"Give Him The Contract"

It's just the usual; summary of out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth.
Funeral arrangements? Oh, up to but not exceeding one fourteenth total profit if any. Seems fair. Present company shall not be liable for injuries including but not limited to laceration, evisceration... incineration?
Oh, aye. He'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye. Think furnace, with wings. Flash of light, searing pain, then poof, you're nothing more than a pile of ash.
No. [Bilbo faints]


"Due Diligence" translates from legalese as, "looking both ways before spending a humongous amount of money."  (Or joining a expedition that will last a year and a day and take you there and back again.)  There are a number of things Trish and I did before risking $1000 when we made an offer.

The first was to investigate the builder:

• Check Angie's List and the BBB
• Verify his state licenses were up to date
• Talk to the references of other people he's built for
• Find out what the people at Town Hall think of him

I also spent time investigating the site.  One of my dealbreaker "must haves" is "rural area."  Which is hard to find in Eastern Mass, given that one of Trish's dealbreaker "must haves" is "45 minute commute to work."  The lot for sale is in north Mendon, right near the Upton town line.
 

Yes, lot is rural now -- but would the adjoining undeveloped land stay that way?  What is the future for the rest of "Lot B"?  I would not want to see it turned into a housing subdivision by driving an access road through the red dots.
 

All of a sudden, I'm surrounded by neighbors and unexpectedly now on a corner lot.

How to mitigate?  Well, the land is currently zoned for conservation, and the current owners (the Gannetts) have a long-range plan to keep it that way.  We are negotiating to have them add restrictive language to the deed of Lot B so that we would have a "right of first refusal" if any future owner attempted to change the zoning.