patrick.net

AmazedinSF,

"the rental neighbors from hell"

Well perhaps the fact that you don't really care for the wastelands where McMansions reside will help you find the "inner" neighbor from hell within you.

I always hated my ex- brother-in-law (who doesn't?) as he was one of these guys where the dogs "took over" the back yard like some kind of full time kennel and parked his fishing boat on the side of the garage when there was plenty of room in the garage. My brother and I thought about dedicating a series of books to him. We thought the title could be something like "Finding your inner putz" or "The putz within you" or "Be all the putz you can be"!

I have to agree, some teenagers find one song and play it, always.

I do not get along with young people.

Peter P,

I'd read recently about a group that calls themselves something like The American Society for Quiet. I realize that this sounds like the ultimate "grump" club but they make some valid points, like why do we NEED leafblowers? Are leaves really all that bad? I know I brought up loud motorcycles before but it's finally spring in Oregon and I swear these guys wait in the garage with the door up just waiting for the rain to stop so they can go on a "rumble". Great.....

newsfreak,

Exactly! I understand the price of progress but what is it that these things are supposed to accomplish? Ohhhh, I get it! Blow that stuff into your neighbors lawn.

In northern CA, the Coast Guard helicopters are always flying over.

In San Jose, SJPD helicopters are always looking for bad guys. Why can't those bad guys just stay at home and watch some TV?

in Paris I lived for some time in a building in which my apartment was the only one with a toilet

Huh?

Of course, they all still have day-jobs they need to get to by 6AM. There’s nothing that tears you out of your sweet dreams (of home ownership, of course) like the sound of several 2-cylinder motors ripping at top speed down the street in front of your place.

God bless the rain.

HARM, can you correct the misspelling? I meant "God bless the rain."

Huh?

Less bike noise in the rain.

BTW, isn't biking too dangerous? Do bikes even have airbags?

My daughter lived in a dump where the toilet had a pump that made it sound like you were on a boat. too cheap or too lazy to run the right pipes.

I like good toilets that can flush down a whole roll of toilet-paper. They should install hotel-grade toilets in homes.

Any bets on where rates will be at the end of the year? I’m leaning towards 7.25% or higher… 7% is the death nail for the Cali market…

Sounds about right.

It’s interesting to me that the mid-life crisis crowd has taken to motorcycles the way it has. Like taking up smoking.

I don't know. When I have the mid-life crisis, I will probably start eating more.

Give me hot water, working lights, and a toilet that flushes well!

Same here.

Ray W.
I'm hoping for 8% by end of year.

And on topic, I am a self-admitted JBR.

I have owned for most of my adult life, and have been a landlord for half of it. I love to build, add stlye, and rearrange my mcfloorplan.

I don't like it when my landlady comes over a pisses in the corners.
(No, not literally, guys!)

I like to create an oasis in my backyard. The ultimate party area. A place you want to live. I think it would be nice to put a wave machine in the pool in the backyard. Expensive,I know...but ya only live once.

We had low flow toilets in the rooms. They were a disaster…nothing like spending your morning unplugging somebody elses..um…stuff.

I hate low-flow anything.

Give me that ultimate water-wasting shower head!

Environmental protection is overrated. It is very arrogant of some people to think that by changing behavior we can "save" the planet. Earth will be here no matter what we do. Humanity will eventually decline and go out of existence no matter what we do.

Speaking of small machines... We had 14 acres, so we had a zillion little lawn mowers and weed wackers. Let's see... 3 push mowers, 2 riding mowers, and a tractor with a bush hog( large industrial mower) attachment. We just wore the hell out of everything, so I had to learn how to constantly fix the things, hence if bad times come along, at least I can fix those for a living.

The greatest possible environmental disaster is over-population. Control that and we can extend the human empire by a few eons.

Newsfreak
You know I make fountains, right?

we are all ultimately renters….

Very true. Ownership is nothing but a belief.

God owns everything.

Ray,
I drove a forklift for 6 months at this lumber yard in TN. They are pretty fun. It was a very large yard, and at the end of the day, we had to take all of the lifts to the back to be refueled. We got some new Yale front end loaders, and they would actually go 17 MPH. Why you would need to go that fast on a forklift is a mystery to me, but we'd race them to the back. The only really bad thing I can recall was a day that one of the lifts had a phenumatic hose burst and spray oil all over the floor near lawn and garden, and this older lady slipped.Other then that, it was pretty fun.

