and I don't want a bunch of frozen stuff..I got one of those packages as a gift and there was one Radish in a plastic bag I thought what a waste..But what I really loved was buying our Teslas on line.... now that is the bomb.. no more car dealer BS.the price is the price and you can literally have a new car bought in less than 30 minutes if your paying cash. then they e mail you when its in the show room and ready to be picked up which depending on where your at or what model can be a matter of next day or a week or so out..

Their appraised value on homesteaded property is frozen once they turn 65.Does that make sense?

The duplex is built in 1910, cash flows well, but has snow sitting on the roof half the year, I have to replace the furnace already, worry about ice/snow removal, and of course, had to pay for that frozen pipe (that goodness it didn't burst).   

Grass and weeds tend to grow in between pavers, you need to shovel and salt in the winter (especially in Chicago) and due to the freeze-thaw cycle the pavers tend to creep, move, bend and look unsightly after a short time (the frozen water expands, shifting the pavers around and out of alignment during the winter) All-in-all, I would imagine its a bit of a hassle, especially if people tend to enter through the garage. 

The problem here is when you bought the property, your was worth 5 times the equity, but after 4 years (in this example) the PV was only worth 3 times the equity...and the equity represents cash that is frozen. 

I'm at that standstill point I have read and watched so much about, I just am frozen as to what do next.  

Helocs for SURE can get frozen and called.. make no mistake about that..

Again to clarify this basement was water damaged from frozen pipes bursting NOT water seepage.After considering the costs and all the posts above I thought of this - Scrap and paint the blockPaint the drop ceiling framing and put in new tilesSurface mount the existing electrical outletsPut in cheap carpetPut in cheap baseboard trimDONE.

sometimes people leave water running if they go out of town during the winter to prevent frozen pipes...is it possible they thought they were doing you a favor, but left the pressure too high which accidentally led to this water bill??

How cold is it outside,, could you possibly have a frozen pipe that's not letting water circulate.. that will happen on boiler system..If you boiler was leaking and you had it fixed. you shouldn't need to keep adding water now.. you must have another leak somewhere in the system if the pressure for water level is down..