2 C SIUSLAW NEWS
| S ATURDAY , J UNE 10, 2017
WAYS TO FINANCE YOUR HOME IMPROVEMENTS
Y
ou have the vision, you
have the design. You’ve
selected a contractor and set
your goals.
Next step? Turning your
dream home into a reality. If
you’re lucky enough, you may
have enough cash saved up to
cover the expenses. But if
you’re like most of us, you’ll
probably need a little help.
The first thing you will want
to do when looking to finance a
home improvement is sit down,
grab a cup of coffee, and review
the project budget. Once you
have a firm grasp of how much
your renovation is going to
cost, calculate how much you
can afford to contribute out of
pocket, and how much you will
need to borrow from a financial
institution. You will need to be
comfortable with the extra
expense of repaying a home
improvement loan, which will
be a cost that is in addition to
your current mortgage pay-
ment.
When determining if you can
comfortably repay the financ-
ing for your planned renova-
tion, be sure to take a look at
all the different loan options
available to you. Your mort-
gage lending officer should be
able to help you find a program
that fits with your current life-
style and financial situation.
You can find funding for
your home improvements
through a variety of financial
institutions, but here are a few
options we offer here at Oregon
Pacific Bank:
• Construction Loans — You
may be looking to go beyond a
simple renovation and build
your dream home from the
ground up.
• Home Improvement Loans
— We offer a variety of term
loans that can cover anything
from a simple paint job to an
all-out remodel. A home
improvement loan is based on a
variety of qualifying factors
and can use sources of collat-
eral other than your home equi-
ty to secure the loan.
• Home Equity Loan —
Commonly used to finance
large expenses such as home
Make staycations more unique
COURTESY PHOTO
Choosing to stay home during vacations allows kids a chance to explore local at-
tractions and nature, often in their own backyard or local parks.
A
s a result of the economic down-
turn that began in 2008, many
families found themselves forgoing
traditional vacations in favor of “stay-
cations.” In such instanc-
es, families spent time
away from work and
school together but did
not travel far, if at all.
On the Oregon coast,
we live where people
vacation, so many fami-
lies are still choosing to
stay at home in an effort
to save money.
Staycations might not
seem as glamorous as
traveling abroad or as
relaxing as spending a
week in an oceanfront resort or condo-
minium, but there are ways for fami-
lies to make staycations more fun and
seem like a true departure from every-
day life.
• Experiment with new cuisine. One
of the joys of travel is the opportunity
to dine out and experience cuisine
native to particular locales. But fami-
lies don’t need to travel abroad to
enjoy this particular benefit of travel-
ing. The internet is home to a wealth
of recipes from countries far and wide.
Parents and their kids can choose reci-
pes online and prepare meals from a
different country each night, or pick a
“country or region of the week” and
prepare a different dish native to that
area each night. This provides a great
departure from ordinary family din-
ners and can make for a fun activity
for the whole family.
• Camp out. Straying from the norm,
even when staying at home, can make
staycations seem more like a vacation
than merely a week away from school
or the office. Parents who want to add
a dash of adventure to their families’
staycations can set up tents in the
backyard and sleep under the stars or
seek out local campsites that are free
or relatively inexpensive. Tell stories
around a backyard firepit when stay-
ing at home to provide a more authen-
tic camping experience for everyone.
• Take in local culture. Rather than
spending the week lounging around
the house or the back-
yard pool, families can
explore the cultural
opportunities in their
towns or cities. Busy
families tend to take
such opportunities for
granted when they get
caught up in the daily
grind, and exploring
local history and artistic
opportunities in the same
way you would when
traveling can provide a
sense of excitement simi-
lar to that experienced during more
traditional vacations. Visit a local zoo,
take in a performance at a local theater
company or take a guided historical
tour of an area of your hometown or a
nearby city.
