"Once more into the breach dear friends, once more." So we are going with the Hialeah model with steps to the ground from the deck, if they don't cost too much out of composite. We do want the Merrilat cabinets instead of the Aristokraft. We will see if they give. We also have to see what the final cost will be. I am now considering going with a double oven and stove top. Also, have to see what it costs.

After a couple of discussions with our real estate agent here we are planning to move late July and go into a short term rental. We have to figure out what to do with the show stuff so that it is accesible and what to bring so that I can still create. ARG!!! Late July means that I will finish with the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair then start packing up everything to go into storage for who knows how long.

Right after we would move into the short term rental there we will be taking off for Milwaukee for a couple of days to watch Victoria compete in a Trathlon Age Group championship and to visit family. Baron will be real thrilled to be left in the new place by himself.

I am going into overdrive cleaning out stuff. People now cringe when they see me coming not knowing what box or bag I will hand to them.

OK, back to work.

Well, they didn't blink. The manager told the sales person "no way" on giving us some sort of price break. So basically Drees has told us to love it or shove it. I am angry. We have our lot hold on, but we don't have a deadline on it. I want to make them sweat. I also don't want to rush into anything. Robert on the other hand can't sit still. He has to be in action at all times.

Now we are considering a lesser model. It was one that we considered going with earlier but I realized that we would be using the family room as a hallway. It is right in the middle of the house. The screened porch is not on a corner but between the master bedroom and the dining room. I like to have the dining room in an L with the living room which we wouldn't have. The pantry is smaller, but the kitchen has more counter space. The master bath is easier to reconfigure. You don't look down the basement stairs as soon as you walk in the door, but you do have to turn to go downstairs.

Robert is seeing what he can take off of the list. He has decided that if we can't agree on something then it should go. I thought that we would make use of a stairs from the deck to the ground he doesn't so no stairs. Now he is trying to talk me out of the sink in the basement.

I just don't know, I am tired and have a headache. Don't you hate when you think that you have something all figured out and then poof, it isn't going to happen?

Here is your lesson for the day; don't tick off a person who uses social media. Last night I posted on the Drees Homes facebook page outlining my frustration about them stalling, raising prices and not telling the truth about what the price increases will be. This morning Denise, our very patient real estate agent called. She has spoken to Mary the sales lady. Densise told Mary that if they don't rescind the last price increase on the base model. Mary is going to her boss about this and keeps telling him that we have been very patient and are not happy. Mary said that it would go a long way to resolving this if I would take down my facebook post. Wow, someone noticed it? Denise laughed, a lot of people noticed it. I took the post down, but if we cannot come to an agreement and we go elsewhere, that post is going back up. Denise explained that they were pulling a bait and switch, which Robert had claimed before. We are going to sit on our lot hold and let them sweat. In the mean time Denise is sending us listings of ranch homes with walkout basements. We are looking them over, but will not jump into anything right now. Yeah, don't tick off a person who uses social media.

