Ok. Deeeeeeeeeeep breath……oohhhhmmmmm. We met with a friend who is an architect on the island and he offered a LOT of good pointers. Basically. Caveat emptor. Know who and what you’re dealing with and get specifics, essentially all the way down to the type of screws they’re using to put the sockets in. What kind of concrete. What kind of windows and doors. Deeeeeeeetails. A lot of them. Specific details.
Our friend pointed out that it’s soooo easy to bound up in the bubble of excitement of “yay, new house” that it’s really easy to miss huge details, let alone microscopic ones. He’s exactly right. We have to literally take this one minute at a time. Acceptance of this means accepting that the house may take a year, or two, or three. But it’s our dream house. It has to be perfect. Is the wait worth it? Absolutely. One hundred percent. Absolutely.
So, what our friend said makes perfect sense….but….also means that where we thought we were on step one, get financing, nope, we’re actually on step negative 20. A LOT more information is going to have to change hands between us and our developer/contractor before we’re even close to being ready to talk to the bank about financing.
Fortunately, this was not surprising to either of us. As I’ve posted before on Facebook, we knew and know that building on the island has exactly zero resemblance to building in the states. One day, one action at the time. We have a plan and the land. The house will come as it comes. Might be a year. Might be two. And that’s ok. Our current view and place doesn’t exactly suck 😉. Deep breath. And a martini 🍸 lol.
St. Maarten Move 