gowanusaurus's Profile
- Jennifer
- 2002
- 2006
- Brooklyn
- House
- Landscape Architect
- Female
- 31
Author's Posts
January 5, 2008
Damage to my old house -- who should pay?
The young son (recent college grad) of friends of my husband's family, let's call him "Joe", has been staying with us for a few months while he gets on his feet and searches for a place to live in the NYC area. Joe pays us a few hundred dollars a month, basically just enough to cover the additional utilities usage of having another person under our roof. Right before I left for holiday travels, he asked if his younger brother could visit him for a few days over New Years, and I told him I wasn't comfortable with him having guests in our home while my husband and I are away -- the house is 125+ years old, mid-renovation and has myriad plumbing issues, electrical issues, and other potentially hazardous quirks -- but maybe he could come another time. Joe then informed me that actually his brother had bought plane tickets and was already planning to come... so in the spirit of holiday cheer I acquiesced (my mistake).
Naturally things went from bad to worse. Joe's little brother shows up, along with his girlfriend (surprise!), just as I'm returning from Christmas with my family and about to fly away for New Year's with my husband's family. Joe was nowhere to be found -- turns out he was traveling for New Year's, too, double-surprise! -- and these two teenagers were going to be completely unsupervised in my house for 6 days. Soon after they arrived, and just before I left for the airport, the girlfriend took a shower in my upstairs bathroom and pointed the showerhead directly at the wall instead of down into the drain. This being a vintage Brooklyn bathroom, the walls are about as waterproof as a slotted spoon, and upon seeing a cascade of water come through the ceiling of the room below the tub, I had to run up there and yank her out of the shower and explain the problem to her. After a quick lesson in how to direct the water toward the drain, rather than all about the room, I said a quick prayer that my house would still be standing in a few days and then I left to catch my flight.
When I returned on New Year's day, I found a 3' by 3' section of the ceiling in the room under the tub had collapsed, and everything below was waterlogged. The bathroom is directly over my kitchen, or more specifically, my pantry shelves, so I had to throw away at least a hundred dollars worth of groceries and a couple of small appliances (there was 2" of standing water inside my toaster). Repairing the ceiling will probably be in the neighborhood of $800-1500, but it doesn't really make sense to do it until I solve the problems in the bathroom above, so now I'm on a fast-track with that very expensive project, which I'd been hoping to postpone for another year. Anyway, sometime between completely losing my cool and throwing these two youngsters out on the street, I asked them for their parents' addresses and informed them that they would be receiving an itemized bill for the groceries, the small appliances, and the ceiling repair. When good ol' Joe returned from his vacation, I told him he would be sharing the cost of the repairs as well.
But now my husband thinks that they shouldn't have to pay -- his reasoning is that the house is very old, and under normal circumstances their actions wouldn't have caused any damage, and we were eventually going to renovate both of the rooms affected anyway. And he is swayed by the same sense of obligation to these family friends that caused us to let these people into our home in the first place, so he doesn’t want to rake up trouble with them. I, on the other hand, want blood. Sure, the first time they caused the flood it wasn't their fault, but to repeatedly damage the house in the very same way, over and over again in the course of several days, after they had been adequately warned, and when they are both sighted, sentient, intelligent beings with the capacity to recognize water leaking through the ceiling, or at least to notice when a large chunk of the ceiling has collapsed... and when I left them a list of emergency numbers and explicit instructions to call if they noticed any more problems with water leaking or anything else... c'mon, shouldn't they at least share the responsibility of repairing the damage?
Has anyone else out there dealt with a similar situation? Is it fair to ask these jokers to pay up? If so, how much of the cost of the repair should I pass on to them?
(And, by the way, does anyone out there have an affordable place for "Joe" to live? He needs to move in ASAP; he’s a great roommate. HA!)
August 10, 2007
"HELOC" advice?
I'm looking for some advice about getting a Home Equity Line of Credit -- first, does anyone have a recommendation for a bank or broker? Next, how does this sort of thing work -- ideally I'd like to use the line of credit to fund sundry projects all over the house that I'm either DIY-ing or managing myself. Does the bank just write me a check whenever I ask for funds, or do I have to document how I'm using the money with plans and/or a licensed contractor?
Author's Comments
How big is the room/area to be skim-coated? We did a small bedroom (8'x14') walls and ceiling for $300 -- one guy, one day solid plus a few hours the next day to touch up -- and we provided all materials, which came to about $80. So your quote sounds fair.
