One of my sons lives in Ponte Vedra. He just bought a new home there and had to dispose of a lot of items from his old home. He is renting it until the market improves. He has found a good tenant who wants to move in right away and so he has to get rid of the left over household goods he did not take with him. My wife and I offered to hold a garage sale at the old home.
We are very familiar with Palm Coast garage sales. We have neighbors who go regularly as a form of entertainment. We have bought things from Comin Around Again (http://CominAroundAgain.com) and our friend runs At Your Service, another professional garage sale and estate sale organization here in town. Garage Sales are very popular here. Early Birds arrive in droves and cars fill the street around the sale houses.
Not so in Ponte Vedra. Different demographics. Palm Coasters are looking for bargains. Ponte Vedrans are mostly just nosy neighbors checking out other neighbors to better keep up with the Joneses-or at least bad mouth them and their poor taste. And no Early Birds. The rush didn’t come until after 10:00am.
But the Ponte Vedra address did attract some bargain hunters and the tenants themselves decided to purchase a number of things. We sold two oriental rugs, an antique vanity with a mirror, an antique roll top desk, a chest of drawers, a pool side set of wicker chairs and small tables, and a lot of geegaws and small things. This Thursday we are renting a trailer, going back to Ponte Vedra, and hauling the rest of the stuff home here to Palm Coast- where bargains are appreciated and garage sales tours have replaced model home tours as a fun way to spend a couple of hours.
Barb and I don’t like to haul stuff in and out of our garage. And the garage is full to the brim. And you can never tell if it will rain on your Garage Sale date and then you can’t use your driveway. But we want to downsize for when we get feeble and we have lots of things we want to dispose of. So I am creating www.PalmCoastGarageSales.com to sell my son’s stuff and some of my own.
We will attack the garage like this: We will make three piles…”Throw this crap out” “Try to Sell This Stuff” and “Give this to Goodwill”. With some luck we will have room in the garage for at least one car by spring.
My online-garage-sale thing is unique. Palm Coast does not have a CraigsList. We have to list on Daytona’s or St. Augustine’s. Sell on EBay? I just bought something from an EBay auction. What a pain in the ass. Staring at the deadline time and frantically punching in higher “maximum bids”-I got my thing at somewhat of a discount, but did not like the process. About a year ago I used the “Buy Now” feature of EBay and wound up owning two Dyson sweepers by mistake. And selling things? And EBay is putting the squeeze on the little guy and has made it much more restrictive and complicated to sell one or two items. They want storefronts with lots of items and five star ratings.
So I am doing an internet thing. I am developing my website using lots of videos on it to show items. Lots of pictures. And I have a unit at Champion Self Storage I call my “Inspection Station” where-if you see something you like on the website-you can arrange to see it in person at the Inspection Station. Like at a garage-based Garage Sale, you make me an offer using email and I either accept your offer or call you a nasty name. It should be fun.
Many of us Senior Citizens who go to Garage Sales break out in a rash when someone asks us if we have email or use a computer. But more and more of us Oldies are admitting computers are like indoor plumbing. You can’t really defend why you won’t use one. Well, you can and do, but I think you know you are sounding ridiculous.
I am offering www.PalmCoastGarageSale.com as a vehicle for other Palm Coasters to sell their stuff and give the proceeds to charity and I am also selling space on it real cheap-free to some-in order to get started with a good inventory so the site will be a good place to go and browse around and look at things… without the need to get up early in the morning and then hassle with where to park your car.
Got something you would like me to sell for you? Drop me a comment. Talk To Ted !
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Palm Coast Condos Are Not for Poor People
On Monday, the Federal Housing Administration started limiting the number of buyers in condo buildings that can get loans insured by the agency.
The rules put restrictions on buildings with poor finances, too many delinquent owners and a high number of rentals. One change is that no more than 15 percent of total units can be more than 30 days behind on condo association fees. Another is a requirement that 50 percent of a condominium be owner-occupied.
These tighter lending standards are designed to protect the financial health of the FHA. Roughly 18 percent of loans currently insured by the FHA are delinquent or in foreclosure. The agency’s financial cushion is below the federal minimum.
The FHA, a key source of mortgage financing, insures roughly one in four new loans. Primarily because buyers need only a 3.5 percent down payment.
Prices in qualifying condos will probably go up while “unqualified” units won’t sell at all. The move will be a blow to many Palm Coast condo owners who are trying to sell their units. And a boon to people with money who want to make a smart, long-term real estate investment.
