Wow and oy!

I'll start with the "oy" first. We looked at windows today. We've never formally gone into a window showroom and had an appointment with a salesperson. Last April, Joern and I visited the booth of Co-Design in Echterdingen (near the airport,) at the House, Wood, and Energy Fair. Since visiting the booth, we've received a few calls from them asking if we would set up an appointment. Since we were still waiting on the building permit, Joern promised we would set up an appointment after we received the building permit and were working with a different architect. A few days ago, Joern gave the store a call, and set up an appointment for today.
Honestly, the whole meeting left me wishing we had done this a few weeks ago. Before we left for the States, we finalized the details with Mr. B, allowing him to send out requests for estimates on the house frame, as well as estimates for windows and the roof. We spent a considerable amount time speaking with Mr. B about our window choice, as well as protection from the sun (blinds versus security-type blinds.) When it came to deciding on the types of windows, we were sadly, uneducated. Our final decision was to go with full wood windows, both outside and inside, and the Mr. B would ask for estimates with and without window grills.
So, today, we go to this showroom, wanting to request an estimate for full wood windows. Turns out, that they only had one type of full wood window, and the salesman worked hard to talk us out of full wood. He offered either full plastic with a sheath of aluminum on the outside for added protection for the color and added strength. He also offered us aluminum on the outside and wood on the inside.
Hmpf! He then went on to tell us 1,000 reasons why full wood windows are a poor choice. In the end, he was really pushing the plastic windows, which to me was odd, because they are the cheapest. Maybe I should list a few pros and cons of each type of window, maybe that would help:
Wood/ Wood
Pros: fully paintable
wood
I'm American, and missing wood in my house
Cons: Paint/ stain needs to be redone on the weather side every 2 years
Can swell with too much water exposure, this may ruin the seal of the window
Is definately on its way out here

Aluminum/Wood
Pros: doesn't need to be painted outside
extremely durable
aluminum color will not fade for a long time
special protection against weather
interior is still wood, and can still be painted
Cons: EXPENSIVE!
I guess that's about the biggest problem
The interior wood can expand and contract still, and may cause problems with
the proper seal
Plastic
Pros: doesn't need to be painted at all
probably the least maintenance
least expensive
won't expand/ contract, the tightest seal
new technologies mean less problems with color and plastic breaking down
on exterior of home
Cons: material not as desirable, especially on the interior, as wood
can't be painted- what if I don't want white trim forever
although the plastic technology has improved, still kind-of a crap-shoot

Listing hasn't really helped. The meeting today didn't help either. I don't know what to do. We left today asking for estimates for plastic and aluminum/wood. We also asked for very simple window grills (which Mr. B does not know we want.)
The positive though is at least I understand a bit more about our window choices.

And now, on to the WOW! We met with the bank today. We were approved for the mortgage! We're going with the smaller/large bank that offered the better monthly rate. They need a few more documents from us, but we're all set. Once we get the final documents in, we'll meet again to discuss the payment process and sign contracts! We have an excellent monthly rate, thanks to 3.9 % interest. Wahoo!