Recent content by 75Norton

We just bought a new Honda Pilot and took advantage of the 3.9% loan offer rather than take money out of investments. We also drove the Telluride but my wife preferred the Pilot although the Telluride is usually rated higher in road tests. We bought the Pilot at MSRP after some effort and I...

I bought a house in 1982 for $65K - sold in 2013 for 165K but after taking out improvements we made it probably only went up 1% per year. Bought a house for 335K in 2013 and it is probably worth 600K now after 230K of improvements so not much appreciation. It is a large, unusual house that might...

We love driving our convertible on the backroads of the Driftless Area in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. We stop at breweries, antique shops, oddball attractions, dive bars etc. and stay at a motel within walking distance of a restaurant. Even at busy leaf watching times if you drive the...

I get .75% at the local credit union and they add .25% if you maintain a balance over 100k. A few years ago they were paying the same when others were at 2%.

Scratch that itch by starting a smaller venture with low risk. Fewer or no employees will also lower the stress. I am 66 and still run some side businesses that keep me in the game and in touch with my favorite customers. I don’t need the money but it does make it easier to splurge on occasion.

I just bought a beachfront condo in a 39 year old building in SW FL. 3 months ago. I had never heard of the inspection required on 40 year old Florida high rises until now. I am concerned about the costs that may result from the inspection as well as the obvious safety issues. For some reason...

In my area this job would cost under $350 for the labor. Changing out the shutoff valves is no big deal so well worth it. I don't get bids on something like this - I simply call the plumber and he will charge me by the hour.

I have removed a lot of popcorn thru the years. I scraped most of it off dry but sometimes used a spray bottle of water. In several cases I was happy with the look after scraping and simply primed and painted the ceiling. In other cases I brought in a drywall guy to skim coat it. In my opinion...

We bought a vacation rental home in SW Florida in 2010 without much worry because prices were down and we rent it more than we use it. It pretty much pays it way and has now doubled in value. We then bought a cabin in 2017 in a condo complex at a popular lake 1 1/2 hours from our house. I had a...

We have about 50% of our investments in real estate. This includes several commercial buildings and two vacation rental properties but not our home or second home. I had a dozen single family rental homes when younger but sold all but one. I believe our real estate has returned about the same as...