This runs counter to political initiatives that encourage first time home buyers and other “economically disadvantaged” to buy a home.
Overall, poor folks and real estate agents like me will suck wind….government greenhouse gas.
I wish I knew which of our Palm Coast condos had “poor finances and/or a high number of rentals". Canopy Walk? I will keep tuned in to Toby Tobin’s newsletter at http://gotoby.com/ to see if he gets info about where and how this new, restrictive lending policy is affecting Palm Coast’s emergence from the real estate slump.
But the Rich Can Get Richer using the FHA Section 203k program to purchase ‘dream homes’. More and more distressed properties are hitting the market and mortgage lenders increasingly offer FHA Section 203k mortgages. These loans finance both home purchases and residential improvements, allowing buyers to purchase dwellings with possibilities and transform them into dream homes. In many instances, homes are in prime locales but need some work; and experts say the 203k mortgage program lets average buyers snap them up. I'm a Buyers' Agent! Let me find one for you!
The rules put restrictions on buildings with poor finances, too many delinquent owners and a high number of rentals. One change is that no more than 15 percent of total units can be more than 30 days behind on condo association fees. Another is a requirement that 50 percent of a condominium be owner-occupied.
These tighter lending standards are designed to protect the financial health of the FHA. Roughly 18 percent of loans currently insured by the FHA are delinquent or in foreclosure. The agency’s financial cushion is below the federal minimum.
The FHA, a key source of mortgage financing, insures roughly one in four new loans. Primarily because buyers need only a 3.5 percent down payment.
Prices in qualifying condos will probably go up while “unqualified” units won’t sell at all. The move will be a blow to many Palm Coast condo owners who are trying to sell their units. And a boon to people with money who want to make a smart, long-term real estate investment.
This runs counter to political initiatives that encourage first time home buyers and other “economically disadvantaged” to buy a home.
Overall, poor folks and real estate agents like me will suck wind….government greenhouse gas.
I wish I knew which of our Palm Coast condos had “poor finances and/or a high number of rentals". Canopy Walk? I will keep tuned in to Toby Tobin’s newsletter at http://gotoby.com/ to see if he gets info about where and how this new, restrictive lending policy is affecting Palm Coast’s emergence from the real estate slump.
But the Rich Can Get Richer using the FHA Section 203k program to purchase ‘dream homes’. More and more distressed properties are hitting the market and mortgage lenders increasingly offer FHA Section 203k mortgages. These loans finance both home purchases and residential improvements, allowing buyers to purchase dwellings with possibilities and transform them into dream homes. In many instances, homes are in prime locales but need some work; and experts say the 203k mortgage program lets average buyers snap them up. I'm a Buyers' Agent! Let me find one for you!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Intellectuals Don’t Own Television Sets...Do They?
A friend of ours is very proud to let everyone know they don’t own a TV set. I know they are both very bright and have in-depth knowledge about subjects that are of interest to them. One also has considerable musical talent. In general they are justifiably people to admire.
But this put me off…”we don’t own a television set”. Like everyone who does is intellectually deficient.
And I see the same thing with one of our Home-Schooler friends. “We don’t own a TV set”. “Our children spend time studying and taking music lessons and going to horsey camp”.
Watching too much TV is definitely on my ‘do not’ list. Watching no TV is not.
Not having an iPhone, bad-mouthing text messaging and not participating in social networking is more a signal that you are close-minded. Not that you are refined and “Conservative”.
And not owning a television set is a pseudo- intellectual accoutrement. Posturing. Trying to be “smarter than thou”, “better than thou”.
Common Sense has fallen into disrepute:
"Those “commoners” want to take over control of their local and national governments, want to establish their moral values as our community’s moral values, to dictate what textbooks are used in schools. To resist acceptance of co-ed college dormitory living where their student children can party and have sex under more favorable conditions. How wrong. How dare they! A Populist Movement? Pshaw. Nix. Nein. Those Commoners just aren’t qualified to be in charge of anything."
Or are they?
Since I am smarter than most and do not consider myself a Commoner, I understand my academic-elitist and pseudo-intellectual friends' arguments. However, my Common Sense (non sequitur) tells me many of their ideas won’t work. Including not watching a little TV. We need to keep in touch with the riff raff.
