Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

qbrozen said:

@venture said:

Plant a shrub in front of it.

Or paint a shrub on it.

I think that should be done more. We were driving in a town with row houses, and the people tended to leave garbage cans on the front lawn, right in front of the house. My ingenious idea was to make large moulded rock formations that you could store the cans in;

stickguy

took a while to figure out what the heck an Eaves trough was. Gutters and downspouts in the U.S.

tjc78

@driver100 said:
tjc.....RE: color: You don't know MrsD100. She walks down the street and notices that people don't paint their garage doors in the best color. She also hates weird eves troughs that aren't painted to blend in, and that are not hidden very well.

RE; An a/c that is too large. One a/c dealer says this;

An air conditioner that’s too small will run non-stop and never cool your home to your desired temperature.

An an air conditioner that’s too big will short cycle. That means it will turn on, cool your home very quickly and then shut off. While this might seem like a good thing, it actually results in:

Increased energy bills. Just like your car gets better mileage on the highway than in stop and go traffic, long run times are more efficient for your AC.
Hot/cold spots in your home. Since the fan doesn’t run very long, it doesn’t have time to circulate the air throughout your home evenly, creating uneven temperatures in your house.
Shorter lifespan. The frequent turning on and off wears out the air conditioner parts more quickly, leading to a shorter lifespan.

I don't know....but it sounds logical to me!

All valid points too.

ab348

Poor choices at installation time by those two homeowners. Default for gutters/downspouts is prefinished white aluminum and with white trim already I can only speculate they were either talked into dark ones by the sales guy or insisted on a contrasting color themselves for some ill-advised reason.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

Part 2:
MrsD100 would be very upset with this eves trough. She would want it painted in white or ivory, so it doesn't stand out. And she would be really upset that the eves trough was placed in front of a main pillar!

JMonroe should hire her as a consultant to build more perfect homes.

I see nothing wrong with the eves, nor the eaves for that matter. Now the color of the gutters in another thing.

dino001

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:

@driver100

I have never once heard anyone request the color of their HVAC unit.

The oversized unit has nothing to do with it switching on and off too often wearing it out. The reason (especially in FL) you don’t want one too big is it won’t run enough to dehumidify the air properly.

tjc.....RE: color: You don't know MrsD100. She walks down the street and notices that people don't paint their garage doors in the best color. She also hates weird eves troughs that aren't painted to blend in, and that are not hidden very well.

RE; An a/c that is too large. One a/c dealer says this;

An air conditioner that’s too small will run non-stop and never cool your home to your desired temperature.

An an air conditioner that’s too big will short cycle. That means it will turn on, cool your home very quickly and then shut off. While this might seem like a good thing, it actually results in:

Increased energy bills. Just like your car gets better mileage on the highway than in stop and go traffic, long run times are more efficient for your AC.
Hot/cold spots in your home. Since the fan doesn’t run very long, it doesn’t have time to circulate the air throughout your home evenly, creating uneven temperatures in your house.
Shorter lifespan. The frequent turning on and off wears out the air conditioner parts more quickly, leading to a shorter lifespan.

I don't know....but it sounds logical to me!

Correct sizing an AC unit is a big deal. Bigger is not necessarily better - to be precise, it is better at first, but above certain size it's worse. My company was once involved in a design of too big unit for the location (rookie engineer threw in a big unit without proper sizing, thinking bigger is better). Fortunately the contractor caught the issue and it was redesigned before actual installation, but it was kind of embarrassing to the company.

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

took a while to figure out what the heck an Eaves trough was. Gutters and downspouts in the U.S.

Eaves are the underside part of the roof that extends beyond the outside wall. Gutters and downspouts are attached to the eaves and channel water.

stickguy

I know that. Just never heard anyone call them a trough before.

driver100

Part 2:
MrsD100 would be very upset with this eves

dino001 said:

driver100 said:

tjc78 said:

@driver100

I have never once heard anyone request the color of their HVAC unit.

The oversized unit has nothing to do with it switching on and off too often wearing it out. The reason (especially in FL) you don’t want one too big is it won’t run enough to dehumidify the air properly.

tjc.....RE: color: You don't know MrsD100. She walks down the street and notices that people don't paint their garage doors in the best color. She also hates weird eves troughs that aren't painted to blend in, and that are not hidden very well.

RE; An a/c that is too large. One a/c dealer says this;

An air conditioner that’s too small will run non-stop and never cool your home to your desired temperature.

