[zk]

Barley and Hops on HWY 79 at Jedediah Smith Road. Good food and lots of good beer on tap.

[zk]

Barley and Hops on HWY 79 at Jedediah Smith Road. Good food and lots of good beer on tap.

[zk]

Barley and Hops on HWY 79 at Jedediah Smith Road. Good food and lots of good beer on tap.

[zk]

I’m a federal government employee, and the way it’s been explained to me is that you’re not required to choose either all the death benefit or none of it. You can choose a percentage. And as long as you choose more than 2% death benefit, the government will continue to pay its share of your (the spouse’s) health insurance premiums if your spouse (the employee) dies first.

Not sure if health insurance premiums are what you were asking about (or even if the information I gave above is 100% correct), but the spousal health insurance premium payments are an enormous benefit of federal employment and should not be passed up, especially if you can get it by only taking (and paying for) a small percentage of the death benefit.

[zk]

I’m a federal government employee, and the way it’s been explained to me is that you’re not required to choose either all the death benefit or none of it. You can choose a percentage. And as long as you choose more than 2% death benefit, the government will continue to pay its share of your (the spouse’s) health insurance premiums if your spouse (the employee) dies first.

Not sure if health insurance premiums are what you were asking about (or even if the information I gave above is 100% correct), but the spousal health insurance premium payments are an enormous benefit of federal employment and should not be passed up, especially if you can get it by only taking (and paying for) a small percentage of the death benefit.

[zk]

I’m a federal government employee, and the way it’s been explained to me is that you’re not required to choose either all the death benefit or none of it. You can choose a percentage. And as long as you choose more than 2% death benefit, the government will continue to pay its share of your (the spouse’s) health insurance premiums if your spouse (the employee) dies first.

Not sure if health insurance premiums are what you were asking about (or even if the information I gave above is 100% correct), but the spousal health insurance premium payments are an enormous benefit of federal employment and should not be passed up, especially if you can get it by only taking (and paying for) a small percentage of the death benefit.

[zk]

Louise,

Seems to me you’re getting lots of good advice here. I feel like I have to throw my 2 cents in and advise renting for 2 reasons, either of which would be sufficient on its own (and both of which have been mentioned numerous times).

1) You’ll probably get more house (maybe a little, maybe a lot) if you rent for a while and buy later.

2) You’ll get a feel for this great metropolitan area and for what part of it fits you best. You’ll read that one person says “Carmel Valley is great” and another says “I wouldn’t live there.” All these neighborhoods you read about might work for you and they might not. You won’t know until you’ve lived here for a while. Sure, you have some fairly specific criteria listed. And, as you can see, there are several neighborhoods that meet your criteria. But you won’t really have a solid way to know which neighborhood fits your personality and fits the more subtle requirements and desires you have until you’ve been here a while. To me, that reason alone is worth renting. I’d sure be bummed if I bought a house in one part of town and spent the next 20 years thinking, “I should’ve bought a house in xxxx instead.” The extra house (or smaller debt) you’ll get if you wait will just be an extra bonus.

Good Luck

[zk]

Louise,

Seems to me you’re getting lots of good advice here. I feel like I have to throw my 2 cents in and advise renting for 2 reasons, either of which would be sufficient on its own (and both of which have been mentioned numerous times).

1) You’ll probably get more house (maybe a little, maybe a lot) if you rent for a while and buy later.

2) You’ll get a feel for this great metropolitan area and for what part of it fits you best. You’ll read that one person says “Carmel Valley is great” and another says “I wouldn’t live there.” All these neighborhoods you read about might work for you and they might not. You won’t know until you’ve lived here for a while. Sure, you have some fairly specific criteria listed. And, as you can see, there are several neighborhoods that meet your criteria. But you won’t really have a solid way to know which neighborhood fits your personality and fits the more subtle requirements and desires you have until you’ve been here a while. To me, that reason alone is worth renting. I’d sure be bummed if I bought a house in one part of town and spent the next 20 years thinking, “I should’ve bought a house in xxxx instead.” The extra house (or smaller debt) you’ll get if you wait will just be an extra bonus.

