House Hunting in Merritt Part III

So we now have our house. Or rather, we are in the final stages of acquiring it. In Merritt, B.C. City of Merritt website.
Less than one week of phone calls, e-mails, and (uncharacteristically) ballsy determination and we managed to get the place for under our set price. And by set I mean the amount we were prepared to pay on this particular place.
The realtor pulled through for us in the end- but I wrote a really firm letter to him along with the final offer and I think that finally did it. The house was in the middle of 8 million renovations that I reminded him were not of any concern to us as they were superficial for the most part and did not figure into our offer which on top of everything else was based on a price set by the vendor. I also said we're in no rush either. :)

Merritt's cattle. Bigger view

So anyways, I'm arranging to get a home inspector out there next week, insurance placed on it, and get the title searched. ( title is already cleared up to now but we have to do it anyway )
I don't want to dwell anymore on the things I didn't like- nerve wracking speculations, second guessing motives, and wondering if we were doing the right thing all along. We both had attended a home buyers seminar arranged by the bank and got a lot of information from that and asked plenty of questions ( confirming my web based research on all the things to be aware of in the home buying process ). I also had the contract looked over by our notary first before we signed.
On that note, for those who may not be aware of it, you can use a notary to handle the legal aspects of home buying/selling. In fact, this is one of the things notary's are 'allowed' to do so in a way its a specialization in the legal fee- and certainly cheaper than a lawyer!

The beautiful Coldwater Hotel in the heart of town. Bigger view.

And now, finally, about whats been going on in Merritt: Allan Schoenborn was apprehended by a local trapper/hunter/dog breeder named Kim Robinson- a 'Merritt Mountain Man' who is well known to the community. The unbelievable act of slaying his 3 children is what Schoenborn is accused of. They were all stabbed to death and sat up on the couch for their mother to find that way after returning from errands. She is traumatized right now from the sounds of it. Schoenborn himself was almost dead when Robinson found him- almost 11 days after fleeing the scene. Read the latest news.
I feel terrible for the mother and all the family members but I am extremely proud of that citizen who went beyond the call of civic duty and found Schoenborn. It's sad that the RCMP are looking bad about this in the media but maybe they will learn something from this.
On a much pleasanter note I have the latest version of Corel Draw Graphics Suite installed on my computer- my favorite software! Corel's website. During the beta testing I was asked to contribute an art work which I'm happy to say is evidently still displayed in the final build of the program. :)

Unbelievably the rain hasn't destroyed the cherry blossoms yet! Bigger view.