Ginkgonut...Thanks, lots of info under that name. I should have thought of that as some of my favorite plants have undergone name changes. Cheryl...I was wondering where you were. The garden tour was such a joy, I am sure that Helen next door and I were the happiest people there! Everyone was so nice and fun to talk to, we had a ball! We are indebted. You do know where I live...and you are more than welcome to stop by for a personal tour. What good IS a garden that you have no one to share it with? Helen.

Good luck finding a reputable contractor. We've lived in the same house for 26 years and in that time we've done many projects - new roof, new siding, a 1000 sq. addition, finished the basement, remodeled 3 bathrooms, added a screened in porch,installed a mahogany deck, a swimming pool, replaced brick walk with custom cut bluestone, remodeled the kitchen twice and had major landscaping done 3 times. We probably worked with 12 different general contractors and unfortunately only 2 of them would I ever work with again or refer to others. Even though we went through all the recommended steps in selecting our contractor calamities still happened - may of them directly caused by the GC trying to save time, money or appease one of his subs or another customer. You don't need to hear my horror stories I'm sure you've heard many. If you have the knowledge, the time and the fortitude to be your own GC then go for it. Just make sure you have all the insurance you need and an attorney to review all contracts. The last contractor we worked with was highly recommended by many people that I knew personally and whose work I had inspected. But he lost his foreman to an injury one week after my kitchen was demolished and everything went downhill rapidly after that. So even if you do everything right - there's still a good chance that things will go wrong.

Kristen, I'm very excited for you! There are lots of things you must seriously consider, of course, and it sounds like you are on the right track. I had a buyer's agent, and I am glad I did have one. The house that I did buy had a listing agent that was VERY unprofessional and would do anything to sell the house. However, DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT, put all your faith into a buyer's agent. Make sure you do alot of your own homework and question everything. At the end of the day, any agent - buyers or sellers - are looking at accomplishing one thing: to sell you a home. Absolutely DO NOT use any inspector the buyer's agent or listing agent, or anyone that has a stockhold in selling you a property. Find your own. I hired one that was highly recommended from my trusted buyer's agent, and he screwed up royally. Missed so much...$20K worth of things that should have easily been found. But, he was working with her to make the sale go through. And inspectors are not that worried about reprecussion of a bad inspection...the most they could ever get is a little slap on the wrist and to refund your inspection cost back. Surely not enough to cover damages that should have been found. Home inspectors DO NOT move anything. So this is what you should do yourself: look under area rugs for trouble, move the curtains to see the windows better, move the refrigerator to see what is lurking beneath (in my case it was a rotten floor), ask to see the house after it rains, etc. Go in yourself with a flashlight and look into every corner. Better yet, take knowledgable friends and family with you. Specifically have these questions asked and answered: when was the electric updated and where? when was the plumbing updated and where? how old is the septic system? How old is the roof? Also make sure you get the water tested. VERY important, especially if you have well water. Another very good thing to do is to go to the town hall and see what permits were pulled for work done on the house. See what was done professionally. Big things count: roof, septic, electric, plumbing, and installation of a furnace. Make sure you have the chimneys checked as well (not doing so cost me $4,000 to have them updated as they were caved in and I waived the chimney inspection). Don't think the ASHI organization is the pinnacle of excellence in finding a great home inspector either - that is used mostly for advertising so HI's can say they are part of some national organization where their credentials are checked. The take a test once, pass, and that's it. Find your HI through friend's recommendation. Interview several yourself. After all, YOU are hiring them to do a job. As far as a buyer's agent, do the same thing: interview a few, ask alot of questions. You are basically giving them a listing on a potential sale. So, you have every right to check them out to see if they really do have your best interests at heart. So do, many do not. Remember, they want a sale, period. Good luck, Kristen, take your time, and ask, ask, ask questions galore to find the right people. They are out there, it just takes some digging. Best to you!!!

I used to sell real estate myself so knew some of what to look (and look out) for. We sold our house last year and I had a wonderful experience with a seller's agent but you have to do your homework. We almost went with the buyer's agent that we had for our new purchase (we owned two homes for awhile) as he worked out well for that purpose BUT when it came to us selling, it wasn't going well from the get go. It was a difficult decision as we had developed a more personal relationship but we ended up going with someone else just prior to us listing. Remember this is a business transaction. We interviewed several applicants (they were getting a hefty commision off of $500,000). Knowing that the MLS is in their favor, we talked commissions and what they would do. The realtor that I found was one in which I had posted directly to where we would be the selling agent and they would be the buyer's agent in which we would save on a commission. He called and it was his energy over the phone that I allowed him some time to come over and talk with us (ask anyone that knows me, I'm not an easy sale). Though he was young, his hungriness to get the listing was unmistakable. I called up his referrals and I asked what made him stand out (which proved very true for us too). We hired him. When filling out the contract he actually talked us into a higher sales price then we thought we should go (which we leveraged with giving him a higher commission if he pulled it off. By the way the other realtors that gave us estimates didn't think they could go quite that high. All this was AFTER we had decided on him not before (some people get swood by someone that can get more for their house). He was so adamant though, we figured we'd try it at the higher price. End result, we had a bidding war over the house and sold it within a week for basically the full price! Throughout the week, he emailed us a few times a day and talked to us as appropriate. We were informed at ever turn. In fact his son was born the day the 3 offers came in and you wouldn't have thought he missed a beat (though we felt a bit guilty). Though we had others that were more seasoned realtors, they seemed tired and mechanical. Go with a true salesman but make sure you follow up with their references. Good luck