#/ plus i am like 50 off a real MAJOR MILESTONE

[pearlsnowflake]

2010′s

2010’s Thinking about this last decade and there are so many amazing milestones, losses, triumphs, memories, successes and more. This decade provided the following memories 2010 - I dropped out of college, one semester short of graduation. My first job (Wendy’s) promoted me to a shift supervisor. I moved in with my boyfriend and his family. We went on my first cruise and my first international vacation. I swam with sharks and hand fed a scarlet macaw Jamaica, fed green turtles in Grand Cayman and petted Ernest Hemenway’s cats in Key West 2011 - I quit my job at Wendy’s and took the summer off to relax and revaluate my priorities. My parents moved out of the home I grew up in and moved to a one-bedroom apartment in the next city over. I took a weeklong vacation to Lincoln, New Hampshire. I went to the top of Mt. Washington and saw six moose on a moose tour. 2012 - Six weeks after getting a job at Catherine’s plus sizes as a supervisor, I was promoted to Assistant Manager. At the age of 24, I was the youngest manager in my district. (All of New England). I was also top in sales for the state of Massachusetts. I went to Niagara Falls and enjoyed every moment of it. I never got tired of seeing the waterfalls. 2013 - Quit my job as an Assistant Manager at Catherine’s when my boss was screaming at me in front of customers because I didn’t catch a small mistake made by another employee. I broke up with my boyfriend of seven years. Our relationship and our lives weren’t moving forward, and he didn’t see a problem with it. Therefore, I moved back in with my parents at 25. I traveled to NYC with my parents to celebrate their 30th anniversary. By the end of the year I was a Swing Manager at McDonald’s working 50 hrs a week. 2014 - Easter Sunday was my first Sunday off in six months. I was bored and downloaded Tinder. Within 10 minutes, I matched with Chris. We spent the next five days texting and on the phone with each other. On April 25th, I traveled five hours on two busses, 2 subways and a commuter rail to get from Lowell to Hartford to meet Chris at the bus station. We went on our first date to Mooyah in New Britain. Six months later, I quit my job at McDonald’s and moved to Connecticut and into our first apartment. I had lived in Massachusetts for 23 years and it’s the only state that I ever remember living in. 2015 - Chris and I traveled with his parents to New Hampshire and saw the Ice Castles. That March, we found out that I was pregnant. I was on the Depo Provera shot. When we went to the Planned Parenthood two days after we found out, the pregnancy was deemed high risk as my HCG levels were about 3 times what they should have been for six weeks along. We spent an entire night and day at St. Francis Hospital to be told by three OB/GYN’s that I had a “unviable pregnancy of unknown location”. A week later we went back to St. Francis for another ultrasound and they found the sac and a heartbeat. The Radiologist said that everything looked normal and my due date was 11/22/15. I refused to believe it, but after three weeks of terrible all-day sickness, the pregnancy was gone. I was 9 weeks, 3 days along. I couldn’t work for an entire week after that. Chris and I have never spoken about it again. After that, I revaluated what I wanted to do with my life. Just not sure what I wanted to do, just that I wanted something that I could help people and that wasn’t a dead end job. That June, Chris was laid off from his first job after graduating college. We had to move in with his parents. I threw myself into working as much as possible. My job at the time was at Panera Bread as an Associate Trainer. That August, I signed up for real estate classes at Manchester Comm. College in Manchester. It took me three months to complete the course, but I passed the final exam with flying colors and looked forward to leaving the restaurant industry behind. Chris and I spent Thanksgiving moving into a two-story townhouse in Ellington. 2016 - I passed my national and state real estate exams on my first try in January. I signed up with Keller Williams in East Longmeadow. My license was issued on February 16th. After a few months, I switched to Keller Williams in West Hartford. I interviewed with several teams. However none of them were the right fit for me. I was still working at Panera but was desperate to leave. That November, I saw a Facebook post on the Keller Williams West Hartford that the Blake Team was looking for a Transaction Coordinator. I responded with my resume immediately and Amina messaged me back within five minutes. Five interviews later, I landed the job and my start date was 1/2/17. After two years at Panera Bread, it felt incredible to put in my two weeks’ notice. 2017 – Started my first “real” job in January in Wallingford. I couldn’t have asked for a better team to learn from. Everything I know about real estate is from this team. While I enjoyed a job that kept me busy. (Our team was the #1 Individual team at Keller Williams in New England that year) I knew that I wanted to go back to school to finish my bachelor’s degree. That May, I applied to Central Connecticut State University and I was accepted. I started in August as a general business major as I didn’t really know what I wanted to major in. It was intimidating to sit in classes of 20-year-old students at nearly 30 years old. Especially after being out of school for nearly nine years. I would work 8 am – Noon, M-F as an ISA on the team and then go to CCSU from 1 PM – 10PM, Monday – Thursday. First semester didn’t go as great as I wanted to, but I kept going. After months of illness, my nana passed away on Nov. 25th. I had visited her two days prior on Thanksgiving, it was heartbreaking to see her like that. 2018 - I continued my education and kept working in real estate. I went back to handling the transactions for the team that August. I did not want to give that up as I’ve worked hard to get my license and to earn a spot-on Amina’s team. Due to financial reasons, I went back to Panera Bread as an Associate Trainer. So along with taking 15 credits at CCSU, working in real estate, I was working at Panera, my only day off was Saturdays. That May ended up declaring my major as Hospitality and Tourism with a minor in Business Administration. Professor Kreeger, who is the head of the department, was the first professor that I met that cared about my education. He took transfer credits that CCSU initially refused to take. Thus, allowing me to graduate a semester early. My grandfather passed away October 1st, he was my last surviving grandparent. 2019 – I started my last semester at CCSU in January and continued to go to school full time and work two jobs. I’m still not sure how I handled it, but I ended up graduating with a 3.6 GPA in my major and a 3.0 overall. That June, I quit Panera Bread again and took on real estate full time again. In September, Amina asked me if I was willing to take BOLD that year. At first, I was hesitant as I had preconceived notions that it was just cheerleading for agents and a scheme for KW to make more money. After seven weeks on the “Untouchables” team, I was hooked. The energy and momentum were more that I was expecting. I even got my first listing appointment while taking BOLD. I’ve already asked Amina if I can take it again in the Spring. As I look back on the past decade, I first saw failures, from relationships, education, jobs and myself. However, I never gave up, I kept going until I reached my goals. Am I where I thought I would be at 32? No, but I am working to get there. There isn’t a timeline for when things need to happen. I’m going at my own pace.

