Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

mjfloyd1

We got 1/4 inch ice and 6 inches of snow on top so far. Glad I kept the Wrangler 4xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe

Sandman6472

We got down to 35 the other night, 36 the next night. Now, for South Florida, that's darn cold!! And with the wind, it was really cold out there. Luckily, the work van has a great heater plus heated seats/steering wheel. Many of us don't own heavy coats down here so layering is the only way to go. Seems like it's warming up now with nights back into the low to mid 60's. Personally, I'd love for the nights to stay in the mid to upper 50's with daytime highs in the 70's. Anytime that we can turn the a/c off & crack open a window or two, I'm there. Having left New York back in 1969, I've lived in South Florida for a long long time!
We stopped in Nashville on our drive back home from Chicago in 2017 after our sons wedding, and really enjoyed the city. Went to tour the old Ryman Hall of the Grand Old Opry and especially enjoyed the Patsy Cline museum. She's a particular favorite of mine so was a real treat for me to see it. Since my wife won't fly, driving home was the only option for us as I refused to take the train down. Took us about 5 days to get home after a few stops along the way. Hope to go back to Chicago and see all the stuff we didn't have time to see. The kids bought a house last year so we now have an open invite to visit whenever.

Sandman6472

Am so ready to buy a new vehicle but with the chip issue, think I'll be waiting till sometime in late 2022 or early 2023. Pretty sure it'll be a Toyota, but the Toyota place I used to work at has very slim pickings right now. Ditto for most of all the other nearby Toyota stores. Luckily I don't need to buy anything right now but just want to. No way would I ever pay any of these ridiculous ADM fees I've been seeing. Total craziness to be honest. And not interested in getting something pre-owned to be honest, those prices are outrageous also. So, just going to have to be patient & wait.
Finally got the plumber here on Monday to replace the bathroom faucet & the valves going into it. The faucet was original to the house, from 1987, and had started to leak all the time. The valves were covered under our yearly contract for the electrical/plumbing in our house but the faucet wasn't which just meant that we had to either purchase one from them or pick up our own. With the holidays and lack of workers at the company, we got forgotten about for about three weeks. Then we were playing phone tag with the person w needed to talk with. We finally just went out & picked up a faucet my wife liked & it was finally installed Monday morning.
And now, the master bath toilet needs attention! Always seems to be something with an older house!

stickguy

Sandy, yes, you are at the point age wise (I mean the house, but probably goes for you too!) where anything left that is original is probably on borrowed time, so it will seem like you are going to just keep replacing things.

That is one reason a lot of people just go ahead and do a full remodel. Get rid of all the old, tired stuff at the same time!

Michaell

stickguy said:

Sandy, yes, you are at the point age wise (I mean the house, but probably goes for you too!) where anything left that is original is probably on borrowed time, so it will seem like you are going to just keep replacing things.

That is one reason a lot of people just go ahead and do a full remodel. Get rid of all the old, tired stuff at the same time!

We're kind of doing that with my mom's house. It's 50+ years old, and we're taking care of issues as they come up. Now that we're renting it (to my ex, my son and my DIL), they are pretty good about identifying issues for us.

As far as a full makeover, I don't think so. When the time comes that we put it on the market, we'll talk with whatever real estate agent we enlist to give us an honest appraisal of whether we should invest money in new paint (inside and out), carpet and scraping off the popcorn ceilings. If we can get that money back, then we'll likely do it. If not, then we'll sell it for market value and let the next owners make those decisions.

henryn

imidazol97 said:

@stickguy
I have to go get coffee in the morning. I don't do small coffee pots
brewing at home: it tastes awful. Our United Dairy Farmers store
does a great job with a mild decaf. 99 cents for 32 ounces in my refill
cup.

Really? I have a small single serve coffee maker, uses the K-cups, you have to wait for it to heat the water, takes about 2 minutes. But it makes a great cup of coffee, and as I live alone, I never need more than one cup of coffee at a time. And it cost me all of $20 at WalMart.

stickguy

if the CA market is still as crazy as it is right now, probably more likely to get completely redone anyway so whatever you do to it will be money down the drain.