An an air conditioner that’s too big will short cycle. That means it will turn on, cool your home very quickly and then shut off. While this might seem like a good thing, it actually results in:

Increased energy bills. Just like your car gets better mileage on the highway than in stop and go traffic, long run times are more efficient for your AC.
Hot/cold spots in your home. Since the fan doesn’t run very long, it doesn’t have time to circulate the air throughout your home evenly, creating uneven temperatures in your house.
Shorter lifespan. The frequent turning on and off wears out the air conditioner parts more quickly, leading to a shorter lifespan.

I don't know....but it sounds logical to me!

Correct sizing an AC unit is a big deal. Bigger is not necessarily better - to be precise, it is better at first, but above certain size it's worse. My company was once involved in a design of too big unit for the location (rookie engineer threw in a big unit without proper sizing, thinking bigger is better). Fortunately the contractor caught the issue and it was redesigned before actual installation, but it was kind of embarrassing to the company.

Some people think bigger is always better

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

I know that. Just never heard anyone call them a trough before.

Oh Whiskey Tango Foxtrot I misread "eaves trough" Now I feel like an idiot (or more so of an idiot).

driver100

stickguy said:

I know that. Just never heard anyone call them a trough before.

My SpellCheck which is tuned for U.S. use did not correct my use of eves troughs and when I looked for images of eves troughs they came up. I can see where technically the one that goes vertical and into the ground would be called a downspout......but that is getting pretty picky. (especially since I never claimed to be an expert in these matters).
JMonroe would call it the thingy that goes up and down

imidazol97

Mrs. D100 would have a stroke here. I picked the gutters to have the same tone as the sandstone cream in the mixed brick color we have. Out of the 50 or so choices of gutter colors, the one sample had the same soft off white tone. But the gutters are up against the soffits with a Williamsburg colour (Palace Arms Red) on the frieze board at the top of the one story brick, and the roof has a mixed tone of greys and browns from the major shingle manufacturer, Owens Corning IIRC.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

Mrs. D100 would have a stroke here. I picked the gutters to have the same tone as the sandstone cream in the mixed brick color we have. Out of the 50 or so choices of gutter colors, the one sample had the same soft off white tone. But the gutters are up against the soffits with a Williamsburg colour (Palace Arms Red) on the frieze board at the top of the one story brick, and the roof has a mixed tone of greys and browns from the major shingle manufacturer, Owens Corning IIRC.

MrsD100 would approve of the sandstone cream colored bricks. She likes that much more than red usually. And she really dislikes mixing two different colors of bricks. We better not get into what happens when she sees a house that has pointed roofs all over the place....like one they are building down the street, something like this:

ab348

Multiple gables/turrets/semi-turrets are a sign that the homeowners suffer from McMansion Disease, for which the only known cure is a crash in the housing market.

roadburner

driver100

The air conditioner guy got to the Florida Place. I thought they would say we needed a new a/c unit.

Services qty unit price amount
Repairs - Service Call 1.0 $89.00 $89.00
no cool
Repairs - REP99700 1.0 $110.25 $110.25
Clean & clear clogged drain line
technician notes 1.0 $0.00 $0.00
Found tripped float switch due to clogged drain line. Flushed drain line and clean drain pan.
Check system operation. System is draining and functioning properly at this time.
Subtotal $199.25
Amount Due $199.25

Yahoo, avoided a bullet!!!!
Tonight we celebrate, maybe dinner at IKEA!

kyfdx

@driver100 Cheap prices, too!

tjc78

That’s great news. Also great news your system has the safety system. If it didn’t you would have water overflowing the pan everywhere.

Also I agree that’s a great price. In NJ that would be at least $300 by most large companies

driver100

kyfdx said:

@driver100 Cheap prices, too!

Cheap prices for the repair or the dinner?

Not if we end up buying something!

driver100

tjc78 said:

That’s great news. Also great news your system has the safety system. If it didn’t you would have water overflowing the pan everywhere.

Also I agree that’s a great price. In NJ that would be at least $300 by most large companies

The yearly check-up takes about 2 hours.......cleaning lines, checking over everything....and they could easily say it could use something. In 12 years they never sold us anything extra, and I think the yearly checkup was about $80. They emailed us the bill and we of course paid right away. Any service company this good gets my stamp of approval, and trust!

tjc, thanks for mentioning about the safety system, that is good to know. Glad there was no overflow.

ab348

driver100 said:

Yahoo, avoided a bullet!!!!
Tonight we celebrate, maybe dinner at IKEA!

The bad news is that now Mrs D. can continue to beat you with a stick for making her tolerate the black outside unit for a while longer.

driver100

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Yahoo, avoided a bullet!!!!
Tonight we celebrate, maybe dinner at IKEA!

