Well, it's a few hours after our meeting with Thompson, Ball & Associates, and it wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. Gordon Thompson, the lawyer who dealt with us, was very patient in explaining what we were signing, why we were signing, and what exactly we had the power to do once the money was in their hands. First off, the money we gave them today is held in trust until our actual possession date, at which time it will be released to Baywest, but no sooner. Also, when we do the walk through on Monday afternoon, anything we mark down as needing to be fixed is somewhat of a "binding contract" from Baywest, guaranteeing that everything on that list will be fixed as soon as possible. Gordon Thompson was saying that of all the builders he's ever worked with, Baywest's reputation for follow up maintenance and work is remarkable in comparison to other builders. That definitely helped distill any worries we had.

And as for that $198 interest charge we were looking at if we were even a day late with the money, Gordon said he talked to Harry, Baywest's owner, and because we came in to do the paperwork as soon as we were able, Harry is looking upon us favourably, and won't charge us any interest if the money is a day late. Thanks Harry! We appreciate it!

When we went to the bank today to get a certified cheque for the remainder of the money we owe Baywest, we got talking with the banker, Sandie, who is absolutely great, by the way, and she and her husband built a house in the same area we're in, fairly recently. She said that her builder did their final walkthrough at least a week prior to their possession date, and that they didn't see the lawyers until after that walkthrough was completed. Interesting...especially considering what Marlene at Thompson, Ball was trying to tell us about "all the other builders" taking people through on their possession date.

The one thing Jason and I were really hoping to avoid was having workers in our home after we've moved in. We understand and realize that for maintenance puroses, we may indeed need to bring someone in, but at the same time, it's almost like an intrusion. We paid them what they asked for, and yet we're the ones having to suffer with their workers coming in to fix things up because they couldn't be more accomodating to us - the customer - prior to our possession. Oh well. I guess things could've gone worse!

Despite all the recent frustrations we've experienced, we're both very excited to see the house on Sunday, as it will be completed (to Baywest's satisfaction, anyway), and I know all our appliances arrived this past Wednesday, which means pretty much everything should be looking complete! YAY! It's so close to moving time, I'm just wanting to be in.

Both of our parents and my cousin will be joining us here tomorrow to help us do most of our packing. Jay and I have been doing some every night, but the more hands, the faster things go, and Barb, my cousin, has a big truck, and she's offered us the use of it, which is great! Everyone's really helping us out a lot, which is wonderful.

All in all, this has really been the only big frustration, and Baywest's people have been really good to us, so we don't have THAT much to complain about! Just make sure to keep your eyes open, heads up and "ducks in a row" when you decide to build!