Michaell

stickguy said:

if the CA market is still as crazy as it is right now, probably more likely to get completely redone anyway so whatever you do to it will be money down the drain.

That's what my sister and I are thinking. It's not a big house, in a standard tract development - 1450sf on a 7200sf lot. 3+2 ranch.

stickguy

I watch flip or flop. If you are in the area they work in, it's nuts out there.

though seem to be a lot of profit available, if you want to GC your own flip!

pretty much now seem to be 2 options. sell as is, or invest $200k to redo it top to bottom. Anything in between only seems to make sense if you are planning to stay there.

Michaell

stickguy said:

I watch flip or flop. If you are in the area they work in, it's nuts out there.

though seem to be a lot of profit available, if you want to GC your own flip!

pretty much now seem to be 2 options. sell as is, or invest $200k to redo it top to bottom. Anything in between only seems to make sense if you are planning to stay there.

The house is north of LA, so in the general neighborhood.

No way are we going to drop $200k. The house isn’t a reclamation project.

tjc78

I haven’t watched any newer episodes but the prices for those homes on Flip or Flop were ridiculous even before this crazy market.

My wife used to tell me I only watched the show for one reason…

graphicguy

Although, I’m still doing a little bit of contract work for my old company I retired from, it’s only about a week out of every 12 weeks. Actually, that’s OK. But, I always thought about trying car sales. Only, I want to do it part time. From what I’m reading, that doesn’t exist.

I guess, especially now…..when inventory is non-existent.

tjc78

I would suspect it is a whole different animal these days. It went from chasing every lead and trying to make deals to buyers who are ready to sign but they need to find/order them a unit.

I would have to assume in most stores the sales staff is cut by 50% or more.

stickguy

Last couple I was in were surprisingly busy. Lots of customers and staff. Was not expected.

oldfarmer50

“ Funny thing; during that last campaign my opponent made a comment about me being a car salesman; it backfired on her big time.”

Politics is such a slimy business.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

If I was going to try sales now, as a transition into retirement job, I would be at a smaller used car place with nicer stuff. Probably lower volume but sounds like a much better environment.

and at a real dealership, it sounds like internet sales is the place to be. Process those leads without having to meet actual people!

Have you ever considered becoming a CL car flipper? Hours are better.

stickguy

I don’t have the ability to do the cheap fixes.

ab348

The price of RUG fuel here has taken a big jump the last few weeks (now $1.52 Cdn here) so that according to my volume and currency conversion it is up to about $4.50 USD per US-size gallon. Any comparisons with what is the situation in the US?

sda

We've seen a jump as well. $3.70 PUG, $3.20 RUG. It's a little cheaper south of us. Our area, being so close to Charlotte, NC is cheaper than NC but not as cheap as other areas of SC as NC residents cross the border to fill up. About $4.00 PUG in NC.

Michaell

RUG is about $3.20/gal here in Colorado

fintail

3.65 for Costco PUG the other day, roughly the same as it has been for a month or two.

fintail

I like the house hunters ones (my mom is addicted to that crap, and I have to reel it in when I visit) where the people seeking a house can be easily mockable. Scenario along the lines of "he's a 26 year old artisanal free range organic dog walking consultant, she's a 24 year old aspiring self-published children's book illustrator, they are searching for their first house in the 1.8MM range"

Lately I have been browsing local sold listings to see what goes for over list, and what is a shameless quickie-doo flip. It's nuts here on both counts. That's another one where my mom is amusing, to her, grey LVP = flip (and she's often right).

tjc78 said:

I haven’t watched any newer episodes but the prices for those homes on Flip or Flop were ridiculous even before this crazy market.

My wife used to tell me I only watched the show for one reason…

ab348

When you browse today's overstimulated real estate listings locally here, you can always tell the quickie flip places quite easily. Laminate on the floors, grey paint on everything, faux-space age cheapie light fixtures, stripped-down decor and furniture made of pressboard that nobody could actually live with for very long.

abacomike

@ab348 said:
The price of RUG fuel here has taken a big jump the last few weeks (now $1.52 Cdn here) so that according to my volume and currency conversion it is up to about $4.50 USD per US-size gallon. Any comparisons with what is the situation in the US?