The bad news is that now Mrs D. can continue to beat you with a stick for making her tolerate the black outside unit for a while longer.

Good point............maybe MrsD100 sabotaged the drain before leaving, hoping we would get a new silver one!

tjc78

@driver100 said:
Good point............maybe MrsD100 sabotaged the drain before leaving, hoping we would get a new silver one!

Lol. You can blame the Florida humidity for that!!

sda

@graphicguy Any news on the house offer?

driver100

I don't think MrsD100 would like these gutters and drain pipes;

graphicguy

sda said:

@graphicguy Any news on the house offer?

Yeah…..my offer was rejected. Kind of disappointed. Curious, because my agent says the owner didn’t let anyone know if they actually sold it. More curious, if someone outbid me (pretty safe assumption), what where their contingencies?

Anyway, housing market is softening. I won’t get into a bidding war. Seeing some buyers remorse from many who have overpaid.

There’s always another house out there.

snakeweasel

graphicguy said:

sda said:

@graphicguy Any news on the house offer?

Yeah…..my offer was rejected. Kind of disappointed. Curious, because my agent says the owner didn’t let anyone know if they actually sold it. More curious, if someone outbid me (pretty safe assumption), what where their contingencies?

Anyway, housing market is softening. I won’t get into a bidding war. Seeing some buyers remorse from many who have overpaid.

There’s always another house out there.

I found one for you.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2569-N-46th-Rd-Somonauk-IL-60552/333822522_zpid/?

stickguy

I like it. Would certainly solve my parking issues.

henryn

roadburner said:

I also found the quote funny, but I don't believe the changes are the result of a decline in intelligence among car owners. Rather, the changes are the result of how litiginous our society has become. And I blame that on the overabundance of lawyers, many of them on billboards offering to sue anyone for anything.

Going back 20 years or so, I sat on a jury in a civil court. The suit was for damages resulting from a fist fight after a riot broke out at a youth baseball game. The umpire from the game testified that the 2 participants in the suit faced off for several minutes, yelling, cursing, spit flying into each other’s faces before actual fisticuffs broke out.

When we got back to the jury room to deliberate, I told the other jury members that anyone who stood face-to-face yelling curses for several minutes did not really deserve our consideration. It took us about 10 minutes to return our decision, and I overheard the judge remark to the bailiff that he was surprised it took that long.

henryn

Okay, so here’s a question for the group. I just now narrowly missed being involved in a traffic accident. I live on a narrow 2 lane street (deep ditches on either side, no curb, no center stripe). I was approaching my house and was going to make a right turn into the driveway. I know absolutely that half a block back no one was behind me.

I swing out towards the left and start my right turn, and BINGO! There’s a car going by on my right. Mind you, this is a narrow street, with deep ditches, and this guy couldn’t have had more than inches to spare. I saw him at the last possible instant and stopped. He never paused.

So my question is, if I had hit this character, who would have been “at fault”? Genuine question, I have no idea.

jmonroe1

henryn said:

Okay, so here’s a question for the group. I just now narrowly missed being involved in a traffic accident. I live on a narrow 2 lane street (deep ditches on either side, no curb, no center stripe). I was approaching my house and was going to make a right turn into the driveway. I know absolutely that half a block back no one was behind me.

I swing out towards the left and start my right turn, and BINGO! There’s a car going by on my right. Mind you, this is a narrow street, with deep ditches, and this guy couldn’t have had more than inches to spare. I saw him at the last possible instant and stopped. He never paused.

So my question is, if I had hit this character, who would have been “at fault”? Genuine question, I have no idea.

————————————————
Just trying to provide a little common sense but passing on the right is more than likely not legal and given you were in your lane (albeit a little left of the center of your lane) this jamoke should be in the wrong. For grins you should ask your local police.

Good to hear you didn’t get hit.

jmonroe

driver100

henryn said:

Okay, so here’s a question for the group. I just now narrowly missed being involved in a traffic accident. I live on a narrow 2 lane street (deep ditches on either side, no curb, no center stripe). I was approaching my house and was going to make a right turn into the driveway. I know absolutely that half a block back no one was behind me.

I swing out towards the left and start my right turn, and BINGO! There’s a car going by on my right. Mind you, this is a narrow street, with deep ditches, and this guy couldn’t have had more than inches to spare. I saw him at the last possible instant and stopped. He never paused.

So my question is, if I had hit this character, who would have been “at fault”? Genuine question, I have no idea.