A couple of you have said that "cash will be king"

I certainly hope so.

I have rented in California, Ohio, Nebraska, and England. All good houses with good landlords. However, I always moved some distance after each rental, and lost some deposits, even though I left the properties better than I found them. Any one else get stiffed?

Then on the OTHER hand, my wife and I lived in Navy housing in Long Beach, CA during the late 80's. There was whopping $50 cleaning deposit. We'd always kept up our homes so ran out and bought this cleaner and that and spent like an entire weekend cleaning so we could get our fifty bucks back. Guess we should have just let them keep it!

Peter P is back in form.

Yeah, I've been stiffed and usually consider any deposit disposable but what about some of the debacles homeowners get themselves into, huh? With the rush to "get listed and cash in" while the gettin' is good we've seen a lot of homes where owners will be penalized for their "creativity". Half baked notions, ill concieved ideas and just plain stupid projects where it's obvious they lost the creative "vibe", ran out of money or more likely ran out of time. Oh, that's gonna cost ya!

However, I always moved some distance after each rental, and lost some deposits, even though I left the properties better than I found them. Any one else get stiffed?

I don't really care about the deposit. What goes around comes around. They will have bad karma.

East Coast Balla

If you are paying $750/mo mortgage, the total lof your payments is $9,000 per year. If you are married, the standard deduction is $10,000 per year. At that loan, you have no tax deduction gains whatsoever from buying over renting. Even if you are single it would be minimal.

Getting $10,000 back as a "refund" just means you over-withheld.

I look for a rental in a really posh neigborhood. It must have a nice large yard to host 3 goats and a pig and of course a rooster to help with the early morning wake up.

OK I'll try to be positive.
I've only been renting for only 8 months.
I'm in a GREAT neighborhood in Studio City.
I live in a million $ hood and next door to Robert Guillame.(actor)
There is a HUGE avocado tree in the backyard with a treefort in it.
It's a 40s house with 2+2 and hardwood floors.
The kitchen needs to be redone...but I'd rather have an old beat up kit than a mckitchen.
I rent for about a third of what it would cost to own it.
I also hope that in a few years that cash will be king.
I am still a JBR.

"we are all ultimately renters…."

Don't try telling Robert Cote that...

Newsfreak
I'd post my website...but I don't want troll action there....
I don't know how to get it to you privately...
I make cast stone fountains and statuary from my original sculptures...
A lot of european faces as fountain spouts.
I make molds and have them cast...presently I've been searching for someone else to manufacture them as running the crew isn't one of my favorite things.

@newsfreak,

Just experimenting with how to display different HTML tags and special characters like

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Headset,

"just means you over-withheld"

Thank you. Besides there are perils to "fluffing" up your schedule A. Some of them have already been targeted. Used to be you could just claim 10% as "tithings". Uh-huh, try getting away with that now. At some point my wife and I finally figured out that by having a 30+K sched. A it was keeping us from doing some of the other things that we wanted to do for the kids and ourselves. There is a vanishing point. Btw, when we first got married the "standard" deduction was less than 3K.

Weird. I go to pleasanton for the goodguy's shows. I did see a lot of bimmers out there, which did seem a bit out of place. I am so damned tired of seeing those Lexus LS300 SUV's that look like a big shoe on wheels.

Max,

“Looking on the bright side: nothing thins the herd like aging hippies with poor eyesight and poorer reflexes weaving in and out of traffic on a $20,000 chrome plated engine.”

Sadly, they’ve already bred, so that trait will return in the next generation.

Zeke,

You’re too funny! Will you be using the animals in voodoo ceremonies?

Harm, Randy,or SQT
Will you please email newsfreaks email to me?
Thanks in advance!

My only complaint as a renter is that you really can’t do much to your house. The place has kind of crappy carpet, and if it was mine I would like to look at different flooring options.

Negotiate with your LL. He may be willing to let you change the flooring and even pay half of the costs. What you do may actually increase his property value.

One of the things about owning is that you think you've made your house perfect, then you sell the damn thing. Next thing you know, your ex-neighbors said the new owners gutted the house and put in granite counters...

SQT,

I don't believe I've ever seen that level of suck-ation before?

