That’s awesome! After reading about all the shit you’ve had to deal with, really happy this worked out for you.
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Thanks, appreciate it!
Thanks! Me too. I’m excited to get into the new place and start turning the corner on the past year.
Just adding a +1 to the other comments. Sounds like its going to be really great for you.
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Depends how long you keep it for. If you plan on keeping the vehicle 10 plus years it really doesn’t matter.
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Thanks! I hope so, I’m optimistic.
That’s true. Personally I think it’s more cost effective to cycle through CPOs every 3-5 years, but those are the two best options IMO and it depends on a person’s needs/preferences and driving habits. I put more miles on a car than most, so keeping it longer would likely lead to a lot more maintenance cost/hassle.
I suppose the buy and hold approach is also good with a CPO instead of a brand new car, but those three are best imo. Buying used cars that aren’t certified has been a nightmare for me and for my parents too.
Then again, you’re all familiar with my luck lol…
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I had a Corolla years ago that I got up to > 260k miles and it was still passing inspection and running fine when I gave it to one of my guys at work. He quit like 2 weeks later so I have no idea how long it ran for after that. You can’t go wrong with a Corolla or a Civic.
I had an '84 Toyota Tercel that made it up to 200k miles. Bought from my uncle for $200 down, and another $200 if it was still running in 12 months. The fuel gauge and speedometer weren’t functional. The doors wouldn’t open, so you had to get in and out through the windows, which was an interesting litmus test on first dates.
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Yeah I probably put like 10-12K miles a year on normally, although with the pandemic it might be more like 3-4K. How do you only put 1,000 miles on??? That’s crazy. 19 miles a week?
I don’t think I’ve ever had a car make it over 120K miles without major issues. Of course, the sample size is three and two were '96 Camaros I bought in 2006-2008, not exactly a picture of reliability. My 2013 Impala bought CPO in 2015 did okay, other than some frustrating electrical problems, until I totaled it at around 110-120K miles. So far so good on my Mazda, and I anticipate sticking with foreign cars for a while.
I was raised to buy American to help the American worker, but the lack of reliability of American-made cars in my experience broke me of that propaganda.
Alright, more fun moving stuff. Anyone ever used movers before? Any hacks/tricks? My plan is to basically use the e-mail based car shopping plan from above… get about five quotes via e-mail, check Google reviews and the BBB, take the best price, knock maybe 10% off and see if anyone else will take it, then give the best price a chance to beat it.
I’ve never used movers before, anything else I should be looking out for?
I’d do whatever I did previously if it worked out ok.
Previously I’ve done it myself with my father, but I don’t want to have him spend too much time inside this apartment building during a pandemic (he’s over 70), nor do I want either of us to be huffing and puffing going up and down the elevator a lot, sucking wind through a KN95 trying to remember not to touch our face while sweat pours down our brow. Plan is for us to do the little stuff I don’t want them to touch, one or two trips up and down the elevator with carts, and leave the big stuff for the movers.
How’s that work? I’d love to save some on car insurance during the pandemic.
std
I’ve used movers a lot, all within local geographic area moves, and never more items than what you’d find in a normal 1-3 bedroom home.
In San Diego, the average going rate is ~$90/hr for a crew of 2 or 3 movers and the truck. Do not select based on price, select based on reviews. Saving $50 isn’t worth it if the moving company sucks.
Box up all your stuff yourself. The movers should have plastic wrap for your large furniture items that could get scraped in transit, and flat screen TV, etc.
I always have water, gatorade, and snack bars for the movers. I’ll tell them I’m picking up a burrito at a taco shop and ask them if they want one too. Easy way to get them lunch for a small expense.
At the end I tip them $50-100 depending upon the size of the job and how well they did.
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Check out Bellhop if you don’t feel like putting in much effort. Friends used it and had a good experience. Super easy to set up.
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Good stuff, thanks! Good idea getting them water and Gatorade and some food, cheap way to make them want to be careful and do well.
$90/hr, I wish. I was quoted $195/hr for three movers from the first place. So far the others all have scary bad reviews. I’m going to ask the realtor I worked with who she recommends.
I’ll check this out. Is this the one where you get the truck and they do the heavy lifting?
Nah. Standard moving company; just without the bullshit.
Pretty much agree with this, I’ve always packed my own items into boxes and just had the movers load and unload the truck. I’ve payed $400-500 for pretty simple moves that took 4-6 hours and then I added tip onto that. I’m guessing your quote at $200 per hour included them boxing all of your stuff up as well?
Checked them out, but their online reviews are abysmal.
No, it wasn’t supposed to. It was just supposed to be for them to come in, pick up the furniture and move it, and drop it off. I’m not even having them take it into the new house, just leave it in the garage, and I’ll be disassembling and reassembling everything myself and moving the boxes myself.
They wanted $195/hr + $25 for fuel, 3 hour minimum. I’m guessing it’ll be a 3-4 hour job (about a 50 minute drive). So basically $600-800 plus tax and tip.
Anyone here know about financing home improvement projects? My girlfriend is thinking of doing a fairly major project at her house but is hitting an unexpected snag related to financing.
She was planning to do a home equity loan or line of credit, or possibly a cash-out refinance. On paper she has plenty of headroom for this with well over $300k between her mortgage balance (known) and what the house is worth (Zestimate).
But the two banks she’s contacted, USAA and Wells Fargo, both have said they’re not doing that kind of loan right now. And it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with her suitability for a loan–they said this before getting into any details about her situation.
So, any insight into what’s going on there? And if any other banks are still doing these loans? Or if not, what alternatives might be possible?