Posted by: gowanusaurus at August 13, 2007 12:49 PM in response to plaster workers
You can definitely live large in a narrow house! My husband grew up on a boat and I in a trailer; we were fated to buy a 12-foot-wide house in Gowanus.
Ours has the center, winding staircase which keeps both the living room and the master bedroom (directly above) normal in their proportions -- 12x16 but oriented the opposite direction of most houses. The central position of the stairs also helps avoid the railroady feel inherent to this kind of house. Even if your staircase runs lengthwise, you can use a floating stair (treads only, no risers) to create a perception of properly proportioned space in the first floor room -- my neighbors did this and it looks great, but they still have the railroadiness and narrowness problems in the second-floor bedrooms.
If you have a frame-construction house it's shockingly easy to add windows. We’ve been putting in huge windows throughout and skylights on the second floor, so the place feels spacious despite its narrowness. People are often shocked to hear, after seeing our house, that it's only 12 feet wide because it feels very light and airy. Narrowness is actually an advantage in this regard, because natural light can easily reach the center and sides of the room through even a single, small window. High ceilings also make a big difference -- we have ripped out layer after layer of heinous dropped ceilings -- all the way to the original fir beams in the first floor rooms where ceiling insulation isn’t necessary.
The biggest issue I have run into is closet space -- my house narrows to 9' around a lightwell setback for the rear 20' of its length -- so the closets are either improperly dimensioned/oriented or non-existent. I've actually been removing them altogether as I renovate room-by-room. Like you, I'm a few years away from sharing my house with the next generation, so at this point I favor using armoires and storage furniture so I can keep the space as flexible as possible and not limit future options for furniture placement and built-ins (who knows what my spoiled little brats might need!). I've had to stick to a disciplined regimen of donating things I don't use and rotating my clothes seasonally to basement storage space -- but it's well worth it for the gain in space and flexibility.
Good luck and enjoy the process! I would love to exchange photos and more ideas as you get into it.
Posted by: gowanusaurus at August 21, 2007 4:19 PM in response to Narrow Space Living
I definitely endorse collecting First, Last and Security (equal to one month, or more if you allow pets). Learned this the hard way: our last tenants -- of course they seemed like the nicest, most trustworthy people in the world -- gave us less than a week notice that they were vacating the unit and we were left scrambling to fill the apartment and missed out on a month of income. Even though they were clearly in violation of their lease, after looking over the laws we realized we couldn't keep their deposit because they hadn't damaged anything in the apartment. If we had collected the last month's rent in advance we would have been covered.
Requiring 3+ months cash upfront also seems to help separate out the people who can't quite afford to rent your apartment, so you don't have as much work trying to determine which tenants are qualified.
Posted by: gowanusaurus at October 2, 2007 10:04 AM in response to Security deposits
Q: How can you tell if a broker is lying?
A: If their lips are moving.
Posted by: gowanusaurus at October 5, 2007 1:56 PM in response to Putting in an offer
One night, very very late, unable to sleep and driven to madness by the incessant buzzing and biting, I turned to the internet in desperation of a solution. As a result my home is now a lab for testing the half-dozen different devices that I ordered on that dark night. The best thing I found is called "DynaTrap", available on Amazon, it has an eery ultraviolet light and a fan that sucks them in and dehydrates them without any chemicals or unsavoriness. It's not as cheap as it seems like it should be (maybe $100+), it probably only works well because I'm using it indoors instead of outdoors, and that glowing light takes a while to get used to... but it's much easier to sleep through than a skeeter attack.
Posted by: gowanusaurus at October 8, 2007 7:05 PM in response to Mosquitoes
This happened to me as well when I was buying. I had an accepted offer, but because someone had backed out of the deal right before I came onto the scene, the broker was very jumpy and kept showing the place, and even held one more open house, until the contract was signed. It wasn't fun for me -- I don't think I slept at all until I got the executed contract back from my lawyer -- but if I were the seller I probably would have done the same thing.
Posted by: gowanusaurus at October 12, 2007 9:40 AM in response to Making an Offer and the Shady Real Estate Broker
The good people of ConEd told me about a year ago that they're planning to upgrade all of Brooklyn to a remote sensor metering system, similar to KeySpan's. This would allow me to keep the meter inside my house, because they can read it via remote from the street. Supposedly they are making their way through the neighborhoods of Brooklyn right now installing the sensors... has anyone out there witnessed this or at least heard something about it? Or am I waiting for the Great Pumpkin?
