OT Society... was Banned from the Garden!--very long

Very true. Not to mention a tornado passing through a trailer park has
a high probability of being observed whereas a tornado passing through
miles of fields may not be visually spotted. It irks me to hear about
how residents of a trailer park are supposed to go to the park's
community/rec center when a storm warning is issued. So many severe
storms pass through at night or on weekends and residents show up only
to find the doors locked. Not to mention waiting until the warning is
announced could easily be too late!

On this note, hope anyone who has been in the areas hit this week
(tornadoes in/near Cedar Rapids and in Youngstown, probably more I
haven't heard about) are ok. The flooding here has been terrible and it
is storming again today. One part of the county got three inches in
about ninety minutes today on top of the seven inches received over the
last two days. The rain has slowed to about one inch per hour now.
Several places in NE Ohio have been evacuated and roads are closed all
over the place and some bridges are out. All of the yards (except our
own as we are elevated) that we can see from our deck have water
standing in them. Our basement is dry so far but I know other parts of
town which are closer to the Cuyahoga are having a really bad time. The
school a couple of blocks away from our house was hit by lightning
yesterday and lost their sound and timekeeping systems.

Hollis wrote:
Just a note here, from a "weather-interested" person (ie SkyWarn
weather spotter for the National Weather Service). Tornados don't
target trailer parks anymore than they target farms. It's just that
trailer parks are traditionally located in flat, treeless areas where
tornados have a more of a tendancy to stay on the ground. Now, the
damage caused by a tornado going through a trailer park is horrific,
mostly because most trailers are not built to withstand the wind force
(where more foundation-based homes are).

--
Brenda Lewis
WIP: J. Himsworth "I Shall Not Want" xs
J & P Coats "Dancing Snoopy" latchhook

Wow, Hollis,

Another Skywarn Spotter on the group. Are you a Ham operator as well?? We
are having a working session this Saturday for shelter coverage. I have only
had to call bad weather in once, but have also reported rainfall when a net
has been set up. I know have my own weather station, wireless, and have the
software to show the readings on my computer. It was interesting to note the
largest gust 24 mpph,. and rainfall at a rate of 8 inches per hour, when ne
of our quick and dirty afternoon storms come through. It didn't last more
than 10 mins, but we landed up with 1/2 inch of rain.

Gillian
KC5TEN,,SW# POL 131A
"Hollis" wrote in message
om...
Brenda Lewis wrote:
I cringe whenever I hear about someone living in a trailer park. Then
again, I grew up in tornado country and they seemed to target trailers
where there is little/no protection from the storm. Midwesterners from
several states refer to trailer parks as 'tornado magnets' and the
damage is usually devastating. Since Nova Scotia isn't a hotbed for
tornadic activity, I suppose it isn't such a concern there.

Just a note here, from a "weather-interested" person (ie SkyWarn
weather spotter for the National Weather Service). Tornados don't
target trailer parks anymore than they target farms. It's just that
trailer parks are traditionally located in flat, treeless areas where
tornados have a more of a tendancy to stay on the ground. Now, the
damage caused by a tornado going through a trailer park is horrific,
mostly because most trailers are not built to withstand the wind force
(where more foundation-based homes are).

My husband and I had the misfortune to help clean up a tornado ravaged
area here in Minnesota in 1998. Our job was to clean up the field next
to the "town trailer park". When assigned, we were told we'd be
working in 3 hour shifts. I thought that was much to short a time to
do anything productive. In a sense I was right. We didn't get much
cleaned up, but our morale was definately at an all time low after 3
hours. Picking insulation out of bushes without an end in sight is
very very depressing.

---
Holly K.
WIPS: Noah's Ark Sampler - Teresa Wentzler / Bald Eagle - Sherrie
Stepp-Aweau / Primitive Santa - ??

www.tortpro.net

renting was very restrictive in terms of what you want
to do.

which is something that varies depending on where you live.