[itsjustascarecrow]

so. today marks a pretty special occasion for me. today officially marks the 5-year anniversary of the first LA Kings/hockey game i’ve ever been to. on Thursday, April 4th, 2013, my dad and i went to the Kings v. Wild game and saw Justin Williams score one minute and twenty nine seconds into the first period for what would eventually be the game-winning goal, as former Kings backup goaltender Jonathan Bernier posted a shutout.

so i’m making a post to sort of commemorate this achievement(? i guess you can call it that)--5 awesome years of being a hockey fan, and all the amazing games and events and players i’ve seen in these past 5 years.

first i’ll start w/ some totals (that do not include the game i’m going to tonight):

Games:

NHL: LAK (46); SJS (9); COL (5); STL (4); CBJ DAL (3); ANA ARI BOS CHI EDM MIN PIT (2); CAR CGY FLA NSH NYR PHI TBL TOR WSH WPG (1)

2012-13: 6 total (2 regular season, 4 playoff) 2013-14: 9 total (6 regular, 3 playoff) 2014-15: 8 total (all regular) 2015-16: 12 total (1 preseason, 10 regular, 1 playoff) 2016-17: 12 total (2 preseason, 10 regular)*’**

*2017 NHL All-Star Game (not included in total) **includes a non-LAK game (CBJ @ ANA)

AHL: ONT (6); BAK (2); CLE IWA SAR SDG (1)

2015-16: 4 total (2 regular, 2 playoff) 2016-17: 2 total (all regular)

NWHL: BOS NYR (1)

2016-17: 1 (regular)

Goals Scored:

NHL: -Kings: total - 127 by season:  2012-13: 18  2013-14: 28 2014-15: 24 2015-16: 30 2016-17: 27

-Opponent: total - 109 by season: 2012-13: 10 2013-14: 26 2014-15: 16 2015-16: 26 2016-17: 31

**CBJ @ ANA: 4-0 CBJ final score (not included in any above totals)

AHL: -Reign: total - 13 by season: 2015-16: 8 2016-17: 5

-Opponent: total - 9 by season: 2015-16: 8 2016-17: 1

NWHL: -Pride: total - 4 -Riveters: total - 3

largest amount of goals scored by a single team: 6 (Kings x3, Stars x1) number of shutouts: 9 (includes all leagues: Kings x4, Sharks x1, Penguins x1, Blue Jackets x1, Condors x1, Reign x1)

Wins vs. Losses:

NHL: Kings: 26 Opponent: 20 by season: 2012-13: 5-1 2013-14: 5-4 2014-15: 5-3 2015-16: 7-5 2016-17: 4-7**

