I'm sticking to my original offer which I found fair considering the work that needs to be done and since the listing agent didn't 'reject' it.Am I shooting myself in the foot?

Say a 1500 square foot home in Texas.

Still under $50 per foot...

David's numbers of $55-65 a square foot are possible in an area with cheap labor and low beaurocracy.

I agree now that a college degree is seen as necessary.Back when I graduated high school in 1993 a college degree still had value more than just being seen as what a high school diploma used to be.The problem I see is where many get degrees in things that rack up student debt but pay little to no money as a specialist degree.Other times they get a general business degree.They do this to be versatile.I think it hurts most job applicants as yes they can apply for many generalist jobs but so can a bunch of other people with the same vanilla degree.I believe if you are going to go this route at least get your Masters degree.That extra schooling will put you ahead of many applying for a job.You will earn more over your lifetime and statistically get promoted faster.If you want to be special and make an extraordinary life for yourself you have to avoid the herd mentality and stand out.So I say don't go to college for the sake of college.I know people with degrees that just can't get a job so they work retail as a manager making a crappy 12 bucks an hour.They go to apply for a job for their degree and surprise there is 50 other applicants many who have ten years experience where their company went out of business.Now you have over qualified applicants that employers can land at entry level wages and the students with degrees can't get a foot in the door.If a student can get free tuition they don't have to pay back with student loans or their parents have a fund to pay it for them then great have at it.If the student is going to simply rack up tens of thousands even over 100k of debt and then hit the world making 15 bucks an hour they will be in a world of hurt.Especially since you can't get rid of the student debt in BK.In the old days you worked for a company and gave them your heart and soul and in return they took care of you in retirement.These days people change jobs on average every 5 years and about 80% of the work force hates their job and does it out of necessity.I wouldn't call that a quality way of living.

LOLMakes me want to hot foot it over the Saginaw!

Just looking to get my foot in the door and start as strong as I can.

We signed a 1 year lease on a 4 bedroom 4.5 bath 4000 square foot house with a large fenced in yard and a pond.

Keep in mind that these attorneys get pretty constant calls from others in your shoes and brokers looking for deals so to be successful you need to put your best foot forward when making contact.As a side note this is generally much more effective when you're looking for access to commercial / multifamily deals.

It's about $1 per square foot installed, compared to about $3 per square foot for tile.