Almost everything is changing. So I better consider that ‘History Repeats Itself’ and give that shibboleth as much importance as ‘Rely on the Reasoning of Smarter People’. And I better keep aware of what is going on around me. Outside my comfort zone.
Please note how I use fancy words and expressions to be sure any possible reader of this tripe will recognize How Great I Am.
But this put me off…”we don’t own a television set”. Like everyone who does is intellectually deficient.
And I see the same thing with one of our Home-Schooler friends. “We don’t own a TV set”. “Our children spend time studying and taking music lessons and going to horsey camp”.
Watching too much TV is definitely on my ‘do not’ list. Watching no TV is not.
Not having an iPhone, bad-mouthing text messaging and not participating in social networking is more a signal that you are close-minded. Not that you are refined and “Conservative”.
And not owning a television set is a pseudo- intellectual accoutrement. Posturing. Trying to be “smarter than thou”, “better than thou”.
Common Sense has fallen into disrepute:
"Those “commoners” want to take over control of their local and national governments, want to establish their moral values as our community’s moral values, to dictate what textbooks are used in schools. To resist acceptance of co-ed college dormitory living where their student children can party and have sex under more favorable conditions. How wrong. How dare they! A Populist Movement? Pshaw. Nix. Nein. Those Commoners just aren’t qualified to be in charge of anything."
Or are they?
Since I am smarter than most and do not consider myself a Commoner, I understand my academic-elitist and pseudo-intellectual friends' arguments. However, my Common Sense (non sequitur) tells me many of their ideas won’t work. Including not watching a little TV. We need to keep in touch with the riff raff.
Almost everything is changing. So I better consider that ‘History Repeats Itself’ and give that shibboleth as much importance as ‘Rely on the Reasoning of Smarter People’. And I better keep aware of what is going on around me. Outside my comfort zone.
Please note how I use fancy words and expressions to be sure any possible reader of this tripe will recognize How Great I Am.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Joulupukki Wishes A Merry Christmas to all Palm Coast’s Nuuttipukki’s
Joulupukki, is the Finnish Santa Claus and he lives with his wife and helpers and reindeer in Lapland. (One of my favorite places)
I looked up Jolupukki on Wikipedia so I could ask him for something for Christmas.
I found out my fellow travelers are called Nuutipukki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joulupukki
What? You don’t know what a Nuuttipukki is either? No, it’s not some nut with a hangover, ralphing his heart out.
They are “people who perform for leftover food after Christmas” And they dress like goats. (Hopefully they don’t smell like them).
I expect there will be more Nuttipukki’s types than ever in Palm Coast this year. The unemployment rate is over 16%.
My PalmCoastGarageSale.com site isn’t up yet, so I will be among them.
Anyway, I’m an Aires Ram and think this link is a great read for us Wiko-philes
I looked up Jolupukki on Wikipedia so I could ask him for something for Christmas.
I found out my fellow travelers are called Nuutipukki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joulupukki
What? You don’t know what a Nuuttipukki is either? No, it’s not some nut with a hangover, ralphing his heart out.
They are “people who perform for leftover food after Christmas” And they dress like goats. (Hopefully they don’t smell like them).
I expect there will be more Nuttipukki’s types than ever in Palm Coast this year. The unemployment rate is over 16%.
My PalmCoastGarageSale.com site isn’t up yet, so I will be among them.
Anyway, I’m an Aires Ram and think this link is a great read for us Wiko-philes
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Riches to Rags…Palm Coast Accommodates Change, Ted Pioneers It !
About three years ago Flagler County was about the fastest growing area in the country.
Last month Palm Coast had Florida’s highest unemployment rate-16.1 %.
Before the large increase in population Palm Coast was predominantly a retirement community, Becoming a retired person immediately sharpens one’s bargaining skills and changes one’s shopping habits.
So does losing your job.
Before we retired to Florida my wife and I shopped in small, locally owned specialty stores for almost everything. Kings Market for groceries, and Roots for clothes. A nearby farm for our eggs, a butcher shop for meat. Even in a place on Main Street in Madison, NJ where you bought a live chicken and they killed and de-feathered it for you.
We watched Toys-R-Us be born and Two Guys from Harrison start up. And then we began shopping in Big Box stores
We grew older. Retired to Florida and kept the same lifestyle. However, as the years passed we began to outlive our money. We had to rely more and more on Social Insecurity checks.
