Thanks: Chimney Scam

I want to thank the the804.com blog for posting a recent article in the RTD (Chimney Repair is a burning issue). Just yesterday we got our chimney cleaned at our new house (why so early - well it's cheaper than waiting till winter) anyway, we basically just wanted to get it cleaned. And sure enough after they cleaned it they started to play around with a digital camera, taking pictures from the bottom and from the top. And sure enough the guy tells my wife "Oh goodness, you have some cracks in your fireplace - you better get this thing lined - I wouldn't use this until you get it lined". "We can do this for about $2500, that's a good deal right now". And so the wife asks - "What would you line it with?" - We use a stainless steel liner. Really?, Well what's in there now? You have a terra cotta liner. Well, shouldn't that last a long time. It should but its safer to go with a stainless steel liner. Well, can you just fix the current liner? No, you really need to go with the steel liner. Oh okay, well thanks for cleaning out the fireplace - have a great day.
Now, maybe the guy was right - maybe we do have some cracks, and maybe they do need some attention. But we will probably try to find someone that can fix the terra cotta lining rather than trying to insert some stainless steel tube that only last a few years. Thanks for looking out -- RTD

Our Flooded City

As you can tell from this picture ("I found on the internet of coarse") We have been dealing with flooding for a long time. After the city spent a ridiculous amount of money we have learned this is a "drainage" issue. But my question is -- the flood wall. I realize that it's not related to our flooding issues recently. But I was curious to know has the James River ever flooded that high to where the Flood Wall has protected our city? I realize too that the flood wall was built for preventive reasons - for the "just in case". I have seen the River rise many times over my 10 years here in Richmond - but never high enough that it reached the flood wall (and that's good!).

It's a Buyers Market Baby!!!

It's a sellers market baby - It's a buyers market - WOW, I don't know how many real estate agents told us that when just a couple of months ago we were doing the DIY (FSBO) selling of our Condo. But maybe just maybe they were right. (But we still did not give in to the 6%). But I think I understand their point. Are condo was on the market for 4 weeks (MAY)- which is awesome for a 2 bedroom condo not on the MLS. But, we did our research,Zillow, as well as found out what the other condos in the neighborhood sold for in the past 5 months. So, we were confident of our selling price. And after 4 weeks we got our asking price and we were happy. Now in Aug there are several condo's up in that neighborhood and none have sold in over 2 months, all selling at the same selling price as ours. But after 2 months with several for sale - I would be expecting to see some "price reduced" condo's very soon. So, in a sense for that particular neighborhood in May for us - it was a sellers market. Now, a month after we bought our new house - we are seeing some (very small) decrease in pricing in homes in our new neighborhood - so one would think its a buyers market. Well I would disagree with that - This wouldn't be a buyers market for us - if we would have waited -- 1. We would be paying a higher interest rate than we got. 2. We would have had to reduce the selling price of our condo. 3. This would result in a higher mortgage payment, and less money for down payment, 4. Which may result in having less than 20% and having to pay the PMI. So, when you have to sell your home in order to get into a new home - does the buyers market/sellers market able to happen at the same time?