I don't know if my current home is considered a single-level townhouse or an
apartment, there are 4 units in my buliding, each with their own separate
entrances front and back, small yards (not separately fenced) plus a community
laundry and storage unit in the back in what would have been the second bedroom
of the sole 1-bed unit in the building.

I can plant along the edge of the building in back if I put up a low fenced
border, but I choose not to. I can have outdoor furniture, yard toys for the
kids, BBQ grill, bicycles, etc. on my patio, but the landlord would prefer that
I not put things permanently on the grass (which makes sense, he doesn't want
us to kill the grass and he wants to be able to easily mow). There is a fence
along the back side of the property, I do have a bird feeder and outdoor
thermometer mounted on the fence. I've never talked to him about painting,
although my sister wants to redo my living room for sure. I can't have a dog
at all, but cats and caged animals are all acceptable with no extra fees.

Just my current situation!

Jenn L.
View My Webshots: http://community.webshots.com/user/jaliace
Current projects:
Chicago Skyline (The Needlecraftsman)
Lady of the Flag (Mirabilia)

Crossing my fingers for all of you. What you relate can be so
devastating to so many people. Many never recover.
Dianne


Brenda Lewis wrote:
Very true. Not to mention a tornado passing through a trailer park has
a high probability of being observed whereas a tornado passing through
miles of fields may not be visually spotted. It irks me to hear about
how residents of a trailer park are supposed to go to the park's
community/rec center when a storm warning is issued. So many severe
storms pass through at night or on weekends and residents show up only
to find the doors locked. Not to mention waiting until the warning is
announced could easily be too late!

On this note, hope anyone who has been in the areas hit this week
(tornadoes in/near Cedar Rapids and in Youngstown, probably more I
haven't heard about) are ok. The flooding here has been terrible and it
is storming again today. One part of the county got three inches in
about ninety minutes today on top of the seven inches received over the
last two days. The rain has slowed to about one inch per hour now.
Several places in NE Ohio have been evacuated and roads are closed all
over the place and some bridges are out. All of the yards (except our
own as we are elevated) that we can see from our deck have water
standing in them. Our basement is dry so far but I know other parts of
town which are closer to the Cuyahoga are having a really bad time. The
school a couple of blocks away from our house was hit by lightning
yesterday and lost their sound and timekeeping systems.

Hollis wrote:

Just a note here, from a "weather-interested" person (ie SkyWarn
weather spotter for the National Weather Service). Tornados don't
target trailer parks anymore than they target farms. It's just that
trailer parks are traditionally located in flat, treeless areas where
tornados have a more of a tendancy to stay on the ground. Now, the
damage caused by a tornado going through a trailer park is horrific,
mostly because most trailers are not built to withstand the wind force
(where more foundation-based homes are).

Dianne Lewandowski wrote:
Dr. Brat wrote:

We pay a mortgage on which we paid (until recently) 7.9% interest. We
got a tax break on that interest, so the real cost was less. And we
have some savings, on which we make 2% interest. So the cost of my
morgage interest was somewhere around 9% (what I was paying plus what
I lost). BUT, I invested $17,000 in this house as a down payment and
over 4 years the house has increased in value by $110,000, which is a
significant return on my investment, and far more than that money
would make me in the bank. And even if you want to argue that it is
unrealized because I haven't sold, I can tell you that I've done it
before. I invested $7000 in a house in Indiana which I sold for
$20,000 more than the purchase price (doubling my money in 7 years)
and $9,000 on a house in Ohio which I sold for $11,000 more than the
purchase price. Ok, not as good, but I took $20,000 from the sale
because I got back the principal that I had paid into it.

Ok. I'll let you correct me. But in my head (and I KNOW I have fuzzy
math logic), the missing equation here is:

I wasn't meaning to correct you, just to add a different perspective.

Even though your house increased in value, so did identical houses. So
you didn't win. In fact, to upgrade (which used to be why one
bought/sold through the years), would cost you more.

