Agriculture touches every part of our daily lives. From the clothes we wear to the food on our tables, it remains the foundation of a constantly evolving, modern world. Behind it all are farmers and ranchers, individuals who navigate economic uncertainty, unpredictable weather, and the many challenges that can impact their operations day to day.

At The Callaway Bank, agriculture isn’t just something we finance — it’s something we live. Many of our agricultural lenders grew up in farming communities and either own or actively work in agricultural operations themselves. That firsthand experience gives them a deeper understanding of the realities our customers face.

This perspective is what sets our team apart. Our lenders don’t just offer financial solutions; they provide insight shaped by real-world experience. They understand the long hours, the risks, and the dedication it takes to run a successful operation. Because of that, they’re able to guide customers with both financial expertise and practical agricultural knowledge.

Building a strong relationship with a lender is an essential part of long-term success in agriculture. Having someone who understands your operation, your goals, and your challenges can make all the difference, especially in an industry where no two seasons are ever the same.

Whether you’re seeking financing or simply looking for a trusted local partner, The Callaway Bank is here to support you through every season and with all your Ag Moments that Matter. To us, you’re more than an account number — you’re part of a community we’re proud to serve.

Contact an Ag Lender below or get started online, now!

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Maria and Luis Ramirez, La Terraza and Go Fresco owners

Maria and Luis Ramirez, owners of La Terraza restaurant in Columbia, began their relationship with The Callaway Bank more than seven years ago when they were considering adding a second restaurant. They worked with a local lender to explore the possibilities, which started a very close relationship that continues to grow.

While each business banking relationship has different components, one thing is always there for a successful relationship – trust. Their trust in The Callaway Bank has helped them decide whether to open a second location. Trust has helped Jason work with them through a pandemic and local health department shutdowns, and trust has allowed the Bank to help them receive government assistance during the pandemic. Trust has allowed the Bank to help them expand their rental portfolio to provide housing for their workers. Trust has allowed the Bank to help them launch a separate produce business, Go Fresco, that supplies fresh produce to area restaurants.

These are examples of The Callaway Bank’s commitment to small business and helping people pursue their passions through moments that matter. The Callaway Bank is delighted to help Luis and Maria continue to grow and expand their roots in Columbia and create more moments that matter.

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The best partnerships are the ones that support you from beginning to end. Building your forever home is no small feat. It will take some effort, but at the finish line you will be able to step foot inside the home you’ve always envisioned – and that feeling is priceless.

Whether renovating your current home or building from the ground up, navigating the finances of homeownership can be daunting. But rest assured, we are with you every step of the way. As your community bank, we want to help our neighbors navigate the home construction loan process or work with you to get the best possible mortgage quote. We provide a judgment-free zone and believe no question should go unanswered. We are dedicated to investing all the time in the world into your process, making sure you feel comfortable and secure in your buying or building process. We are here to help in any way we can. Your perfect home doesn’t need to be a dream, you deserve to make it a reality.

The first step to bringing your forever home to life is planning. By partnering with The Callaway Bank, we can assist you in preparing your financial needs for the big build or purchase. As experts with home construction loans and mortgage quotes, we are ready to break down all the numbers and figures to help you where you are wanting to go.

Tips on Crafting Your Forever Home – The First Time

Few things are forever, but your home can be one of them. It is important when creating your dream home to avoid planning around what’s trendy right now, but focus on what will still be fashionable 10, 20, or 30 years from today. The point of a forever home is for it to be constructed inside and out, in a way that the homeowner will always love the space. We’ve helped many individuals and families secure a home construction loan or receive a favorable mortgage quote that has enabled them to finally have the home of their dreams. Throughout the years, we’ve been able to take a few notes and highlight some home design areas to be conscious of when renovating or building your home.

Your Family’s Life Cycle

Homes need to be flexible and adaptable to the needs of a family. If you have kids running around the house and dogs chasing after tennis balls, it might be best to consider emphasizing open living spaces. Large living rooms and finished basements offer kids and pets plenty of room to play and enjoy the inside of your home. Later in life, your body may have issues climbing stairs – which can become both an inconvenience and a hazard. Keep this in mind and design the main floor of your home to fit your needs as you age.

