Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

nyccarguy

Bought our 1st condominium apartment in 2004. Sold it for about a $70K+ loss in 2010. We bought our current house in July 2010. It has appreciated in value. We've pumped a decent amount of renovation dollars into it as well. It is the never ending project. When it's all said & done, this basement flood is going to have set me back $35K. We need to rip up & re-do our driveway ($11K), we want to put a new deck up ($30 - $40K?). The large amount of mortgage interest we pay every year gets us a very nice federal tax return.

andres3

dino001 said:

The only excuse for lane camping may be very poor shape of the right lane. It happens. Otherwise, it should be punished. $700 is extreme. $70 would make you remember, if it becomes more enforced.

People crawling at 50 mph on left lane should be extinguished, and not moving away when a faster vehicle approaches from behind is also poor form, even if the approaching vehicle is above legal speed. I'm not one of those "120 mph is safe speed if I drive" guy, but common sense tells you should move away if somebody comes to your tale and the road is empty. However, I see no reason to move away if I'm going in traffic already 10 mph over the limit with vehicles all around, just because some hot shot thinks he's been anointed immortal and would like to go 100 mph+.

Just make sure when you are in the left lane doing 10 over that every lane to the right of you isn't doing the exact same, and that the car in front of you isn't doing 20 over and losing you in the dust. That becomes a rolling road block with little justification, after all, they might be rushing to buy a lotto ticket with minutes to go before the cutoff time!

jmonroe

nyccarguy said:

Bought our 1st condominium apartment in 2004. Sold it for about a $70K+ loss in 2010. We bought our current house in July 2010. It has appreciated in value. We've pumped a decent amount of renovation dollars into it as well. It is the never ending project. When it's all said & done, this basement flood is going to have set me back $35K. We need to rip up & re-do our driveway ($11K), we want to put a new deck up ($30 - $40K?). The large amount of mortgage interest we pay every year gets us a very nice federal tax return.

Are you kidding? $30 - $40K for a deck? What size is it and what is it made of?

I know I can't compare what I paid when I put my deck in myself in 2001 but it could not cost me that much to have it done by a contractor in my area today.

My deck is 14 ft. by 40 ft. and with the premium wood I used (Trex was just introduced and no one had a history with it) so I got the old fashioned premium wood at a local private home center. Not the junk that Lowes and Home Depot sells. All in with a sliding door out of the dining room it cost me just under $3200 but like I said I did the nail pounding.

If I lived in your area today what would I pay for what I have now?

I might have to come out of retirement, move to your area and do some nail pounding, when I get your estimate.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

jmonroe said:

nyccarguy said:

Bought our 1st condominium apartment in 2004. Sold it for about a $70K+ loss in 2010. We bought our current house in July 2010. It has appreciated in value. We've pumped a decent amount of renovation dollars into it as well. It is the never ending project. When it's all said & done, this basement flood is going to have set me back $35K. We need to rip up & re-do our driveway ($11K), we want to put a new deck up ($30 - $40K?). The large amount of mortgage interest we pay every year gets us a very nice federal tax return.

Are you kidding? $30 - $40K for a deck? What size is it and what is it made of?

I know I can't compare what I paid when I put my deck in myself in 2001 but it could not cost me that much to have it done by a contractor in my area today.

My deck is 14 ft. by 40 ft. and with the premium wood I used (Trex was just introduced and no one had a history with it) so I got the old fashioned premium wood at a local private home center. Not the junk that Lowes and Home Depot sells. All in with a sliding door out of the dining room it cost me just under $3200 but like I said I did the nail pounding.

If I lived in your area today what would I pay for what I have now?

I might have to come out of retirement, move to your area and do some nail pounding, when I get your estimate.

jmonroe

Forget you Monroe, for $40k I could build him a whole house. I did it once, I could do it again.

ab348

I bought my house in '97, had it paid off in '10. I have no complaints as that lets me be happily retired and still not have any money woes. If I had to pay a couple of thou a month on a mortgage I would be busted.

suydam

tjc78 said:

tjc78 said:

Citibank gives you your credit score too, along with a graph to show you the ups and downs.  

As for housing I bought in 2005, have put plenty of cash in and would still never get what I paid.  Taxes have gone up about $1000 a year since I moved in.  It is what it is I guess.  At any rate we aren't going anywhere for a good while. 