Good Luck

[zk]

Louise,

Seems to me you’re getting lots of good advice here. I feel like I have to throw my 2 cents in and advise renting for 2 reasons, either of which would be sufficient on its own (and both of which have been mentioned numerous times).

1) You’ll probably get more house (maybe a little, maybe a lot) if you rent for a while and buy later.

2) You’ll get a feel for this great metropolitan area and for what part of it fits you best. You’ll read that one person says “Carmel Valley is great” and another says “I wouldn’t live there.” All these neighborhoods you read about might work for you and they might not. You won’t know until you’ve lived here for a while. Sure, you have some fairly specific criteria listed. And, as you can see, there are several neighborhoods that meet your criteria. But you won’t really have a solid way to know which neighborhood fits your personality and fits the more subtle requirements and desires you have until you’ve been here a while. To me, that reason alone is worth renting. I’d sure be bummed if I bought a house in one part of town and spent the next 20 years thinking, “I should’ve bought a house in xxxx instead.” The extra house (or smaller debt) you’ll get if you wait will just be an extra bonus.

Good Luck

[zk]

I’d say it depends where you live. Most parts of San Diego have much less potential for a quake of the size that would damage a wood-frame house than most parts of LA. There are maps on the internet that show what the odds are of any shaking intensity (the actual strength of the shaking in a particular location, measured on the Mercalli scale, as opposed to the overall strength of a quake, which is based on the Richter scale and doesn’t really tell you as precisely how much shaking will be involved) in any location in Socal. I’d check those maps, see how seismically active your area is, and base your decision at least partly on that.

[zk]

I’d say it depends where you live. Most parts of San Diego have much less potential for a quake of the size that would damage a wood-frame house than most parts of LA. There are maps on the internet that show what the odds are of any shaking intensity (the actual strength of the shaking in a particular location, measured on the Mercalli scale, as opposed to the overall strength of a quake, which is based on the Richter scale and doesn’t really tell you as precisely how much shaking will be involved) in any location in Socal. I’d check those maps, see how seismically active your area is, and base your decision at least partly on that.

[zk]

JWM,

If you go to amazon and read the reviews of the book, you’ll see the reasons why the people who don’t like the book don’t like it. And you’ll see the counterpoints. Two main reasons people don’t like the book: 1)They misinterpret the main point of the book, which is that your child should eat when he wakes up and not right before he sleeps. Those who misinterpret it think that the author is trying to tell you to put your baby on a strict schedule, which he’s not. 2)They tire of the author and his propoganda and his presentation. And they think he’s sort of a nut. I must say I agree with that. He does seem to be sort of a nut, and you can, in fact, skip the propoganda that fills the whole book except the chapter that deals with the guidelines for the order in which your child should eat, sleep and be awake.

You’re obviously a sharp fellow, JWM, so I’m sure you can make up your own mind on this. A few data points for you: it worked great for us (our daugher is 6 now) and for everyone to whom I’ve recommended it (about 5-6 couples, whose babies now range in age from 1-5).

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JWM (and any other prospective parents),

I highly recommend the book “On Becoming Baby Wise” to all new parents. It will make months 2-10 easier to a truly amazing degree.

The book talks about the routine of sleeping, eating, and being awake. My wife and I didn’t get the book ’til our daughter was 10 weeks old, but within a matter of days our baby went from sleeping 3 hours at a time to sleeping 6-7 hours at night. And it got better from there. I was extremely grateful to the person who recommended this book to me, and everybody to whom I’ve recommended it has felt the same way. If you get the book before the big day (and oh, what a day it is!) and follow its instruction, you’ll be very glad you did.

Congratulations and good luck.

[zk]

sdrealtor,

Nice work.

I’d be interested in knowing what the months supply is for CV. Maybe you could even add it to your regular updates, if it’s not too much trouble. Or do you think that, for a small submarket, the months supply might be irrelevant or misleading?

Thanks.

[zk]

sdrealtor,

Back in June, I asked:

8 expired/withdrawn/cancelled to 7 pendings.
Is that a typical ratio?

I believe you said it sounded about normal.

I’ve noticed that the last few weeks the ratios have changed quite a bit (expired+withdrawn+cancelled/pending):
10/2, 9/5, 17/5.

Do you see any significance in this?

Thanks.

[Author]

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