a wolf angel is not a good angel

Next up: choosing an agent. Which I . . . don’t know how to do. I mean, I could randomly choose someone. That wouldn’t be hard. At least, I don’t think so. I actually do not know how I would go about it, but I’m sure I could.

Only that seems an incredibly stupid way to choose an agent, like it would be all about luck, or lack of luck.

Now, I could get in touch with one of the people selling houses that were too expensive for me, but only a little too expensive. I have email from one of them. I had voice mail from another, which I saved, except it seems to have deleted itself. And in any case, it also seems very much a matter of luck. I am not what one might call a lucky person, so I would like to make sure that bad luck has one or two fewer ways to insert itself into this process.

Also, it seems so conflict-of-interesty.

The only person I know who’s bought/sold a place is actually a couple — my grandparents. So (a), they have a lot more money available, after 50 years of home-owning, and (b) their place is still not sold anyhow, after 6 months on the market. Not interested in their realtor.

My friend’s mother is an agent, but she works in an entirely different area (of the city) at things way far out of my price range, so I don’t want to be wasting her time (which happened with another mutual friend). I could ask for a referral, I suppose. But I feel odd going up to her: I hate asking for favours.

The other main option is much like that last one, someone in my father’s drama group. Apparently she does the right area, or one of the two right areas, but that is all I know. Unlike my friend’s mother, I don’t think I’ve ever even met this woman (though I’ve seen her perform, no doubt). I have her business card somewhere. With her, at least it’s *possible* that I would not be asking a favour and she would be my agent. But that also seems odd.

What should my next steps be? And, not entirely unrelatedly, is it not a little creepy that you can get air miles for buying a property?

Teens in Quebec can now get the pill without seeing a doctor.

Quebec teens will be the first in Canada to get the birth-control pill without having to see a doctor.

Under the new policy, Quebec’s doctors hope to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancies and abortions.

Previously, a teenager who wanted birth-control pills would have to see a doctor.

The agreement gives doctors, nurses and pharmacists the right to see patients, counsel teens on sexual relationships and recommend a type of birth-control pill the teen could take.

It sounds, oddly, like only teenagers can get the pill from nurses or pharmacists and that everyone else would still need to see a doctor. Even if that’s true, it’s a good idea, and, with luck, will spread (in Canada, and in allowing other women to get the pill this way).

I phoned the mortgage company, and after they were convinced that I wasn’t going to use the mortgage to make legal my ill-gotten gains, I was told to anticipate a response in 1 or 2 business days.

Being pre-approved seems to mean that you give them all your personal info, which means nothing, because you need to get really actually approved when you find a place. I am not entirely sure why I went through this particular farce, since it will mean nothing later. I will continue to be worried that I won’t be approved, though since I have people who would guarantee the loan, I know it won’t *actually* be a problem. Also since I didn’t lie about things like my salary. I think tomorrow I will send out a request for my credit report.

I got pre-approved in about 10 minutes, and at 7.30 at night: this is clearly meaningless.

Now it’s the stressful “find an agent” bit, which will be followed by the stressful “find a place” part. I have a few possibilities, which I will go on at great length about tomorrow, no doubt. I can’t make these decisions.

A change in theme, for now. I really do intend to make my own (some weekend, maybe, when it rains), but at least this way Cindy will know which blog she’s reading when she’s here . . .

I need to make some fixes to it, because I’ve mucked around with a few things and so broke bits of the style, and also because I dislike a few of the things it’s done, but not tonight.

Look! A useful dating service!

End the heartache of today’s “real live people” dating scene. Find your life-partner among the most successful and famous names in history.

I got matched with Leonardo:

Youth and beauty is sexy…
engineering a system by which one can deliver running water throughout an estate is sexier.

(via a friend of mine who got matched with Lucrezia Borgia! how cool!)

Hee hee hee — I was asked if the mortgage would be benefit anyone except myself, and I wasn’t sure what the question was asking — my parents, cause I’ll finally move out? The person I buy a place from?

“Will you be using your mortgage to launder money?”

Uh. No.

The housing market here = much softer than I had thought. Apparently an initial offer is usually only 75% of the asking price, which means I can look at many more places than I had thought. Tomorrow, I really need to phone to be approved for a mortgage. Not that I even know what I need to be asking for/about, but — I guess I will see. Then I will phone for an agent, or something: I have a few options on that front, which I need to think about, possibly blog about. I have been visiting and checking listings obsessively.

I’m really actually planning on buying a place. This is pretty cool/scary beyond belief.

to wish me a happy birthday. I am feeling underloved today (in real life, where it’s (a) busy and (b) rainy), and you, dear friends in the computer, can help!

Following Sharon’s idea: tell me a funny story (or a joke). Or anything, really — a happy birthday is always nice. Lurkers, you too.

An editorial (by a writer I used to like, until today) on more sponsorship crap, with more details about how money was funnelled into the No campaign, 10 years ago. (I had had no idea this was so widespread.) And the ending, of course: if the federalists hadn’t cheated, maybe we’d be on the 10th anniversary of an independent Quebec. Well, yes, quite likely. And why? Because the separatists cheated, too, and it’s really hard for someone honest to win against a cheater.

Now, we can argue about who did worse — federalists spending money and, possibly, pushing through citizenship just before the election or separatists ignoring/discarding votes in highly No ridings — and every single person will come down against the other side having done worse, though in the end it seems to have been a wash. But it’s disingenuous at best to say “had they not cheated, we, so very honest, would have won”, and it makes me sad.

Updates on my always-exciting house-buying plans:

• will separatism get big again?
  • should I hold off, hoping it does get big so I can cash in when housing values drop?
  • should I believe every single poll and all the separatists I know, saying that no one really wants it right now and buy a place, assuming that politicians in Quebec will act rationally, historically a bad assumption?
• do I have good enough credit to get a mortgage?
• do my parents have good enough credit to cosign, assuming I don’t have good credit?
• when looking for agents, do I ask my friend’s mother, my father’s acting partner, or one of the people who got back to me after I visited open houses?
• where exactly do I want to live again?

Or, in other words: I have done nothing since I went and looked at a bunch of places 2 weeks ago.