HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: allen@tessi.com (Allen Warren)
Subject: Re: How to tell a REAL buyer's agent
Organization: Test Systems Strategies, Inc., Beaverton, Oregon
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 17:12:20 GMT

egreen@east.sun.com (Ed Green - Pixel Cruncher) writes:

>I have never understood the justification for linking a RE agent's fees
>to the price of the house.  If there is any correlation at all between
>price and the work required to sell, it seems that it would be
>negative.  People at the lower end of the spectrum are the ones barely
>qualifying for loans, don't understand finance and negotiations, etc.
>Does a realtor really work 5 times as hard to sell a $500K house as
>they do to sell a $100K one?

I would *imagine* that a realtor probably works harder selling the 
$100k house than the $500k, mainly because there's probably a better
opportunity to sell the $100k house rather quickly, as compared to finding
lots of potential buyers to get a $500k house.  Still, I can't
imagine how the real estate business would be able to set up
how much a realtor gets paid other than the present system.  Attaching
a basic pay amount of a certain percentage of the sale price seems
the only easy, least confusing way.

allen
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: kenk@sdc.com (Ken Konecki)
Subject: Re: Basketball Goal
Organization: Systems Development Corporation
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 15:02:11 GMT

If you're concerned about permanent mounting of a basketball net, consider
the portable ones that are making inroads in suburbia these days.  The
ones I've seen have a large (presumably heavy) base with wheels.  Check
your local sporting goods store for more information.

Cheers,
    -Ken K
-- 
Ken Konecki
e-mail:kenk@sdc.com    -or-    ...!uunet!tellab5!sdc!kenk
"Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery"
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Subject: Re: How to tell a REAL buyer's agent
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 20:21:04 GMT

In article <1992Nov20.185219.13079@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> cthorne@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Charles E Thorne) writes:
>In article <1egqogINNa0u@sixgun.East.Sun.COM> egreen@east.sun.com writes:
>>Doctors, lawyers, engineers, stock brokers, and professionals in every
>>other realm of life manage to do it.
>>
>>Flat fee, fee + expenses, fee + hourly if over n hours, flat fee with
>>incentive bonuses, there are about a million possibilities.
...
>I'm not sure I understand what these extreme objection is to realtor fees.
>It's not as if they had a monopoly on the market.  If you don't want to
>do business with them there's no reason you need to.  Although working as
>an agent does require licensing it's one of the least restrictive of all
>licensed occupations (even barbers are morely highly regulated).

Uh, if you see a house you like, and the owner has an exclusive contract
with a realtor, you have absolutely no choice whether to deal with them
or not.

>You're comparing them with doctors and lawyers (who have a much more extensive
>monopoly).  It's true they don't charge as a percentage of benefit but neither
>are particularly badly paid (and of course they bill you whether they improve
>your situation or not).

Uh, well, we had two realtors trying to sell our house.  Ultimately, they
cost us 7 months of agony living like houseguests, the price of painting
the house, and, indirectly, a lost downpayment on another house, because
the realtors didn't give us a reasonable estimate of what our house
was worth.*  _And_, they both charged us fees up front, to cover their
fixed expenses.  At least doctors and lawyers wait until the service
is provided.


*HINT:  If you're selling a property, and a realtor gives you
 a better-than-expected estimate of what it's worth, run, don't walk,
 to the phone and get 2 or 3 more realtors to independantly arrive at
 the same answer before signing a contract with any of them.
-- 
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com  '71 CL450-K4 "Gleep", DoD #094        Naperville, IL
        There are many things a person should experience in a lifetime.
       Among them are an infant's first cry, and an infant's first laugh.
From: 1k1mgm@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Christopher Gunn)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: How to tell a REAL buyer's agent
Date: 23 Nov 92 11:30:27 CST
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

In article <1eqpbrINN68@sixgun.East.Sun.COM>, egreen@east.sun.com (Ed Green - Pixel Cruncher) writes:
> In article 1emu8dINN5v7@morrow.stanford.edu, mlw@cisco.com (Monica Waldman) writes:
> News Flash, Monica:  This person is *not* working for you, and will
> *not* represent your interests in any negotiation.  To do so would be a
> violation of her moral, ethical, and legal obligations.  Any info she
> gives you on how low a price the seller will accept is less than
> useless, if she tells you *anything* useful, the seller can and will
> sue her butt off.  "Song and dance" is *exactly* what she will do for
> you when presenting your offer, she will *not* negotiate in earnest on
> your behalf.

