by Alison Moore Smith | Nov 15, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home
Our second home was what they call “semi-custom.” In a nutshell that means that you go to a mass builder, choose a lot from their open inventory, choose a plan from among the handful of choices in their book, and then you “customize.” In the...
by Alison Moore Smith | Nov 10, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home, for Money
Breathe. Breathe. This is the third time we've built a home and the fourth home we've purchased. Never in my life has it been such an episode. This morning we finally closed on the course of construction loan, but not before feeling utterly beat up and screwed over...
by Alison Moore Smith | Nov 6, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home
Our builder is involved in a swimming pool project somewhere in the valley. We are the proud beneficiaries of the topsoil that was removed to make way for the watering hole. Looks like good, dark dirt. Which, of course, doesn't really mean it's great soil, but it was...
by Alison Moore Smith | Nov 2, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home
Until we moved to Florida in 1991, we'd never heard of an Home Owners Association. Where I come from, you own your own land and use it as you see fit…as long as you comply with city code created by duly elected councils. And for the most part people are respectable...
by Alison Moore Smith | Oct 26, 2009 | for Money
It probably isn't often that you have occasion to purchase bank checks. Most of my financial life is done online, through EFT, or other electronic methods. But last week I needed to get some new checks and I couldn't even remember where to get the best deal. I just...
