Christmas was great but very expensive.  I really wanted to get a dollhouse for my niece, so I foolishly obtained one of those volatile subprime mortgages.  Let me tell you, in this economy, it’s not a good idea to get an adjustable fifteen-hour loan. By hour seven, I had already squandered dozens of quarters paying off the interest.

But it all worked in the end, because I was able to refinance to a fixed 30-day rate.

Still, and I don’t mean to sound like a hardass, but she’s going to have to take the place “as is” for now. It’s just not the right time to take out a home equity loan to do major remodeling--even though the structure is currently missing a wall.