Wow didn't realize this post was bad enough to be flagged. Lol 

suydam

I think I hit that button by mistake. I thought I unflagged it.   Sorry for the clumsiness!

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

I bought my house in '97, had it paid off in '10. I have no complaints as that lets me be happily retired and still not have any money woes. If I had to pay a couple of thou a month on a mortgage I would be busted.

If I had to pay a mortgage I'd be living in the street. Not only are mortgages high but rents are even worse. Recently we looked at apartment prices and got the sticker shock of a lifetime. Rents for comparable square footage are up about 100% because young people can't come up with a house down payment.

suydam

We'll be paying a mortgage forever but at least we are living where we want to, and we can do it. The housing crisis of '08 did us no favors. 

fintail

Quite a few renters in my area, as detached houses are out of reach of most younger people, jobs are fluid, and HOAs/taxes can be onerous - not to mention the hanging threat of a special assessment. I have rented for about 10 years now, and don't regret it. More money to save, more freedom, and I'd only be able to afford an old condo (likely a conversion) anyway, unless I wanted a soul-crushing commute, so I also have more free time. It still carries a stigma everywhere, but maybe less than in the past and less than in other places. It's not yet like Europe, where in cities renting is the norm, but that might develop over time. I don't plan on kids, and am not against relocation if really necessary, so it works for me. I get along with the landlord/management here just fine.

Another idea to correct the markets would be to rescind the mortgage-related deductions. I know this would create howls, but such things virtually don't exist anywhere else in the world, and mostly exist to subsidize the FIRE cabal, and to keep people going with a sometimes delusional ideal of "ownership". I think in time, the ideal will be more for prior generations, especially in areas where people want to live.

Regarding driving in Germany, one still needs to move over as soon as they can after a pass, even if they are going 100 and will have to pass again in 30 seconds. It might not be enforced, as in my experience, Germany has a lot less highway speed enforcement than US (mostly cameras - Germany is a thought police state, not a militarized police state), and "driving like an American" is never a compliment

oldfarmer50

suydam said:

tjc78 said:

tjc78 said:

Citibank gives you your credit score too, along with a graph to show you the ups and downs.  

As for housing I bought in 2005, have put plenty of cash in and would still never get what I paid.  Taxes have gone up about $1000 a year since I moved in.  It is what it is I guess.  At any rate we aren't going anywhere for a good while. 

Wow didn't realize this post was bad enough to be flagged. Lol 

I think that's the hazzard of putting the flag button too close to the quote button. I wish I could get one, I think it makes you kinda bad azz.

stickguy

at this point, I have retirement date set to when the mortgage is paid off. So I ain't retiring early! Once I hit pension age and get the last kid off the books and out of the wallet, and a couple of car payments done, will direct all that cashflow to paying it down, and will see what happens!

actually, selling the place and buying something cheaper, will certainly help too.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe said:

nyccarguy said:

Bought our 1st condominium apartment in 2004. Sold it for about a $70K+ loss in 2010. We bought our current house in July 2010. It has appreciated in value. We've pumped a decent amount of renovation dollars into it as well. It is the never ending project. When it's all said & done, this basement flood is going to have set me back $35K. We need to rip up & re-do our driveway ($11K), we want to put a new deck up ($30 - $40K?). The large amount of mortgage interest we pay every year gets us a very nice federal tax return.

Are you kidding? $30 - $40K for a deck? What size is it and what is it made of?

I know I can't compare what I paid when I put my deck in myself in 2001 but it could not cost me that much to have it done by a contractor in my area today.

My deck is 14 ft. by 40 ft. and with the premium wood I used (Trex was just introduced and no one had a history with it) so I got the old fashioned premium wood at a local private home center. Not the junk that Lowes and Home Depot sells. All in with a sliding door out of the dining room it cost me just under $3200 but like I said I did the nail pounding.

If I lived in your area today what would I pay for what I have now?

I might have to come out of retirement, move to your area and do some nail pounding, when I get your estimate.

jmonroe

Forget you Monroe, for $40k I could build him a whole house. I did it once, I could do it again.

