Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

One offer came in tonight - $800K even. Got to look at the details regarding escrow length, contingencies, inspections, etc.

WOW! Nice!

jmonroe1

Michaell said:

One offer came in tonight - $800K even. Got to look at the details regarding escrow length, contingencies, inspections, etc.

————————————————-
We told ya.

While you’re looking you might get another offer. A lot of times other agents that showed the house, tell their clients that an offer has been made so if they want it they better get off the pot. So far, you’re in the cat seat. If you get more, remember where you heard it.

Good luck.

Michaell

Second offer came in - this one is for the asking price ($799,900) but is an all cash offer with a 15 day escrow.

The first offer included a 21 day escrow and they would finance $500K of the price (for which they are pre-approved).

We have until Wednesday to respond, so we wait to see if any more offers come in.

explorerx4

@michaell,
The sale is off to a solid start. No sitting on the market for weeks or months.

Michaell

explorerx4 said:

@michaell,
The sale is off to a solid start. No sitting on the market for weeks or months.

We didn't expect it to, what with the lack of inventory in SoCal.

There are two houses in my neighborhood here in Colorado that have been on the market for quite a while.

stickguy

JMonroe, since you are in the business and know everything, what’s the best time to put in new landscaping and seed a yard? I was thinking to wait until about Labor Day to avoid the bad part of the summer (July/august) and we would be around more to take care of it (watering, etc). Seems like that should be good for the plants but still give the lawn enough time to establish before winter hits, and be ready to go in the spring.

Any and all opinions welcome. We are middle NYS so weather probably comparable to Boston or Pittsburgh.

kyfdx

Sometimes, September is really dry. Will you have sprinklers?

It’s usually a great time of year to aerate and overseed, for sure.

stickguy

No sprinklers to start with. If we decide to put them in probably won’t happen until next spring. One think I want to do is get a shed put in and patio done first (and the fence). That will prevent new seed from trashed. Or put in the wrong place. And sprinklers going in where it makes sense to have them without worrying about damaging them

Sandman6472

Waiting on the rainy season to start down south here, should've began last week. Still only water the lawn on Thursday/Sunday as assume we're still under drought conditions. Parts of the lawn are getting brown so we really need a good soaking...and soon! Not sure what this holds for the hurricane season which just began but all we can do is wait & see. Really would like to move out of here already but, where to go?

kyfdx

stickguy said:

No sprinklers to start with. If we decide to put them in probably won’t happen until next spring. One think I want to do is get a shed put in and patio done first (and the fence). That will prevent new seed from trashed. Or put in the wrong place. And sprinklers going in where it makes sense to have them without worrying about damaging them

We put in sod on Labor Day weekend, the year after we built our house. It didn't rain for 18 days. If I hadn't had a sprinkler system, there is no way I could have saved it. Even then, I had to run a hose off my neighbor's house to hit the spots the sprinklers weren't getting to. I didn't have any water pressure left to run it off my spigot.

stickguy

We are getting seed (I assume sprayed on) so less risk. Also unlikely to not rain for that long up here!

stickguy

I also expect to overseed in the spring anyway. Just to beef it up.

pensfan83

I've achieved the best results in the fall between mid-September to mid-October. I typically aerate as well and then overseed. No sprinkler system, if it doesn't rain then I'll water with a hose.

explorerx4

@stickguy,
If you do get a sprinkler sysytem found out if you can get a 2nd water meter for the sprinkler system.
The second meter measures how much water the sprinkler system uses and excludes it from the monthly sewer charge.
This may be a local thing.

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

JMonroe, since you are in the business and know everything, what’s the best time to put in new landscaping and seed a yard? I was thinking to wait until about Labor Day to avoid the bad part of the summer (July/august) and we would be around more to take care of it (watering, etc). Seems like that should be good for the plants but still give the lawn enough time to establish before winter hits, and be ready to go in the spring.

Any and all opinions welcome. We are middle NYS so weather probably comparable to Boston or Pittsburgh.

————————————————
I’ve always heard warm days and cool nights is the best way to get a good start for a lawn. That’s why everyone around here prefers the Fall.

jmonroe

stickguy

Makes sense. I’ll discuss with the builder. I don’t think he cares. The house next to mine was finished in January or February. They didn’t get a driveway until nearly may and the landscaping went in after that. They are helping the seed along with hoses.

explorerx4

Only minimal landscaping was included in our build.
It took us 8 months to get a yard.
We moved in in Aufust and the Fall was completely booked for the local andscape companies, so we had to wait until the spring.
We got turf since I was sick of looking at a dirt yard.

kyfdx

They seeded our yard, initially, but after a full growing season, my wife had had it. They didn't have enough topsoil on the yard, and it was never going to look good.

The sod farmer dropped the world's largest load of topsoil on the yard, (in addition to the topsoil attached to the sod). It was worth every penny.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

@stickguy,
If you do get a sprinkler sysytem found out if you can get a 2nd water meter for the sprinkler system.
The second meter measures how much water the sprinkler system uses and excludes it from the monthly sewer charge.
This may be a local thing.