$3.50 - $3.60 a gallon for RUG is the average price at branded gas stations down here. I buy my gasoline at Costco where the price is $3.29 for RUG and $3.59 for PUG.

tjc78

@fintail said:
I like the house hunters ones (my mom is addicted to that crap, and I have to reel it in when I visit) where the people seeking a house can be easily mockable. Scenario along the lines of "he's a 26 year old artisanal free range organic dog walking consultant, she's a 24 year old aspiring self-published children's book illustrator, they are searching for their first house in the 1.8MM range"

Lately I have been browsing local sold listings to see what goes for over list, and what is a shameless quickie-doo flip. It's nuts here on both counts. That's another one where my mom is amusing, to her, grey LVP = flip (and she's often right).

I browse a lot too, both at home and at the shore. I can’t believe the prices. I thought I bought at the top of the market but according to Zillow and what I see my primary residence is up nearly 80K and the unit at the shore is up over 30K.

A few houses in my development that are much smaller than mine are selling for more than I paid on Oct of 20. When will it end?

henryn

When I bought this present house, back in 2011, it was a HUD foreclosure. It had been sitting empty for 2 years, and was in pretty bad shape. It took 2 months and a little over $10k to make it move-in ready. The house two doors down from me, very similar, same builder, same age, is a rent house. The last tenants tore it up really bad, the kind of situation that makes you very glad you’re not a landlord.

I was talking to the gentleman who owns it after he finally got the last tenants out. We were remarking on just how badly the last tenants had torn up the place – totally ruined carpet, holes in the sheetrock, missing or torn up appliances, etc. Very similar to my house when I bought it, only in some ways a little worse.

I was telling him how much it cost to get my house fixed up back then, and he remarked that he hoped to get by for no more than $5k. Which gave me pause, but I said nothing. He now has the place just about ready for new tenants, and I had the chance to walk through. All rooms have sheet vinyl flooring, and the rest you can imagine from there.

stickguy

if I was just renting and it was not a high end place, I would put in sheet or laminate floors. whatever was the best combo of cheap and indestructible. and basic appliances.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

The price of RUG fuel here has taken a big jump the last few weeks (now $1.52 Cdn here) so that according to my volume and currency conversion it is up to about $4.50 USD per US-size gallon. Any comparisons with what is the situation in the US?

The price here is over $3.50 for regular. I have one station near me that’s at $3.37 but I suspect not for long.

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

“ Funny thing; during that last campaign my opponent made a comment about me being a car salesman; it backfired on her big time.”

Politics is such a slimy business.

My campaign drove her nuts; I only responded to her when she made a couple of demonstrably false allegations- the rest of the time I was just having fun. I would introduce myself to groups by saying, "I've been an attorney. a politician, and a car salesman- I don't know how much lower I could drop down the vocational food chain."
She also didn't like Facebook campaign announcements from my dog- the official campaign mascot.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

When I bought this present house, back in 2011, it was a HUD foreclosure. It had been sitting empty for 2 years, and was in pretty bad shape. It took 2 months and a little over $10k to make it move-in ready. The house two doors down from me, very similar, same builder, same age, is a rent house. The last tenants tore it up really bad, the kind of situation that makes you very glad you’re not a landlord.

I was talking to the gentleman who owns it after he finally got the last tenants out. We were remarking on just how badly the last tenants had torn up the place – totally ruined carpet, holes in the sheetrock, missing or torn up appliances, etc. Very similar to my house when I bought it, only in some ways a little worse.

I was telling him how much it cost to get my house fixed up back then, and he remarked that he hoped to get by for no more than $5k. Which gave me pause, but I said nothing. He now has the place just about ready for new tenants, and I had the chance to walk through. All rooms have sheet vinyl flooring, and the rest you can imagine from there.