I'll sub-out to you. Once you get the rear wall up, I'll put on the deck. I've done that 3 times for my houses plus I helped Son #1 extend the deck on his first home (really I did a lot of it, he watched) but I'm experienced.

jmonroe

driver100

tjc78 said:

tjc78 said:

Citibank gives you your credit score too, along with a graph to show you the ups and downs.  

As for housing I bought in 2005, have put plenty of cash in and would still never get what I paid.  Taxes have gone up about $1000 a year since I moved in.  It is what it is I guess.  At any rate we aren't going anywhere for a good while. 

Wow didn't realize this post was bad enough to be flagged. Lol 

I don't think I did it but if I did it is a total mistake.....must have been a mistake, or someone doesn't like Citibank.

jmonroe

Hey, just thought of this. Where is Mike?

Do we have to send @driver100 over to see if he is still hiding under his bed?

jmonroe

stickguy

problem is, flag and quote are right next to each other. Real easy to hit flag by mistake. I believe though if you click it again, should turn it off. Plus you have to (usually) click another button that pops up to confirm it.

roadburner

We moved into the house my father built in 1992 and paid it off in 2007. It's really bigger than we need but I hate to move. I've always said that someone would have to offer me an obscene amount of money to make we want to sell it and the farm.

nyccarguy

@jmonroe - I'm sure a deck wouldn't cost that much to build outside of Pittsburgh 15 years ago either. I'll let you know when I get estimates. Everything is relative. I paid $618,500 for this house back in July 2010.

stickguy

even in Ct., a deck should not cost that much.

My house came with one, but the next one, if I build it, will not have one (unless it is a walk our basement so the deck is elevated). I would rather have a nice patio. Way less maintenance. And easier to put in! I just won't do pavers again. A nice stamped colored concrete maybe. Just a small platform coming out of the house as needed.

murphydog

Here is a sample clip from my Outdoor Nest camera. Couple of points

• Recorded at 720, not 1080, so subject blurs a bit
  
• The package thieves hit my neighbors house so limit of camera range
  
• Clip is a little long as I wanted to show the time from when they first cruised by till they came creeping back to steal....a pair of women's snow boots...
  

https://video.nest.com/clip/179cbdfa0a8940038199b6bdc6bfcc67.mp4

28firefighter

murphydog said:

Here is a sample clip from my Outdoor Nest camera. Couple of points

• Recorded at 720, not 1080, so subject blurs a bit
• The package thieves hit my neighbors house so limit of camera range
• Clip is a little long as I wanted to show the time from when they first cruised by till they came creeping back to steal....a pair of women's snow boots...

https://video.nest.com/clip/179cbdfa0a8940038199b6bdc6bfcc67.mp4

Ugh. This has happened to us countless times. We have had it slightly better because we are partially obstructed from the street by the front unit. 

Unrelated, but beautiful street.  You're in Seattle proper as well, right?  You have appear to have the craftsman we would love to have own one day!

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

@jmonroe - I'm sure a deck wouldn't cost that much to build outside of Pittsburgh 15 years ago either. I'll let you know when I get estimates. Everything is relative. I paid $618,500 for this house back in July 2010.

With your connections you could build it out of pipes to save money.

driver100

jmonroe said:

Hey, just thought of this. Where is Mike?

Do we have to send @driver100 over to see if he is still hiding under his bed?

jmonroe

I was wondering too. I think he had an appointment with doctor who was a distance away yesterday. Maybe he will report in today. Might have stopped for a donut or two.

driver100

Surprising how much a deck costs these days. We had a deck built back home, about 9 X 12. I thought it would cost about $1800. Cost almost $9000. That is almost the price of a 2013 Passat with 6000 miles on it!

karhill1

There are numerous credit scores available to lenders. For example, there is the standard FICO, variations of FICO, different scores for auto loans, different scores for auto insurance. Those scores have different ranges.

FICO, for example, has a high score of 850. Others go as high as 950.

Each of the three credit companies, Transunion, Equifax and Experian have there own variations of these.

Automobile lenders typically use a Beacon score tailored to auto loans. This Beacon score has a high score of 900. The Beacon score is an Equifax model.

My FICO typically averages 830 to 850. Last year I financed a BMW and my Beacon score was 888.