Except that a 'selling' agent carrying an offer that isn't accepted
gets nada, and is competing against other agents who may bring in
an offer tomorrow that *is* accepted.  An agent carrying an offer that's
'reasonable' in her lights is obviously going to try to convince
the seller to go with her buyer.  I suspect that's the reason behind
all the law and regulations on fiduciary responsibility--to ease
sellers' minds about their houses being dumped by agents interested
only in their share of the churn....

When we made a successful purchase offer a few weeks ago, there was
an almost literal 'song & dance':  two agents, three offers all
presented to the owner at the same time.  Of course, a 'competing'
agent's goal is to carry to the owner the best offer in terms of
price, conditions, earnest money, timing, etc., and in trying to
extract those from the buyer has only his and the seller's interests
at heart.  But once he has a signed offer in hand, he has a pretty
strong incentive to make it seem like the most wonderful piece of
paper since the _Magna Carta_ (assuming it's not such a low-ball
proposition he exposes himself to lawsuits and/or major ill-will).

I may be calmer about this than people in other situations, since
I've lived in this town off and on most of my life, was able
to do my own subjective and numeric comps, and was at no
risk of tossing and turning at night wondering whether I'd paid
$30,000 too much....  I think I understand why folks in less
certain circumstances would find standard practices nerve-wracking.

Christopher Gunn	Molecular Graphics and Modeling Lab
SPAN--KUPHSX::GUNN	Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Malott Hall
913-864-4428 or -4495	University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS  66045
From: wb8foz@skybridge.SCL.CWRU.Edu (David Lesher)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Replacing gas range: DIY?
Date: 21 Nov 92 02:19:33 GMT
Reply-To: wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (David Lesher)
Organization: NRK Clinic for habitual NetNews abusers - Beltway Annex
NNTP-Posting-Host: skybridge.scl.cwru.edu

{swap range yourself?}

It's not hard, if you have some tool, brains, and are careful. It's 
best to buy a new flex connection at the hardware store. Look at
what size is there now. 

Turn off the gas, unscrew things, gently connect the new line and
range. If you change the pipe thread fittings, you'll want to use
RectorSeal or teflon pipe tape. But don't on the flange/flex threads.

Turn on the valve. 
Listen! If you don't hear anything, good.
Smell! Nothing? Good...
Now, mix up some dish soap and water, and slather it all over the
connections. If there's a leak, you'll see bubbles. If not, pass
Go and collect your $200.00.

By the way, in most areas, the gas utility will at least inspect your
work, if not do it themselves with your parts. You see, it's really
bad press for buildings to blow up from gas leaks.
--
A host is a host from coast to coast..wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu
& no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: pngai@adobe.com (Phil Ngai)
Subject: Re: R-values
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 19:32:25 GMT

In article <1992Nov13.211259.24571@philabs.philips.com> mja@philabs.philips.com (Michael Amato) writes:
>This information is very interesting. I figured the R-19 they sell would not
>be R-19 in my walls. This is why I bought and would recomend 5.5" R-21 insulation
>for 2x6 framing.

R-21 for 2x6 is what Mr. Pink calls "higher-density" product. They
have several offerings of this type. R-13 and R-15 for 2x4, the one
you mention, and some others in the brochure I saw.

>I don't know about the cost of R-13, but for the R-21 the price increase over
>R-19 (->R-18) for the same square footage was not that much. I am insulating

Sure, relative to the cost of remodeling, the price of the insulation
alone is a very good value.

>OK. So now how much R-value do I lose when I put in rafter vents and lose
>about 1" of the 9.5" for the R-30 insulation? From you numbers above
>
>5.5" -> 6.25" causes  R-19 -> R-18

The other way around.

>9.5*5.5/6.25=8.36, which is about what is left after the vent is installed.
>
>Then  (R-30)*(R-18)/(R-19)= R-28.42? 

I haven't checked your numbers, I'd go with the R-value/inch factors
I gave in my first posting.

-- 
My opinions are my own.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house,misc.invest.real-estate
From: rohrernl@helix.nih.gov (Nathan Rohrer)
Subject: Re: Getting Ready to Sell House: How to Ma
Organization: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 18:25:10 GMT

>Ed> BTW - many computer listings services are cropping up in direct
>Ed> competition to the RE industry's exclusive MLS.  As that one tool loses
>Ed> its exclusivity, the only real reason for listing with an agent will
>Ed> disappear.


