Nice Websites

These websites have really caught my eye and I have to give props!

Very nicely designed.

http://www.tnvacation.com/
http://www.bnlmusic.com

Looking for Broadband Internet in MI?

Here is a link that should help out.

Finding the perfect house - Step By Step

You'd think that this would be an easy process, right? You've saved up some money - or maybe you hit the lotto and you've got cash to burn! A house will most likely be one of the largest and best investments that you'll make in your lifetime. What an exciting time!

Step 1 - Find a realtor

Believe it or not, these guys can come in quite handy for getting you in-depth information regarding the house you are researching that Realtor.com won't list. When dealing with a realtor - if you are just buying a house, not selling, then you'll have to sign a "Buyer Agreement" with said Realtor, which basically just allows this realtor to work on your behalf during negotiations and such. The Realtor in this case would be known as the "Buyer's Agent". This is the situation I went with as I am currently living in an apartment.

Step 2 - Tell your realtor what type of house you want

Give as much detail to your realtor as possible about the type of house you want. Notice I did not say need, you should basically give the description of your dream house to your realtor. An example might be - brick ranch, with basement and two car attached garage, at least 1500 sq ft in size, on 2 acres of land, three bedrooms, two baths, fireplace and a pool! The more info that you give them, the more they'll be able to find.

Step 3 - Prepare to be flexible

Not all the listings that you're realtor will send you will meet your dream house criteria. At some point you'll have to prioritize what is "really" important to you and then you'll come up with the list of "needs"

NOTE: A good realtor will be sending you listings everyday - or at very least every two days.

Step 4 - Driving it home!

Once a realtor sends you a listing, you may want to do a drive by of the house to take a look at the outside condition as well as finding out what the neighborhood is like - there were quite a few listings that looked great on the web and looked like hell when I drove by them. A good rule of thumb for the neighborhood is to ask yourself these questions...

Would I feel good about having my parents come to see me in this place?
Would I feel safe about having my kids play outside in this area?

Living next to the liquor store my be a sure sign that this is NOT the place for you!

Step 5 - The Walkthrough

Ah, what a wonderful time this can be... the homeowner and the selling agent have hyped up this house as much as possible, so be ready!

Interesting points that I've learned;

1) Full basement doesn't mean finished or even mean that it is a basement you can live in. I walked through a house that listed "Full Basement" and found that it was 5 feet tall, no good for a guy who is 6'3" tall.

2) TLC usually means Tender Loving Care, but might as well mean Take Lotsa Cash or Total Loss Case because unless you are a contractor; the skill / money it will take to fix these houses up will break you faster than Drago broke Apollo Creed.

3) "Minor" is a MAJOR word. Minor damage should equate to "replace". I walked through a house that had "minor foundation work needed" which turned out to be a fifteen foot crack in the block foundation, about an inch thick.

4) Ignore descriptive words like "spacious" or "open concept" until you really see the place. Spacious apparently means something different to each person - I walked through "spacious" kitchens that were smaller than a walk-in closet.

5) "Water view" could mean that you have to be holding binoculars to "view" the water.

6) "All appliances included" usually means that the appliances are so old that the seller is buying new ones, or they can't physically get them out of the house.

There are many more - but I'll let you discover them on your own and I think you're getting my point.

Be sure to ask your realtor to have the house empty when you walk through - and by that I mean asking the current owners to not be present. The reason is simple, you don't want them to influence your decision about the overall feel or condition of the house. I walked through a house where the owner was present and he basically had a bit of a nervous breakdown while showing us the place, talking about why he loved the house so much and why he didn't want to leave but was "f-ing" forced to... and let me say it was not a comfortable situation.

There will be a time when you walk through a house and you just fall in love. It's perfect and you can see yourself living there! The picture below is the one that I found.



The next post will talk about what comes after you've found that perfect house... and how you just might find out how imperfect it really is...

Cheers!

Adventures in Home Buying

Sorry I haven't posted in quite a while - the reason is simple, my work permit has changed and I decided that it was time that I made a more permanent move to the US of A and bought a house.

Let me be the first to tell you that the home purchasing experience has been by far one of the worst events of my life. It has caused me more stress, loss of sleep and general anxiety than I ever thought it would.

I'm going to post about my experiences here and hopefully document my process / experience so that you never have to go through the same craziness that I have been through. I'll even give some tips on how much money you should really have "on hand" and some traps to avoid.

As it stands right now - I'm supposed to be closing on my first house this Thursday afternoon at 3:00pm. First - we need to start with what it's taken to get to this point.