**does not include CBJ @ ANA

AHL: Reign: 4 Opponent: 2 by season: 2015-16: 2-2 2016-17: 2-0

NWHL: Pride: 1 Opponent: 0

there’s probably a hell of a lot more info number-wise i could put on here, like which individuals we’ve seen score the most for and against each team, etc., but honestly idk if i have the patience to figure that out, lmao. also i’m sure there’s plenty of games we’ve been to where so-and-so or what’s-his-face got a milestone goal/point/game career total but again, can’t be bothered to go back and look it up. for those who may want more info tho, here’s a post i made a while ago that i update regularly w/ all the games i’ve been to w/ a final score and the goal-scorers.

for real tho like. i don’t wanna get all sappy and shit and suddenly turn this post all emotional (just watch me do so anyway) but i honestly cannot express how much this sport means to me. like insert tragic backstory(tm) here and how hockey was what saved me and all that jazz but shit like. i mean yeah this shit’s got it’s ups and downs but at least whenever i get frustrating about personal stuff, i can distract myself w/ a game. or if the game’s pissing me off, at least i’m not focusing on all the shit going on in my personal life. b/c before i started watching, i really.. didn’t have much, kinda?? 

basically i went through a major bought of depression throughout 2012 which sorta peaked in early 2013 w/ stuff i’d rather not discuss here, but if my dad hadn’t taken me to that game 5 years ago, i honestly don’t know if i’d still be around today. i felt like i’d lost a lot. nothing interested me anymore. my favorite band at the time broke up when i felt like i’d already hit rock bottom. i had like no outlet for what little strong emotion i did feel at the time b/c otherwise i just felt empty. but when Justin Williams scored that goal a minute and twenty nine freaking seconds into that game, i knew that was it. that’s what sealed the deal for me. 

i had zero idea what to expect, even w/ my dad giving me a basic rundown of the roster and some basic rules about the game. like we watched the wild warm up (b/c that’s where our seats were) and my dad kept pointing out Zach Parise to me damn-near every time he skated past us b/c he’s a former UND alumni, as is like half my family on my dad’s side, but after a while it was like ��okay dad, i get it. Zach Parise. UND. pretty cool,” lmao. and then the game starts and it was so quiet. like i’ve been to like a million high school football games, a good number of pro baseball games, and one pro basketball game, but all of them were.. well a hell of a lot louder, for one. like people were watching the game, but at the same time they weren’t. people in and out of their seats all the time, tons of idle chit-chat, etc. but when that first puck dropped, people sat down and shut up. they watched, like. really watched. and when Williams scored, the utter elation of the entire building (save the wild fans of course), the horn, the “hey hey hey!” chant complete w/ fist-pumping--it was just. i honestly can’t even describe it properly. but what i can say was that it was the first time in a looong time i felt genuinely happy. 

and here i am exactly 5 years later. going back to Staples for my 47th Kings game. and i like to think i’ve seen some pretty wild shit in these past five years. league rule changes that ultimately changed the entire ASG format, amazing players both leaving and joining the league (i.e. Teemu Selanne, Auston Matthews), the 2014 Olympics, a few All-Star games, and a World Cup, the first paid pro women’s league and the U.S. women’s team fight for equitable wages, the first transgender athlete to play pro hockey (i.e. the amazing and inspirational Harrison Browne), a freaking expansion team in Vegas. 

and speaking of Vegas, i went to the first ever hockey games held in the new arena, and while it wasn’t the result we wanted, at least i got to spent two nights in a row in the coolest new arena in town, plus i got to see 3 native players on the ice in one game on the second night vs. the Avalanche, which is probably more than any other team/match-up in this league could boast. and i could not have been more proud.

i was there for Andy Andreoff’s NHL debut where he got into a fight w/ Matt Hendricks in his first shift on the ice. 

i accidentally met Matt Greene’s parents b/c his mom happened to notice my dad was wearing his jersey and asked for a picture. 

i ran into Bob Miller outside Staples and he let me see his 2014 Stanley Cup Championship ring, the same night they raised the banner. 

the first time i saw my next favorite team, the Avalanche, was three years ago on the 2-year anniversary of my first Kings game, and i took @gofredthefish​ along for the ride. 

i stood and cheered and cried for Mike Richards and Justin Williams on their return to LA after both had signed w/ the Capitals. 

i was there to see Jonathan Quick’s epic scorpion kick save against Winnipeg three seasons ago (the night before we drove down to San Deigo so i could catch an Of Mice & Men concern, then drive back to LA the following day so i could catch a flight to Bismarck, ND to visit family for senior year spring break).