It was that way here, until about 8 years ago. But, they stopped. Now, they measure your average winter usage, and use that to ascertain the sewer rate for the entire year. Makes sense and works well.

ab348

Fall is the best time to grow grass from seed. You have a pretty small window though, from it being too hot and dry to it being too cold and wet. I always struggle with seeding and find it takes 2-3 years to get it to fill in and look good.

The suggestion to get a second water meter for the sprinklers in order to avoid a sewer tax makes me laugh. Up here not only is there a similar wastewater charge on the water bill (which is usually several multiples of the water cost), but they also have a “ditch tax” (not the official name) for runoff and stormwater. So they get you regardless.

pensfan83

Instead of worrying about second meters, and unless bragging rights for greenest lawn are a thing, just let it brown for the summer

explorerx4

For Memorial Day, Adam's Polishes had a 25% off sale.
I ordered enough product to get free shipping, or so I thought.
Never got an order confirmation email and any other acknowledgement of an order.
I figured I missed a step and the order didn't go through.
Got an email today that my order has shipped.
They must have been swamped.

kyfdx

pensfan83 said:

Instead of worrying about second meters, and unless bragging rights for greenest lawn are a thing, just let it brown for the summer

Go ahead and send us a picture of your lawn in August..

explorerx4

Wow! Being lawnshamed. I'll go with it though.

venture

My daughter's new pup. 8 weeks old.

imidazol97

Cute. Really cute.

tjc78

So it figures you guys have a lawn conversation while I’m so mad at myself over here…

We had plenty of rain and I haven’t had to water my lawn and it still looked great. Well… all good things come to an end and I came home from the shore this morning and the lawn, especially the back looks really stressed.

Immediately started watering 30 mins a zone and hitting it a second time now. I’ll go every day until it’s back and then do my normal every other day.

explorerx4

So who's the biggest dumpster fire now, Stellantis or Toyota?

snakeweasel

Instead of worrying about second meters, and unless bragging rights for greenest lawn are a thing, just let it brown for the summer

Just lay down some astroturf and be done with it.

stickguy

adorable dog.

stickguy

for the yard, they must have done a good job prepping (as always that is what matters, not throwing down seed). The 2 houses in front of me both were seeded within I would say a month, and the grass is coming in nice. and the 2 houses in the back that closed last year both have nice thick lawns.

stickguy

explorerx4 said:

So who's the biggest dumpster fire now, Stellantis or Toyota?

wait, what did Toyota do now? I know they are having Ford-level issues with some vehicles (Tundra V6 just get recalled?)

explorerx4

@stickguy,
'Ford -level issues'. What does that mean? Like Toyota faking crash results testing since 1989?

stickguy

You think Ford was doing that? I just meant recalls and teething pains.

jmonroe1

snakeweasel said:

Instead of worrying about second meters, and unless bragging rights for greenest lawn are a thing, just let it brown for the summer

Just lay down some astroturf and be done with it.

————————————————
Or you could do like I did when we built our house in SC in 1992.

The guy I chose to do our landscaping gave me a few options as to what type of grass I wanted. My choices were Centipede, Meyers Zoysia and Emerald Green Zoysia sod. Centipede is very tolerant in the heat but doesn’t look very good. Meyers Zoysia isn’t as hearty as Centipede but looks OK and this is what a lot of homes in my neighborhood chose. Emerald Green Zoysia sod looked the best but cost about 20 cents more per sq. foot.

My landscaper told me a lot of folks used most if not all of their landscaping allowance for upgrades to their house so by the time it was time to landscape they were pretty much tapped out. Which is why getting Meyers Zoysia was already a stretch to their budget so that’s what they chose. Fortunately, I didn’t eat into my landscaping allowance and in fact I had always planed to reach into my pocket to get nicer landscaping anyhow. So I went with the Emerald Green Zoysia sod.

Fast forward to about a year after we were in the house. Mrs. j and I decided to walk around the hood. We came upon a few couples that were talking at the curb of one of the houses around the corner. We said hello and joined in their conversation. Eventually one of the guys asked which house I lived in and I said 3 houses from that house around the bend as I pointed down the street. Almost in unison they said, “oh, you’re the guy with the really green grass”. It turned out I was almost famous because I bit the bullet and got the nicer looking grass.

I was never sorry I did that.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Mt guess is that there isn't a lot of room around the engine.
My Explorer dipstick seems like it is 2 feet long.

You should have the one on my old Chevy Express, it was at least 3 feet.🦶

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

JMonroe, since you are in the business and know everything, what’s the best time to put in new landscaping and seed a yard? I was thinking to wait until about Labor Day to avoid the bad part of the summer (July/august) and we would be around more to take care of it (watering, etc). Seems like that should be good for the plants but still give the lawn enough time to establish before winter hits, and be ready to go in the spring.

Any and all opinions welcome. We are middle NYS so weather probably comparable to Boston or Pittsburgh.