I also have a solid score for auto insurance which nets me a 35 percent reduction on my auto insurance, which is about $700 a year.

tjc78

You get the best rates for an auto loan at usually anything over 740. Even that is a little on the high end. When I leased the Enclave during the negotiations, I said figure on top tier credit. They said what do you think is top tier, and I responded can you do the best on 800? He said, oh I can do the best on a 690.

With the Elantra they required a 740 to get the lowest money factor.

It's all a game these days IMO. Pay you bills on time and keep things open and active for a long time and you'll be fine.

I have a few cards that I've had since 1997 with obscene limits and will never close them.

graphicguy

I know AMEX (business) gives me my credit score at any given time. It actually shows up on my on line account with them. I have a Visa Sapphire (personal) which will do the same. They're close, sometimes identical. Don't know what paramters they use, though. I'll assume they get the scores from the Big 3 credit reporting bureaus.

I see advertisements stating Discover does the same (although I can't remember the last time I saw someone who had a Discover Card).

murphydog

28firefighter said:

murphydog said:

https://video.nest.com/clip/179cbdfa0a8940038199b6bdc6bfcc67.mp4

Ugh. This has happened to us countless times. We have had it slightly better because we are partially obstructed from the street by the front unit. 

Unrelated, but beautiful street.  You're in Seattle proper as well, right?  You have appear to have the craftsman we would love to have own one day!



Yup, we are in Ravenna. Just finished some work in our living room including a gas insert in the fireplace and built ins on both sides.

murphydog

dino001

They most likely use just one bureau, they might actually say which one if you dig into the website. My BoA says it's TransUnion, Amex says it's Experian - if yours are same, then this would easily explain the differences. The score is updated once a month. The differences may come from slight variations between the reports (if different bureau is used), or even time of the month when the "snapshot" of your credit situation is taken. There can also be an actual differences between the algorithms, though if it states "FICO", it should be the same, as that is Fair Isaac Company, a specific algorithm. But who knows, perhaps they update them periodically and Amex or BoA may be using programs purchased at different times and not necessarily updated.

fintail

Such a Seattle looking street, too. Just a little parking during what I assume was the middle of a work day, and a Volvo 200 series wagon parked on the street. Reminds me of the area near Green Lake where my great-grandmother lived. That tile fireplace reminds me of her house too, it had a well-preserved one (as they bought the place around 1950 and barely touched a thing by the time it was sold in 2000),

murphydog said:

Here is a sample clip from my Outdoor Nest camera. Couple of points

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

Surprising how much a deck costs these days. We had a deck built back home, about 9 X 12. I thought it would cost about $1800. Cost almost $9000. That is almost the price of a 2013 Passat with 6000 miles on it!

I built my 12X16 for $500. A lot of expense has to do with how fancy the railing you want. I did just a basic railing out of deck boards and 2X4s and even then it took longer to finish than the rest of the deck.

stickguy

Nice porch. I Love craftsman style, and my wife really wants a front porch. But I will never buy a house without a driveway and at least. 2 car garage!

28firefighter

murphydog said:

Beautiful!

nyccarguy

murphydog said:

Beautiful @murphydog. That's on our home improvement to do list as well.

iluvmysephia1

murphydog - nice fireplace surrounded by wood cabinets. I like how it's framed by the old-school, double-pane updated windows, too. Sweet living room look.

murphydog

stickguy said:

Nice porch. I Love craftsman style, and my wife really wants a front porch. But I will never buy a house without a driveway and at least. 2 car garage!

Agreed 100%. While I did not find a 2 car garage we did OK. Driveway is on the south side of the house to a detached garage at the back of the lot. The original garage was in pretty bad shape, so we rebuilt if from the ground up - it is over sized for one car so I have room for a work bench, chest of tools and several shelving units and most important a CAR! The long drive way gives room for the second car. Occasionally my wife and I have to jockey them around so they are in the right order, but at least we always have off street space available.

My Mercedes is mad now as all the stuff that should be in the living room is temporarily in the garage and both cars are parked outside...

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

dino001 said:

The only excuse for lane camping may be very poor shape of the right lane. It happens. Otherwise, it should be punished. $700 is extreme. $70 would make you remember, if it becomes more enforced.

