Junkbj, It appears that you are getting a turnkey price from a builder. Most builders will quote a project based on a certain number of $ per sq ft based on their experience and the current material pricing. They simply don't do a detailed take-off of the house because they don't have time to do it. If you think about it, a lot of people "toy" around with the idea of building a house and start making phone calls to builders to get prices. If the builder was giving detailed quotes to everyone that called, he would not be making any money. He knows what his cost is and he knows what he can build the house for and make a profit...so to save time, most builders will just give you a cost per sq ft or a lump sum like you got. Here's what I would do... Call the builder that you would like to have build your house. Talk to him and tell him that you want to use him but his price is a little out of your budget. Ask him if he can give you some suggestions as to how you can reduce the price so you are within your budget. You need to make a decision as to what you are willing to give up, what is important to you and what is not. What my wife and I did was to decide what would be easy to upgrade later and what would not. We also decided to go with a little less expensive can light fixtures since they will not be seen anyway. These are just a few examples of what we did. I am building a house right now. We are getting ready to do sheetrock starting next Thursday. I am a contractor but I do industrial construction at manufacturing companies so this is a new experience for me as well. It sounds like you are fairly knowledgeable...why are not considering being the general contractor yourself and saving the mark up? Its all a matter of getting some subcontractors and then managing them. If you'd like I can give you some tips on finding subs if you want to go this direction. Hope my thoughts helped you. Let me know if you have any other questions. Bret

I totally agree with other posters. You make your offer based on FAIR market value, not on the asking price. Find out what sold recently, consider all factors i.e. location, shape of the house, extras. Find the closest comparable & go from there. Offer a little less to leave room for negotiations. Sometimes a comp is not a comp, although it may be indentical to the house your purchasing. There are circumstances where buyers sell for a lot less. If there is an emergency to sell, time of the year & other, the price usually drops tremendously because the owner needs to get out quickly. You cannot use that as a true comp. Those are the things that you consider when making an offer based on comps. I find asking prices are all over the place. Many buyers assume that everybody prices their homes too high because they are not familiar with close comps. Example: I went to an Open House yesterday. The house was overpriced by at least 100k. These people just put it on the market & threw up a figure, thinking the RE is appreciating like it did in 2004. If I were buying that house, I would make an offer for 120k less than the asking price. When I was selling my house, I already priced it 20k (579k instead of 599k)below comps. I would have been insulted with any offer for less than another 30k (550k) below asking. At that point, I figured 10% below what the true comparable was sufficient for the buyer. That's exactly what happened. I sold it for 550k. They got a good buy & I did ok, seeing that I needed to sell & it was in the dead of winter. Had I been selling in the spring, I would have wanted closer to my already lower than comps asking price. I may have settled around 569k.

I'm very happy for you about work, but you still need to get to the doctor about those head aches.I know you are scared and I would be too, but you will not be any good to any one else if you do not take care of yourself. I know I sound like I'm preaching, but you really do need to take care of yourself. Quit worrying about work, they seem to be very pleased with you at work, and they don't won't you feeling this way either. Now tomorrow morning get on that phone and call the doctor. It may not be anything real serious, but do you want to go through the holidays, feeling this way and not knowing? Not too long ago my dh was having alot of problems and I was just as scared as he was. The not knowing is almost worse than what is wrong. When they finally figured out the problem, we didn't like the answer, (m.s.) but at least we know what we are dealing with now. Please, Please go.

i can only see 2 pictures and one of those I can't make out what it is showing. However ..... plums are hardy trees and need a period of winter dormancy. They shouldn't be kept growing all winter under lights. However, depending on where you live it may not be possible to put them outside now. You need to gradually reduce the temperature but keep them in good light. Do you have something like an unheated sunroom or porch? Once they have lost all their leaves they could be kept in a cold garage or shed. You plums are well past the seedling stage and are saplings. Once they are hardened off they could be planted outdoors in the spring, or, if you live in a temperate climate any time when the ground isn't froze