I don't know! But, it would seem that if your right turn signal light was on, you were making a legal right turn, and someone shouldn't be passing on the right side if someone has indicated they are turning right. If you did hit him, I would tell the police officer I did have my signal on if it was or not ( I always signal my turn into the driveway for a reason. I have to back in, as I come down the street I open the garage door, I check my mirrors and the road ahead, signal right, swoop into the drive and face away from the garage, then I back in if no one is behind me).

Hard to imagine he could fit between your car and the ditch....is there a mailbox too?
Glad you averted an accident...good defensive driving, allowing for the unexpected.

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

sda said:

@graphicguy Any news on the house offer?

Yeah…..my offer was rejected. Kind of disappointed. Curious, because my agent says the owner didn’t let anyone know if they actually sold it. More curious, if someone outbid me (pretty safe assumption), what where their contingencies?

Anyway, housing market is softening. I won’t get into a bidding war. Seeing some buyers remorse from many who have overpaid.

There’s always another house out there.

Waiting can only be to your benefit if you can pay cash. Interest rates can go to the moon, driving out the competition and you won’t care.

kyfdx

It's likely they got a better offer, and took it.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

Okay, so here’s a question for the group. I just now narrowly missed being involved in a traffic accident. I live on a narrow 2 lane street (deep ditches on either side, no curb, no center stripe). I was approaching my house and was going to make a right turn into the driveway. I know absolutely that half a block back no one was behind me.

I swing out towards the left and start my right turn, and BINGO! There’s a car going by on my right. Mind you, this is a narrow street, with deep ditches, and this guy couldn’t have had more than inches to spare. I saw him at the last possible instant and stopped. He never paused.

So my question is, if I had hit this character, who would have been “at fault”? Genuine question, I have no idea.

I think you would be in the wrong for making the other driver drop his phone and mess up an important text.🤨

Seriously, the one at fault is the state that issued such a dope a driver’s license. I’ve seen similar stupid moves when a delivery truck is blocking the oncoming lane and people swing around into your lane without slowing down.

tjc78

Passing on the right generally puts that driver in the wrong.

henryn

No, I didn't use my turn signal, I usually don't when I'm turning into my driveway. I should start doing that.

And I didn't check my rear view mirror at the last second, something else that I should have done. Mea culpa.

Something else I should do is hook up that dash cam I bought last year and never got around to installing.

driver100

I really believe in that defensive driving tip;
Think of the worse thing the other driver could do, and then be prepared because he will probably do it.
That has saved me many times.

driver100

kyfdx said:

It's likely they got a better offer, and took it.

That sounds likely. And the chances are, if people pay $5000 or even $10000 over asking on a house, and if it is worth it after doing some research, that means very little over the next 10 years....$500 to $1000 a year for a home that will increase a lot more than that over 10 years....like it could double!

Michaell

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

It's likely they got a better offer, and took it.

That sounds likely. And the chances are, if people pay $5000 or even $10000 over asking on a house, and if it is worth it after doing some research, that means very little over the next 10 years....$500 to $1000 a year for a home that will increase a lot more than that over 10 years....like it could double!

I'm not so sure about that - I've seen media reports that suggest there may be a 10-15% correction on housing prices in the US.

Make your choices and take your chances.

dino001

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

It's likely they got a better offer, and took it.

That sounds likely. And the chances are, if people pay $5000 or even $10000 over asking on a house, and if it is worth it after doing some research, that means very little over the next 10 years....$500 to $1000 a year for a home that will increase a lot more than that over 10 years....like it could double!

You're sounding like Steve Richards justifying price on a car.

There is a lot of "ifs" in your premise. If the price is justified, if the house value doubles. What if it is cut in half? It happened to many who bought at previous highs, especially here in Florida.

stickguy

Michaell said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

It's likely they got a better offer, and took it.

That sounds likely. And the chances are, if people pay $5000 or even $10000 over asking on a house, and if it is worth it after doing some research, that means very little over the next 10 years....$500 to $1000 a year for a home that will increase a lot more than that over 10 years....like it could double!

I'm not so sure about that - I've seen media reports that suggest there may be a 10-15% correction on housing prices in the US.

Make your choices and take your chances.

could happen. And I just went through this process. To me though, most important is finding the house you want where you want it. Price really is secondary. You have to live in the place. It isn't a rare baseball card you are putting in a safety deposit box hoping it goes up!

GG though, like me, will be selling and buying at the same time in the same market. I got a record for the neighborhood price (and would not shock me if it does not get topped for years) so even though I know I probably paid a premium on the new place, I should still be ahead if the market corrects (in that the old place would have dropped as much if not more).

Like a wise man once said, the only difference, is the difference!

now people who bought their first places this summer, they could be underwater for a while. which again is a real good reason to buy a house you love and want to stay in for a long time!

driver100

Michaell said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

It's likely they got a better offer, and took it.

