So, I dont really have anything to post about. But there are a few things we've done in the past week or two.
Kaylee finished her swimming lessons..and passed..Yeah for Kaylee. However, now that swimming is over, I kind of miss going to the pool every Wednesday night. I thinkg we might have to make a regular swim time. Both the girls love swimming.
I took the girls to the Circle and 8th mall yesterday. I got a new cell phone..I am so excited about that. I haven't had one in a few years. I figured now that its winter, and I go out a lot with the girls, compared to the past few winters, I need a phone for an emergency. Plus I just wanted one. :) So while at the mall, we went to go through the underground tunnel part..and Kaylee woulndn't walk down the ramp from the food court end. She stood at the top, right before the little bend, and she tried to step over it, and she just couldn't do it. She even tried squatting down a little to see if that would help. Now that I think of it, I don't think she has ever walked down a hill like that. It was so cute to see her fear of going down and hill and trying to walk down it. So I ended up carrying her. I have to give her credit for trying, but I don't know what the fear was about.
Rick and I met with a realtor this past weekend. I am not to fond of the guy. He was recommended to us by a family member. He cancelled on us the first two times we had arranged to meet with him, and the third time, he showed up more than an hour late, and didn't bother to call to let us know. We had to call him to see where he was and if he was coming. So, he came over, said hi, shook my hand, and sat at our kitchen table. Now, I may be wrong..but aren't realtors supposed to find out what WE want, and get to know us? At least thats what I though. He sat at the table, and talked about himself the whole time. And it wasn't just the regular speech..I'm so and so, and work for ..., and have been doing this for ...years. He went on to tell his life story..and stories to go with it. He talked about going to Jamaica for a his kids wedding.. and all about that. THEN, he gets two phone calls while he is still at our table, and he answers them..don't people turn off their phones when you have an appointment with someone? I just couldn't believe the guy. So he never asked us what we want in a house..he just asked what we can afford for a mortgage, and said, go drive through...area..and tell me what you think of it. And then he left. He has no clue how many bedrooms, or bathrooms, or what we want for a yard, if we want a basement..blah blah blah. I was so not impressed..but I couldn't even tell him that, because he used one of his phone calls as an escape to leave our house. He was talking on the phone to another customer while saying good bye to us. Oh, and he was checking his messages too while we got the brief chance to say something. So I am not sure if we are going to meet with this guy again, or if we are going to meet with someone else.
I am so sick of buting a house already, I don't even care to continue the process. The realtor, our family's helping out causes issues for us. Rick and I just want to go through the learning process ourselves to start. There is so many conditions being put on the help we might get, its starting to make me just not want to get a house. We are just looking right now..Everyone keeps telling us to not buy the first thing we see, so we want to go look at a few houses, and if we even say anything positive about it, before we even see it, they have a whole different opinion. I mean how do we avoid buying the first thing we see, if we don't go look at anything now. Just becuase we don't quite have all our ducks in a row, we still want to start looking and see whats out there. We want something to compare too.
Anyways, now that I just realized I got some personal feelings out..I should probably stop on that topic, but how have you struggled and/or succeeded int the process of buying your first home?
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7 comments:
We check both those sites every day. The only thing with sask houses, is that it is private, and you can get ripped off sometimes going that route, and you still need a realtor to look at houses on mls. I wouldn't go and pick just any realtor. I definitely want one with experience. The thing with the realtor we have..is that because he's so close with one of our family members, we've already had the opportunity to put an offer on a house before it even hits the market, which would have given us a way better deal. This realtor is willing to take a minimum commission, if none at all, just because of how well he knows the family member, so there will be a lot more room for us to move in a listed price as well. Thats why I want to stick with him, even though I don't really care for him, and thats why I am torn between going with him or someone else.
I have to say that you are better off dealing with a realtor that you like and get along with. The fees don't come out of your pocket but of the people you are buying from and a good realtor who is working for you can get you a great deal on any house. If this guys does not have your best interest in mind I would say is not that good of a friend to the family.
When we bought our condo our realtor was amazing. He showed us anything we wanted and found many similar properties for us to see. He gave us great advice on making offers and got us an excellent deal.
oh buying houses...yuck. we've done it twice now. i am lucky in the way that i really have no idea what goes on "behind-the-scenes"...my hubby takes care of that. though even without all of that, it's a stressful time. especailly when it comes to figuring out what you can afford. that sucks.
i agree that saskhouses is a great way to go. though we still investigated with realtors to see what they thought before we bought from saskhouses. but you want a good realtor because yes, we dumped one realtor too because he didn't really care or "get" what WE wanted, not what he wanted. almost sounds like the same guy! :)
i also have a friend that's a realtor - Deanna Osterbeck at Hallmark. you should give her a call & just see what she says. We also had a great lawyer, if you need one.
also, houses in Warman & Martensville are quite a bit cheaper than in the city but are keeping their value, and increasing it as well. Rod & I are hoping to start building a couple of houses to help pay off our mortgage.
good luck, i know it's a lot to take on, and a lot to handle, but the thought of your money actually going to YOU than to someone else...it makes a huge difference.
I remeber wanting to put a bid on a few houses we saw. I just wanted a house and didn't want to wait. We looked at what seemed like a lot. I knew we couldn't afford many of them. We went looking in the fall hoping that someone would sell early for the spring. Well finally friends told us about one house that was privately up for sale (the way I would recommend going if you can find one as you save money) and at first Trev didn't want to look at it because an older lady owned it. Finally we went and now it's ours. God was faithful as we waited. I didn't understand why we had to wait another 6 months to get the house as we were trying to have a baby. Well as it turned out it took another 6 months for us to get pregnant anyways. All the best in the hunt. Go with what you two like. Ask opinions of family members but ask knowing that doesn't mean you have to like what they say.
hey angie! i definately think that you need to dump that relator! he sounds like knob! when nathan and i started looking we checked saskhouses all the time. just to compare prices,etc. we ended up buying our house from a listing on there and got a super good deal! my advice would just be to go to a bunch of open houses. even if you don't like the house but just to see what's out there and what the prices are. you'll get a better feel that way i think. also my parents relator was awesome his name is ron berry he works for royal lepage i think. he was just great! had we not found our house on saskhouses we would have used him so i could get his number if you want to try that route. anyways good luck with the house hunting!
I came to your blog via Kim's.
We just bought our first home last year. (we live in BC).
Have you gone for a preapproval? I think that's the first step so you know what you can afford. Definately the next step is a good realtor. We had an amazing one, who was helpful and showed us quite a few homes. We narrowed it down to 2 and then went with our gut. The house we bought as soon as I walked into the entryway I knew this was the one I wanted.
We got our mortgage thru a mortgage broker...actually from a lady who works in Saskatoon. Amazing and friendly lady who got us an amazing interest rate.
Good luck and listen to your gut feeling about the realtor.
PS I hope you don't mind that I commented!! This is the first time I visited your site and thought I'd offer some advice!
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