i jokingly put a “native curse” San Jose’s bench before warmups back in 2014 during the first round of the playoffs, the night the Kings started their reverse sweep (as well as it being Tyler Toffoli’s 22nd birthday).

the first shootout i ever saw went to the Blues, courtesy of Troy Brouwer’s goal in the 7th round.

sent our 2014 Olympians off on a high note w/ a 2-1 overtime win against the Blue Jackets where Robyn Regehr scored the gwg from right in front of where i was sitting.

went to my first game in Honda Center and the Ducks were gloriously shut out. (i was also one of maybe ten Blue Jackets fans in the entire building.)

saw Dwight King score on Marty Brodeur from the blue line, Alec Martinez score on the Avs twice on the same play, Milan Lucic’s first game in Staples Center as a King, got a video of the signature Nick Foligno/Sergei Bobrovsky Hug(tm)--twice, since they shut out the Ducks that one time, saw the home team get a 3-0 shutout in both my first NHL and AHL games, was there for the Luc Robitaille statue unveiling outside Staples, and stood less than 10 feet away from Cam Atkinson outside Staples before the 2017 ASG. 

i went to a Reign game where they knocked the San Diego Gulls out of the playoffs just a couple of weeks after i was released from the hospital after falling into a diabetic-induced coma (also i had a cold but i’ll be damned if i wasn’t gonna persevere).

i went to two separate You Can Play-sponsored LGBT+ Pride Nights for both the NHL and NWHL--and speaking of which, that particular NWHL Pride Night was my first ever women’s hockey game ever. and Boston kept their “undefeated since last january” record alive and well.

and the one moment that still makes me cry every time i think about it was when i saw Matt Duchene score his first goal of the season in 2015-16 in what would eventually be his first 30-goal season. i was sat in the second row right in front of where he threw himself into the glass in celebration, so i like to think we kinda celly’d together.

but best of all, i got to meet @hockeyacegrace earlier this season on Native American Heritage Night, and took @kylorenedict to the Kings’ opening night against the Flyers to kick off the 50-year anniversary of the First Expansion. and not to mention the many other wonderful friends i’ve made in this fandom, who also include (but are not limited to) @brandoncarlo, @jodrouin27, @sadchihuahua, @elzaechelon, @marianyossa, and @dominic-turgeon​. 

basically just. here’s to 5 gods damned years of selling my soul to this hell on ice. and gods damn it, here’s to 5 more.

[heartfelthotinhouston]

First-Time Homebuyer?