People crawling at 50 mph on left lane should be extinguished, and not moving away when a faster vehicle approaches from behind is also poor form, even if the approaching vehicle is above legal speed. I'm not one of those "120 mph is safe speed if I drive" guy, but common sense tells you should move away if somebody comes to your tale and the road is empty. However, I see no reason to move away if I'm going in traffic already 10 mph over the limit with vehicles all around, just because some hot shot thinks he's been anointed immortal and would like to go 100 mph+.

I have to agree with that logic. If you are in heavy traffic and go to the third lane to pass but can't find and opening to get back to the right it's aggravating when another car comes up on your bumper and expects you to just fly away.

The rules of the road say that the left-most lane follows the following principle:

Lead, follow, or get out of the way!

The annoyance happens when people in front of the car in front of you are going faster than you both are moving.

Disclaimer *** This is sourced from my book "Rules of the Road," yet to be completed but reserve your copy now!

andres3

dino001 said:

driver100 said:

dino001 said:

My house corrected a lot. From $200K to below $100K, now back to around $130-$140K. One good thing about it is very low taxes - dropped to below $1000/year and by law the taxable value will now creep up at no more than 3% per year.

Our taxes dipped too when property values went down by about 50%. What i don't get is if taxes go down so much, ours dipped 20 to 25%, how does the local government keep paying all the fixed costs of police, fire department, roads etc.............most costs continue or increase.

It's a mystery... Some cities/counties have rainy day funds, others borrow money. Some will lay off people. They also find new sources of revenue by jacking up service fees.

There was so much BS spewed around when it came to property tax revenues coming from both state parties, it was hard to take. One was promising rollback of taxes to levels from year 2000 or so (and I mean revenues, not just rates), totally ignoring all new resident service needs, created by the boom in Florida (total nonsense), the other of course cried bankruptcy ignoring all that multiyear windfall that came from the new development that should have been put away. Essentially nobody was telling a speckle of truth, just like in the national politics.

What is truly really scary is how they are able to spend all the boom-time dollars when things are going well in the Economy! How is it they can waste, spend all that money!?!

They should have a rainy day fund; too many don't.

jmonroe

murphydog said:

Nice job.

I assume that is your handy work since I see some tools laying around or did you stage that to throw us off?

Enjoy.

jmonroe

andres3

dino001 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

dino001 said:

The only excuse for lane camping may be very poor shape of the right lane. It happens. Otherwise, it should be punished. $700 is extreme. $70 would make you remember, if it becomes more enforced.

People crawling at 50 mph on left lane should be extinguished, and not moving away when a faster vehicle approaches from behind is also poor form, even if the approaching vehicle is above legal speed. I'm not one of those "120 mph is safe speed if I drive" guy, but common sense tells you should move away if somebody comes to your tale and the road is empty. However, I see no reason to move away if I'm going in traffic already 10 mph over the limit with vehicles all around, just because some hot shot thinks he's been anointed immortal and would like to go 100 mph+.

I have to agree with that logic. If you are in heavy traffic and go to the third lane to pass but can't find and opening to get back to the right it's aggravating when another car comes up on your bumper and expects you to just fly away.

Try in Germany - those guys have no patience there for 3rd lane occupants to point of being absurd. Middle lane is going 80-90 mph, you pass it a few mph faster and the guy behind you in a Porsche or V12 Benz gets tipsy. That's a bit far. At this point I was like "you can wait, I'm not blocking the road, I'm going 100 mph, don't care you think you can go 150".

sounds like my Nirvana. Blocking the left lane at any speed to me is a social NO-NO. If your passing at over 10 MPH over the people to your right, I can't complain though. However, was traffic really so heavy that you couldn't find a spot where no one going 150 was coming up from behind? What bothers me is sometimes people change lanes at just the wrong time where if they would have waited just a couple seconds they'd of spared us both aggravation as no one is behind me for 1,000 feet.

andres3

qbrozen said:

We made fairly OK moves at this point. Bought our first in 2000 and sold it for nearly double in 2004. Of course that meant also buying a house in 2004 that is now worth about the same as we paid but we have put about $70k into it, so it is a loss. Still haven't been able to sell it and am in the process of evicting the tenants. I'm done being a landlord. Will sell at an even bigger loss if I have to just to be done with it. 

