BOOKS All About Mortgages: Insider Tips to Finance or Refinance Your Home by Julie Garton-Good, 2004
Home Renovation Checklist: Everything You Need to Know to Save Money, Time, and Your Sanity by Robert Irwin, 2003
The Insider’s Guide to Home Equity Borrowing by Pete Hitesman, 2004
WEB LINKS www.contractorguide.com
www.crawfordrenovations.com/financing.asp
www.credit.com/life_stages/getting_ahead/Remodeling-Your-Home.jsp
www.home-improvement-and-financing.com
www.renovatorsplace.com/financing-costs/index.cfm
Q: Does the remodeler have any liability if the borrower defaults on the loan?
A: Remodelers aren’t liable if the customer defaults unless, of course, they are offering some sort of in-house financing (see “Loans of Your Own,” page S86). However, the finance company can hold the contractor responsible for getting the work done. “If a customer complains, and the contractor chooses not to fix the problem, then I can ask him to buy the loan back,” says Bruce Christensen, vice president of GE Money’s home improvement division. “But we have found that even if a customer does log a dispute, 96% of the time it’s resolved in favor of the contractor.”