That sounds likely. And the chances are, if people pay $5000 or even $10000 over asking on a house, and if it is worth it after doing some research, that means very little over the next 10 years....$500 to $1000 a year for a home that will increase a lot more than that over 10 years....like it could double!

I'm not so sure about that - I've seen media reports that suggest there may be a 10-15% correction on housing prices in the US.

Make your choices and take your chances.

and @dino001
Yes, lots of things to consider, you can't buy it without taking into consideration all the factors. And Florida has lots of booms and busts.
But, if things are fairly steady, and things look like they will stay fairly steady, the odds are the extra amount won't be a big factor in 5 or 10 years.
I wouldn't buy during any buying frenzy, such as when people are bidding prices up, prices are spiking etc. But, if the market is fairly normal, I'd overpay for a place I really want. We have done it 3 times and always came out way ahead in the end. And, like stocks, if you have the intestinal fortitude to buy in a slow market, you can make out like a bandit.

fintail

Funny thing, market here has been so hot, especially when rates were lower, that I could lose 10% and still not be in any danger of being under water - and I just bought a year ago. People who bought 5+ years ago have virtually all at least doubled, so they are fine too. Locally, I see less bidding wars and plenty of price reductions, along with more inventory, but no crash. Two houses within 4 blocks of me have hit the market in the past few weeks, both were pending in under a week.

Michaell said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

It's likely they got a better offer, and took it.

That sounds likely. And the chances are, if people pay $5000 or even $10000 over asking on a house, and if it is worth it after doing some research, that means very little over the next 10 years....$500 to $1000 a year for a home that will increase a lot more than that over 10 years....like it could double!

I'm not so sure about that - I've seen media reports that suggest there may be a 10-15% correction on housing prices in the US.

Make your choices and take your chances.

stickguy

housing is also regional. Normally the midwest I think is more steady. don't see the big swings you get in some more expensive, or transient, areas. so a lot harder to lose your shirt, as long as you but smart (house and location). it is always less risky to buy a great house. even if the market changes, people will still want it.

the folks that get really hosed are the ones that pay a premium for a house with a lot of undesirable features, just to get "something". a place right next to the freeway is going to be nearly unsellable in a soft market when there are better options.

Sandman6472

I can only go by the current market in our area and there aren't many places up for sale now. And the ones that do, go under contract pretty quickly. Except the house a couple doors down from us. Still sitting on the market after the latest price reduction for some reason. The pics of the interior look really good and the outside ain't that bad either. So that's telling me that it's still priced too high for what it is. It should've sold by now or at least be in a pending position. School has already started but am guessing the market is just cooled off somewhat and it's no longer the absolute sellers market it once was. But we shall see!
Think it's missing one major thing, a circular driveway. It's crying out for a circular driveway like their neighbor has and the property is big enough for one. That's the one addition I wish we could have but being on a cul-de-sac with a pie shaped lot, the smallish front yard just can't fit a proper circular driveway. And definitely think we should've done the pavers a few years back when the prices were more reasonable. Would've changed the whole look of our house for the better. Just wish I had over ruled the other half on this decision at the time. The asphalt driveway does date the house I'm afraid but considering we're the original owners, think we'll still do very well once we do sell.

tjc78

We paid a little less than it cost the previous owner to build (2018) our primary residence we bought in 2020. They loaded the house up with so many options that didn’t translate to the appraisers at the time. Now it’s most likely worth about 30% more than we paid compared to a few recent sales in the development. We also have done a few upgrades including a full white vinyl privacy fence.

Our shore house is the bigger gamble. Our neighbors bought in early 2019 and paid a little less than half we did in 2021. Still based on some recent sales our place is up about 18%. If the market was to crash I am sure we would take a beating here, but we don’t have any plans to sell.

Only saving grace is primary is fixed at 2.75 and the shore at 3.1. Those rates are pretty much gone now. We also got pretty stupid money for our last house and the park model trailer we sold.

stickguy

Shore house has the bonus that you can always rent it even if prices drop.

tjc78

@stickguy said:
Shore house has the bonus that you can always rent it even if prices drop.

Yes. My grand plan is when the kids are out of high school to sell our primary and buy a bigger place at the shore. The current place would become a rental property.

Wife is on the fence about it. I said well it’s many years away so I have time to convince you.

Do you miss NJ yet?

snakeweasel

tjc78 said:

Passing on the right generally puts that driver in the wrong.

Passing on the right is permissible in a lot of situations, pretty much as long as you are on marked pavement.