Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

laurasdada

I forgot where we stayed a few years ago, somewhere outside of downtown Woodstock. But we did dine and shop Simon Pearce. She was enthralled; I kept trying to steer her towards the "factory seconds" section of the store!
VT was my second home, winter and summer, for many years (guest, never got the lakefront home I had desired. The fate of a low level grunt). Moved to Burlington after graduating Uconn to be a ski bum. That didn't work out very well. A few years later, rented a ski house for 6 seasons with a cadre of other 20-something young professionals (yeah, flatlanders) in the Ludlow/Killington areas (that worked out incredibly well!) and enjoyed golfing and going to the Weston Playhouse in the summer.
Then moved to Boston area and VT became a bridge a bit too far, NH & Sunday River became our family ski areas.

tjc78

Whew... Just booked two nights at a midtown hotel in NYC pre-cruise in October... Even after 80,000 credit card points it is $500. This is for a Hilton Garden Inn.

We like the Hyatt centric on 39th. I paid $332 on a Friday night in May. It's now $962/ night in Oct.

Is Columbus Day weekend a big thing in Manhattan?

stickguy

We were in Weston today.

xwesx

Wow! Those are insane prices! But, I guess if enough people are willing to pay them....

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

We were in Weston today.

Ah, the rt. 100 scenic trail. Nice.

stickguy

Yup. Expensive though After we stopped at the really cool ceramics place too.

stickguy

Belly deli and the apple barn for fresh cider donuts Friday. Tomorrow a hike and tour of Lincoln’s estate.

We live an exotic lifestyle.

suydam

Even the formerly moderate hotels are $300 a night now. So expensive to travel!

tjc78

Hotels have definitely come up in price just like everything else! This particular weekend just seemed higher than normal and much less vacancy than I'm used to. I was going to go the AirBnB route and there was nothing.

It has to be the holiday on Monday. We don't take a typical summer family vacation (because of the shore house) so we have been doing Columbus day week because the kids only miss 4 days of school. Unpopular opinion to pull them out, but we get all their work ahead of time and they complete during the week or on car/plane rides. It's worked out for the past few years.

28firefighter

We pull my kiddo out usually 3-4 days before spring break starts for our spring break trip (usually our "big" international travel). This year was Japan. We check with all of his teachers to make sure they're comfortable with it and we've never had an issue.

roadburner

No issues either time I took my teenage son to the BMW CCA Oktoberfest.

xwesx

When we had ours in public school, they really didn't like how our kids typically missed the first month. I cannot understand why... we were doing them a FAVOR!

explorerx4

Eagles keeping classy as usual.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

We might take that scenic route.

And remember, while it is legal to walk the streets of Bennington naked, you have to arrive naked. No street stripping allowed.

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Are the security cameras that enforce that readily available to the general public?

jmonroe

explorerx4

@jmonroe1,
Do you really want to see oldfarmer50 strutting down the street 'au natural'?

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

@jmonroe1,
Do you really want to see oldfarmer50 strutting down the street 'au natural'?

————————————————
No. My plan would be very selective.

jmonroe

tjc78

@explorerx4 said:
Eagles keeping classy as usual.

What a stupid thing to do. Assuming there will be a well deserved fine.

ab348

tjc78 said:

@explorerx4 said:

Eagles keeping classy as usual.

What a stupid thing to do. Assuming there will be a well deserved fine.

I’d prefer a suspension without pay.

jmonroe1

ab348 said:

tjc78 said:

@explorerx4 said:

Eagles keeping classy as usual.

What a stupid thing to do. Assuming there will be a well deserved fine.

I’d prefer a suspension without pay.
————————————————-
I agree. The NFL knows how to stop this. So, let’s see if they do it.

jmonroe

corvette

Had a work trip to Baltimore the past couple of days. Extended my trip and stayed in the DC area over the holiday weekend. Hotels inside the Beltway were $3-400 a night. Ended up in College Park, MD and took Uber into and out of DC for two days (no good public transit option). It was still cheaper than staying inside the Beltway.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

@jmonroe1,
Do you really want to see oldfarmer50 strutting down the street 'au natural'?

NOBODY wants to see that!😱

Something folks may want to see in VT this weekend is the VT. Air National Guard’s open house this Sunday at the Burlington airport. They say they’ll have their contingent of F35s on display along with F-15s and F-18s. Flyovers are planned for 1:00 pm.

If you’ve never experienced the takeoff of these planes it’s a sight to see…well more like hear as the volume on takeoff is incredible. Our yard is right next to the runway and when they lift off it’s funny to see a bunch of old men running outside to take pictures.

explorerx4

The DC area has the Metro and Marc train systems.
Maybe they don't go near College Park.

ab348

explorerx4 said:

The DC area has the Metro and Marc train systems.
Maybe they don't go near College Park.

