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SIDE NOTE POST FOR MY DIGITAL TECH CLASS

No fluff and communicating to the point. This is what the economy of words means to me.  I think that often times people speak to makes themselves sound smarter and at times just to hear themselves speak.  I think that by utilizing the economy of words a person will communicate with a purpose.  The words someone speaks or types will have meaning.

Utilizing the “economy of words” requires a person to be an active listener.  A person needs to be an effective, active listener to in order to be able to communicate efficiently and utilize the “economy of words.”  If you are not listening to what a person is saying, how can you respond without using filler words and asking unnecessary information because you weren’t listening?  You can’t.  By actively listening to whomever you are communicating with, you can take time to think about the information they presented and respond accordingly.  For example, if you are in a meeting with your boss and while they are speaking to you, you are worrying about the exercises you are going to do at the gym or what groceries you need at the store, you will probably not be able to respond to your boss without scrambling for words or asking them to repeat what they said. If you are focused on what your boss is saying, without distractions, you will have a greater opportunity to think about a response and respond accordingly.

Let the Search Begin

Once John Michael (JM) and I made some tweeks to our credit scores and we knew what we could afford and what we qualified we started the search for our "dream home".  David Moyer, our realtor, you can contact him at www.davidmoyer.com, (yes, that was a shameless plug) started uploading potential homes on our personalized account on-line through his company.  It was pretty simple because I was able to decline houses online and once David had enough homes that I said yes to, we would set up appointments to see them personally.  JM was teaching most of the time, so I had my mom accompany me for a second opinion.  When you get the two of us together in this type of situation it can spell bad news.  There were times we would pull up to a house and we would both tell David to just keep driving.  I think it was the first house we actually looked at that had 2 bathrooms listed.  The second bathroom was a free standing toilet in the basement with no walls. It was literally just a toilet in the middle of the basement.  Before we actually started reviewing houses though.  JM and I sat down and decided what we wanted in a house.  There were some things we could compromise on and some things we were both adamant about.  The house had to have at least a bath and a half and at least two bedrooms.  After that we weren't sure what we wanted until we started looking at houses.

How It Started

I guess I should start at the beginning of how the search for our house started.  John Michael, my partner, and I had moved from one rental unit to another virtually every 2 years.  In the past 10 years we have lived in 4 different cities surrounding the Dayton, Ohio area and 4 different apartments or rented houses.  We were getting sick of moving and having to shell out money for something that wasn't ours.  Two years ago I met David Moyer, our realtor and friend, through a mutual friend and through him started plotting how to go about starting the home buying process.  Before we even started looking for a home, we met with the mortgage broker to determine what our credit scores were and what we could qualify.  We had a goal of being out of our apartment by May 1,2010 because our lease was up and we didn't want to pay the increased rent for another year.  We started meeting with the mortgage broker in December.  We had a small bit of work to do to make sure our credit scores were sufficient for us to qualify for the amount of money we were looking to borrow.  We took three months to work on our credit and by the time we were ready to start looking at houses, we had enhanced our credit scores enough to qualify for what we though we could handle for a monthly payment.

Here's a little taste of what the back yard looked like while we had the inspector out.

Here are just a few pics of updated we have done.  These aren't the most recent.  I have 8 lilie plants, impatients and various bushes around the deck now.  The random grass pic is the spot where the hideous plastic house and years of leaves used to be.  Also, the previous homeowners dug a "trench" down the little hill that leads to the neighbors, so the water would drain into their yard.  We almost have the "trench" filled in and sodded.

Later,
Nathan

Here We Go!!

So far year 1 of homeowership has been trying and amazing at the same time.  While I nagivate utilizing this blog, I will update you on how my and John'Michael's first year went as first time homeowners and how the time is going currently.

Pictures to come once I figure out where either where the camera is or how I can get them off Facebook.