The Perfect Kitchen

Outside of the bedroom, the kitchen is often the section of the home that people spend the most time in. From socializing to cooking, the kitchen plays an important role in the functionality and livelihood of a home. A few things to consider when crafting a kitchen are to ensure that enough lighting is available: both natural and artificial. Always build more counter space than you think you’ll need – because you will definitely need it. It’s also affordable these days to upgrade from laminate countertops. Stone and solid surface options are more widely used and appealing for your forever home. Additionally, cabinets can make or break the aesthetic of a kitchen, so use your best judgment and design with coloring that will remain timeless.

Think Green, Be Green

We all care about the world we live in, and we all care about our bills. Consider making your dream home as environmentally friendly as possible – lowering your carbon footprint and reducing high costing utility bills. As technology and homebuilding improve over the decades, homes will grow more efficient in how they use energy. Therefore, designing your forever home with the most up-to-date “green technology” today will limit your need to make improvements in the future. Installing energy-saving windows, adding a solar panel or two to your roof, and insulating ductwork will all pay dividends down the road.

The Right Floors For Your Feet

Flooring is a big decision. It is one of the main components of a home’s look and feel. Carpeting is affordable and soft to the touch – great for kids! However, they attract messes and stains and are often difficult to clean. Hardwood floors are loved for their beauty and longevity but often run pretty pricey per square foot. If you do decide to go the hardwood route, pick a harder wood like maple or bamboo in order to protect it from years of wear and tear.

Ultimately, you’ll need to ask, what fits your budget. Depending on the size of your home, flooring costs can eat up a significant portion of your money. Therefore, be mindful of what aligns with your costs right now – flooring can always be updated at a later date.

Windows – Your Soul Needs Them

Natural sunlight is proven to be essential to your physical and mental health. Homes that prioritize the use of natural light, bring the outdoors – inside. These homes also see a reduction in electric costs. Incorporating well-staged windows in the home’s most trafficked areas like the living room and kitchen are important to the livability of these areas. When laying out your dream home, don’t overlook the need to include enough natural lighting.

Ready To Build Your Dream Home? We’re Here For You

By now you probably have a picture of your dream home in your head. You may have even a few 3D sketches drawn up. If so, that’s great! Your forever home does not have to be a fantasy. With a partner like The Callaway Bank, you can make it a reality. We can help with the home construction loan process and guide you on common hurdles. We’re one of a few banks in the area that specialize in home construction loans. Or if your dream home already exists and you just need the right financing package, we can work with you to find a mortgage quote that makes it possible.

By working closely with you and your budget, we can help craft a plan that makes your dollars and cents work toward completing your dream home. We’re here for you and the moments that matter. Let’s build it together.

Click here for more information and helpful tips on using a construction loan to build your dream home.

When looking for mortgage rates in Columbia, MO, most people want to know about how to get the best rates for their new homes or condos. As home buyers, we all want to find a good deal with favorable financing and with a loan partner we can trust. When looking for a mortgage quote in Columbia, MO home seekers should consider the following list of tips for finding the best financing option.

First, meet with a Mortgage Lender early in the process. It’s important to understand your financial records and credit reports before you start looking for a house. Mortgage quotes are largely calculated based on your current financial standing and past credit history. Therefore, if work needs to be done to repair or improve your finances, it is best to know as soon as possible. A good lender will be able to help suggest ways to improve your financial situation and enhance your application when it comes time to apply for a mortgage quote.

Little things that frequently come up that harm an individual’s credit include:

• A store credit card that has a past due balance on it
• A small amount that went to collections
• Somebody else’s credit incident that has appeared on your credit record

By working with a mortgage lender like The Callaway Bank, you can gain guidance in clearing these things up before you apply for a loan, which can help to avoid a higher interest rate — ultimately saving you money.

Working with a lender months before you need a mortgage is also a great way to set expectations about what you can afford and what different mortgage rates can do to your monthly payment. A lender can run through different scenarios about the lengths of the loan and the kinds of interest rates that can be applied to mortgages.

Another advantage is that you can understand what the current mortgage rates are and how they might fluctuate over the next few months. Using this information to time your purchase can easily change how much you wind up paying.

The Right Mortgage Lender in Columbia, MO

The Callaway Bank is ready to help you with your mortgage quote, and hopefully get you approved to purchase the home you deserve. Our expert lending team works with individuals and families throughout the Columbia area. As your neighbors, we want to continue seeing our community grow and develop — and homeownership is a key piece to the puzzle. We help people secure mortgage quotes every week that help them start the next chapter of their lives.

Contact a Mortgage Lender today to start your mortgage quote journey. As the oldest independent community bank in Missouri, The Callaway Bank combines old-fashioned values like fairness, integrity, honesty, and respect with modern banking products and services. Our customers have been our greatest assets since 1857.