Anyway, I mentioned a few posts ago that we have seen a number of "self inflicted" homeowner abortions. Yeah, carpet always sucks after just a few years. The last stuff wasn't even paid for yet homedebtor is out there shopping for new floor coverings! Just as an example we've seen where sellers laid down some really nice stuff and then put back the old molding/trim. Does that make sense? I mean you see it before you get your coat off.

Zeke
We had chickens in Studio City.Ethel and Lucy. The rabbit was in love with Ethel and kept trying to make Easter Eggs. The kids thought it was hilarious! Lucy was a Polish Crested and really played the part. I never kept my animals caged...didn't have the heart for it. No roosters though, the uppity neighbors would've made a stink.
I made a recycling creek and put frogs in it...then brought in crickets for the frogs to eat....We had our own ecosystem!
Oh, and the rabbit had 2 roomates in the compost heap, a desert tortise and an opossum!

SQT,

If you do negotiate with your LL, remember to put in a schedule for depreciation of capital assets. That way, you're protected against your LL kicking you out after you paid for the flooring.

I lived here for a year, the slumlord was amazing, and we’ll get into that,

tinyurl.com/hxxgh

Needless to say, it was all about the view, house built in the 20's, was at various times a whorehouse, rum runner depot, and cat hovel. We moved in during the last phase. I rented the entire upstairs for 2100/month. Slumlord bought the place in the 60's with her ex and got it in the divorce. They ouzzzzzzed slime. Carpet was crap, which I used to negotiate cats, moved in without them cleaning anything or doing anything. Found out from the downstairs neighbor that the slumlord keeps deposits. As she got 4200 from me I wasn't going to let this happen. Stayed a year, moved to alameda. For those Ca renters out there your best friend is the California Renters Rights and Responsibilities handbook. Amazing. Seems that your slumlord has 21 calendar days to give your deposit back, after which point they have to give everything back, even if damaged. Furthermore, you have the right to a walk-thru and the right to fix any "damage". So I waited my 21 days, shit I gave them 30 days, then I called, "Oh hi Kathy, I'm calling about my deposit", "oh, there was damage". "oh really, here's how it is going to work, you have 24hrs to give me my money or go to small claims court", "fine". I sent demand letter (return receipt, signature required), then filed in San Mateo county small claims court. Did you know if you slumlord tries to maliciously keep your deposit you can get treble damages? I got all my money the day after service. Next place in Alameda was great, I concur about dealing directly with the owner. Great restored Victorian met the future Mrs. X at T/J's in Alameda and then moved across the street to the cousin of the prior owner’s rental. Dude was a freak; seem to resent that fact that there is Dr. in front of my name. Paid the deposit cash, which equally pissed him off. Always treated Holmes with respect. So the old guy that lives next door dies and they (owner is contractor) start remodeling the apt. Dudes brother comes at 5am, I am not shitting you, I ask Holmes if he can have his brother come a bit later, he looks at me with contempt and says "no, that's not going to happen". Ahhhh ok. So my cat Georgie (aka, GG, Miss G, Sir G's a lot) breaks the front window, actually one small pane of a 9 window mosaic. Long story. I fix the window. Holmes comes by and demands I come to the front. There are microscopic paint chips in the tan bark, "you need to clean this up". Dude is a 58 yo boomer, fat etc. I say "well you know what I enjoy about this _ _ _, is that I'll go ahead and do this, and whenever you ask me to do something I go right ahead and do it, I ask you one simple thing and you tell me to go fuck myself". He freaking loses it, walks me to side of the house and then assaults me. I don't fight back and start laughing. I then go inside and flip open the yellow pages and find the biggest shyster in SF that I can. I just got my settlement and am going to Japan on the money. Moved to Pismo, rented from an inexperienced owner, not bad though, really nice people but clueless as to what the market value of a rental is. And no it isn't what your mortgage payment is. I saw them sit on the other unit for 6 months rather than take what I initially offered them for it, which they finally took from someone else. WOW. Moved to Santa Barbara and lived in a haunted house for a month, moved to another one, standalone and very very Surfer-X. Found it on craigslist, under market and exactly what we want, owner is a surfer, santa barbara native, and bought the house in the 70's. Rented it to us because "I thought you would enjoy it". We love the place. Craigslist rocks. Remember cats aren't always a deal breaker, we are Amerikans and money makes everything alllllllright.