>Tell us some more about these non-REALTOR sponsored computer listings.

>I completely agree that once there is something to overcome the MLS
>monopoly, there will be no reason to pay 6-7% for a realtor

YES!  Tell us more.  I would be very interested.


/*********************************************************************/
/*                       --- Nathan Rohrer ---                       */
/*  NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE, OFFICE OF SCIENCE POLICY AND LEGISLATION */
/*              MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECTION               */
/* BITNET: NLR@NIHNEI31                  BETHESDA, MD 20892-0031     */
/* INTERNET: rohrernl@helix.nih.gov      NIH 3Com: NLR:NEI31:NIH     */
/* CompuServe: 70670,3164                PHONE: 301 496-2194         */
/*********************************************************************/
From: keith@badseed.Eng.Sun.COM (Keith)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: HVLP - Airless - Air?
Date: 16 Nov 1992 21:14:22 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems
Distribution: world
Reply-To: keith@badseed.Eng.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: badseed.eng.sun.com

Hey Folks,

I'm thinking of investing in an air compressor.  I figure I can use it for many
things around the house. But one great justification is that the house needs to
be painted(ugly color, we're new owners).  So, the question is, do compressed
air sprayers work well for painting houses?  Can they do the job of a high
pressure water sprayer for cleaning?

Thanks much,
Keith
From: andyt@intermec.com (Andy Tiura x1807)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: DIY blown-in insulation
Date: 19 Nov 92 20:43:38 GMT
Reply-To: andyt@intermec.com (Andy Tiura x1807)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Intermec Corporation, Everett WA

I would also recommend getting a couple bids and comparing them to your
D.I.Y cost (including an allowance for the inconvenience of it all).

Last year I had 6 inches of Certainteed Insul-Safe III fiberglass blown
into a church attic.  Cost was $0.39 per square foot, including the 8.2%
mandatory sales "tithe" to the state.  I don't remember the D.I.Y. cost
estimate anymore.... but hiring the work out was a relatively easy decision
to make.

-andyt
From: Ernie_Patterson@unc.edu (Ernie Patterson)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Wood Cook Stove Repair
Date: 22 Nov 92 20:30:38 GMT
Organization: UNC Office of Information Technology


I am looking for help in restoring a wood cook stove to 
working condition.  The stove was made by the Karr Range Co.
in Belleville, Il. around 1920-1924.  I would appreciate any
information about getting parts for the stove or having it
repaired.  The major problem is the firebox needs major 
repair and without any manuals or other information it is
difficult to put the stove in working condition.

Thanks for your help.

Ernie Patterson
Ecology Curriculum
231 Wilson Hall CB#3275
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3275
(919)-962-2136
From: jgostin@mal-s1.gatech.edu (Jill Gostin)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Moving A House / Building A House
Date: 20 Nov 92 20:40:26 GMT
Organization: Georgia Tech Res. Inst., Modeling & Analysis Lab

My husband and I are talking about whether we should buy a lot and
build a house on it, or move an older home to it. There are a lot
of really nice older homes that are now on very busy streets, selling
very cheaply. It seems to me that moving a house would be very risky
and difficult to insure (what if they drop the house!!).

Anyway, we would like a recommendation for a book on having a house
built (we'll hire a contractor, not do it ourselves), and also any
insights on moving houses.

Thanks,
Jill
-- 
Jill Butterfield Gostin                EMAIL: jgostin@mal-s1.gatech.edu
Georgia Institute of Technology, GTRI Modeling and Analysis Lab
"Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place..."
-E.L. Konigsburg, _From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler_
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: davel@booboo.SanDiego.NCR.COM (David Lord)
Subject: Re: Comments on hand blenders?
Reply-To: davel@booboo.SanDiego.NCR.COM (David Lord)
Organization: NCR Corporation, Rancho Bernardo
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 16:59:58 GMT

In article <1992Nov16.222843.10139@news.weeg.uiowa.edu> brokaw@flamingo.weeg.uiowa.edu (Pete Brokaw) writes:
>In article <Bxtp8z.34x@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, prange@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Henry Prange) writes:
>|> I have a Braun and use it often. It is marvelous for blending flour and
>|> water, mixing diet powder drinks, stirring juices. Easy to clean: just
>|> put its end in the water and turn it on.
>|> 
>
>There must be times when a simple rinse under the tap isn't enough to clean
>a hand blender (like after chopping raw meat).  How easy are they to clean
>if you really need to dig around?  

