Dear Mark,

We had been renting a home for nearly 3 years when we decided that we wanted to build a home for ourselves. Jack works for a lumber supplier and he figured he could get some good deals on the materials and hire some of the people he works with to do most of the work.

We had never owned a home before and didn't really know where to start. We spoke to the loan officer at our local bank and she told us that there was no way we could get a loan to build our own home. She said we had two big things against us. One was that Jack was not a licensed contractor and the other was that we were first time home buyers. She said, if we hired a contractor, we could probably get the loan. With 20% cash down!

We knew there had to be a better way. We have excellent credit and a little savings, but not 20%. Plus we knew we would save a fortune by doing the contracting ourselves. When we spoke to you, we actually thought what you were saying was too good to be true and we almost didn't apply. What a mistake that would have been!!!

We were able to be our own contractor, put zero down and be a first time home buyer. How you can do that and our bank can't is anyone's guess. But like you said to me, you are the experts at this sort of thing.

So, now, in the end, we are living in our new home (here is the photo you asked for) and we have over $50,000 equity - just from avoiding a contractor's markups. I guess our bank preferred that we have more debt and less equity for our future!!!

Thank you again. Your program is the perfect one for someone who wants to build their own home. And you came through on everything you said you would. I guess every now and again, some that sounds too good to be true really can be true.

Thanks,

Kathy and Jackson Silvers
Bloomington, IN
April 19, 2006