The Home Crowd

Oh yeah, it’s real cute until you realize the little furball does this all day while you’re at work!!

Lesson Learned: Don’t flush the goldfish in front of the cat, the curious little beast WILL try to get it back.

Now what kid growing up didn’t dream of having a hidden passageway in their house.  Damn near every episode of scooby doo had one, and just as many movies with spooky mansion were required to sport a hidden passageway.

I’d always thought it’d be great someday when I built a house that it would have a hidden passageway, but would probably be more of a do-it-yourself task than I was prepared to take on.

Fortunately, Creative Home Engineering of Tempe, Arizona has taken on the task of manufacturing different types of passageways, and thus saving ourselves from disastrous cabinets which would likely come off its hinges on the eighth use and landing squarely on our feet.  However, I believe it’s common knowledge that you can sustain acceptable balance with at least 7 toes.

Maybe you have that den/home office which has become so overgrown with clutter that it’s become an eyesore to all who walk past it.  Well, a hidden passageway would cover that up nicely.  More importantly, in these times where home invasion robberies are more and more frequent, the prospect of a more secure hiding space could be quite valuable.  Sure you’ve got that fire-proof safe, and it’s tucked in the closet somewhere, only to be quickly discovered.  But it’s so heavy!  Who could lift it?  Yeah, it’ll take a couple of people, they won’t press their ear against your safe and crack it right there.  They will lift it out, if not hook it up to the tow hook of the getaway car and drag it outside, load it up, and crack it open later.

From the pictures above, the quality of workmanship already looks better than the commercial door hinges I’d likely try to force onto my own passageway.  The picture below, I find very entertaining, as it reminds me of The Munsters, lacking of course, “spot”, the fire breathing dragon/monster/creature living under the stairs.  But instead, it’s a nice hiding spot in a split-level home.

From Creative Home Engineering (via BallerHouse)

I’m not sure how many waterskiers this rig can tow, and actually doubt it’s ever left its foundation/boat slip. But wouldn’t that be hilarious? If the neighborhood went to hell, you could just pull up anchor and head south to Oregon… head north to Canada… um, yeah.. better off finding another spot a mile away.

The Houseboat (Floating home) from ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ can be yours for an even $2,500,000. But with that, you can retreat back to 1993, before Tom Hanks’ Oscars and Meg Ryan was America’s sweetheart. I remember vividly though thinking how great that would be to walk out on the deck and be so close to the water.

(From Coldwell Banker via Zillow Blog - Which was the source of previous Famous Homes)

This was featured on the front page of the San Jose Mercury News a couple of days ago. There’s a non-profit housing developer in San Jose which developed a 17 unit condo property blocks away from San Jose State Univ. aimed at the affordable housing crowd. Problem is, out of those 17 available ‘affordable’ units, only one has been sold in the eight months since ‘for sale’ signs went up. I’m not even sure if that’s counting the amount of time this project has been up for pre-sale.

Wait, what? The ‘affordable’ homes are supposed to be snatched up really quick, right? Well, yeah, in most markets they are, so long as they’re “Affordable”. These condos started out expensive, and have just received a price cut to “not as expensive”.

Two-bedroom condos at Villa Almendra once priced at $535,000 now are offered at $450,000. The units come with new appliances, two-car garages and granite countertops.

(From the San Jose Mercury News)

Now, of course, to qualify for affordable housing in santa clara county, the household (up to four) can’t earn an income of more than $84,900 annually. And with loan incentives, the mortgage payment can be brought down to a little over $2,300 a month. That is of course, before HOA fees, taxes, insurance, etc.

So, ‘Affordable’??? Not even close. However, many would be quick to point out that the San Jose/Silicon Valley area is one of the most expensive markets in the U.S. And right you are, if not THE most expensive metropolitan area in the country. From this I bring in the home cost-per-square-foot factor into the mix. Right now, the average cost-per-square-foot for the average home in this country is somewhere around $130 per square foot. In the major housing markets it has traditionally been more.