What else would you do with tenants these days.?Maybe he should put steel plates on the walls too.

qbrozen

ab348 said:

The price of RUG fuel here has taken a big jump the last few weeks (now $1.52 Cdn here) so that according to my volume and currency conversion it is up to about $4.50 USD per US-size gallon. Any comparisons with what is the situation in the US?

I'll let you know after I fill up the TRX tonight every few miles on the way home

Michaell

qbrozen said:

ab348 said:

The price of RUG fuel here has taken a big jump the last few weeks (now $1.52 Cdn here) so that according to my volume and currency conversion it is up to about $4.50 USD per US-size gallon. Any comparisons with what is the situation in the US?

I'll let you know after I fill up the TRX tonight every few miles on the way home

So, the metric on the TRX is gallons per hour, like an airliner? :laughing:

stickguy

Hope it’s good on ice!

jmonroe1

ab348 said:

When you browse today's overstimulated real estate listings locally here, you can always tell the quickie flip places quite easily. Laminate on the floors, grey paint on everything, faux-space age cheapie light fixtures, stripped-down decor and furniture made of pressboard that nobody could actually live with for very long.

Don’t knock the gray paint, it’s the new beige. We have sold 2 flips so far with gray and doubt we’ll have a hard time selling No. 3 with the same gray paint. In fact, with the first 2 flips, 3 of the realtors that showed the houses wanted to know where we got it (Home Depot of course) because they wanted to do their own homes with that color).

As for laminate flooring the first flip was a 3 BR (4 when we sold it) was built in 1960 on a concrete slab. Very rare in these parts but it was the typical cheapy bare bones house, therefore no digging for a basement at that price. Because of the concrete floor and not wanting to carpet it through out like when we bought it we installed laminate in the LR, DR, hall and kitchen. Came out looking great. When several of the neighbors looked at the house before we left (it was already sold) the women wanted their husbands to install it in their homes. I had to laugh because the guy next door (a DIYer himself who did a good bit of work for neighbors over the years to make a few bucks) saw the house many times while it was being referbed said to his wife, “this is why I didn’t want you to come over here to look at it but no you just HAD to come over here to see what was done.” :@

Flips 2 and 3 had the hardwood floors sanded, stained and varnished. No, we didn’t do that. We hired a couple guys to do that ($4.25 a square foot) but those floors sold flip No. 2 and we know it will sell No. 3 also. I’ll admit that the real hardwood looks better than the laminate but not by much. Since flip No. 1 was a lemon, so to speak, we had to make lemonade.

jmonroe

stickguy

!when my daughter bought the house with her BF a couple years ago, the floors were bad. Worn and quite a few cat pee stains. I thought they might not be usable after we tried to clean them with some mop on stuff.

But found a local guy that was amazing. Replaced a few sections that were warped, and sanded and stained the rest. Came out looking fantastic. Even had him put on all the new trim. Relatively cheap (probably less than doing carpet) and really transformed the house. Especially after I painted it! Though I did that before the floors were done IIRC.

tjc78

That was a big mistake I made in my old house. When I moved in the hardwood floors were covered with carpet. I pulled the carpet up and the floors were in decent shape but for some reason I decided to put carpet back down. Fast forward 15 years and when we pulled the carpet up again they were in even worse shape. Ended up covering them with new bamboo floors. They looked great but weren’t cheap. Held up great for the two years we had them.

In the new house the entire main floor is hardwood, upstairs and down is carpet. They didn’t use the best grade so I can see us wanting to replace the upstairs in a year or two. I’m tempted to just do hardwood throughout and then area rugs. Wife isn’t too keen on the idea.

stickguy

We pulled a lot of carpet and put in hardwood when we remodeled. Should have done it before that when we initially replaced carpet a couple of times.

First did all main floor, other that kitchen which is tile. Later did the stairs and upper hallway. Only bedrooms are carpet now. Though wife mentioned replacing the master with wood also, but that carpet was pretty new and I wasn’t spending $1,000s to replace it, since it’s a big room.

