefits.”

Can we afford the solar panels?  Yes, we can!

Our bank has managed to be consistently disconcerting. From getting the loan amount wrong on the paperwork at closing and then saying it didn’t really matter, to the events of today.
On Thursday Ace told us he was requesting a draw. We had about a week of delays in the first draw, so we wanted to be on top of things this time. On Friday, he got the money.
Nice expediting, but wasn’t I supposed to sign something? Wasn’t I supposed to see something? Like, the amount? I called them today and low and behold, they did need my signature, and they didn’t have it. They faxed a request for like $XX,XXX.XX (insert a respectable year’s salary in there) for me to authorize.
Good thing the work was done and everything is cool.

I would have been more demanding of the draftsman. Today we encountered the third boneheaded mess-up in the plans. The wall between the dining room and the kitchen is one complex piece of origami. You won’t be able to tell when it’s finished, but it’s wacky. We asked if elevations were needed and he said they would understand without them. Guess what. They didn’t.
The good part is, it solves a problem with the AC vent that looked like it needed to go through a beam.
This whole thing sent me back to a set of drawings we did before we signed the contract. I wanted to make sure I had thought of everything before we signed on the dotted line, so I sat up late with a pencil and blank paper and drew every single wall in the house with windows, outlets, trim, toilets, sinks — everything.
This is one room.

The point was, I want no surprises, I don’t want any change orders, and I don’t want to get caught having not thought of something. We attached the drawing to the contract.
I didn’t do the exterior of the house. And I missed communicating one important spec, the thickness of the eaves. The old house had (I think) 12 inch thick eaves. The new house has 8 inch. I liked that big slab of roof and wanted it too look like we had just moved it up one story and tilted it. The new ones looks thin to me. I’m hoping the roof and the flashing will make them look thicker, or the paint colors, or I’ll get over it.
Looking around at other eaves, I’m surprised they got it so close to my expectations considering there are no specs for them anywhere, and no one asked me.

We got the demolition permit today, construction permit is tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon, they are going to start pouring piers.
I better get some “before” pictures.

Done. Not much to report. We brought youngest boy with us. He ate rasins and had a minor flip out. I was out of town for three days and Christiane has been home with him so when we look at him we don’t see the same child. I see cutie-pie-dumbell-wanna-fly-like-batman and she’s just waiting for his head to spin around. So, maybe it was a major flip out. Hope I didn’t sign something I shouldn’t have.
Can we have our dumpster now?

We were not meant to close on the loan today. First we went to the bank. This is not where you go, you go to the title company. Then, when we were less than halfway through the paperwork, Ace shows up hugging a big box of Cheese Nips (orange hat and shirt to match) and notices that our bank put the wrong amount on the loan. Lame. And too late to fix it today. Better luck tomorrow.
(2 points go to Ace telling us that we were about to give him too much money and -2 points from the bank for saying it didn’t matter.)

So I took the paper over to the bank today. I dropped it off with the sweet lady at the front desk. She’s sweet, but I have issues about this kind of stuff. I want it to be like in a movie where she jumps up and runs it to the proper person immediately, while the entire foyer full of people breaks into a song-and-dance number focused on the song-and-dance routine of remodeling a house and the bureaucratic paper process that naturally accompanies. Maybe there is even someone dressed up as “the paper,” kind of like Bill up on Capital Hill in the old Schoolhouse Rock cartoon.
Yes, I ate bad fish last night.
Anyway, more waiting, and with David out of town, I don’t think there will be a lot of “expediting” going on. The only problem with his name being on all of the paperwork and not mine is that I am like the cute but powerless secretary… or barefoot and pregnant wife.