The Callaway Bank is an equal housing lender.

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If you ask most people where their food comes from, they’ll list off a few preferred grocery stores and maybe a specialist like a butcher shop. In Missouri, where farms make up two-thirds of the total land acreage, we know better. 

Small Missouri farms have a big impact on the local economy. Almost all the state’s farms (nearly 100,000 of them) are family-owned, with an average plot size of 269 acres. Viewed as a whole, these farms contribute a combined $88.4 billion to the state’s economy — and the entire agriculture industry supports over 370,000 jobs. 

Missouri agriculture is essential to every resident of the state. Farms put food on the table and money in bank accounts. Agriculture has a rich history here and will continue to be a critical component of what makes the Show-Me state so great. From generational farm families to new farm endeavors, the Missouri agriculture industry couldn’t exist without agriculture lending. 

As a financial institution, we understand how financing is necessary to get your operation up and running, cover the upfront costs of new equipment, or acquire more land. Agriculture lending gives farms the flexibility they need to continue being the backbone of this state.

Here at The Callaway Bank, we appreciate every farmer, rancher, and agribusiness person. They do a tremendous job that, frankly, many people take for granted. We encourage you to take a moment to thank a farmer for his or her hard work, not just today, but year-round!

Agriculture Goes Beyond Crops and Cattle

Thanks to the state’s rich diversity of terrain, farmers in Missouri grow a wide variety of crops. Soybeans are Missouri’s biggest commodity, and the 5 million acres of soybeans sell for about $2.2 billion annually. The 3 million acres of corn take second place when it comes to generating revenue, and there are more than 2 million cows throughout the state. But the state’s agriculture production extends beyond the traditional ideas of just crops and cattle. Farmland is used in a variety of ways to generate business and tourism for the state.

There are also more than 130 wineries in the state, operating on 1,700 acres of grapes. In addition to unique and robust wines, these farms create hotbeds of tourism. Where a winery appears, tourist attractions such as restaurants, bed-and-breakfast establishments, and local craft shops are sure to follow. 

Another unique facet of the Missouri agricultural industry is beekeeping. Local example “beeing” Giofre Apiaries, a mid-Missouri company that makes commercial ice cream with honey the owners farm themselves. Nancy and Domenic Giofre started beekeeping in 2009 with two small hives. A decade later, they continue to add hives to produce more honey for their ice cream. They now have 25 different flavors, ranging from standards such as vanilla and chocolate to new varieties like elderberry, cherry blossom, and salted caramel. 

We could continue, but the point is that agriculture and farmers contribute to aspects of our lives and the economy that we don’t often consider. It’s important to remember where our food comes from and the people who work hard to provide it.

Financing Missouri Farms Through Agriculture Lending

From corn to cows to hens to honey, Missouri agriculture contributes to the economy in countless ways. The Callaway Bank is proud to offer financial tools that support the agricultural community — something that we’ve been doing for more than 160 years. Our Ag Lenders come from farming backgrounds and have extensive experience with the unique demands of agribusinesses because they’re farmers, too. 

We know what it’s like to be in your shoes. So we try to always meet your needs, communication preferences, and schedules. Want to meet on your farm before sunup? So do we. We’re happy to discuss our agriculture lending options, including loans for land, livestock, equipment, or crops. Need a flexible payment plan? We can help. Want to make one single payment per year? That’s an option. Missouri agriculture is important to us, and always will be. We want to prioritize your needs so we can help continue to make you successful, season after season. Our ag lending options are designed to help farms of any size and specialty.

With You For the Moments That Matter

At The Callaway Bank, we make client-focused decisions on a local scale, and our goal is to help you find the right loan solution to fit your unique situation. Whether you’re refinancing your farm or need a loan for an expansion, contact an Ag Lender at The Callaway Bank for all of your agricultural lending needs!
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When the houses on the market don’t measure up to what you’re looking for in a home, building your own can be a great option. With a New Home Construction Loan from The Callaway Bank, you can design your own unique space that’s perfectly suited to your wants and needs.

The opportunity to build your own home to match your specific taste and functional needs is exciting! It’s actually a dream come true for most! So when it comes time to finance this project, our expert Mortgage Lenders are ready to make your home construction journey a breeze. We work to simplify the process as much as possible and provide you with the best lending options to get your new home built and ready for you to move in.

While we can’t say if you should go with brass, silver, or gold fixtures, we can help make your Home Construction Loan process as pain-free as possible.

