Expert to Beginner

To have a higher chance of discovering your perfect home, take the time at the beginning of the house hunt to ask yourself a number of important questions that will help you and your real estate agent narrow the field and avoid a ton of inefficient work. Setting aside time to evaluate current market conditions can help you take smart decisions and realize the best return on your investment. Ask yourself the difficult questions up front to shrink down your options and spare yourself the risk of buying a house out of impulse that does not fit your long-term needs.

As the expression goes, location is crucial, and most real estate markets divide along organic divisions that set the pricing structure for a particular locale. Therefore one of the primary choices you have to make is the type of area matches your life best. Are you looking for a rural property with the capacity to expand, or is it more valuable to own less square footage to be close to your place of employment to trim down on your driving time? A small town could be enticing for its tranquilness however buying in the Halton Hills real estate sector when you have to drive to Toronto may not be a good choice. By defining the region that matches your preference in the beginning you are able to concentrate on investigating the offerings in the target real estate market. Narrowing the field by area specifics also helps you focus on the upcoming set of parameters based on what the market in that area has to offer.

Once you’re sure about where you’d like to live, stop to think through the kind of area you’ll need to make your new home comfortable and enjoyable. Besides the fundamental discussion of how many bedrooms and bathrooms you wish, also think about what sort of extra area is very important to you. Do you have plans for a workplace, have any equipment that requires storage or is it important for you to have a guest room. Would you like to have a big enclosed backyard on your property for the security of your kids and pets, or would a condo or tract home that needs little to no outdoor maintenance suit your needs better?

When you have determined where you would like to live and what size would be best, you will find properties in a number of conditions that affect the upfront cost of the property. If you are skilled at carpentry and have time to work on renovation projects, purchasing a distressed home — that are normally quite inexpensive — allows you to buy for less and perform repairs as your finances allow. In an active market like Brampton Ontario you can look for distressed Brampton properties for sale that other buyers may not have thought about. If you have the kind of busy life that makes convenience your first priority, you should concentrate on houses or condos that are “move-in-ready” and will not need any immediate enhancements.

Naturally, the bottom line is usually what you’ll be able to pay, and to make sure you do not set up a circumstance you later regret, it’s important to wisely assess your finances and provide that information freely along with your real estate professional to realistically establish the most advantageous means to finance your purchase. Invest your time in knowing the effects of the current mortgage rates and housing trends and make sure to research to determine if there are any federal programs that apply to your case.

As my post before explained, I often take a few weeks off in the beginning of August for some vacation time with family and friends. In the past I have prepared by writing up several posts ahead of time so I can just pop on and post them when I get a chance. This year that just wasnt in the cards so it appears that I have been quiet for a while.

I have not been quiet, I have in fact been busy. The first two weeks of August are the busiest time of year for my hobby Viking Age Reenactment (I guess I cannot classify woodworking as a hobby in my life any longer, words like addiction or passion would probably serve better) We have a big show up in Ishpeming Michigan for a renaissance faire on the first weekend in August and our annual Midsummer Feast and Tournament the second weekend.

Now there was some woodworking involved in both weekends. When we set up our encampment at a faire I bring along my portable joinery bench and set up doing some woodcarving demonstrations for those interested. I love doing this because other woodworkers I have never met before stop, look, and then begin to talk sawdust with me. 


 I also got the chance to visit with an old piece of mine that I traded to a bladesmith friend for a nice dagger. the chest was actually one of my first successes at dovetailing. They use it to carry the stuff they need for rustic cooking, and his wife is an amazing cook!
But that isnt all we do at faires, we also perform a show where we talk about how weapons were used in medieval combat, we show several examples, and then we use padded versions of those weapons and do actual combat. No choreography, no stage combat tricks like telegraphing, no pulled punches, we go for it and go hard.

The steel is just for light demonstration, so far. We are working towards passing the padded weapons  on and using wooden ones, and in some cases, real steel weapons.

This is the first combat Ive participated in for over a year, since I hurt my knee doing this last June. As you can tell from the last picture, it feels good to get back in the "swing" of it.

The next weekend was the feast and tournament. I did a short presentation on carving techniques for the members in attendance.


 After my presentation and ones from our blacksmith, bow maker, and a herbalist. We started the martial games.

I took second place in archery.

Second place in the axe throw

First place in the spear throw.

I took first place in the balance log combat, were we use our weapons and sometimes our bodies to remove our opponent from the log first.

And I took first place in the heavy combat tournament, a great weekend for me overall which added to me winning the overall competition and the prize of a couple of pieces to add to my armor.

After all that I admit it took a week or so of resting up and healing from the bumps and bruises of two weekends in a row of combat, but now Im feeling much more like myself and Im ready to hit the shop and the blog, batteries recharged and ready to go.

In fact I just put in an order at my hardwood dealer Big River Lumber Company for 60 board feet of 5/4 poplar. Im starting work on a traditional tool chest in an Anarchist style. So from here on well finish up talking about my build of Chuck Benders William and Mary Book Stand, and well talk about my finishing of a carved box. After that well follow up on my build of an anarchists tool chest and some of my own individualist ideas I intend to include. (Nothing really too far off the map though) Until then. . .

Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf

If you are interested in seeing more info on my Viking Age Reenactment Group you can visit our website www.tribewodenthor.org 

If you like what you see and maybe want to see more pictures of the events The Tribe has a Facebook page as well. you can check that out HERE. Become our "friend" and stay up to date with what were doing and where were going.

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