Bill Rapp here with the Heartfelt and Hot in Houston Blog, and this is our newest segment: First-Time Homebuyer? You have a lot of logistical and financial hurdles to clear before you can celebrate the biggest purchase of your life. Owning a home is a major milestone many Americans expect to achieve in their lifetime. It's not simply about having the ability to stay in one place for years – it's also about taking advantage of the incentives to homeownership, including the financial security to make a major investment and see it grow over time. First-Time Homebuyer? Even the millennial generation, which has been slower to become a major part of the homeowner pool than previous generations, now makes up 37% of recent homebuyers, the largest share of the market, according to the National Association of Realtors' 2019 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, published in April. Following a decline in homeownership after the Great Recession, the homeownership rate nationwide was 64.1% as of the second quarter of 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While homeownership has not returned to its historical peak of 69.2% in 2004, it is edging upward again after hitting a 50-year low in mid-2016 at 62.9%. While buying a house for the first time may be intimidating, no homeowner started the process feeling confident every step of the way. Here's what first-time homebuyers need to know. Are You Ready to Become a Homeowner? Long before you start looking at houses, you must be sure your finances are in order. The process of saving and making strategic financial decisions to ensure your credit history is more appealing to a lender can take more than a couple months if you haven't already been working toward buying a house. "I would say a year plus – and make sure you're saving toward that goal over a period of time," says Amin Dabit, vice president of advisory services for Personal Capital, an online financial advisory and wealth management company. Credit history.Run a credit report on yourself – which is free to do once a year and doesn't affect your credit by going to annualcreditreport.com and receiving a report from each the three major credit-reporting agencies – and focus on the areas you can improve. You may have credit card balances to pay off, or a few missed student loan payments from a couple years ago. You may also simply need more time to pass from a recent borrowing mistake. The more time that passes from the last blemish on your credit report, the less likely a lender is to consider it a red flag to give you a loan. How much house can you afford?How good your finances look from a mortgage lender's perspective isn't the only thing to examine. You should also look at savings that can be used toward a down payment and determine how much you'd be able to afford on a monthly basis for your principal mortgage payment, interest, taxes and insurance, which Dabit recommends calculating as 28% of your gross income. "That'll help you figure out how much you can borrow and sustain long-term," he says. Savings for down-the-road expenses.You also have to take into account maintenance and other potential costs that may come up as a homeowner. If you live in a particularly competitive or pricey market, such as San Francisco or the District of Columbia, it's reasonable to expect your monthly costs to be higher than 28% at the start. Who should you consult?Once you've examined your financial history and expected future cash flow, it's time to start talking to the professionals who will be able to help you throughout the process of buying a house. A natural start is with a real estate agent. Once you've found an agent you can trust, he or she can help you find a financial advisor if needed, a loan officer connected with a lender, a real estate attorney, a title insurance representative, a home inspector and many more faces that will be part of your transaction. "The agent's really the core source of all those, or at least can be," says Josh Heyer, a licensed real estate salesperson with Triplemint, a full-service brokerage in New York City. Approach the process as assembling a team of people who will help you achieve homeownership. With each person, you want to feel confident that the professional will work in your best interests. Heyer recommends not only speaking with multiple professionals regarding your mortgage and home inspection, but also interviewing several agents at the start. "I want you to be comfortable with me throughout this entire transaction, and I would rather you meet with a variety of agents first to make sure that I am the one you want to work with going forward," Heyer says. First-Time Homebuyer?   What Mortgage Options Are Best for You? When it comes to finding a mortgage, explore options with different lenders and the various products offered. Major banks, credit unions and nonbank lenders offer a variety of options to better fit your specific needs as a homeowner. The key to figuring out which program is best for you is determining how much cash you have for a down payment. By putting 20% of the home price down or paying for private mortgage insurance for a smaller down payment, you can qualify for a conventional mortgage. Alternatively, you can put less money down with other options, like an FHA loan through the Federal Housing Administration, which requires less money down and a less impressive credit history but typically comes with a higher interest rate. Veterans are able to take advantage of VA loans, backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which require no money down but have additional fees. There are many loan product varieties, and your interest rate can be fixed, most commonly in the form of a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage, or adjustable, known as an adjustable-rate mortgage, which remains fixed for a specified number of years before changing gradually toward the industry rate. In finding the mortgage product that works best for your financial situation, it's essential to prequalify or get preapproved for a mortgage amount. This will let you know how much your lender is willing to loan you to buy a house. But don't take that maximum approved number as the price you should pay for a house. "In most cases, you shouldn’t borrow the maximum amount that a mortgage lender tells you (that) you can borrow," Dabit says. Otherwise you may find yourself having to skimp on other typical expenses, like food, for a few years or more. First-Time Homebuyer?   How Can You Prepare to Look at Houses? At last, with a real estate agent hired and an understanding of your home purchase budget, it's time to start looking at houses, condos, townhouses – whatever your homeownership preference may be. Further prepare by taking advantage of a first-time homebuyer education course, often offered by local Realtors' offices, banks or even your county at a community center. Many courses stress the importance of financial preparedness and getting ready to go through the rest of the home purchase process, and a class will help you get ready for what's ahead. Work with your agent to determine your list of must-haves in a home, whether it's based on the number of bedrooms for kids and guests, the neighborhood that’s near your favorite restaurants and bars or a yard for your pets. Take care to also get a realistic understanding of what your budget allows in your market. For example, if your heart is set on buying in downtown Denver but you have a budget of $250,000, you'll want to consider other neighborhoods or suburbs that offer easy access to downtown if you need more space than a one-bedroom condo. Gannon Forrester, a licensed real estate salesperson with Warburg Realty in New York City, says adjusting to the price of properties is the biggest challenge for first-time homebuyers in a pricey market like Manhattan – especially for those who haven't lived in the area for long: "For someone (coming in) from outside New York, it's a big culture shock of what the sticker price is." First-Time Homebuyer?   