Hey, what am I chopped liver? Did you forget I used to grow nursery stock for a living?🥹🥹🥹

stickguy

that's because the engine was under your arm rest.

roadburner

It’s rained quite a bit In my area, my wife cuts the yard with the EGO electric mower about once per week. I cut the surrounding area with the Cub ZTR every 10-14 days. I keep hoping for a good drought to keep the lawn dormant.

dino001

stickguy said:

wait, what did Toyota do now?

Nothing much, for many years just falsified bunch of crash test data, consumers don't need to know. So far I heard it's Japanese Domestic Market vehicles that were affected, but I think it's reasonable to extrapolate the possibility that US market vehicles will join it soon.

andres3

800K? Now you can afford about 3 Audi R8's. Or you might go with a RSQ8, RSQ7, and R8. Looking to be cheap? RS5, RS6, and R8 and you'll have plenty left over.

Michaell

andres3 said:

800K? Now you can afford about 3 Audi R8's. Or you might go with a RSQ8, RSQ7, and R8. Looking to be cheap? RS5, RS6, and R8 and you'll have plenty left over.

Yeah, right.

If you read the entire thread, you'd realize there is an existing mortgage that has to be paid off, and I'm splitting the rest with my sister.

Plus, I got laid off in 2023 and I'm still looking for my next full-time job.

Car shopping is not on my radar, at the moment, much as I would like it to be.

cdnpinhead

Hang in there, guy.

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

andres3 said:

800K? Now you can afford about 3 Audi R8's. Or you might go with a RSQ8, RSQ7, and R8. Looking to be cheap? RS5, RS6, and R8 and you'll have plenty left over.

Yeah, right.

If you read the entire thread, you'd realize there is an existing mortgage that has to be paid off, and I'm splitting the rest with my sister.

Plus, I got laid off in 2023 and I'm still looking for my next full-time job.

Car shopping is not on my radar, at the moment, much as I would like it to be.

You could always become a Craigslist shopper like me. Get a hooptie for 5-10% of original sticker and enjoy all the cars you couldn’t afford 15 years ago.😉

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

You could always become a Craigslist shopper like me. Get a hooptie for 5-10% of original sticker and enjoy all the cars you couldn’t afford 15 years ago.😉

Kind of the same here, although not craigslist. I've spent.... hmmm... $40k? across my stable of 7? current vehicles. OK, 2 aren't even running right now, but I think I have enough backups.

Michaell

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:

You could always become a Craigslist shopper like me. Get a hooptie for 5-10% of original sticker and enjoy all the cars you couldn’t afford 15 years ago.😉

Kind of the same here, although not craigslist. I've spent.... hmmm... $40k? across my stable of 7? current vehicles. OK, 2 aren't even running right now, but I think I have enough backups.

If I had the tools and wrenching abilities, I might consider it.

nyccarguy

Michaell said:

andres3 said:

800K? Now you can afford about 3 Audi R8's. Or you might go with a RSQ8, RSQ7, and R8. Looking to be cheap? RS5, RS6, and R8 and you'll have plenty left over.

Yeah, right.

If you read the entire thread, you'd realize there is an existing mortgage that has to be paid off, and I'm splitting the rest with my sister.

Plus, I got laid off in 2023 and I'm still looking for my next full-time job.

Car shopping is not on my radar, at the moment, much as I would like it to be.

Hang in there! Unfortunately, being financially responsible usually isn't fun in the short run.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:

You could always become a Craigslist shopper like me. Get a hooptie for 5-10% of original sticker and enjoy all the cars you couldn’t afford 15 years ago.😉

Kind of the same here, although not craigslist. I've spent.... hmmm... $40k? across my stable of 7? current vehicles. OK, 2 aren't even running right now, but I think I have enough backups.

Except for the money spent that sounds like Craigslist😂😂😂. I never spent more than a few thousand for any car I bought. At least the cars you buy are niche collectibles, mine were only desirable to me for the most part.

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

qbrozen said:

oldfarmer50 said:

You could always become a Craigslist shopper like me. Get a hooptie for 5-10% of original sticker and enjoy all the cars you couldn’t afford 15 years ago.😉

Kind of the same here, although not craigslist. I've spent.... hmmm... $40k? across my stable of 7? current vehicles. OK, 2 aren't even running right now, but I think I have enough backups.

If I had the tools and wrenching abilities, I might consider it.

Even 15 year old cars have gotten so complex that the shade tree days are fading fast. That’s part of the reason that I’ve gravitated away from hoopties and towards buying off dealer lots. I still think you can get some good transportation deals on Craigslist but you have to be picky. I always liked to buy from older people living in the suburbs. Less likely to be curbstoners.

andres3

A guy in the Audi SoCal club messaged everyone with photos of mismatching bumpers saying the body shop told them bumpers never color match to the metal. Needless to say everyone corrected him and solidified him for going back to the body shop and saying what the hell?

His car was white and the bumpers looked grayish/greenish white.

Interesting how the factory spray booths in Germany are able to perfectly color match the bumpers.