[UCGal]

[quote=CA renter][quote=jpinpb]Well, if you haven’t yet, I’d try the Standard of Excellence outlet. Last year I found a pretty cool vessel sink that was curvy, not the typical round ones. And if you have money to burn, just bypass the outlet and go to the store. They have some nice stuff, but it’s not cheap.[/quote]

Been wondering about vessel sinks for awhile… How do you like it? I’ve heard that it’s more difficult to keep the sink/countertop clean because you can’t just swipe the water into the sink. Also, heard that they can splash more. Are either true? After having one for awhile, what do you think of it, especially in a household with lots of traffic/kids?[/quote]

Maybe it’s the user (me) – but everytime I use a vessel sink I end up splashing. I have a couple good friends with them in their powder rooms. Since I’m usually a hot mess anyway – I look like a wet hot mess when I come out of the powder room. Not a good look.

I would definitely want to try the model before buying. Not sure if you can do that at showrooms.

[UCGal]

I have friends at QC. Depending on the department – it can be a nice place to work, or brutal. I heard there was a second suicide there recently.

One friend loves it there. He’s been promoted fairly frequently, has a good group he manages, rarely works weekends. Another friend is pressured to put in massive hours and complains he never sees his kids anymore… he’s actively looking to exit the q.

[UCGal]

I’ve never heard of this either. I was under the impression that mortgage interest on your primary residence was tax deductable, period.

Perhaps they’re saying the mortgage does have to be recorded… (not registered) within a certain window of it taking place (signing the docs, receiving the $$.) Since most buyers finance the purchase, that usually happens at time of purchase. Perhaps the person that was telling you this got confused.

[UCGal]

So wait… let me see if I have this right…

Consumers who fall behind on their mortgage payment…. still qualify to get newly issued car loans and newly issued credit cards?

Looks like there were no lessons learned in the past decade… We’ll still give credit to anyone with a pulse… regardless of their track record.

[UCGal]

[quote=squat250]i know the answer.

the best plan is one you elieve in so you can stick with it when it goes south.[/quote]
Yep.

Not sure this is the right forum for that kind of question. There are lots of investing forums out there.

People have different risk tolerances, spare income, etc.

In general, the advice I’m trying to teach my kids is:

– Live below your means. Save/invest the difference.

– On the same line… pay yourself first. Always budget for savings/investing.

– Pay your bills on time.

– Select an asset allocation that fits your risk comfort level. Stick to it. Rebalance as necessary. That means taking money from performing assets and plowing them into underperforming assets… but, in theory, you’ll be buying on the cyclical dip that way.

– Save now for future goals. Whether it be a downpayment on a house, kids college education, a big trip. Use the advantages of compounding to reach your goal with the least amount of pain.

Not really a financial plan… but that’s what I’m trying to teach my kids.

[UCGal]

[quote=sdrealtor]I think a lot of it has to do with the dollars involved here. Much higher prices. Also the liability and disclosures are far more complex here. Too many lawyers in CA waiting to pounce[/quote]
Good point. It’s definitely a different, more expensive, market here.

[UCGal]

[quote=sdrealtor][quote=spdrun]Both NJ and NY require attorneys. I have less of a problem working with one just before closing (after I satisfy myself of everything) than dealing with a buyer broker for months on end!

Atty fee is actually cheap as compared to a broker commission. Yeah, yeah, seller pays, but everything eventually gets passed to the buyer![/quote]

You are comparing apples and oranges. In NJ/NY which use attorneys there are still agents on each side. IN CA the attorney is comparable to the escrow company which is cheaper and less adversarial than an attorney.[/quote]
Even across the river in PA I’ve seen a lot more FSBO and owner-auctions than out here. I think it’s a cultural thing. I’ve got one friend who’s helped her family auction off 5 or 6 places in the Philly metro area (on both sides of the river), and another friend who almost bought from a guy who was selling his art district row house FSBO. It just didn’t seem as unusual.

[UCGal]

[quote=harvey]You can call me Harvey.

Do you guys really think my name is “pri” ?[/quote]
No – but I thought perhaps you were a big invisible rabbit seen only by Jimmy Stewart.