So we have joined the droves of Palm Coast Geezers and Gerties eating Early Bird Specials, shopping in The Dollar Tree and going to garage sales rather than Vegas Casino’s for our kicks.
Some of us 'Senior Citizens' are becoming computer literate and can shop Craig’s List, Amazon and Ebay for bargains. But most of us oldies prefer more social interaction.
We have already been through the ‘Scratch and Claw’, ‘Upward Mobility or Bust’ phase of our lives. We no longer need to rub shoulders with 'type A' over-achievers and people with more money than us.
Now we are happy and amused checking out the tattoos and hearing the deep south, Russian, Jamacian, and ‘God only knows’ foreign accents at the Flagler Farmers Market.
Giving away to someone one of the bargains we discovered at Goodwill, or a consignment store, or Beal’s Clearance, or something that we spotted at a Garage Sale or Flea Market may still be considered Gosh by those with gelt; but we don’t think so. Or care.
Especially when we give one of our bargain treasures to someone for no reason at all. No birthday. No Christmas present. Not for a wedding or graduation. Just because we love you and were thinking of you (and we love to shop and just had to buy it and it was sooo cheap!)..
Today Palm Coast is a gold mine for bargains of all kinds. Restaurant specials, two-for-one deals ("we can always give one away"). Coupons up the gazoo. Garage sales, Flea markets, Farmer’s Markets, Consignment Shops.
Palm Coast makes being poor fun.
However...on seeing this happening...I just could not suppress my lifelong addiction to entrepreneurial adventures. To identifying trends; to starting new businesses.
So last week I piloted my Internet Garage Sale.
I’m working out the bugs at . http://pontevedragaragesales.com/
It's under construction but online.
And I will migrate that site to my PalmCoastGarageSale.com site real soon. Then we can downsize and I can empty out my garage. And (if I don’t lose my ass on it) maybe I will sell some of my friends and neighbors stuff on it, too. Hell, maybe I will become rich again and shop in Dubai. Look out Craigslist, here I come!
Check the site out and give me some advice. Tell me to “Forgettabout It”, give me some good interface design ideas... or some good stuff to sell cheap on my websites. Tell me something you have for sale.
That’s what this blog post was all about, right? People buying and selling good stuff at bargain prices!
http://pontevedragaragesales.com/
Last month Palm Coast had Florida’s highest unemployment rate-16.1 %.
Before the large increase in population Palm Coast was predominantly a retirement community, Becoming a retired person immediately sharpens one’s bargaining skills and changes one’s shopping habits.
So does losing your job.
Before we retired to Florida my wife and I shopped in small, locally owned specialty stores for almost everything. Kings Market for groceries, and Roots for clothes. A nearby farm for our eggs, a butcher shop for meat. Even in a place on Main Street in Madison, NJ where you bought a live chicken and they killed and de-feathered it for you.
We watched Toys-R-Us be born and Two Guys from Harrison start up. And then we began shopping in Big Box stores
We grew older. Retired to Florida and kept the same lifestyle. However, as the years passed we began to outlive our money. We had to rely more and more on Social Insecurity checks.
So we have joined the droves of Palm Coast Geezers and Gerties eating Early Bird Specials, shopping in The Dollar Tree and going to garage sales rather than Vegas Casino’s for our kicks.
Some of us 'Senior Citizens' are becoming computer literate and can shop Craig’s List, Amazon and Ebay for bargains. But most of us oldies prefer more social interaction.
We have already been through the ‘Scratch and Claw’, ‘Upward Mobility or Bust’ phase of our lives. We no longer need to rub shoulders with 'type A' over-achievers and people with more money than us.
Now we are happy and amused checking out the tattoos and hearing the deep south, Russian, Jamacian, and ‘God only knows’ foreign accents at the Flagler Farmers Market.
Giving away to someone one of the bargains we discovered at Goodwill, or a consignment store, or Beal’s Clearance, or something that we spotted at a Garage Sale or Flea Market may still be considered Gosh by those with gelt; but we don’t think so. Or care.
Especially when we give one of our bargain treasures to someone for no reason at all. No birthday. No Christmas present. Not for a wedding or graduation. Just because we love you and were thinking of you (and we love to shop and just had to buy it and it was sooo cheap!)..
Today Palm Coast is a gold mine for bargains of all kinds. Restaurant specials, two-for-one deals ("we can always give one away"). Coupons up the gazoo. Garage sales, Flea markets, Farmer’s Markets, Consignment Shops.