How Should You Begin Your Search? Start online.Begin by house hunting online, whether your agent is sending you homes listed on the market through the local multiple listing service, or you're checking out consumer-facing marketing sites like Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com or Redfin. It's easy to narrow your online searches by setting boundaries around the neighborhood or general part of the city you hope to buy in. See where your price range falls.Desirable neighborhoods are often based on proximity to the area's best schools, walkability to shops and restaurants or easy access to reliable public transportation. "Most people have at least a cursory knowledge of what they can afford, and where what they can afford is available," Heyer says. Of course, trying to buy in the hottest neighborhood may mean you're out of your price range. As Forrester notes, "No matter where you are, it's location, location, location – anywhere in the world." Consider other neighborhoods.Expand your neighborhood search and determine which area could be a better fit for you by attending open houses for properties on the market during the weekend. You can check out the condition of homes listed at different prices, and you can also take time to walk around the block to get to know the neighborhood. Start touring houses.Once you've gotten a feel for the areas you'll most likely find your future home in, tour houses with your real estate agent. Take notes on what each place has to offer and what's missing from your must-have and want-to-have lists.   What Should You Include in the Offer? It may be the first house you tour with your agent – or it may be the 30th – but when you're ready to make an offer on a house, it's time to determine how much you'd like to offer, your needs and the seller's as well. The latter might include a quick closing date, necessary repairs or covering closing costs. At this point in the process, Forrester says he sits down with his clients to go over recent sales of similar properties nearby. "That way we can see, 'Is this fairly priced, is it overpriced, is it underpriced?' And we want to jump on it really quick and put in a full-price offer before someone else steals it," he says.Your preapproval for a mortgage will be an important part of formulating an enticing offer, so be ready with the preapproval letter from your lender when it comes time to determine your bid price and overall offer with your agent. If you're house hunting in a popular neighborhood, you'll need to move quickly in making a decision and formulating an offer. If your agent expects there to be multiple offers on the property, be ready to put your best and final price on the table from the get-go. Especially when you're in a seller's market, where there are more buyers than houses for sale, don't be discouraged if the first house you bid on goes to another buyer. Heyer says a multiple-offer situation tends to be a double-edged sword: "If they don't get the apartment they’re going to be bummed, at least in a bidding war, and if they do get it, they're going to instantly feel like they overpaid, which is also a bummer." The winning bid isn’t always about price – the seller wants to feel confident about the entire transaction at the end of the day. If your bid includes your preapproval letter as opposed to a competing buyer's prequalification, or you're willing to let the seller take a little more time to move out, your offer might be the package the seller chooses. First-Time Homebuyer?   Next Steps Toward Owning a Home Have your offer accepted.Whether your first offer was a success, you negotiated on terms a bit or you had to keep looking for a home, eventually you’ll reach the point of going under contract. At this point, you're just a few weeks – and a good deal of paperwork – away from becoming a homeowner for the first time. Pay a deposit for escrow.Once negotiations have finalized, the contract has been signed and you've provided a small amount of cash as a deposit or earnest money. This point in the process is often referred to as escrow. In escrow, a third party holds the deposit or earnest money to help ensure both the buyer and seller remain honest and fair during the process of the transaction. Mortgage lenders may require escrow in order to approve a loan. Have an inspector visit.Next, you'll have a few days to conduct your due diligence on the property. That includes the home inspection, which will tell you if there are any issues with the property that could affect the amount you're willing to pay or if there's anything that should be repaired before you move in. While an inspection provides you with a snapshot of the house's structure and condition of systems, expect to make repairs or replace an appliance or two before too much time has passed. For that reason, you want to be sure you still have some money saved up after the down payment. "If you’re buying a home that's over 10 years old, you're likely going to have to fix something in the first year that you're in there," Dabit says. Get mortgage approval.Your mortgage lender will also be working on the underwriting for the loan, including an appraisal of the property to ensure the purchase price matches its value, based on other sales of similar properties in the area. If the appraiser determines the house isn't valued at the agreed-upon sale price, you may have to come up with cash to make up the difference, or try to negotiate the price down with the seller. You'll likely have to provide updated proof of income, details on your existing debts and assets, information about your tax return and, of course, the address of the property you're buying along with the price of the house and amount you'd like to borrow. See the house again.Just before closing, you'll visit the home one more time, "usually the day before or the day of the closing," Forrester says. The walk-through helps ensure there hasn't been any additional damage to the house, and anything you expect to be gone has been removed before you get the keys. Close on your home.The last step is the closing itself, which transfers the down payment to the seller, finalizes the mortgage and, with a few signatures including title clearance, transfers the deed to your name. For this step in the process, you should have funds reads for the closing costs, which typically account for between 2% and 5% of the sale price, according to the real estate information company Zillow. You have the keys, and you're officially a homeowner. That is all for today folks from the Heartfelt & Hot In Houston Blog, make it a great day! The inspiration for today’s edition came from this original article: https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/articles/the-guide-for-first-time-homebuyers If you are seriously considering moving right now you need to take action right now and talk to a reputable Real Estate & Mortgage Broker today, please call 281-222-0433 or visit: https://www.zillow.com/lender-profile/BillRappMortgageViking https://www.billrapponline.com/ https://twitter.com/BillRappRE https://caliberhomeloans.com/wrapp https://onlineapp.caliberhomeloans.com/?LoanOfficerId=21493 https://mortgageviking.billrapponline.com https://highcostarea.billrapponline.com https://commercial.billrapponline.com https://doctorvideo.billrapponline.com https://doctorvideo.billrapponline.com https://sba.billrapponline.com/ https://veteransvideo.billrapponline.com https://fha203h.billrapponline.com https://privatemoney.billrapponline.com https://rei-investor.billrapponline.com https://manufacturedhousing.billrapponline.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsF3Rh4Akd1OAOAgTmzgqQg       Read the full article