The Greenbelt line on the Metro serves College Park.

I used the Metro a lot when I was visiting D.C. a while back. I was pretty impressed with it. I was in Arlington and it was easy to get around. The worst part was a bit of acrophobia when I stepped onto the escalator to go down into the Rosslyn station. Holy cow, that is way, way down there.

tjc78

At the end of the day .. we are 90 mins from the cruise ship port (Bayonne, NJ). No need to even stay up there, but we got a great deal on the cruise and figured why not extend or vacation since the cruise is Sunday to Sunday.

Our plan is to head up Friday after work. Check in and grab a casual dinner. Maybe walk a bit and get the kids a fancy dessert or something touristy.

Sat morning we are going to the 911 Memorial. We have done it, but the kids have not. From there we will probably head back up toward Herald Square for some shopping, etc.

Sat dinner is at our favorite steakhouse Keen’s and then ending with a trip to the top of the Empire State Building.

All things we have done before but the kids haven’t. My daughter’s birthday is Sat and our anniversary is Sunday…. So it’s a nice way to celebrate.

Everything we want to do is right by the hotel except the memorial so we will take a cab/Uber there and back

stickguy

Your belly deli. 5 stars! Fantastic sandwich.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Your belly deli. 5 stars! Fantastic sandwich.

High ratings in the Enterprise driver’s restaurant guide. Did they still have the cute wait staff?

explorerx4

Wheel is fixed and back on the truck.
Cost just under $400 to fix.

stickguy

Looks
Like they shrank it a bit.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Wheel is fixed and back on the truck.
Cost just under $400 to fix.

They did a nice job. How much would a new wheel have cost?

explorerx4

Here's another pic. Bed is sitting up high because I'm going to need to fill it soon.

ronsteve

Observations from the Denver metro area:

As soon as the sun starts to set, it’s actually pleasant outside. I don’t miss the Louisville humidity.

The earlier sunrises and sunsets are going to make running after work a real pain when we “fall back” if not sooner.

Some of the roads are quite terrible.

The two most popular cars here, possibly in the absolute sense but definitely in the disproportion to their national sales figures, are the 4Runner and the Crosstrek.

Altitude seems to hurt the drivability more in my RDX (NA V6) than the wife’s Tiguan (turbo 4).

Michaell

Where in the metro area did you end up? We’ve got to introduce you to the CO chapter of CCBA.

stickguy

gonna say, I understand you mods are fighting spam, but the lockout feature is not very user friendly. Twice today I got locked out for being a spammer for 600 seconds (why not say 10 minutes? sounds odd that way!). With the stated reason, I posted twice withing 60 seconds. guess from here on need to post once, and go get a beer or something before doing something else on the site!

corvette

@ronsteve - I can attest that the CO chapter is super friendly. Agree on the humidity, I just got back from Baltimore, and it feels really stuffy and humid.

stickguy

got good (relatively) news today. Our school tax bill came this week while we were away in Vermont. First one at full cost of the new house (last year was abnormally low since it was still based on the builders rate). And it was quite a bit lower than I was afraid it was going to be (by at least a few grand). Now just have to hope the county tax bill we get in January doesn't jump up (that one was at market last year I think).

tjc78

I was literally stunned that our taxes aren’t going up next year.

Michaell

Given the state of the housing market, I wouldn't be surprised to see a decline in prices over the next year or two.

ab348

In Halifax, we have had explosive population growth the last few years and high-rises are popping up like dandelions, almost all of them apartment buildings. Your would think that all of that would lead to the municipality raking in a lot of new revenue, yet the taxes on my little house go up every year despite the taxable value of it being limited to about a 3% increase every year. Our city just loves to waste money.

ronsteve

@Michaell said:
Given the state of the housing market, I wouldn't be surprised to see a decline in prices over the next year or two.

Our agent said the market was getting a bit softer in Denver, with homes starting to stay on the market longer and selling for under (if only slightly under) asking.

We ended up buying in Thornton, just far enough east that I can slip out to 76 for alternate routes to downtown, but where it’s also an option to take the train when there are too many interstate problems.

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:
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I agree. The NFL knows how to stop this. So, let’s see if they do it.

jmonroe

Bah. Ridiculous. He could rip Dak’s arm off and beat him with it for a 15-yd penalty. Suspension for spitting on his jersey would only be to handicap the Eagles, which I’m sure they want to do. And what about the lineman who full on punched the defender later in the game? We do nothing about that, apparently. What a world we’ve become.

tjc78

Dak actually spit on him earlier …. Unfortunately the retaliation was what the refs saw. Both should be ashamed.

Michaell

@ronsteve said:

@Michaell said:
Given the state of the housing market, I wouldn't be surprised to see a decline in prices over the next year or two.