Balboa is BACK

This christmas, while you're opening up your new gifts - you'll have a chance to see another Rocky movie! Aw yeah. I thought it was going to be possibly a match against his son, but nope - the overall premise of the movie is around a computer simulation that is broadcast on the news one day that can choose any two fighters at their prime and simulate the result. Pitching the current champion against Balboa the computer says that Rocky would win. This, of course, damages the ego of the current champ, gets Rocky reminscing and sets the perfect scene for a comeback of let's say a hmm... 60 year oldish fighter? Interesting. It's been done by younger. Look at George Foreman!

Ah well... either way - it's a Rocky movie. I'd be there if it was Rocky vs. Godzilla, Rocky vs. Bush, Rocky vs. SpongeBob ... I'll certainly be there to check this one out. Do I have high hopes of it being a fantastic movie that could compete with Rocky I - IV, no - I'm not an idiot.

Watch the trailer - http://rocky.com/

Stay far away from Windsor Chrysler!!

You know the saying, please a customer and they'll tell another person about their great experience, leave a customer unsatisfied and they'll tell ten people about their horrible experience? Well - I'm here to tell you that I really hope you stay far away from Windsor Chrysler, on Tecumseh Rd E in Windsor, Ontario.

My father passed away on July 27th. He had a leased vehicle, in his name only, through this dealership. My family, including myself have been long time customers of this dealership.

On August 4th, we stopped in at the dealership to drop off the death certificate and notify the dealership of my dad's passing. We figured this was the right course of action, and were simply going to have the vehicle put into my mom's name and continue with the lease payments. After their "top" salesperson first suggested that we just keep it in my dad's name, because he didn't know what would be "involved" in the transfer of the lease papers, we asked to speak with the lease manager.

The lease manager explained that my mother would have to go through a credit approval first before they would transfer the lease. I was surprised but figured this was just a formality. I've purchased new cars and even if it's a Saturday night at 9pm, the dealer seems like they can put paperwork through to get that new sale - however in our case, the lease manager said that he would put through the paperwork and that we should expect a call by Tuesday of the following week.

No call.

Two weeks go by and I decide that this has gotten out of hand, so I try to find the company's number. Their website is filled with errors and has incorrect contact information - just more proof of what amateurs these losers really are - ok so I finally find the number and give the lease manager a call. He tells me that I need to talk to *** up in Accounting and that he should have the paperwork anytime. I should expect a call that week.

I decide that this is unacceptable and on my last trip back home to Windsor, I stop in the dealership in person to explain the urgency. My father's accounts have been frozen. They can't get their money. I explain that we'd just like to get this settled, the lease manager calls upstairs and says the paperwork is not in, it usually takes 3 weeks or more for a transfer to come through - which I know for a fact is bullshit because when my grandfather passed, they forced the leased vehicle in his name onto my grandmother without giving her any options and had all the paperwork done, new ownership and all in her hands that day!

It's now almost coming up on a month... I'm sick of these idiots. I will never buy another vehicle from them and will dedicate a good amount of my time telling everyone I can to NOT buy a vehicle from them. They DO NOT care about their customers. Chrysler allowing such a dealership to exist is a complete black mark against the entire company in my eyes.

When we tried to contact Chysler Financial directly - they said they can only speak to the account holder. I wonder if we can conference call my dad from the dead?

Morons.

Stay away from

WINDSOR CHRYSLER
10380 Tecumseh Rd. E.,
Windsor,
ON
Phone: 979-9900 .


Their customer service is horrible. They're all about the dollars and could care less what people are going through.

** disclaimer - this is one person's opinion and experience with this dealership. Although I could have named names - I feel that would have been taking it too far. I really hope that nobody else has to go through this... Feel free to spend your hard earned money there if you feel like it. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to help you, because you're fresh meat **

Warming the Globe

Will Ferrell - Bush on Global Warming on Transbuddha

A good laugh

From The Daily WTF? website.

http://thedailywtf.com/forums/thread/75718.aspx

Nachooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Last night I decided to take in the new Jack Black movie, "Nacho Libre" from the Director of Napoleon Dynamite and I must say - I liked it.

Jack plays a Padre who believes that he was made to wrestle, which is looked upon as a sinful sport because of its fans following their favorite wrestler is similar to the worship of a false idol. He finds a way to make his dream come true by wrestling to win money for the orphan children who live with the

Jack's antics are in the style that you would expect, a little over the top and there are also quite a few jokes that you'll need to be paying attention to understand.

As with most movies that I watch - you must be in the right mood to enjoy this flick. If you go in with your expectations set to high, you might be disappointed. I arrived at the theater just hoping to have something take my mind off everything else that's been going on lately and this movie delivered. There were lulls where the story was slow - but then there would be parts that would keep you laughing for a while.

I must say that my favorite parts came when Jack would break into tune, Tenacious D style.

Overall - 3.5/5