All Forum Posts by: Paul B.

I use Chrome (Google).

Frankly, yes, I would remove the crawl/scroll. It's visually distracting.

If I were designing this from the ground up, I would aim for a more consistent look and layout between the pages. But, I think your only goal with the site is to get prospective sellers to either pick up the phone, email you, or fill out your form. In that regard, I think you do a fine job of appearing very professional and trustworthy. You're clearly not hiding from anyone or anything.

Just for a start, that crawl at the top is a little fast. It's not that I can't keep up with it (but just barely), but it's really distracting. My eyes keep darting up to it, even if I try to read the page.

More in a moment.

I never pay anyone by the hour. It puts us at odds with what is best for each other.

Quote a price to do a job. If you end up making $100/hour, I don't care. If you end up making $2/hour, lesson learned.

"You understand that you're not getting paid one thin dime until the job is done to my satisfaction, right?"

That usually obviates the need for the exhaustive interview list.

I understand your concern, but unless he really likes you a lot and just wants to give you free money (in which case, can we set up a meeting?), he's making a business decision that he'd rather give the note away than keep it. So, I'd just reduce that to writing and make the consideration $10 or something, just to document the whole thing.

Having said that, I am one of those people who tends to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.

Why not just write up a one-pager that says the seller deems the note overly risky (or something along those lines) and sell it for $10 or some other amount that could make it a legitimate purchase?

(YET!)

You're right, Joshua. "Bumping" does have a negative connotation. I don't think anyone here "bumps" threads, but that appears to be the result of great housekeeping by our hosts. (Thank you, Joshua and Jon.)

Bryan, I had not thought about having a topic stay on one long, albeit old, thread vs. having a bunch of locked up topics on the same thing. Very good point.

I have my answer. Baby aspirin it is.

I'll preface this by saying that, despite my being "only" 43 years old, I'm a full-fledged curmudgeon. A real "Andy Rooney" in training, if you will, only without the insane eyebrows...

So, having said that, does it drive anyone else batty when they click a thread, read the last reply, then realize that it's a response to a thread that was started 1-2 years ago? Or one where there hasn't been any activity in months?

I understand the argument that if something's of interest to someone searching, they should read and share feedback, help, etc., but WOW I feel my curmudgeon level zooming to "11" (a la "This is Spinal Tap") when I see it.

Does anyone think that threads "x" days old (or inactive) should be locked? Or, should I just consider taking an 81mg aspirin each morning?

Ray, this is a very specific question. There's no wrong or right answer. Having said that, I would never buy a condo, ever. But that's just me.

Give us some numbers. What will it cost? What will it rent for? Will you pay cash or borrow money? How much will you borrow?

Do you know what percentage of the building is investor owned? What other units are for sale? What has sold there recently? Find a Realtor with an active listing in the building and get on the phone.

It should be fairly easy to find out what the rental market is in your neighborhood. You could start by hopping on Craigslist and seeing what's available and for how much. Do you see a lot of 1BRs or only a few? What kind of people would want to live in that condo? Single person? Retired couple?

There's a rental market for almost any property if the price is right. It all begins and ends with the numbers. So, what are yours?