Our agent said the market was getting a bit softer in Denver, with homes starting to stay on the market longer and selling for under (if only slightly under) asking.

We ended up buying in Thornton, just far enough east that I can slip out to 76 for alternate routes to downtown, but where it’s also an option to take the train when there are too many interstate problems.

I lived in Thornton for a few years before settling in Douglas County. However, we in the CCBA crew have no problem traveling to meet folks and have good food.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

got good (relatively) news today. Our school tax bill came this week while we were away in Vermont. First one at full cost of the new house (last year was abnormally low since it was still based on the builders rate). And it was quite a bit lower than I was afraid it was going to be (by at least a few grand). Now just have to hope the county tax bill we get in January doesn't jump up (that one was at market last year I think).

The school tax bill is generally the higher of the two. BTW I was put in the penalty box by the spam police a few hours ago trying to post this.😥

fintail

Michaell said:

Given the state of the housing market, I wouldn't be surprised to see a decline in prices over the next year or two.

I've seen recent local sales from people who got carried away in bidding wars in 2022 for slightly less than they paid 3 years ago, but those might be outliers. Still, cumulative appreciation from then in this market, one of the hottest in the country during the low rate boom, is maybe an average of 10-15% for people who didn't overpay. Back to something normal, and I suspect it may slow even more as the overall economy will likely do similar.

stickguy

hope so, because both of my kids are looking in the next year. One has a house to sell (in the lower priced, entry level market, so those always seem strong). the other one is looking for their 1st place so a cut in prices works for them!

around here, as usual, the super popular towns (and especially nice houses) stay strong. It is the 2nd tier stuff that has issues if the market softens.

I would need to ask our agent for an official # but I expect we are probably up about 10% over everything we have in the new house (including the after purchase stuff like a shed, fence and patio). Which would be nice if the case!

Michaell

stickguy said:

hope so, because both of my kids are looking in the next year. One has a house to sell (in the lower priced, entry level market, so those always seem strong). the other one is looking for their 1st place so a cut in prices works for them!

around here, as usual, the super popular towns (and especially nice houses) stay strong. It is the 2nd tier stuff that has issues if the market softens.

I would need to ask our agent for an official # but I expect we are probably up about 10% over everything we have in the new house (including the after purchase stuff like a shed, fence and patio). Which would be nice if the case!

FWIW, I have tagged zillow with my address and they send me an email each month with what they think my house is worth.

My mortgage broker does the same thing - it's amazing how different those two numbers are.

fintail

I check my zestimate every couple weeks just for kicks, it seems accurate compared to other sales in the neighborhood. I bought the place on almost this date in 2021, up maybe 15%, but I did do/buy some renovations which should be figured into appreciation. Not that I am concerned, I didn't buy to resell - with today's rates even with that appreciation I really couldn't afford it. I am thankful I got in when I did and that I like the house, that was probably my chance, had good timing via nothing more than luck.

A while back I snarked at the idea of rate cuts, but now I think the economy may eventually need them, but we probably won't see sub-3% again.

Michaell

fintail said:

I check my zestimate every couple weeks just for kicks, it seems accurate compared to other sales in the neighborhood. I bought the place on almost this date in 2021, up maybe 15%, but I did do/buy some renovations which should be figured into appreciation. Not that I am concerned, I didn't buy to resell - with today's rates even with that appreciation I really couldn't afford it. I am thankful I got in when I did and that I like the house, that was probably my chance, had good timing via nothing more than luck.

A while back I snarked at the idea of rate cuts, but now I think the economy may eventually need them, but we probably won't see sub-3% again.

We've been in our house since spring of 2018, so 7+ years. House is up roughly 40% from the purchase price since then, and, though we are spending a small fortune to finish the basement, we know we wouldn't recoup all of that cost were we to resell.

Not sure if this is the "forever" house, or not.

oldfarmer50

Zillow is ok for cookie cutter development houses but not so much for odd ball properties like mine (small house on large plots of land). I looked up my house once and they gave a value hundreds of thousands less than the amount that I was offered by a developer several years ago.

I’ve been in the same house for 42 years and the value has gone up maybe 9 to 10 times what I paid for it mainly because of land values.

nyccarguy

@oldfarmer50 said:
Zillow is ok for cookie cutter development houses but not so much for odd ball properties like mine (small house on large plots of land). I looked up my house once and they gave a value hundreds of thousands less than the amount that I was offered by a developer several years ago.

I’ve been in the same house for 42 years and the value has gone up maybe 9 to 10 times what I paid for it mainly because of land values.

Same thing around here. Comps are always difficult to pin down because my house is a 3 bedroom built in 1955. We’ve done a significant amount of renovations over the years, but there could always be a 3 bedroom built on a different lot that hasn’t been updated at all that sold for or is listed for less money. I’d be shocked if I could get the Zillow zestinate for my house.