I'd find someon who'll take a shorter listing. Several years back we signed with a hotshot - a real legend in our area apparently. Well, turned out he didn't really "do" small houses and had a team member take over. It was a month before our house was advertised anywhere, including even getting feature sheets printed. He had us sign for six months and didn't even return our calls. Being the witch that I am, I called the real estate board here and they told me who to call in his agency and exactly what to say to get out of the contract. Suddenly this guy was at my door. Wow. After much arguing and listening to him say, "Well, I know I didn't return your calls, but I didn't realize they were important..." (AS IF?!?!?!?) we finally got him to let us out of the contract. Mostly we let him know that the person in charge of his office was on side with us. He went to his car and called the gentleman and came back with a much better attitude. He then balked at putting our cancellation in writing and then the whole thing started up again. I didn't back down, but my husband was ready to give in. We finally got the cancellation in writing AND added a clause that we would not be pursued for any commissions after the fact at all. (We had had an open house and couldn't get any info on whether or not anyone came, I think the answer was no as it wasn't listed anywhere, and I didn't want them to come back and claim something when another realtor found a buyer later.) Three weeks after all of that was finally over we had an offer through our new realtor and sure enough, the first gentleman came back and tried to claim that he was "sure" the offer was from someone who had attended the open house (which he didn't even do himself). He tried to put forth the idea that our document was not valid. (Remember, he assured us it didn't even need to be written and yet look what happened.) Remember, he wouldn't even confirm that anyone came to our open house when we were still his clients, and then suddenly he was quite sure this prospect was his?!? Again, it took a call to the head of his agency to get him to leave us alone. Apparently the "great legend" in these parts didn't like not getting his way. We've worked with four different agents (four different moves) and the others were all great. I know most agents are above board and do the right things, but just to protect yourself I think it's a great idea to get everything in writing and insist on terms that you can live with. If that means someone won't take you, it's not the end of the world, someone else will. Our "hotshot" sold a lot of properties and really put on the charm when he was trying to get our business, but honestly did a complete turnaround after. I'm glad I at least pushed for written documents through the whole thing. And I'll never sign for a long term again. (I'd also suggest looking at a reasonable escape clause regardless of the term.) Assuming you're above board and honest I see no reason why you shouldn't have a way to get out of a bad situation. You change doctors, dentists, etc if you are unhappy. Go for three months and resign later if necessary (and you're still happy.) But that's just my humble opinion...

As Dame said, "architect" is tossed around in this forum without much understanding of who and what an actual architect is. Many consumers think that anyone with a CADD system and/or who produces drawings of a house is an "architect". And then there are those captive folks who work in house or out house for builders and reproduce the plans that the builders prefer, with some adjustments for individual buyers. Any time one sees home designs with huge roofs which rely on lots and lots of roof trusses, this is a good guess. FWIW, I think that two of the most (negatively) influential inventions in the house building industry may have been: 1) Mr. Carrier's invention of air conditioning which made decades-long of many differing regional designs for architecture obsolete, and; 2) Invention of the 2X roof truss which made very long spans ( and houses 4 and 5 rooms deep) economical and achievable. Both of these, unfortunately, apply to the design of the OP's house.

I use one. I keep it simple as possible. Mine is a calendar that shows one week on the left and right page. Each day has a vertical column for entries. These are ruled without any messy time slots. This gives me the freedom to write whatever I want in each column. I use it for appointments up to a year in advance. Hey, I'm old and retired. How am I going to remember any of that stuff out in the future? I might remember what I supposed to do 3 days from now; That's the limit. Now=adays. there are several doctor appointment during the year; 3 dentist visits; reminders to re=order prescription; Birthdays and anniversary. Planned trips; etc. Many other items get penciled in such as lunch with a friend or a consult for an associate at his work. When I was working and handling 2 main projects plus small unplanned jobs that popped up, I got into a habit of scheduling a to-do list in my calendar. It was the only way I could insure I did not forget an obligation. Old habits die hard. After retirement, I found that I needed to continue a calendar of pending jobs.

Thanks, JMCK, good to know. I read that CT and RI are the only two states with a 2 week record of declining cases. 1929, It's so hard to guess. If we hadn't un-flattened the curve, id say they'd be opening up to the US at the same as the EU/Schengen. The holiday itinerary I am looking at is 100% cancellable and refundable in re hotels if i cancel before 11/26 for the Kitzbuhel hotel and 12/7 for the Vienna Air BnB. That's pretty worry free. The flight with BA would be exchangeable for a voucher good thru April 2021; pretty darn sure we'd use that. And if you can't go because *they* cancel the flight, by law you get a cash refund. What are the cancellation policies if you use miles? From what I've read they keep changing and vary quite a bit from airline to airline. Since it is so unpredictable, id only book if I could cancel and be satisfied with those terms. Texanjana, bummer about your trips. And totally jelly in re Egypt! My one DD wants to go there in the worst way and DH thinks its unsafe. Fingers crossed you get to go, and do tell us all about it!