Posted by: gowanusaurus at October 17, 2007 11:01 AM in response to bringing in new con ed service
Is it possible that you don't have to pay PMI if you put down less than 20% of the PURCHASE PRICE, but your appraisal comes in high enough that you have 20% or more EQUITY? A mortgage broker suggested this to me at some point in the stupifying process of shopping for my house and financing...
Posted by: gowanusaurus at October 17, 2007 11:11 AM in response to Threshold for Mortgage Insurance?
I cannot say enough good things about Movers Not Shakers, 718-243-0221. The move was completely stress-free, nothing got lost or broken or even the teensiest bit scratched up, and those guys packed my stuff to survive the Armageddon. I would have paid them twice what they charged me.
Posted by: gowanusaurus at October 17, 2007 6:14 PM in response to recommendations for movers
Responses to Author's Forum Comments
Definitely yes. 6:55 above has the right idea. As a landlord, protecting yourself doesn't have to be unfriendly or nit-picky.
Posted by: guest at January 16, 2008 2:49 PM in response to Security Deposit increase or not?
I'm a renter and when our landlords raised our rent (pretty minimally), WE suggested we should match the raise on last month & security deposit. It just made sense. We want to stay in our place a long long time. And when we finally leave, we won't have to worry about what amount we're supposed to get back -- we'll just always keep it pegged to our current rent. Yes, we'll lose a few bucks on interest, but we love our landlords -- it's a good gesture & it keeps the books current. Maybe I'd feel differently if I was renting from a giant management co.
Posted by: guest at January 16, 2008 4:49 PM in response to Security Deposit increase or not?
To 4:49pm
If you were renting from a giant management company, you would have to pay the raise for the rent and security deposit.
They do it to keep the accounts straight.
It is all very impersonal.
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 16, 2008 5:26 PM in response to Security Deposit increase or not?
what about vrbo.com
Another alternate source o' lodging, ala the harmonycity
Posted by: guest at January 24, 2008 12:37 PM in response to Visitors from Out of Town
The East Village Bed and Coffee gets favorable reviews on the internet, and I believe it was only $100/night, tax included, when I last checked it a year and a half ago. I've never been there, though.
Posted by: guest at January 24, 2008 3:44 PM in response to Visitors from Out of Town
If they like hostels a new one called Crown Brownstone at 958 St. Mark's Avenue, Brooklyn is open and taking reservations. I was there and they have a couple of private rooms and everything is new. They are located a a quiet street about three blocks from the train.
More info here http://www.hostels.com/en/availability.php/HostelNumber.24727
Posted by: guest at January 24, 2008 3:46 PM in response to Visitors from Out of Town
The best low-price (relative to NYC) hotel is the Cosmopolitan in Tribeca. The lowest price room is around $160 a night. Word has spread among European tourists, so the place gets fully booked up several weeks in advance. You see all Europeans when you go there. The rooms are small but it's a very clean hotel and the location can't be beat. It's right outside the Chambers Street 2/3 entrance, and near all kinds of restaurants, and there's a Starbucks on the ground floor.
Posted by: guest at January 27, 2008 1:12 PM in response to Visitors from Out of Town
Oh I meant to say I tried the enzyme drain clearers, not cleaners, in my post at 1:53. But they didn't work.
The only enzyme CLEANER that's worked for me is the original one, Oxyclean which I use on whites and stains. I tried Bioclean detergeant for entire loads and it doesn't clean well enough at all. Use it on sheets if you change your sheets every few days diligently. Or on delicate things. But on socks and underwear and towels, no way, it's not enough.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 2:27 PM in response to Vinegar / baking soda vs. Drano?
I had a science book once that had alternatives to cleaning products. From that I took and have been using salt with boiling water (you'd need like 2 cups of salt, and about 6 quarts of water), works for me.
Posted by: guest at March 11, 2008 4:35 PM in response to Vinegar / baking soda vs. Drano?
I'd like to know more about this baking soda/vinegar stuff. On the surface, it makes no sense. From a ph pov, BS is a base, and vinegar is an acid. They cancel each other out. Or is the foaming supposed to clean drains? I don't get it.
Posted by: denton at March 11, 2008 5:02 PM in response to Vinegar / baking soda vs. Drano?
Love it! I have only one complaint -- where is 'Gowanus' in the list of Brooklyn neighborhoods for my profile? We may be the seedy underbelly, but our canal built this borough! And our Lowe's and Home Depot are building many of your homes.
Posted by: gowanusaurus at August 10, 2007 1:52 PM in response to Brownstoner 2.0 Coming At You Today