The Pandemic, Inflation, Supply Issues, and the Housing Market

 THE HAND OF GOD

I get nervous talking about how much things are costing these days. I'm sure you can relate. The pre-COVID world was not prepared for the post-COVID cost increases. The domino effect of supply problems and inflation and the cost of lending has beat us up throughout this building process.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that we should have taken drastic action in 2017 to do something with the timber resources on our land. Perhaps we should have just started building immediately too. It might have saved us a boatload! Hindsight is indeed 20/20!

That ship, as they say, has sailed.

We got a taste of what prices and delivery of goods could be like when we remodeled the bedroom and bath on Kathryn Cove in early 2020. We experienced less-than-stellar workmanship and somewhat shady contractors. So we thought we had been trained and seasoned. We thought we were better prepared to take on a building project like Wellcroft.

No! We weren't!

In short, the estimate we got from the builder in April 2022 was steep and made my eyes pop out. Now if you remember, the Federal Reserve started raising rates about that same time. I thought these things would bring a pause to Butch's forward momentum, but it did even seem to slow him down! He worked even harder to find ways to overcome the price tag. He started shopping for lenders. I was astounded and more than a little concerned at his determination. 

Now fast forward six months to October 2022. Home mortgage lending rates had tripled thanks to the Federal hikes. The building estimate had doubled from it's eye-popping first edition due to inflation and supply issues. The first bank we approached simply stopped their construction program in mid-stride and just dropped our application. The second bank turned us down because our down payment was not sufficient. I have to tell you, I was ready to call it quits.

I must interject an amazing story here. 

It was in April of 2022 that Butch told me he wanted to put our house on Kathryn Cove on the market. The San Marcos housing market had been heating up since the Christmas before. I was not thrilled with the idea, but I agreed. (I didn't agree to be happy about it, however!) Even still, God was faithful to us, more specifically to Butch and his building vision. He kept the market at its peek until we were able to sell our house in June for a tip-top price. This certainly helped with the down payment. But the bank was still requiring more cash down.

What else was there to do? Butch had already emptied our pre-retirement savings. And we had sold the house. 

I thought Butch would give up at this point. But he humbled himself before his mom and dad and asked for help, which they generously provided. All this, and with Ranae's portion too for her ADA suite, Butch had scraped enough down payment together to finally qualify. 

So the third bank Butch approached did approve the construction loan after only four months! What a huge miracle, with a myriad of smaller miracles spinning off of the one, occurring in time to make the loan happen.

So here we are in the middle of building our retirement home. It's finally happening and it is real. I admit, I sometimes still fret. But then I'm quick to ask forgiveness and re-align my focus on the One who provides exactly what is needed, when it is needed. I publicly declare my thanks to the Lord for His generosity and faithfulness. 

"Even when I don't see it, He's working!"