My 2nd job... apparently!

In my last post I talked about the land that Tony and I were interested in. Well apparently, this land has become my 2nd job-except for the fact that I'm not getting paid to do this. Granted Tony doesn't have the time at the moment, his race car is more important. Which I understand since he's just now getting the chance to finish it and race it hopefully Sunday. Beside from that he works during the day and I don't. Because of me not working all of this "other" stuff has fallen into my lap. I will be the 1st to admit that this stuff is not up me alley and I am not good with money or dealing with financial situations very well. I have gotten extremely better, but I wouldn't put myself in charge of anything such as buying land and all the factors that go into. I have been put into this situation and I think I have dealt with it very well. This situation has turned out to be more than what I/we thought. Back to my 2nd job....
I had contacted Monica last week inquiring about the land. I had driven by it a few days earlier and it look pretty decent. Tony and I met up with Monica and Aaron last Saturday and they showed us around a little bit. There are 4 acres and a creek divides the land. About 1 1/2 acres on the front and the rest on the back including a fairly steep hill. The front part was overgrown but not bad, the back had never been cleared. After some discussion Tony and I decided we want to proceed with this further. He wanted to see the legal documents and the map. We met with Monica and Aaron again on Wed evening to look at the documents. They really didn't have a lot that was any help but we looked at the survey report that was done about a year before they bought it. After that, we decided that we needed to go to the property and walk it to see what it was "really" like. Due to Tony's schedule it wouldn't be until next week. I'm not wait to just sit and wait. The last 2-3 days I've spent on the phone with numerous banks trying to find interest rates and what not. Monica's aunt works for a local bank (SMB) and that is where their loan is through for the property now. I contacted her and she gave me the info I needed. She was very helpful since she knew all about it already. I still called around. SMB requires only 20% down, Arvest 35%, and Bank of Amer. 40% down (ouch). If you can afford 40% you might as pay the whole thing! There were some others but nothing to good. Some required you to fill out an app. before they gave you rates. Well, I'm not doing that... if you fill out too many apps it'll hurt your credit score. So.. being that Monica's aunt is already dealing with this anyway I think we'll go with her. I started thinking about the land some more and the creek... wondering about it being on a flood plain. Remember, nothing was stated about this in the survey report. This morning I called SMB and Melinda (the aunt) got out the report to confirm this. I asked if it would have to be surveyed again and she said no but she'd send off what she had to someone and see if they could tell if it was in the flood plain. It would take 48 hrs. I went to the courthouse hoping they could give me some answers. Since there is no physical address due to it being raw land it was hard to find. The map didn't really have anything regarding the flood plains. She sent me to Newton Co Emergency Management. I went there and talked to Gary Roark (his daughter is one of my paras at school). He pulled up the maps... well sort of. The last maps were dated from 1985. HELLO OLD!!! Anyway there was no map showing the land. The property is in Silver Creek but is on the Saginaw border. So the map stops at Saginaw (the land is directly on the other side of the line). That map shows the creek in the flood plain, just not this property. There is no flood plain map for Silver Creek due to the fact that most of Silver Creek is on a hill. Frustrating!!! Based on what we saw, we concluded it's in the flood plain but which zone we don't know. This means flood insurance.. not something I wanted to do. After that my cousin Lindsey and I went to go walk the property as I didn't want to wait anymore. I went to the next door neighbors and asked about the flooding. He said they did have to have flood insurance ($300/yr) and that the property would have to built 20 inches above ground. They haven't had flooding but I don't think they've lived their very long. We walked the front part.. overgrown but not too bad. When it came time for the back part, I gave up. It was all overgrown over me (doesn't take much) and had huge spiders. That part is now left up to Tony!!!! Woohoo.. he has a job now. I wanted to know more about flood insurance so we went to talk to my agent. Again.. no address so didn't really help. He said I would need an elevation sheet and that the surveyor should have it. Again.. nothing about floods in the document. He stated that if we built up from the get-go we would get some discounts as compared to being built low. That's a good thing! Called Monica got the surveyor's # and called. After many phone calls to Monica and the survey place we finally figured out where the property was. The secretary would have the guy who did it call me. A few hrs. later he called me. Apparently, when you get your land surveyed you have to request for a flood plain survey or something to that affect. I didn't know this. The people who had the surveying done before didn't do this. How stupid!!! He said in order to get the elevation sheet it had to be surveyed and marked and that costs $400-$500. OUCH! I guess I'd rather have it done and be safe than sorry. So, I'm spent!!! I didn't think it'd be this hard. I have learned a lot and I think I am doing a darn good job! I am very proud of myself and the job I've done and what I've done to find out all the info. I'm always the ???? person and Tony's the quiet sit back type so I guess it's okay. We want the land, but Tony wants to go walk it. He and Aaron are going to meet next week and go. I'm staying home!!! Spiders?? No thanks! If the flood insurance isn't all that much per yr. that's fine. I don't want to pay an arm and a leg. So my thought is buy the land, sit on it for a while and pay on it. When it comes time to build have it re-surveyed and then go from there. In no way am I ready to build on it now. We have a wedding to pay for and all that comes with that. Lets just say... my money habits will really come into check in the upcoming year!!! I can do it!!!! This is something I really want for us and I know we can do it as long as we think it through and plans things right (not up Tony's alley, planning that is). Next week hopefully Tony will have more time to sit and talk about this. I've put a lot of work into getting all the I think appropriate info. Hopefully my hard work will pay off!!!! Wish us luck!!!!

On another good note.. I went to travel agencies to get info for Hawaii (our honeymoon destination). That's another $$$$$$. I really wish Tony was home to help on this, but I understand where he's coming from as well. Get the car done and then he'll be satisfied. Men and their toys!!! Gotta love em'! I'll post more later.. we have busy weekend ahead!!! Here are some pics of the land!