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Order Tilt & Turn Windows from Europe with Me
I will order 12 wooden tilt & turn windows from an Austrian manufacturer this summer. http://www.riederkg.at/fenster/holz_fenster/index.html
My problem: shipping and handling makes up about 40% of the total.
Now if I can convince you to order with me, we can share the shipping cost.
If you want airtight, super-insulating, noiseblocking windows – let me know.
The quality is excellent, and the price is good. They have double and triple glazed, wood or aluminium clad and also vinyl.
05/18/2011 6:26 PM
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tax accountant wanted
I am looking for a tax accountant in Brooklyn.
I bought a house through an LLC. I want to do everything right from the start with renovation and future rental income – need a tax lesson.
Do you know someone who is a regular person, not a robot?
04/30/2011 11:51 PM
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Tin Ceiling Tiles Water Damage
My Parlor has these tin ceilings and I need to replace one part (50 sqf) because of water damage.
Any ideas where I could get those, or what else I could do?
04/28/2011 1:42 PM
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Retainer Used
Do Lawyers have to inform the client when the retainer is used up, or can they just go on without notice and hit you with a final bill?
04/06/2011 7:33 PM
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Which work is allowed while waiting for Certificate of no harrassment?
I have an empty house, want to see Progress desperately. Which kind of work am I allowed to perform?
Is it ok to do work that requires no permits?
I read the house will be inspected, and nothing should be changed.
03/21/2011 9:50 PM
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What the hell is wrong with my tree?
The House I bought has a huge old tree in the backyard that hasn´t seen a lot of love in the last years.
It looks like one half of the tree is dead.
Any recommendations what to do?
02/21/2011 5:28 PM
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House of pain
I wanted to share my story. I know real estate sales can have some twists, but I wanted to know if anybody has heard of something like this before:
Almost a year ago I bought a Brownstone through a shortsale. My lawyer warned me that this can get complicated sometimes, but I have a thick skin and I was up for the adventure.
In a short sale there is not always a lot of information, and shortly before closing it turned out that the last guy living in the house was not a tenant like he had said himself at inspection, but a previous owner.
After speaking to the seller it also turned out that he hasn´t paid rent the last 10 years.
The house has been mostly vacant for the last decade. Property Taxes have not been paid since 5 years at least and were satisfied by the bank as part of the short sale deal.
Well, so far so good.
The guy insisted then towards the bank (who actually owned the house) that he had a contract with the owner which gave him a first buyer option. The bank didn´t believe it would be valid, but wanted to avoid later legal trouble and gave him 2 months to see if he would match my offer. He could not, and we proceeded to closing.
After the closing he sued the seller, some other person and me. He argues that the actual owner was a straw buyer and they set up a scheme that he would buy back the house later (he even uses the term scheme in his affidavit). The straw buyer supposedly defrauded him and that he was still the owner even though he didn´t show up in any paper because he has a mysterious contract.
It is absolutely ridiculous. But it is real, and it costs me a lot of money.
I have to pay property taxes and Fire insurance (which is about double from regular because the house is not occupied). And legal fees and loss of income come of top of course.
Now we are in supreme court and it is very slow.
The result is that I cannot access my own house while the Judge takes his time eating sandwiches or whatever my house continues to fall apart.
I am not even allowed to go in and do minor repairs or anything else until it is decided if the sale was “legal”.
Meanwhile the guy is living rent free and has a whole house to himself. Congratulations, it looks like he is the winner so far.
01/07/2011 6:18 PM
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heating system for 3 units
I will have to make an entire new heating system for a 3 family brownstone.
I was advised that in order to have the units pay exactly what they consume it´s best to put a gas heater for each unit.
What about one gas burner in the basement with 3 water circuits – is there a possibility to count the individual consumption?
One source will make it easier to use e.g. thermo solar to help reduce the overall cost of the building.
01/04/2011 6:16 PM
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Solar Thermal Discussion
I have read through several Posts on the Forum and it seems that many people have concerns that the investment on a Solar Thermal System does not recoup quicker. Numbers between 7 and 20 years are floating around. I will tell you in 7 to 20 years what was the correct estimate. Steam Guy said one very interesting thing: why are environmental improvements always subject to this calculation while buying a new kitchen is not. Yes, why do people not think this way when buying a new car (while the old one is still working fine).
There are also other factors to be taken into consideration. I have made this amateur calculation (it is not 100% exact because I am not a scientist, so don´t beat me):
The average household consumes 720 Gallons (a) of Oil per year. (brownstones way more I guess)
Considering you save 30% you save 4862 pounds of Co2 (b) per year.
This equals roughly the amount of 2 return Flights NYC-London (c)
Or a US roundtrip drive in a VW Jetta new york → Orlando → San Francisco → Seattle → New York
In other words:
This offsets the CO2 footprint of your yearly vacation trip from now on until the end of time.
What about the feelgood factor (that also applies to new kitchens)? I will look forward to every day that I stand in the shower and feel the warm water which was heated through something that I put on the roof.
I recently bought a house and I will put a Solar Thermal system on the roof.
Why? First of all because I have a roof – I have always lived in condos. It´s something that I can do, and saving 30% of my bill and co2 footprint isn´t too bad.
The question is not does Thermo Solar make sense – but does it make sense to heat water by oil, gas or electricity?
Our kids will say one day soon: „Hey dude, can you believe in 2010 they used to heat up their water by fire even in the Summer when it had like a 1oo degree outside“
(a) http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/consumptionbriefs/recs/heating_oil/heating_oil.html
(b) http://www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05001.htm
(c) http://www.cheap-parking.net/flight-carbon-emissions.php
03/11/2010 11:10 AM
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adam_dahill
May 21, 2012 | 02:16 PM