[UCGal]

flu –
Good luck with Chase. We just extricated our final account from them. It was horrific. We had several accounts that were old WAMU accounts.

I’ve heard that new accounts, and previous chase accounts offer better terms than what they did to former wamu customers. But they really tried to nickel and dime us to death. My husband had some IRA money there that they refused to rollover. I will never bank with Chase again because of the bad experience. Literally over a year of stonewalling from them.

The only thing that worked to get the accounts closed/rolled was to physically be there, escalate to the manager, and keep raising his voice until they finally made it happen. Not sure if the registered letter complaint to the SEC and FDIC also had an impact. But they were aware we’d sent them.

I love Schwab and we also have credit union accounts. Both are great.

[UCGal]

[quote=svelte]The days of wallets are numbered.

Walk up to a store, pay for anything using a thumb or retina scan, a PIN and account number.

No need for a card, a wallet, a cell phone, nothing.

Until the power goes out.[/quote]
Even now a lot of the cash registers are useless/locked without power.

[UCGal]

[quote=flu]Got porn?

Students watched porn in 7th grade class
Classmates say they reported goings-on, and teacher did nothing

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/14/students-watched-porn-7th-grade-class/

The irony to this is the district was really hush hush about this up until a few days ago.. A previous article mentioned the school suspended 9 students but school officials declined to state why.. Now we know why they didn’t want to talk about it… I don’t know, a bunch of kids wacking off in a classroom, you think maybe just maybe there might be a problem???

You know there seems to be rampant case of what I call “porn stupidity” that seems to be making news. I mean, people getting caught with porn at work.. I don’t get it. In every company that I’ve worked at, it was very very clear… No porn at work, no porn even on work computer even if you are working at home… If you get caught, bye bye, immediate termination…. Why on earth would anyone in their right mind think it would be porn would be OK at work? Are people really that dumb?[/quote]

This is one strong argument against giving your kids data plans on their phones.

They were not on school computers viewing the porn – they were using their cell phones.

sdr just bought his son an iPhone. I’m sure there are lots of mini-piggs that have smart phones.

It happens at home, too. Just had to do a lockdown on our home computers because of some questionable choices by my sons. They will *NOT* be getting data plans when and if I ever get them phones. Thank goodness for net nanny software. Sure they’ll be able to figure out hacks to get around it – but it will be harder to do. (And I’ll be blocking sites/IP addresses at the router as they figure it out.)

Why do 7th graders need data plans on their phones?

[UCGal]

[quote=spdrun]Yep, from NJ originally.

It does seem like a full-contact sport — the problem is that players seem to be a lot worse organized than on the other coast, as well as being not very bright in some cases and generally less straightforward.[/quote]
I was also thinking NJ.
IIRC NJ mandates that you have an attorney for closing. I have friends/family in NJ and Philly. sdr is originally from Jersey.

[UCGal]

[quote=DataAgent]Here’s the best website for San Diego residential listings: http://www.sdlookup.com/%5B/quote%5D
sdlookup.com has a feature that’s sometimes helpful… if you click on the link at the top of the listing that says “View Sales History, Tax Assessment and Zoning” it takes you to a page that folks can comment on. There is sometimes some good insight if the house is a flip. Various regulars follow their local areas and track the price changes, the history of listings (realtors sometimes delist/relist to “restart” the clock on the MLS.)

But sdlookup does not show multi-family. For that you need redfin.com. Redfin also has a more complete listing/price history.

[UCGal]

I suspect it has to do with people working loan mods.

But a quick look at lpasap.com for San Diego showed 12 properties in the county with autions scheduled for today and another 127 that were scheduled for today but have been postponed.

I used to check these lists daily (and post info on the outcomes on sdlookup.com)… It was definitely more auctions back when I was doing this a few years ago.

Since banks are being mandated to try and work out loan mods before they foreclose… that’s delaying some of the action.

[UCGal]

Just to clarify – these are for the school year prior to this, right?

2011 would be the 2010/2011 year?

So we have another year to wait to find out how well the schools are ranked for the year that just ended?

I’ve been pretty public that I pulled my son from a high API school to a lower one – and had his education step up significantly because of the specific program (seminar) that he was in. My younger son is making the move this year.

API scores are not the end all/be all. But they do help property values. 🙂

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