Oh my. I don't think I'd try that one. Occassionally I have tried to
dig in there with a toothpick and dishcloth. VERY IMPORTANT to unplug
it first. I've also soaked mine in Clorox and water occasionally. It
is a little difficult to clean around the blade, that's why you
absolutely must rinse it off IMMEDIATELY after you use it.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: hollen@megatek.UUCP (Dion Hollenbeck)
Subject: Re: Water in Crawlspace
Organization: Megatek Corporation, San Diego, California
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 20:02:54 GMT

>>>>> On 18 Nov 92 16:42:45 GMT, long@crhc.uiuc.edu (Junsheng Long) said:
Junsheng> NNTP-Posting-Host: bach.crhc.uiuc.edu

Junsheng> Recently, I went to the construction site of our new house
Junsheng> and found that there is a small pool of water in one corner
Junsheng> of the crawl space (about 50 sqft and 0.5 ft deep).  The house
Junsheng> is almost finished (the closing date is on Nov 30).  Since 
Junsheng> the last rain was a week ago, this may be a problem of poor 
Junsheng> drainage.  This is the first time we ever brought a house. 
Junsheng> Should I be worry about this problem?  Will this water in
Junsheng> crawl space weaken the foundation? What measure should the 
Junsheng> builder take to correct this problem?  

You better get him to correct it.  Water under the house is an
invitation for subterranean termites to invade.  One of the things
that termite inspectors inspect for is the POSSIBLE ways for water to
enter.  They don't care if it does not, but if it is possible, they
correct the possibility.  For example, I had one vent which was below
grade.  If the rain got on the ground down there, it was possible for
it to dribble into the vent and hence into the crawlspace.  They put
some bricks cemented into the vent to bring it up 2" above grade.

There may be other aesthetic reasons also, but this is a LEGAL reason
to get him to correct it.  If he will not, get termite companies
involved.  You may offer to pay them to do a pre-sale inspection.  I
am sure they will take your side if you point out water getting in.

-- 
Dion Hollenbeck       UUCP: {uunet, ucsd, sun}!megatek!hollen
                      INTERNET:            hollen@megatek.com
Megatek Corporation  9645 Scranton Rd.  San Diego, Ca.  92121
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: bennett@adobe.com(Bennett Leeds)
Subject: Re: Teflon Tape on gas service, was: Replacing gas range:
Reply-To: bennett@adobe.com
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 00:00:12 GMT

Andy Hill writes
>... The installation instructions
> that came with my new stove specified either pipe dope or teflon tape
> for sealing the threads - no mention of what type of teflon tape to use.
> 
> Guess I'll just have to get out some matches and check the connections :-)

Smiley acknowledged, however...

I believe the "old-timers" trick is to slop some soapy water over the  
connections and see if it bubbles when the gas is turned on.

- Bennett Leeds
bennett@adobe.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: allen@tessi.com (Allen Warren)
Subject: Re: How to tell a REAL buyer's agent
Organization: Test Systems Strategies, Inc., Beaverton, Oregon
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 00:10:24 GMT

jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist) writes:

>Uh, well, we had two realtors trying to sell our house.  Ultimately, they
>cost us 7 months of agony living like houseguests, the price of painting
>the house, and, indirectly, a lost downpayment on another house, because
>the realtors didn't give us a reasonable estimate of what our house
>was worth.*  _And_, they both charged us fees up front, to cover their
>fixed expenses.  At least doctors and lawyers wait until the service
>is provided.

I don't know if we were experienced or not, but I think we somehow managed
to do something right (or so we think) when we sold our previous home and
bought our present.

We interviewed 4 realtors before deciding upon the one we used to list our
house.  She DID end up selling it for us as well.  Also, she was the only 
agent who took the time to do comps for us showing us that what we wanted
in an asking price was well within the costs of comparables in the area.
In fact, it was this work up front which saved us at the back end when the
bank appraiser at first didn't appraise our house as high as the asking
price.

