Excellent Mortgage person at Wells Fargo


I am just getting around to posting this although I closed my refinance in December. I want to give a shoutout to Sophia Prountzos (Sophia.Prountzos@wellsfargo.com). She was quite amazing. Her office was on top of everything and most importantly there were no last minute surprises involved. They had to extend the rate lock twice for some silly reasons as we were waiting for the CEMA, but they did it at no cost to me (although rates had gone up since I locked). She also showed up at the refinance closing with a bag of goodies for me. I would definitely recommend her!

Categories: Mortgage
By ohiise | 04/08/2011 4:27 PM | Comment

Shoutout for excellent Real Estate Lawyer/ Attorney


I’m just getting around to posting this, although I refinanced in December. I used Zerline Goodman (Zerline@zlglawyer.com) for the refi closing. She is really great. I was extremely anxious, my experience with real estate lawyers when buying had been less than ideal. But, she put me at ease, promptly responded to my e-mails and calls, explained everything in plain English. Most importantly, she steered me away from an unwise legal decision that I would have made had I followed the bank attorney’s advice (there was a transfer of ownership involved). So I do heartily recommend her and would certainly use her again in a heartbeat!

Categories: Lawyers
By ohiise | 04/08/2011 4:20 PM | Comment

ABT, A J Madison or Drimmers?


I am getting some great quotes from ABT Electronics that beat AJ Madison and PC Richard. Only it’s in Chicago and I feel afraid buying from somewhere not local. Anyone has experience with them?

Categories: Appliances
By ohiise | 01/05/2009 12:38 PM | Comment

18 inch Dishwashers


Does anyone have them? How are they?
There’s only two of us in the house and we have an 18″ space next to the sink. The 24″ location would be away from the sink, but little closer to the cabinets. Please help!!

Categories: Kitchen & Bath
By ohiise | 12/30/2008 5:55 AM | Comment

Where can I get a small entry door?


Smaller than the smallest available at Home Depot. We need 30″ wide x 72-73″ tall door preferably door and jamb as one unit (right now we may have to get a door slab which would then leak air).

Categories: Doors
By ohiise | 12/13/2008 2:12 PM | Comment

Need fireplace finish ideas


I’ve run out of ideas here. We’re redoing the kitchen and dining (entire garden floor) in a sort of vintage style with white shaker style cabinets, open shelving, soapstone counters, subway tile backsplash, farmhouse sink. There is a bathroom in the back with white subway tile walls and black and white hex tile floor. The beams are lightly (about 1/2 “) exposed and the floor will be a rich terracotta colored porcelain tile. There is a chimney in the dining area (the entire floor is open floor plan) which is lined and I plan to install a cast iron wood burning stove in front of it.
I cannot decide how to finish that chimney. Right now it has cement board (Durock) on it with metal studs behind.
I went through thinking about brick veneer (the original chimney brick was in really bad shape and could not be exposed, but maybe I should have had ‘new’ brick laid, anyways too late now; also see www.brickit.com), white subway tile with cobalt blue accents and borders and some blue handpainted tile accents (sort of a Delft style chimney, see pic) but thought that might be too kitchen-ey for the dining area, terracotta colored tile, soapstone tiles, slate tiles, flat slate slabs, etc. and cannot come up with any decisions. I do not like granite, but could deal with marble, however the stove might discolor it. And modern is not really my aesthetic.
Anyone dealt with the same problem? Any pics?

Categories: Fireplace/Mantle
By ohiise | 12/10/2008 11:38 AM | Comment

Tiniest wall mount faucet


We have a tiny 2nd bathroom. Planning on the Duravit Vero sink which is approx. 20W x 6D. Sink drain is 5″ away from wall. I have been searching for a wall mount faucet with a spout that would be short enough to not extend further than the drain. The best options were the commerical faucets that you see in park bathrooms, but they were about an inch too long as well, not to mention looked like we had cheaped out. Any thoughts?

http://www.chicagofaucet.com/catalog/catalog.php?PartNum=305-CP&FamilyID=23

http://www.chicagofaucet.com/catalog/catalog.php?PartNum=938-WSCP&FamilyID=127

Categories: Kitchen & Bath
By ohiise | 10/25/2008 9:41 AM | Comment

Best Dual Flush toilet


I’d like some opinions from those who’ve used them. I’ve read the Terry Love reviews and consumer reports. They seem to like the Gerber Ultra Flush 21-302 DF. Space is a litle tight too and I’d like it to look more traditional than modern. And do the extra high ones feel better?

Categories: Plumbing
By ohiise | 10/16/2008 3:42 PM | Comment

Boiler installation: bad experience so far


We’re renovating the entire garden floor (where our boiler also sat, since we have no cellar) and have hired a heating company highly recommended by the manufacturer of the boiler to do the installation and relocation of the ew boiler to the back of the house. Reasonable price, but not cheap. Boiler is somewhat unusual (wall hung boiler that vents without a chimney, high efficiency), so it was difficult to get many quotes. Things were fine until they got the check for 50% of the cost. After that, they have had such a difficult attitude and are argumentative. They refuse to work there if any other workers are on the site, they only want to come in one time to do the entire job and hook up all the radiators and want us to place the rads in their final position, although that is impossible, as the walls and tiles can’t be done and the rads put in their final position until the heating lines are in the walls. But, they act like this is the first time they encountered an installation during a gut reno, which I cannot believe. To their limited credit they agreed to accomodate us by moving and demoing the old equipment, so the GC could continue his work until they could come in to do the job. When they came in as promised on Day 1, they demoed the old boiler, took delivery of the new boiler and HW heater and left. And then were supposed to come back day 2 and when I called stated first that they were unable, and then claimed it was because we did not have the site just so for them. On top of that, they expect most of the remaining payment before the work is finished and I am afraid they will walk off if I refuse.
Can someone give me some advice about this? Is this usual? My GC seems to not think so. I find them extremely arrogant. It has become a bit of a nightmare. What should I do?

By ohiise | 09/24/2008 11:04 AM | Comment

How much will a new kitchen increase the value of my house?


I know there are national figures for this, and the figure can also be very individual. We’re doing a low to middle end gut reno of the garden floor (kitchen, dining, laundry and small full bathroom, adding new efficient boiler, not high end appliances, but everything classic and tasteful). How much of our cost should we expect to recover if were to immediately sell the house? Right now, the kitchen, etc. could not even be considered decent or showable.

Categories: Kitchen & Bath
By ohiise | 07/21/2008 2:54 PM | Comment