Yes, but as long as I'm willing to leverage what I have, I can afford to
upgrade. And why shouldn't it cost me more to upgrade? It makes no
sense to me that it wouldn't.

You can win this game if you move to a part of the country where housing
is less cost than your current location. Or, you can lose lots if you
move where housing is much higher than your present home.

I did that when I moved from Ohio to Massachusetts. We sold for $81,000
and bought for $175,000. It was pretty shocking. But the fact is, it
has cost me more per month, but it hasn't cost me more on the original
investment. In other words, my father lent me $7000 for my first house.
When I sold it, I paid him back and had enough to get into the second
house. When I sold the second house, I had enough for the down payment
on the third house. You could argue that it's costing me more per
month, but my mortgage payment has consistently been less than local
rent and I'm locked out of the rental market anyway (2 dogs and a cat'll
do that).

I went round and round some years ago with a guy with a PhD in finance.
Talk about having my brain fry in 10 seconds. grin But he agreed
with me. The ONLY way to win financially [home ownership] over the long
haul is to stay put and pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible. One
extra mortgage payment a year can cut as much as 7 years off the life of
a mortgage.

No, it's not the only way. You can use your mortgage to finance other
investments and win that way. Paying off the mortgage is *not* the only
smart option. In our case, $9,000 (5% down with a blended mortgage to
avoid PMI) got us into a two family that needed work. We dragged our
feet more than was smart on the work, but now that the apartment is
ready, we will make almost as much in rent every month as our mortgage
costs us. AND we'll have enough equity because of the increase in value
that we could take some out and use it as the down payment on another
rental property if we were so inclined (we're not). I call that winning.

We're sitting in a situation (not uncommon these days) wherein we put
$45K in the house and by the time the realtors get through and the
"negotiations" get through, we'll lose about $15K. Yes, we'll have cash
in our pocket, but we'll lose. The market just hasn't kept up, and we
haven't been able to live here long enough to appreciate any inflation.

But the fact remains that if you had the option of staying longer, you
might see a return on your $45K. It's unfortunate that the timing has
worked out the way it has, but that doesn't mean it's always a losing
situtation. Real estate is like any other investment. There are losers
and winners and the winnings are all the bigger where the risk is
greater. I'm grateful to have so far come out ahead, but I realize that
I could lose. What I'm disagreeing with is the idea that one can *only*
lose.

Elizabeth
--
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~living well is the best revenge~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The most important thing one woman can do for another is to illuminate
and expand her sense of actual possibilities. --Adrienne Rich
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*barnacle-encrusted bitch~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Margaret StJohn" wrote in message
...
Hi Stitch Lady,
I was wondering where you are? My husband I are thinking of moving,
and it sounds like you live in a reasonable area. 5 years ago it cost
more to rent here than buy. Our mortgage was 1000 and the rent was 1200.
Now
that we are in a recession that has changed. The rent would be 900
today, which still is very little savings over the mortgage. Your
method of saving sounds great, except everything is so expensive here
it wouldn't work, so we'd like to move where it would.

I live in the cheapest rented accommodation possible which is public
housing. Well, now I am going to get it in the neck from people who think
living in them ain't no good, but I remind them that I have nothing but
praise for trailer parks so they don't need to start about public housing.

I can email you in confidence with more details if that is okay. I don't
want to discuss financial information in such a detail online. Hence why I
never included currency in my post and broadly generalised.


Stitch Lady


---
This email has been certified to be free from viruses.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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Feel free to email me.
-Margaret


Stitch Lady ) wrote:
: "Margaret StJohn" wrote in message
: ...
: Hi Stitch Lady,
: I was wondering where you are? My husband I are thinking of moving,
: and it sounds like you live in a reasonable area. 5 years ago it cost
: more to rent here than buy. Our mortgage was 1000 and the rent was 1200.
: Now
: that we are in a recession that has changed. The rent would be 900
: today, which still is very little savings over the mortgage. Your
: method of saving sounds great, except everything is so expensive here
: it wouldn't work, so we'd like to move where it would.