[houstonlocalus-blog]

Visual Vernacular: Roberta Harris

Roberta Harris. “Flight Time” (detail)

  Amongst the many artistically talented and conceptually strong artists in our city, one particular artist is about to show forth her lasting and lyrical work through a special exhibition downtown through Arts Brookfield, Wing It! Effervescent and elegant, thoughtful in both application and meaning, Roberta Harris will showcase a variety of work dating from 1995 to the present. She has created work in the times of dramatic artistic changes during the 1970s, when famous artists walk amongst her studio and other creatives such as Phillip Glass invited Harris and other artists to his rehearsals. Over the years, Harris has cultivated a visual voice all her own, ethereal and joyful in nature while paying close attention to magical details. The work on display at Two Allen Center, curated by Sally Reynolds, lends itself to winged creatures in a kaleidoscope of colors. Harris was kind enough to answer a few questions for Free Press Houston to reflect on her career and her recent show.

  Free Press Houston: Within the workings of your aesthetic, when did you begin to become attracted to such subjects as vines, birds, particular colors, etc?

Roberta Harris: When I was a young girl, I lived next to a forest. This was the first place where I journeyed alone. There, in that wilderness, I discovered great mystery: above me, below me, to my right and to my left — a 360-degree cacophony of life.

Before a banquet set for senses, amid…

the sounds of insects and birds the smells of bark, leaves, moss and wildflowers

the sensation of wind, rain, and humidity, the visions of color, texture, light through dense trees, and life

teeming in swampy puddles, I became sensuous.

Although I have thought of that experience often, I am just now paying attention to how this “nest” shaped my soul and my work.

  Roberta Harris, “Welcome to the Neighborhood”

  FPH: What were some of the moments that made you ponder and turn towards art?

Harris: As a young child, I remember having a blackboard on an easel. I mostly drew ballerina’s standing on point. Those ballerina’s managed to find their way into many of the collages and paintings I did in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

In regards to a connection to the “arts,” the only art we had in our home was a pair of framed prints of standing females. They were probably copies of 19th Century American Portraiture & Genre Painting. Placed over our upright piano, I looked at them all the time as I practiced my piano lessons.

In elementary school we took a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts. I remember being most impressed with a very detailed portrait of a queen which we were told was painted with only a few hairs of a paintbrush! Her garment was truly lavish and bejeweled. Only now as I write this, am I realizing that was probably the first moment I related the idea of “time” to making art.

When I was 8 years old, we took a trip to my uncle’s home in New Jersey. He was a landscape muralist. His living room depicted a beautiful floor to ceiling landscape that covered two long walls. In his kitchen he had hand-painted apples everywhere….walls, cabinets, doors and ceiling. I was astonished to totally surrounded by hand-painted apples! At that time I told him that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. His words to me were to be a commercial artist because then I could make a living.

My father was a master craftsman who worked with glass. For many years he worked for one of the major glass companies that installed windows, mirrors and intricate installations in private and commercial spaces. He and his team installed the huge windows of the control tower at the Hobby Airport in the ’50s. As a young adult, I would go out to his studio (our one-car garage) and help him with some projects. From this experience with him, I learned one of my greatest art and life lessons: “Necessity is the mother of invention”.

My mother taught herself to be an architect and designed a number of homes, which she and my father built. She also loved ceramics and mosaics. So, between the two of them, geometric forms and the idea of construction was very much implanted in my being.

When I was in the 8th grade, I won a scholarship to the MFA. Other than my wonderful 7th grade art teacher, this was really my first experience with art and being in the museum on a regular basis.

Another huge artful influence in my teen years, was my infatuation with the Neiman Marcus ads in the Houston Post and Chronicle. Every Sunday there would be a full page of an avant garde drawing of a figure, showing the fashions of the moment. I was enthralled with the line quality and freedom of expression in creating an image. I decided that I wanted to go to New York to study and learn how to do that! It’s a long story, but eventually I did go to New York after a year of studying in Texas, and was accepted at Parsons School of Design and Hunter College.

