When do you know when to use a real estate agent?

We originally started looking for land back in the May/June time frame in 2010.  We had asked one real estate agent about a couple pieces of properties and I don't think she took us seriously.  The one time we finally DID meet up with her, she stayed for maybe 5 minutes to show us the land then drove off.

We were lucky to find another real estate agent that was WAY more into helping us find the piece of property for us.  She came and spent time with us on two occasions at two different properties and was just amazing.  In fact, I was really attached to her.

With us buying land in a private sale, we didn't need her- and in fact, the seller didn't want to use any real estate agents whatsoever.  It made me feel really bad about buying it without her guidance, even though the land we bought was from a family friend and she had no hand in helping us find it.  I mean, I know she's in it for the money and such, but she has such a great personality and everything that it was hard to do all this without her.  She also tried to help us so much to find something that would fit us.

She sent me a message over the weekend to see how we were doing and that sparked my uh-oh we haven't told her yet reaction.  I had to ask Mike how I should handle it.  I feel bad telling her because we did it without her and she's been so great helping us- but at the same time, it's not fair to just ignore it and not say anything and keep her thinking that we are still looking and such.

All in all, I feel bad and I hope she doesn't think poorly of us.  Again, I know she's in it for the money- but she really was great and I'd recommend her to anyone and everyone looking to buy or sell in the area! :)

Learning along the way...

Light Shopping Anyone?!

You know, I never knew that there were SO many options for lighting for a house.  Well, ok I did, but I never thought that the decision would be so hard.  Mike and I went to Home Depot on Saturday to look at the different lighting options and get some ideas for our house.

If you don't know already, our design for our house includes cathedral ceilings in the kitchen/dining area.  So Mike wants to put a sun tunnel in the kitchen area to allow for more light (because lets face it, most kitchens have one window above the sink and that simply doesn't have enough light coming through! :) ).  So with the sun tunnel we are also going to put in 5" eyeball trim lights up in the ceiling.  They'll be flush with the ceiling but be able to move around and such so that we can direct the light appropriately.

One of the things we wanted was a big ceiling fan to cover both rooms.  I figured we'd need two because of the amount of space we are to cover with the fans.  Well, we found one that is 68" across... it's the BIGGEST fan we've ever seen (http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100630835/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053).  Mike made this decision and it makes a lot of sense for me.  Plus, it helped me decide on lighting for the dining area!


I had found this really neat chandelier at Lowes and I really liked it.(http://www.lowes.com/pd_258947-76219-EJV8113_0__?productId=3295176&Ntt=wheat+light&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dwheat%2Blight).  I was unsure about how it would look in the house with the ideas we have for the kitchen area.  We really need the lighting to flow with the design of the kitchen since there will be no structure in between to separate out the kitchen and dining areas.  I really liked the Wheat Chandelier when I first saw it because it was so unique and sort of country-ish but I wanted Mike to like it too.  With his decision on the fan, it just makes perfect sense now to go with the light I like.

The problem is- we may not be able to wait to purchase what we want because it may not be available later on.  That's where our awesome gift cards to Home Depot and Lowe's come in.  We can basically take 50% off of the lighting fixtures that we want to purchase by using our gift cards!  So Mike and I will hopefully be able to go on Thursday to Lowe's and Home Depot and pick up the fan and chandelier that we want.  As for the other lights, we have no doubt those will still be around in a few months when we begin the building process.

It gets me excited to start this process- and the more we can pay out of our pockets now, the less we will pay in the mortgage in the end.  The gift cards that we got from our parents this Christmas is going to help us a lot (thank you again to Mike's Mom and Dad and my Mom and Dad!  Best Presents EVER!).  The only thing is, we can get the lights and put them into a storage area- but then we can't even hang them and look at their prettiness! LOL!  Oh well, all things in good time right?!


Like our Love, it comes one step at a time.

First Payment Down, a Small Setback, but a lot of Good!

First payment down, and we're already starting to plan the next steps. With the Holidays out of the way, you would think the next steps would be easy to figure out. Maybe not as easy as we thought- but again, I think if Mike and I can make it through this, we can make it through anything.

I called the town for more information on what we need for a driveway permit. We know that we will likely need a culvert and potentially some special permit because we have to cross a small section of wetlands- which I have no problem with. Here's the problem. When I called and talked to the selectman's assistant (which was very nice by the way) he informed me that the road agent that would be approving the driveway will likely not be able to take a look at it until May, when there is no snow and he can view the land more clearly since they know there is some designated wetlands at the beginning parts of the driveway.

It's kind of discouraging because we were hoping to get the driveway underway by March- or even earlier than that. Actually, we really wanted it done ASAP so we can get back in there with some equipment and start clearing the lot. We want to get the trees out of the way too and do the landscaping that we want to do so we can properly set up the house how we want it.

This just pushes the beginning stages back. Mike still thinks that as long as we start near the beginning of May, we can probably be in it by the end of August or sometime in September. I'm glad he's so enthusiastic and supportive about all of this- because let's face it, I'm no expert and have NO idea how long most of this stuff will take- but we will be doing it at nights after work and on the weekends (goodbye social life for a half a year or so!). In reality, it's totally worth the blood and sweat we will shed in the process.

My not so fun feeling is that this is going to be more headache-y throughout the process than we are bargaining for. I guess that's all in building a house anyways. Going through the beginning paperwork for the driveway and building permits alone requires some extensive work. At least we know where we want to put the house, what kind of house we want to build, and where we want to put the driveway. There are other parts that we have to unmask, like a plot plan including where we will be putting the septic- which by the way must be designed by a designer and then approved by the state.

We also have to start looking at going back to the bank and seeing if they will give us a construction loan. Mike seems to think that we won't have a problem with it- and I hope he's right! Again, he's being my steady rock in this process- the light that's keeping me positive. I just see the headlines in the news about what the banks are doing and it makes me nervous. Maybe if they see that we are already undergoing the beginning processes and the fact that we actually own the land- maybe that would change things and give us a far better chance.

In either case, I know everything happens for a reason. Maybe the reason that we can't start till May isn't JUST because of the wetlands area in the front piece, maybe we are in for some serious weather, and this is just a blessing in disguise.

All in all, you just got to have faith in everything that you do. There's a reason for everything and there's a time for everything. I just keep hoping that time is on our side! :)