I actually like carpet fine in the bedrooms. But I’m sure next house will be wood everywhere.

jmonroe1

henryn said:

When I bought this present house, back in 2011, it was a HUD foreclosure. It had been sitting empty for 2 years, and was in pretty bad shape. It took 2 months and a little over $10k to make it move-in ready. The house two doors down from me, very similar, same builder, same age, is a rent house. The last tenants tore it up really bad, the kind of situation that makes you very glad you’re not a landlord.

I was talking to the gentleman who owns it after he finally got the last tenants out. We were remarking on just how badly the last tenants had torn up the place – totally ruined carpet, holes in the sheetrock, missing or torn up appliances, etc. Very similar to my house when I bought it, only in some ways a little worse.

I was telling him how much it cost to get my house fixed up back then, and he remarked that he hoped to get by for no more than $5k. Which gave me pause, but I said nothing. He now has the place just about ready for new tenants, and I had the chance to walk through. All rooms have sheet vinyl flooring, and the rest you can imagine from there.

But he probably hit his 5K target number.

I could not be a landlord but Son #1 now owns a rental house not too far from where he lives. He put into the rental agreement that he is allowed to inspect it every month if he wants to. So far it is still in one piece.

jmonroe

Michaell

Our 1700sf ranch house is hardwood (engineered) everywhere but the bedrooms (carpet) and baths (tile). Wife is not fond of the color (dark) and we've talked about replacing it. But, it would be such a huge job - time, hassle and cost - that we've put it off.

I'm hoping we move before we have to do something.

stickguy

I would never, ever, become a landlord. Even if it was a good financial move. Just couldn’t deal with it.

stickguy

Michaell said:

Our 1700sf ranch house is hardwood (engineered) everywhere but the bedrooms (carpet) and baths (tile). Wife is not fond of the color (dark) and we've talked about replacing it. But, it would be such a huge job - time, hassle and cost - that we've put it off.

I'm hoping we move before we have to do something.

Depends on exactly what product but I think some engineered can be refinished at least once? Ours is prefinished real hardwood so could be done, but it’s still very pricey.

fintail

Same here. I bought just before you, and for a short time had some "what the hell have I done?!" buyer's remorse, even though the house appraised almost 10% higher than purchase price. Of course, I then put another 25K into it, but am now very happy with the house, and on today's market I couldn't do it again, due to lack of supply and inflating prices (20% YOY here since around 2014-15). I am thankful I found it, and that the payment with tax and insurance is less than prior rent makes it all the better.

tjc78 said:

@fintail said:

I like the house hunters ones (my mom is addicted to that crap, and I have to reel it in when I visit) where the people seeking a house can be easily mockable. Scenario along the lines of "he's a 26 year old artisanal free range organic dog walking consultant, she's a 24 year old aspiring self-published children's book illustrator, they are searching for their first house in the 1.8MM range"

Lately I have been browsing local sold listings to see what goes for over list, and what is a shameless quickie-doo flip. It's nuts here on both counts. That's another one where my mom is amusing, to her, grey LVP = flip (and she's often right).

I browse a lot too, both at home and at the shore. I can’t believe the prices. I thought I bought at the top of the market but according to Zillow and what I see my primary residence is up nearly 80K and the unit at the shore is up over 30K.

A few houses in my development that are much smaller than mine are selling for more than I paid on Oct of 20. When will it end?

ab348

jmonroe1 said:

As for laminate flooring the first flip was a 3 BR (4 when we sold it) was built in 1960 on a concrete slab. Very rare in these parts but it was the typical cheapy bare bones house, therefore no digging for a basement at that price. Because of the concrete floor and not wanting to carpet it through out like when we bought it we installed laminate in the LR, DR, hall and kitchen. Came out looking great. When several of the neighbors looked at the house before we left (it was already sold) the women wanted their husbands to install it in their homes. I had to laugh because the guy next door (a DIYer himself who did a good bit of work for neighbors over the years to make a few bucks) saw the house many times while it was being referbed said to his wife, “this is why I didn’t want you to come over here to look at it but no you just HAD to come over here to see what was done.”

jmonroe

Not all laminate flooring is bad, it’s the cheap, thin stuff that is. I have a bit of decent quality laminate in the finished basement and it is fine in that application. I can see some sort of click-together vinyl plank in the kitchen when it gets redone to replace the damaged engineered hardwood. That stuff wasn’t cheap and it lasted 20 years. Aside from the leak it held up pretty well but it was showing it’s age. Hardwood looks nice in the kitchen but you need to be really careful with moving fridges and stoves for cleaning and of course water kills it quickly. They say engineered flooring can take one refinish but the visible surface is very thin so you need someone who knows what they’re doing.

