“I remember it quite well how the soaring interest rates destroyed the home building business.”
It’s funny that you should mention that, because, in a perverse way, Carter actually abetted the construction of our new (at the time) home. We were able to sell our first home and move into a rental. Then we endured a lawsuit from a neighboring property owner where we had purchased property on which to build. As a consequence, when the lawsuit was ended (in our favor), we were faced with 18.5% construction financing. Our banker said to us, “do yo want to wait for cheaper money and have higher construction costs, or do you want to build now with expensive money and lower construction costs?” We chose the latter. At the end of the day, the actual delta in construction financing costs was about $5,000. But building materials and construction labor were rock bottom because no one was building. It was actually one of the best decisions we have ever made, all “thanks to Jimmah!”
It’s good to know that you were able to take advantage of all the guys who were starving and had to work for nothing just to bring something in.