Also, when we got an offer sheet from the eventual buyer of our home 
(ironically, the buyer saw my ad here on the net and was the first to
offer on our home), we put in writing in the counteroffer that the sale
of our house was dependant upon the financing coming through for us to
purchase the house we wanted to buy.

When we made an offer on the house we wanted to buy, we put in the offer
sheet that our offer was dependant upon sale of our present home.  Yes, we
did have a month of nail-biting, but by taking our time and not rushing
into things, we managed to come out okay, albeit a few sleepless nights
here and there.


>*HINT:  If you're selling a property, and a realtor gives you
> a better-than-expected estimate of what it's worth, run, don't walk,
> to the phone and get 2 or 3 more realtors to independantly arrive at
> the same answer before signing a contract with any of them.

No better advice could be given, John!  Thanks!

allen
From: egreen@east.sun.com (Ed Green - Pixel Cruncher)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Getting Ready to Sell House: How to Ma
Date: 16 Nov 1992 13:59:16 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, RTP, NC
Distribution: world
Reply-To: egreen@east.sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: laser.east.sun.com

In article 5786@mccc.edu, pjh@mccc.edu (Pete Holsberg) writes:
>In article <1992Nov11.153310.16613@cbfsb.cb.att.com> sbrenner@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (scott.d.brenner) writes:
>=My wife and I are getting ready to sell our house and move into 
>=something larger.  Since this is our first house, we've never had
>=to prepare a house for showing and sale.
>
>Your realtor will have a booklet and perhaps even a video tape that has
>helpful hints on prepping the house. Have you asked him/her?

Why do you automatically assume the poster even plans to use an
agent?!?

The only time selling a house through a RE agent makes sense is if the
house has some particularly undesirable "features," or time is
critical, such as a job change out of state.

For a well maintained house in a desirable location, there is seldom
any compelling reason to list the house through an agent.

---
Ed Green, former Ninjaite |I was drinking last night with a biker,
  Ed.Green@East.Sun.COM   |and I showed him a picture of you.  I said,
DoD #0111  (919)460-8302  |"Go on, get to know her, you'll like her!"
 (The Grateful Dead) -->  |It seemed like the least I could do...
From: ef7@prism.gatech.edu (Ed Fair)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: garage opener transmitter
Date: 23 Nov 92 18:44:17 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Information Technology

my opener has a 110v outlet on the back of it... i plugged my new rcvr there.
ed
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house,misc.invest.real-estate
From: ajg@controls.ccd.harris.com (Arnold Goldberg)
Subject: Re: Getting Ready to Sell House: How to Ma
Organization: Harris Controls and Compositions
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 16:11:11 GMT

>>>>> On 18 Nov 1992 15:15:35 GMT, egreen@east.sun.com (Ed Green - Pixel Cruncher) said:
Ed> NNTP-Posting-Host: laser.east.sun.com

Ed> In article 17v@magpie.nycenet.edu, manes@magpie.nycenet.edu (Steve Manes) writes:
>Ed Green - Pixel Cruncher (egreen@east.sun.com) wrote:
>: 
>: For a well maintained house in a desirable location, there is seldom
>: any compelling reason to list the house through an agent.
>
>For well-maintained house in a desirable location, and a seller who
>has years to make the sale. 

Ed> Simply not true.  The sale may take somewhat longer, simply due to the
Ed> sheer number of people who know about it via MLS, but "years" is
Ed> ridiculous.  You think overpriced listed houses don't sit on the market
Ed> for months and months?  How about otherwise reasonably priced houses
Ed> whose asking price is artifically inflated 6% to cover agents' fees?
Ed> For a well-maintained house in a desirable location, the *single* most
Ed> important factor in rapidity of sale is price, regardless of whether it
Ed> is listed or not.

Ed> BTW - many computer listings services are cropping up in direct
Ed> competition to the RE industry's exclusive MLS.  As that one tool loses
Ed> its exclusivity, the only real reason for listing with an agent will
Ed> disappear.


Tell us some more about these non-REALTOR sponsored computer listings.

I completely agree that once there is something to overcome the MLS
monopoly, there will be no reason to pay 6-7% for a realtor

arnold

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arnold Goldberg                            Email:  ajg@ccd.harris.com
Phone: (407)242-5051                       Snail:  Harris Controls
Fax  : (407)242-4262                               407 John Rodes Blvd.
                                                   Melbourne, FL 32905
The opinions expressed are my own and do not in any way represent Harris 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house