One of the things that surprised me when I was looking at flooring offered by our local home improvement big box stores was how much choice they had in a category I figured was long dead, peel and stick tile. I have never seen those turn out well long term.

fintail

When I bought my house, it had nice looking light colored engineered wood floors throughout, save for tile bathroom and laundry areas. The house had a gut remodel in 2005, and was lived in by elderly people, so there was little wear and tear. Unfortunately, much of the floor was ruined due to a problem (now solved) with the condensate from the furnace spilling down a wall onto the floor (on a slab, so the water then found the lowest points and warped/stained the floors) and a probable dishwasher leak. This no doubt scared off potential buyers, and is why the house was still on the market when I looked at it a couple weeks after list. I negotiated all of the issues with the seller, as I had someone look at it and he was sure the problem wasn't in the slab itself. However, I then had to replace the flooring. The quote for material like what was ruined was huge, something like 15K or so for material alone, so I went with LVP which for material was maybe a third the price. It's fine for my purposes. After new flooring, paint, light fixtures, door hardware, and appliances, it feels like a new house. The big frivolity was quartz counters, but they look great and were worth it, cabinets were so clean and not dated, it looks like a new kitchen.

Michaell said:

Our 1700sf ranch house is hardwood (engineered) everywhere but the bedrooms (carpet) and baths (tile). Wife is not fond of the color (dark) and we've talked about replacing it. But, it would be such a huge job - time, hassle and cost - that we've put it off.

I'm hoping we move before we have to do something.

stickguy

I put a new floor in my daughters rehab house too. In the kitchen. The cheap imitation wood was rotted from cat pee. Man was that nasty to pull up!

Used some sort of vinyl snap together planks (not the cheap brand) that was still not that expensive. And easy to install. Came out looking pretty darned good, and saved the kids a bundle! Also did peel and stick tiles in the bathroom, over nasty old ceramic. That, they got what they paid for!

Yes, I spent that summer being “the guy” for everything within my skill set. Was actually kinda fun, and if I ran into something I wasn’t comfy with, told her BF to call a real guy that he had to pay!

sda

About 6 years ago, except the bonus room upstairs, we replaced all the flooring in the house, replaced appliances, added quartz counter tops, tile backsplash, etc. It was quite the project and expense. The flooring contractor laughed and said it would be easier for us to move out and buy another house than do what we did. Everything in every room had to be moved out of the way to install the flooring. It made for a great opportunity to do deep cleaning and a purge of stuff. It came out great and glad we did it. We do need to do another purge, however. Too much stuff!

One thing, we did do carpet in the bedrooms and study. We selected the best pad and high quality thick carpet. It feels great underfoot and is wearing well. Yet it is a pain to vacuum as the carpet is so thick it is hard to push/pull the vacuum, even with the vacuum at its highest height setting.

oldfarmer50

I knew that we’d get flying cars if we just waited….

https://youtu.be/3-SrsTD90t4

explorerx4

@oldfarmer50,
I saw that video. Last gen Impala not a Burt Reynolds Firebird.

Michaell

Everything in every room had to be moved out of the way to install the flooring.

Which is the primary reason we don't want to take on this particular project.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

@oldfarmer50,
I saw that video. Last gen Impala not a Burt Reynolds Firebird.

How are you doing over there in CT? I guess you got clobbered in the last storm. How did you make out this time? We got a strange mix of ice, sleet and snow that coagulated into a concrete like substance. I went out to clear the car and slid down the steps. Luckily it was only a few inches.