I was in a similar boat as we bought our first Condo in 2004 and it was depreciated in value down until the day we sold it in early 2016, and we had put some good money into it too. Luckily, we didn't lose a gigantic amount, and of course owning it for over 10 years we had some equity. I'm glad hearing your story we didn't become landlords. It was tempting, some family recommended it strongly, but I chose against it. I didn't want to be a landlord, as I felt it wasn't worth the headaches, plus the condo was built in 1974 and that means stuff breaks regularly. The skyrocketing rental rates did have me think twice though.

Speaking of which, I'm going to have complicated tax return. Although our agent and I were somewhat complicit in having a pending sale to a Navy guy that dragged on for 6 months, I want to claim loss of rental income. Since the Navy guy paid below market-rate rental for only the last 2 months of the delay, and I was charged and taxed like a landlord by CA, I want to claim rental losses for the month he paid no rent, and for the 2 he paid about $600/mo below market rate. To me, that's about a $3,000 loss in rental income from the market rate. Anyone a tax expert? Do I have to or can I factor in my mortgage and HOA fee costs in claiming losses? Could we be blamed for the extremely long pending sale? Most of the delay was due to the VA vetting our condo and HOA because they don't accept FHA vetting. So the buyer's subsidized financing caused the delay. The reason he didn't pay rent for all of the delays was that our HOA was blamed for some of the delay with the VA; of course, the documents they wanted and scrutinized were excessive (I was on the HOA board!).

sda

I cheated and feel guilty. I did not hand wash the Pilot, it went to the car wash. It does look much better. Instead of being coated in brown mud, it looks shiny and blue.

andres3

ab348 said:

andres3 said:

Well, part of the problem with home prices is they were not allowed to correct due to the massive Bush and Obama bailouts of the banks holding the mortgages. The correction would have been a good thing. Oh well. Just another 1.4 trillion or so that directly benefited the 1% and baby boomers that owned property.

I was almost a buyer for a brand-new house in Arizona in 2009 for $70K. You telling me that isn't a correction?

Yes, but how much lower do you think it would have gone if the failed banks were allowed to fail? I was ready and happy to buy that $70K house for $7K. Doubt it would have gone that low though.

PF_Flyer

This one might be fun to have

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

ab348 said:

I bought my house in '97, had it paid off in '10. I have no complaints as that lets me be happily retired and still not have any money woes. If I had to pay a couple of thou a month on a mortgage I would be busted.

If I had to pay a mortgage I'd be living in the street. Not only are mortgages high but rents are even worse. Recently we looked at apartment prices and got the sticker shock of a lifetime. Rents for comparable square footage are up about 100% because young people can't come up with a house down payment.

Saving money seems to be a problem for young people.

Cell phones are extremely expensive, but they act like they can't live without one. Most of mankind lived without them even through my early years.

Cable TV is expensive, and more and more are dropping that.

Starbucks is expensive.

Eating out is expensive.

Take out those things and buy reliable durable cars and I think a lot of people could save in just a few years for a down payment.

iluvmysephia1

PF_Flyer said:

This one might be fun to have  

The RV or the MGA? Or whatever it is!

graphicguy

murphydog said:

Here is a sample clip from my Outdoor Nest camera. Couple of points

• Recorded at 720, not 1080, so subject blurs a bit
  
• The package thieves hit my neighbors house so limit of camera range
  
• Clip is a little long as I wanted to show the time from when they first cruised by till they came creeping back to steal....a pair of women's snow boots...
  

https://video.nest.com/clip/179cbdfa0a8940038199b6bdc6bfcc67.mp4

WOW....surprised the thieves were so brazen on such a busy street. That's just low!

PF_Flyer

iluvmysephia1 said:

PF_Flyer said:

This one might be fun to have  

The RV or the MGA? Or whatever it is!

1952 Jaguar XK 120... but the real question is why the Jag owner is shopping for RVs...heh

roadburner

murphydog said:

My Mercedes is mad now as all the stuff that should be in the living room is temporarily in the garage and both cars are parked outside...

When I traded house with my mom back in 1992 she had filled all four garage spaces with cr*p. Four 20 yard dumpsters later my cars were under roof.