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Catpfish

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Everything posted by Catpfish

  1. Don't think it will work that way. I'm pretty sure that I read the rescuers/searchers were having to leave tanks along the route because there are areas where you can't fit through wearing a tank.
  2. I think the county will determine that. My neighbor, who I bought my land from, was going to sell a five acre tract on the far end of his property. Travis county was going to require the new buyer to have all of the "original" tract resurveyed. That meant that about 6 different tracts were going to have to be resurveyed and I think the total cost was going to be in the $7,000-$10,000 (or higher) range. I think it will end up being something along TwiceHorn's post about the county trying to force "updated" surveys whenever possible.
  3. What Rusty is getting at is that it oculd take several months to get an approved plat. The survey is one of the first steps if full approval by the county commissioners is going to be needed. I think it took about 4-5 months when I went through the process in 2012.
  4. I'm ETJ of another city but since I'm on over 5 acres, that city defers to Travis County for regulation. At the time I was carving out my acreage from a much larger farm, I was told by the county that a permit would be required to clear the hackberries and any further development or improvements after my house (plans approved by county but no inspections) and the approved septic (three inspections per code) would require a permit.
  5. The septic is the only thing that would require an inspection. Everything else could easily be done without the county knowing about it.
  6. Technically, you are supposed to get a development permit anytime you do something to improve your property. It's the county's way of raising revenue and making sure they get their tax bite. I have hackberry trees along the front of my property. Were I to decide to cut them down, I should get a permit...I won't, but I should. I had a friend get a pool put in and specifically told the builder that he was not to get the permit from the county. He's going to ride it until the county finds thee pool via the satellite.
  7. It's possible to buy them out early depending on how much you want to spend
  8. In terms of resale, a leased system adds zero to the appraisal per FHA guidelines. There is a real problem in Austin with appraisers adding much value (if any) for owned systems. I'm sure that will change as more homes have solar, but right now it can be a point of contention in the sale/appraisal process.
  9. They say it takes two weeks to notice anything (supposedly 95% effective at that point) so it'll take a bit. I hung a kit here but it's usually so windy that I don't know if it'll be obvious if it is working.
  10. Update on the shipping...just got my order in and I placed it on Friday. Lost Monday due to Memorial Day and that is pretty quick turnaround. I never even got a shipping confirmation. I have given a kit to a co-worker who has a lot of mosquitoes, so I might have something to report in a couple of weeks.
  11. This is a performance from the National Memorial Day concert from this year. The lyrics were added to the Band of Brothers main theme in 2003. It caused a dust storm in the house when it was on.
  12. Just head's up, it takes 7-10 days to ship and I have no clue on how long the transit time is.
  13. There are smoking deals to be had
  14. Also go with the darkest grout you can. I think it looks like shadowing and gives it more "depth" on the very thin grout lines...also hides dirt better
  15. Aren't these fundamentally at odds with each other? The whole purpose of the foam insulation is to seal the envelope. I know that when we want a fire in the fireplace, we have to crack a window to get it going. Once it's going, it will draw from a separate vent we put into the chimney for that purpose.
  16. It's definitely worth a try. Since they like to use median, you can also include a high priced one just to show that you didn't only pick the low ones. You'll probably have to defend your choices beyond being the same square footage as they have some crazy rating system based on "corners" (or at least they used to) and that was how they tried to justify rating house construction as lower or higher quality even though the house was built at the same time, by the same builder and in the same neighborhood. The lead appraiser several years ago (I think it was Dismukes) was barely above the IQ of warm spit.
  17. One more thing, their comp equity grid did show a value of $340K...explain that one to me. I guess people aren't protesting their valuations and are paying over 10% in taxes more than they should be
  18. In a shocking update, the appraisal district is full of shit. Protested my dad's house and (being a realtor) took in all of the sales from the subdivision to support our claim. The appraiser said that realtors only care about price per square foot and that the county doesn't go by that. Yet, they use the exact same sales in the exact same manner...and then come up with their valuation. They had my dad's house at roughly $340K on their valuation and when they sent their evidence packet, their own comp sales grid had a value of $307K. When questioned about it, the guy was like "Oh, I guess someone made a mistake. We've got your valuation at $307K." No, you didn't, you lying mother fucker, the tax appraisal statement clearly states $340K. If we hadn't said something, it would have never changed.
  19. Don't know in this particular instance, but some companies have a fee when escrow is waived because they will have to verify that taxes and insurance have been paid and that fee would be more than any pittance you would earn in interest
  20. So be very careful in this instance with your tax escrows and how you handle them. When your valuation takes a big jump in 2019, it's very possible that the lender will be behind the curve and you could be headed for a dramatic increase in your payment. State law only allows escrow accounts to maintain a certain level, any overage is refunded to the owner. If your payment was calculated using completed value, you'll have a large balance in escrow after taxes at the end of the year and you should get a refund. If the loan servicing company resets your payment using the 2018 valuation as a guide, you'll be woefully short on escrow at the end of 2019. You'll have to make up the difference, essentially doubling your escrow tax payment to catch up the shortage and pay for the 2020 taxes. I've seen payments go up by more than $500 when people weren't expecting it and weren't prepared.
  21. I don't know nothing 'bout nothing, but isn't it possible that the best plan just happens to be with a company that plays along with Energy Ogre? If half of the companies play along, you should get the lowest cost plan about half the time, right?
  22. The Sandpiper just got it's roof inspected and passed within the last month. They are thinking August/September since they just started the sheetrock. They took all of the sheetrock out up to two feet and all the way in certain rooms/floors. I would imagine that the Seagull is in a similar situation. They lost half of the brick on the south wall.
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