I realize that life has ups and downs, but come on, please let me off of this roller coaster. We got the plat map on Wednesday and found out that the lot premiums were not $25,000.00 as we had previously been told but were $35,000 - $45,000.00. Ouch, we looked at the map and decided which one we wanted. On Friday we went to the Drees Design Center. We had an appointment, but understood that we would not have someone working with us. We understood that. We got there at 10:00 and no one greeted us, but there were workmen going in and out. After about 10 minutes someone came out and we explained why we were there. Again sitting there for another 10 minutes. They called Mary, again. We were told that they were changing over the kitchen area and we would not be making our choices from the Merilat cabinets, but from Aristocraft instead. Now, did anyone think to mention this when we called? Nooo, too hard. We spent some time there looking at carpet and tile, but we had no idea what level different things were. After lunch we went off to look at the lots. There were stakes in different places but we had a hard time telling for sure which one was which. We decid:ed that we wanted 229 instead of 230. We looked at design choices in the model and could find some of what we wanted but made other choices just in case. The woman working there that day had a couple who were scheduled to be there, but she was able to spend a little time with us. We chose which bathroom fixtures we wanted and they were $830.00 extra, wow, for some faucets etc? She kept saying "but you do get 50% off." Yes up to $20,000.00 since they are offering $40,000.00 in improvements for $20,000.00. We looked at the map with her then went back out to the lots. I had the compass ap on my phone and we realized that 230 was the lot that we wanted. We did stop at the model home and asked her to ask Mary to bring boots for Sunday. We know which lot we want, just are not sure of the number. We came back on Sunday with Douglas and Denise. Off we went through the lots with Mary, a map and a compass. Yeah, she still wasn't sure. Denise asked her if she could go with Mary and someone from corporate through the lots. She would facetime me on her IPad and decide. Now came the fun part, we went over prices. Some were not too bad and some were quite shocking. The stairs from the deck down $1,050.00 when we had been told that it would be $3,000.00. We knew that we would be paying more for stainless appliances, but they were charging $350.00 EXTRA for a stainless steel microwave. We got the "you don't understand the over the stove microwaves cost a lot." Yeah, we know, we put one in a couple of years ago. $400.00 extra for the stove. I went on line and found that it was $50.00 more to go from standard to stainless. Uh huh. Douglas looked at the costs and said that he would show the plans and the list of prices for finishing the basement to his father-in-law who works in construction and would see what he thought about the prices. We would have to figure out the financing, but maybe that would work. When we got to the bottom line we discovered that the cost of the base home had not gone up 2%, but had gone up 9%. The website listed the lower price there must be a mistake in the program. Mary said that she would check into it. Denise then broached the subject of negotiations. She pointed out that we have been more than patient we wanted to start building last fall, the base had gone up 2% and the lot had gone up $15,000.00. Mary said that her boss said no negotiations on a custom built house. I went away feeling great dispair. We went over the price list again and changed a few things and sent the list off to Mary. We got an email later from Mary. She said that she would submit out list for review and would be getting back to us. She added the ominous line "I spoke with Denise today about a few things, she said she was going to be talking to you soon." Well that just warmed my heart. Denise called later and I mentioned this to her. She kind of laughed and said "oh good she made me the bad guy." Uh oh. Yeah the higher price was correct the website said that prices are not guaranteed. Mary asked her boss about coming down in price for us he said absolutly no way. Or at least that is what she says he said. At this point I just don't know if I can trust her or anyone connected to Drees. This house is now going to be $32,000.00 more than we had planned before we change or upgrade anything. Robert kind of lost it at this point and said that the Melbourne was now off of the table. Mary suggested that we look at lesser models. We have asked for base pricing on all of them. At this point I just kind of lost it. We don't know what we are going to do. I looked at Del Webb homes, but the closest to Cincinnati is in Indianapolis. I will take some time to look at Older Active Adult communities in Northern Kentucky, which is not ideal. We are considering selling here then renting down there until something breaks. Maybe a house in HMB will come available or maybe someone will build a new community. We are also going to ask Denise if homes have gone up that much in the area. We got the base price for one house and it is higher than what is listed online. Have they really raised the prices that much or are they ripping us off. We appeared too eager. Can I climb back under my blanket?

I guess that I should have had more faith. We finally got the plat map for the new lots. The lot premium is more than we had originally been told that it would be but we are getting somewhere. The stakes are in the ground so we will be able to see the lot on Friday. I will post pictures of the lot when I take them. Wow, we might actually be able to move in this year.

So much for the elation from last week. We were supposed to get the plat map by mid week. Today is Wednesday, officially mid week and still nothing. Why am I afraid that this is going to be just like last August; get our hopes up then nothing happens. We will spend Friday with Denise, first at the Design Center then look at the lots then at the model home. After we are done we will notify her family as to which asylum she has been committed. By the end of the day we should know which upgrades we want and to what level we want to go. On Sunday we will go back and start the negotiations and presnet our changes and upgrades. Well this is if they have a lot for us. I keep thinking that I will check my email and there will be one from Mary with the map and I will feel better. I have been through this too many times. Sigh. Maybe there will be a new post from me soon announcing the lot. Maybe