I majored in Fashion Illustration and Fine Art. This was in the mid ’60s when the art world in New York was on fire and American art history was being made. I was so privileged to see the beginning of Pop Art (Andy Warhol and the soup cans), the art of the action painters such as DeKooning (who all my classmates emulated in life painting class) as well as new art of Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Lee Bontecou, Louise Nevelson, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Lewis, Marisol, James Rosenquist, and Phillip Pearlstein. This was an education up close.

Returning to Houston, I got a job at Dillard’s when they opened the new store in the Galleria. My job, a full page in both papers, was to create an avant garde figure showing the fashions of the moment (After a couple of years, the management decided they wanted to show more salable, recognizable imagery and my job there was over). After my daughter was born, I returned to the University of Houston and majored in Fine Art.

  Roberta Harris, “Sky Chair”

  FPH: Over the course of your career, what were some of the breakthroughs and/or milestones that still run through your current work today?

Harris: Being accepted into the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1972 was a very important milestone in my life.

Again, this was a time of history-making art in America. My equipment at that time was a compressor, an air gun, glass, natural pigments, Rhoplex, chalk and canvas. My assigned studio was on the edge of Chinatown, in a large room plus the vault, in the basement of a bank, which was now being used as an off-track betting company (I was told to not fool around with the enormous vault door because no one knew where the key was). After making a heroic size painting that was about 16 feet wide, I decided to stop everything I was doing and just absorb, learn and grow as an artist while I was there. Just few of the artists who came to the studio were Lucas Samaras, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Smithson, and Chuck Close. One of the comments that stands out from Lucas Samaras was “Making art is like making a salad. It’s not enough to have the ingredients….everything depends on what you do with them.” Another great memory is being in Chuck Close’s studio and seeing him work, with all his accoutrement neatly around him at the end wall of a large loft. Phillip Glass, the musician, was another memorable person who talked with our group. We got invited to his private practice sessions with his ensemble. They met on an empty floor of a gutted out loft building. Beautiful rugs were spread out in the middle of the room and we sat on the floor and listened to these extraordinary musicians, making sounds we had never heard before.

I think that the thread that runs through my work is about an experiential experience. This goes back to the forest where I grew up and the sensation of experiencing everything around me all at once. I have, for most of my life, believed that just as everything exists in the world simultaneously, so can it all exist in what I do. It’s my salad. The vocabulary I’ve used has included numerous iconic forms such as birds, sticks, hearts, figures, plants as well as geometric forms. I am mostly interested in the experience of seeing and feeling and being left with an uplifted spirit.

  Roberta Harris, “Process”

  FPH: Tell me about how you came up with the title of your recent show and how it reflects in your work?

Harris: Sally Reynolds curated this show and decided to use some of my available bird images…or works that relate to birds and nests and other winged forms. As I understand, choosing the name of the exhibition was a spontaneous idea that occurred to Sally and the Brookfield Arts group when they knew birds were the theme. I thought it was a perfect title. I love what Sally said in the essay she wrote for the show. Just a few lines:

“What do we do when we wing it? Well, sometimes we trust ourselves to fate, we let go, probably unprepared, and we do the best we can. We improvise as if we were an understudy in the the wings of the theatre who didn’t quite learn all the lines, we push on. We try to fly! We join our feathered friends and at times get a new perspective an elevated look at a broader landscape. And the birds, sitting, hovering, flying, beckon each of us to courageously take wing as they do.”

  FPH: What has it been like to work with Sally Reynolds and Arts Brookfield?

Harris: Working with Sally Reynolds and Brookfield Arts has been totally pure pleasure. Sally is a magnificent person and a real art professional who has a brilliant eye, a big heart and a beautiful soul.

  FPH: What are some thoughts or concepts you hope appear in between the lines of the exhibition?

Harris: Throughout my career, through a variety of media, my mission as an artist has been to inspire hope and its corollaries – dialogue, joy, encouragement, strategy, peace, kindness and imagination. The feeling of “UP” is what I hope to convey. Given the challenges that we face, hope demands courage, commitment, endurance and renewal. If I can contribute to that, then I’m doing the job I was sent here to do.

  Roberta Harris’ exhibition “Wing It!,” curated by Sally Reynolds and presented by Arts Brookfield, runs through September 7, 2017 at Two Allen Center located at 1200 Smith Street, 2nd Floor.

Visual Vernacular: Roberta Harris this is a repost