Understanding a New Home Construction Loan

Many people don’t realize that getting financing for new construction requires two loans: first the construction loan itself, and then the mortgage for the completed house. A construction loan is a short-term, interim loan used for new home construction, and once the house is completed, you work out permanent financing.

Having two loans means double the closing costs, which include the origination fee, appraisal, title work, etc. However, on the permanent loan, we do reduce some of those fees because some of the work is done with the initial construction loan.

For instance, the origination fee is 50 percent of the normal charge the second time around. If completion is within 12 months of construction, we may not have to do a full appraisal and can do a completion certification at a reduced rate. Those things help make the process a little easier for borrowers.

Down payment requirements for New Home Construction Loans are also different from other home loans. We typically lend up to 80 percent of the appraised value on a construction loan, whereas on a purchase of an existing home, we can lend up to 100 percent on some loan types.

The down payment for a construction loan can be difficult for some borrowers unless they have equity in the property they are building on, or have cash in hand. They can also build up “sweat” equity by building the house themselves and saving on labor costs they would otherwise incur as construction labor. This financial hurdle is a large reason some choose to avoid home construction loans and opt for a home loan on an existing home — giving them more financing flexibility. 

How to Know If You’re a Good Candidate for a New Home Construction Loan

When you apply for a loan, the most important things we’ll look at are your credit and debt-to-income ratio. It also helps if you have money set aside in savings, because it’s likely you’ll need to put some of your own funds into the completion of the project.

It makes it easier if a borrower has either been given the land or bought it several years before and paid it off or down quite a bit to build up equity. This can essentially be your down payment instead of cash. Keep in mind that job changes or big financial changes like starting a business during construction are not a good idea, as these can cause problems with the final loan. 

In general, the 28 percent rule exists as a yard marker for individuals looking to obtain a home loan. The rule advises that your monthly mortgage payment should not exceed 28 percent of your gross monthly income. Sitting down and talking with your financial advisor, spouse, or friend, is helpful in mapping out what kind of budget makes the most sense for you, your financial obligations, and your lifestyle. From there, you can then make an informed decision when seeking a construction loan from a lender.

If, after reading this, you think you’re in good shape, you can start the process of applying for a New Home Construction Loan!

Taking Those First Steps

The first step is submitting an application for a Fast Mortgage Quote so we can check on your credit and your debt-to-income ratio. At the application stage or soon after, we will request bids, plans, or estimates for the new home and from the contractors involved. You can’t plan for everything (and borrowers will often make changes during construction), but we try to limit complications by getting all this information ahead of time.

Once you submit an application, you can look at acquiring the land if you do not already own it, and then start on the house plans, bids, and estimates from contractors. Do thorough research and get several bids to be sure you are getting what you expect at an appropriate price. Be sure to find a builder you not only trust but can also communicate with well.

A good relationship can save you from serious problems popping up in the middle of construction. You want to be on the same page with your builder before you break ground. Construction is generally a short-term, interim process and a large investment for the borrower. There can be cost overages, and everyone needs to be prepared for if and when something comes in higher than expected.

As your New Home Construction Loan is approved and the building begins, keep a realistic time frame in mind. Some customers tell us they’ll be done with the house in five months, and it ends up taking an entire year. Finishing a house in even six months is not only an incredibly rigorous timeline, but extremely rare for almost any builder. Things come up with builders, supplies take longer to arrive than expected, weather impacts timelines, and surprises can happen to anyone, so be prepared for setbacks and plan accordingly. 

Real estate is still considered one of the best and safest investments to make. During the pandemic home values across the nation have skyrocketed, and people are just as eager to build new homes as many Americans are currently seeking New Home Construction Loans.

Whether you decide to build a house, or you find a perfect home on the market, we want to help make the process as smooth as possible. Please reach out to one of our Mortgage Lenders or visit our Mortgage Resources Page if you have any other home buying questions. We’re here to help your home-owning dreams come true!

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Buying your first home can feel like a daunting task. However, if you know what to look for and what to avoid, you can bring a level of confidence to a process that seems overwhelming.

¹Subject to credit review and loan approval. Offer applies to any active or honorably discharged member of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard. Available on first lien on primary residence only for properties located in contiguous counties of or within Boone or Callaway counties in Missouri. Appraisal fee up to $1,000 will be waived. Offer made by The Callaway Bank and does not imply that any loan will be made by the VA or US Government. This offer is subject to end without advance notice.