: I live in the cheapest rented accommodation possible which is public
: housing. Well, now I am going to get it in the neck from people who think
: living in them ain't no good, but I remind them that I have nothing but
: praise for trailer parks so they don't need to start about public housing.

: I can email you in confidence with more details if that is okay. I don't
: want to discuss financial information in such a detail online. Hence why I
: never included currency in my post and broadly generalised.


: Stitch Lady


: ---
: This email has been certified to be free from viruses.
: Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\\ o o
|\/ o\ o
o Margaret St. John
|/\ / Let it snow!! http://www.oswego.edu/~es_ind04
/// "There is such a thing as a stupid question.
Its the one that is never asked." - MMS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stitch Lady wrote:
[saving while renting vs paying a mortgage]
And all costs of saving are calculated and listed with comparative expenses
if we were doing things in at 3-4 other ways. Financial planning services
are a great help as well...

Hope this answers your question.

Sure, but I still maintain that success is predicated on your being able
to rent for significantly less than you would pay on a mortgage every
month. In the area in which I live, that just isn't possible.

I wish you the best of success with your plans.

Elizabeth
--
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~living well is the best revenge~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The most important thing one woman can do for another is to illuminate
and expand her sense of actual possibilities. --Adrienne Rich
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*barnacle-encrusted bitch~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My new wife was not to happy finding out we live only 6 miles from
Tornado Alley!
We had a few come through in their usual location, didn't worry none
of us below the alley. Except when my wife realized, she drives right
past there on the way to work and works RIGHT THERE.

Of course, were NOT ALLOWED to call that area up north Tornado Alley!
Might hurt Realty sales in that area. But those of us who live here,
know where 90% of the Tornado's are going to travel. Right down
Tornado Alley!

Our family owned 12 acres under glass for generations, in 71 years we
were only hit by hail twice and both times it only damaged one side of
the greenhouses.

Yet the insurance companies have increased homeowner insurance by 34%
across the board in our state, claiming due to excessive hailstorm
damage, which some did occur on the Kansas/Missouri border, clear on
the other side of the state. Kansas insurance did not go up!

Sounds like another insurance scam to gouge the people of Missouri of
even yet more money!

Who cares? I'm Tennessee bound anyway!

TTUL
Gary

"Gillian Murray" wrote:
Wow, Hollis,

Another Skywarn Spotter on the group. Are you a Ham operator as well?? We
are having a working session this Saturday for shelter coverage. I have only
had to call bad weather in once, but have also reported rainfall when a net
has been set up. I know have my own weather station, wireless, and have the
software to show the readings on my computer. It was interesting to note the
largest gust 24 mpph,. and rainfall at a rate of 8 inches per hour, when ne
of our quick and dirty afternoon storms come through. It didn't last more
than 10 mins, but we landed up with 1/2 inch of rain.

Gillian

Nope. Just a spotter. My hubby got me into it after he became a ham
(KC0FXY), but I utterly refuse to get involved with the radio side.
The minute I do he's going to be filling my work area and vehicle with
radios and antennas and other sundry equipment!

My real reason for becoming a spotter was that I was terrified of
strong storms (having been through a couple tornados when I was a
kid). I figured that if I took the class I'd know when the weather was
bad and when it was REALLY BAD! Since then (4 years ago) we've made a
couple storm chasing runs, gotten some neat pictures,
(http://www.geocities.com/maxwell_che...1clouds2sm.jpg) but not
made any significant calls. The hubby accuses me of being more into
the weather now than most paid weather people. (I can usually predict
if a day is going to turn stormy or not from a look at the sky, radar
and K-index at 5:30 AM)

The hubby, bless his soul, keeps trying to get me to become a ham. I
let him do it, it gives him another hobby

---
Holly K.
WIPS: Noah's Ark Sampler - Teresa Wentzler / Bald Eagle - Sherrie
Stepp-Aweau / Primitive Santa - ??

www.tortpro.net