In preparation for the upcoming retirement, we recently went through a financial planning exercise. I figured before I quit work and had no further salary coming in, we'd better damn well make sure that we have sufficient savings along with a realistic spending plan to have a good standard of living for the next 30 years. (We do.)

One of the suggestions from the financial planner was to secure a home equity line-of-credit from our bank, secured by the cabin, as a source for emergency funds. You know "just in case". And, she suggested it was best to do this now while I am still employed. (Obviously, we can't secure the line-of-credit with our NJ house, since we will sell it before moving.)

So, I contacted our current bank (which has branches in Fort Collins and Laramie) about such a loan. I went through the whole application process and even spoke at length with a loan officer. We were conditionally approved for the loan. The only condition was that they needed an appraisal for the cabin. They hired a Fort Collins appraiser to do a "drive by" appraisal.

Well, the loan application has now been cancelled and I am invited to reapply when the roads aren't closed by massive amounts of snow along County Road 80C. I guess the appraiser did not want to go through Laramie and then chain-up at the state line.