Palm Coast makes being poor fun.
However...on seeing this happening...I just could not suppress my lifelong addiction to entrepreneurial adventures. To identifying trends; to starting new businesses.
So last week I piloted my Internet Garage Sale.
I’m working out the bugs at . http://pontevedragaragesales.com/
It's under construction but online.
And I will migrate that site to my PalmCoastGarageSale.com site real soon. Then we can downsize and I can empty out my garage. And (if I don’t lose my ass on it) maybe I will sell some of my friends and neighbors stuff on it, too. Hell, maybe I will become rich again and shop in Dubai. Look out Craigslist, here I come!
Check the site out and give me some advice. Tell me to “Forgettabout It”, give me some good interface design ideas... or some good stuff to sell cheap on my websites. Tell me something you have for sale.
That’s what this blog post was all about, right? People buying and selling good stuff at bargain prices!
http://pontevedragaragesales.com/
Friday, December 4, 2009
Of Interest to Pilots: Sullenberger Public Record Release
I just received this YouTube link from a Facebook friend. I found it interesting...and I am not a pilot!
http://www.exosphere3d.com/pubwww/pages/project_gallery/cactus_1549_hudson_river.html
http://www.exosphere3d.com/pubwww/pages/project_gallery/cactus_1549_hudson_river.html
Thursday, December 3, 2009
President Obama: We Lost, Let’s Go Home!
I listened to our President last night. I think he has serious doubts, like most of America, that we can convert a country run for centuries by tribes and tribal rules; Mullas and religious rules, and get them to subjugate themselves to a single central authority. First America sends in a less than overwhelming force to be 'the authority' and then America somehow transfers their power to the Afgan police and/or army? By training them? Your kidding!
It won’t happen. The Afgannies are too diverse a people and too chaotic. Wealth and power is disbursed too unevenly. Between religious differences and entrenched economic interests-including the drug trade-it would take a Kubla Kahn (or Saddam Hussein) to get them all in line... all following one authority like a central government and/or national police force.
Unless maybe there is a strong-armed dictator somewhere in the bushes. But America usuallys pick the wrong one to help-someone who soon turns against us or gets thrown out of power.
Forgettaboutit!
And I think our President agrees. He is just being, as is normal for him, "politically expedient" and sending in more troops to support an ambiguous, lose-for-sure, strategy.
I wonder why Colin Powell doesn’t speak out? “Go in with overwhelming force and have an exit strategy, or don’t go to war at all” is such good advice.
We need to get out of Afganistan and the existing "strategy" as soon as possible and re-start a new effort to somehow protect ourselves against fanatical, religious terrorists wherever they are.
We need to stop shooting at a moving target; claiming ‘territory’ like Falusia or Southern Afganistan or wherever. We will kill some of them, but if we do start to win the battle over geography, the bad guys will just pull up stakes and go somewhere else.
You don’t think so? Add a comment. As we all sit here waiting to see what will happen politically at the polls, materially with our money and most importantly, with our sons and daughters in the service of our country..
It won’t happen. The Afgannies are too diverse a people and too chaotic. Wealth and power is disbursed too unevenly. Between religious differences and entrenched economic interests-including the drug trade-it would take a Kubla Kahn (or Saddam Hussein) to get them all in line... all following one authority like a central government and/or national police force.
Unless maybe there is a strong-armed dictator somewhere in the bushes. But America usuallys pick the wrong one to help-someone who soon turns against us or gets thrown out of power.
Forgettaboutit!
And I think our President agrees. He is just being, as is normal for him, "politically expedient" and sending in more troops to support an ambiguous, lose-for-sure, strategy.
I wonder why Colin Powell doesn’t speak out? “Go in with overwhelming force and have an exit strategy, or don’t go to war at all” is such good advice.
We need to get out of Afganistan and the existing "strategy" as soon as possible and re-start a new effort to somehow protect ourselves against fanatical, religious terrorists wherever they are.
We need to stop shooting at a moving target; claiming ‘territory’ like Falusia or Southern Afganistan or wherever. We will kill some of them, but if we do start to win the battle over geography, the bad guys will just pull up stakes and go somewhere else.
You don’t think so? Add a comment. As we all sit here waiting to see what will happen politically at the polls, materially with our money and most importantly, with our sons and daughters in the service of our country..
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