(From the Wall Street Journal)

And there it is! The writing on the Wall. San Jose checks in at $437 per square foot for a home, well above the $394 San Francisco and $286 New York,NY per-square-foot figures. Now you’d figure that an ‘affordable’ housing project would be considerably below that $437 magic number.

Well, according to the developer’s latest promotional material (http://www.nhssv.org/files/villa%20almandra.pdf), the average price per-square-foot was originally $412. With no sales, they dropped the price to $390 per-square-foot on average. From what the San Jose Mercury News article said, they’ve apparently dropped the price again. And on top of that, but has offered a free Prius to one of the next 8 buyers.

However, now the developer has opened up the sales to anyone, not just those who qualify into the ‘affordable’ category. So if you’ve got an available $2,300+ a month to live in a duplex/triplex condo, you’re in luck, because anyone who may have considered these properties previously, just stuck with commuting or found something actually affordable.

What should this project have been? A higher-density project instead of 6 separate duplex/triplex condo buildings sharing a double-loaded parking alley. Whose kids are realistically going to play on that 5 foot strip of front yard anyhow?

No word yet if the lone property owner is left holding the bag, covering the entire HOA responsibility for the whole project, paying landscapers for the upkeep.

Very often, in both my professional and personal life, I find myself crunching numbers.  For one, out of necessity, and second, out of curiousity.  Recently, I have found a great resource in Yahoo’s Finance section.  The mortgage calculator works just as how you’d expect, you drop in the figures, and the calculator pops out the appropriate information.

So thinking about buying that 350,000 dollar home?  Well crunch the numbers, add in taxes, home insurance, and get a clear figure in your head before making the big leap.

Yahoo Finance Mortgage Calculator

As you look over your results, you’ll notice your estimated mortgage payment, as well as a comprehensive payment schedule, and also what your home will cost you total (principal + interest).  Now, if you find that simple tool useful, there are many others on the Yahoo Finance page which help out with financial planning, College Saving, Taxes, Insurance, Loans and Retirement Planning.

But if you’re mainly interested in the real estate aspect of the calculator tools, then I also recommend moreso than the Mortgage Calculator, the  “How much home can I afford” calculator.  This calculates home affordability in a more “traditional mortgage’ sense.

Yahoo Finance’s Home Affordability Calculator

These tools, combined with real estate searches such as through various real estate sites and those in the similar vein such as Zillow, can save you some time pounding the proverbial pavement as you’re able to do your homework during the evenings and weekends.

The site however, is run by Yahoo, which therefore means I find it pretty reliable.  That is, unless microsoft succeeds in buying out yahoo.  In which case, your results and reliability may vary.

There’s a BEST way to load a dishwasher?  News to me.

Here’s my explanation of the dishwasher:

1. Open door, there’s two racks in there… a small one on top, and a big one down low
2. Fill up top rack as bending over is a huge pain in the ass.
3. Attempt to close top rack, take large washable items which prevented the top rack closing, and place them on the bottom rack.
4. Fill soap, shut hatch, and dish-wash!!!

Consumer reports, however, has a better approach from their Q&A where someone wasn’t pleased with how the kids filled the dishwasher.  Number one, I’m with the kids on this one, and number two, these people had kids so they wouldn’t have to rely on a dishwasher in the first place, right?

1. Load large items at the sides and back of the dishwasher, so that they don’t block water and detergent from reaching other dishes.

2. Place the dirtier side of dishes toward the center of the machine to provide more exposure to the spray. Don’t let dishes or utensils nest, or rest side by side, which can prevent water from reaching all surfaces.

3. Use the top rack for plastic and delicate items that are dishwasher safe.

4. Rest glassware on prongs to prevent breakage. And to prevent chipping, make sure that china, crystal, and stemware don’t touch other items. Don’t machine-wash brass, bronze, cast iron, disposable plastics, gold-colored flatware, gold-leaf china, hollow-handle knives, pewter, tin, or anything made of wood or with a wood handle.

More from this article, and dishwasher reviews at Consumer Reports