• Indulge in an extraordinary activi-
ty. While families typically choose
staycations to save money, forgetting
the budget to enjoy one extraordinary
activity can make a staycation more
fun and memorable. Spend one day
during the staycation doing something
the family would not ordinarily do, be
it visiting an all-day amusement park,
taking a helicopter tour of a nearby
city or going to a ballgame. Such a
break from the norm, even if it’s only
for a single night, can make stayca-
tions feel more like vacations.
• Turn off technology. In this fast-
paced age, people are glued to their
devices to access social media and
even the news. Consider limiting or
stopping tech time to allow more time
to connect naturally and offline.
Staycations have become an eco-
nomic necessity for many families,
and there are many ways for parents to
make such times as enjoyable and
unique as more traditional vacations.
— Metro
repairs and expansions, a Home
Equity Loan allows you to uti-
lize your current home equity
as collateral in exchange for a
single term loan to finance your
plans.
• Home Equity Line of Credit
— Commonly known as a
HELOC, this financing option
provides you with a line of
credit from which to borrow
funds up to a certain limit,
much like a credit card. Like
the Home Equity Loan, your
home equity is used as collat-
eral to secure the line, but
allows for more flexibility and
you only pay interest each
month on the amount drawn.
Interest on the Home Equity
Loan and Home Equity Line of
Credit may be tax deductible.
Oregon Pacific Bank suggests
you consult your tax advisor
for eligibility.
If you would like to know
more about our mortgage
lending options at Oregon
Pacific Bank, you can visit us
online at opbc.com/personal_
mortgageloans.html.
You can also contact our
local lending officers, Kim
Erickson, Vice President and
Manager
of
Residential
Lending, by phone: 541-902-
9807 and email, kim.erick-
son@opbc.com, or Mimi
Teachout, Residential Loan
Officer, by phone: 541-902-
9815 and email, mimi.
teachout@opbc.com.
Stay cool, yet limit energy consumption
For many homeowners,
summer is all about stay-
ing cool. But that comfort
comes with a hefty price
tag. There are ways to
stay cool this summer
while
simultaneously
limiting energy consump-
tion.
• Embrace strategic
landscaping. The land-
scaping outside of a home
can contribute to cooler
climates inside the home.
Deciduous trees shed
their leaves annually, and
when planted on the west-
ern and southern sides of
a home, these trees can
block the sun from enter-
ing the home during the
hottest times of day,
reducing the need to
lower the thermostat on
air conditioners. Of
course, when these trees
shed their leaves in late
fall, sunlight can then
make its way into the
home, potentially reduc-
ing heating costs.
• Maintain air condi-
tioners. Air conditioners
contain air filters that,
over time, can wear down
and become dirty.
• Install ceiling fans.
Cool people in a given
room by installing ceiling
fans in areas of the home
that might be warm but
not too hot during the
summertime.
• Draw the blinds or
close the drapes on espe-
cially hot days. Drawing
blinds and closing drapes
can keep the sun out of
the home, lowering tem-
peratures inside as a
result. While many home-
owners understandably
do not want their homes
to be dark all day long, on
especially hot days when
the summer is bearing
down, drawing the blinds
or closing the drapes can
have a substantial impact
on comfort levels inside
the home.
Air conditioners help to
keep homes cool on hot
summer days and nights.
But homeowners who
want
to
stay
cool while cutting their
energy costs can try vari-
ous alternatives to air
conditioners when the
temperatures allow. —
Metro
Mortgage Lending
Finance your dreams with the help of our local lenders!
Construction & Home Improvement Loans
C o n v e n t i o n a l & M a n u fa c t u r e d H o m e L o a n s
F H A , VA , & U S D A L o a n s
L o t & Ju m b o L o a n s
member
www.opbc.com (541) 997-7121
Kim Erickson
VP, Manager of Residential Lending
NMLS #402699
541-902-9807
kim.erickson@opbc.com
Mimi Teachout
Residential Loan Officer
NMLS #1011695
541-902-9815
mimi.teachout@opbc.com
Carl a Lowe
Credit Analyst,
Consumer Loan Rep.
541-902-9809
carla.lowe@opbc.com