On Saturday, November 2, 2013 1:04:55 PM UTC-4, Karl Townsend wrote:

I bet I "improved" my home almost every year for nearly twenty years.
never mind that I used it to buy inputs in May and then repaid in
full in October.

Isn't that considered normal for farmers? That kind of life would scare the crap out of me. I have NEVER bought anything (except my house which is finally paid off) that I couldn't buy for cash.

But agreed. For Roger, a home improvement or home equity loan would make sense, but not if he doesn't have the means to repay it.