98eagle
| Favorite team: | Auburn  |
| Location: | |
| Biography: | |
| Interests: | |
| Occupation: | |
| Number of Posts: | 3212 |
| Registered on: | 9/20/2020 |
| Online Status: | Not Online |
Recent Posts
Message
re: How much does it cost to build a custom home where you live?
Posted by 98eagle on 8/11/26 at 9:21 pm to Ramblin Wreck
We paid approximately $106K per square foot for our existing lake house and acerage that we bought in 2022. It needed a LOT of work, but it was worth it. It was an absolute steal considering what the house and property are like now. The house is really high end quality and on a gorgeous large lake lot, but it was neglected over 20 years and had some major issues. I mean you shouldn't flush a first floor toilet, walk down into the finished basement and see water pouring through the ceiling and through a flourescent light fixture in a laundry room during the showing. There were even old water stains in that ceiling, so the issue wasn't new.
There were plenty of issues with the house that made the cost very low, primarily water leaking into the finished basement through two walls, black mold and more. There were some large custom windows that needed replacing, some concrete that needed raising, some plumbing and brick work, major overgrown landscaping and more. I fixed the water issues (leaking main water line just outside the house and crushed underground gutter downspout PVC pipes). I also easily fixed the mold issue after the water leaks were fixed. There were a lot of other problems and I fixed a good bit of them myself outside of some work better done by contractors.
Everything I saw wrong with the house, I knew I could fix and a lot by myself, so I was happy to see everything wrong to get a great price and scare off competition for the house. I told my wife that the property is incredible and worth more alone without the house in my opinion, and that it was a great house after about $100K to fix it. She agreed and later the Home Inspector agreed as well.
After spending a couple of years and about $100K for fixes and upgrades, the house is now pretty much like a resort and worth at least triple what we paid. Even when it closed and still needing all of the work done, my agent asked me a week afterwards if we wanted to immediately sell it for double what we paid as another potential buyer found out about it from the sellers and wanted it badly but were too late. and would pay double. We said absolutely not.
If you find an existing house in the right location that is a Picasso in need of a lot of work, sometimes that can be the way to go if you can put in the time and effort.
There were plenty of issues with the house that made the cost very low, primarily water leaking into the finished basement through two walls, black mold and more. There were some large custom windows that needed replacing, some concrete that needed raising, some plumbing and brick work, major overgrown landscaping and more. I fixed the water issues (leaking main water line just outside the house and crushed underground gutter downspout PVC pipes). I also easily fixed the mold issue after the water leaks were fixed. There were a lot of other problems and I fixed a good bit of them myself outside of some work better done by contractors.
Everything I saw wrong with the house, I knew I could fix and a lot by myself, so I was happy to see everything wrong to get a great price and scare off competition for the house. I told my wife that the property is incredible and worth more alone without the house in my opinion, and that it was a great house after about $100K to fix it. She agreed and later the Home Inspector agreed as well.
After spending a couple of years and about $100K for fixes and upgrades, the house is now pretty much like a resort and worth at least triple what we paid. Even when it closed and still needing all of the work done, my agent asked me a week afterwards if we wanted to immediately sell it for double what we paid as another potential buyer found out about it from the sellers and wanted it badly but were too late. and would pay double. We said absolutely not.
If you find an existing house in the right location that is a Picasso in need of a lot of work, sometimes that can be the way to go if you can put in the time and effort.
0
I love our Xsense system and I have taken it to the next level.
I set up 4 different base stations to organize the sensors and alarms. We have a 6,000 sq ft house.
Base Station #1 is called Fire/CO2/Heat:
We have 19 combo Smoke Detectors/CO detectors that will tell us by Voice exactly which alarm type and which room over the base station and from each of the 19 sensors. I also put 2 heat detectors in the garage on this base station.
Base Station #2 is called Mailbox
We have one in our mailbox which is 500' away from our house. The other is mounted on our garbage can under the lip at the top of the can. I can't see the garbage can 500' away through the woods. But I know when they pickup the garbage with this sensor.
Base Station #3 is called Motion/Door/Lights/Water/Boat.
We have Open Door detectors on all exterior doors and windows. I have 3 motion lights that come on and alert my phone if anyone goes into our courtyard, on our deck or into our screen porch at night. I have about 9 water detectors installed but have about a dozen more to put out. I got a water alarm recently that I named Pantry Sink. I checked it out and I have a leaky faucet that leaks very slightly when it is used, so I need to replace an oring. I added 3 more mailbox alarms to this base station for boat alarms. One is on our Jon Boat cover, and two more are on our water bikes down at the lake up on the bank out of the water. Any nudge to these and it notifies my phone.
Base Station #4 is called Temperature/Humidity:
I have six sensors that alarm based on temperature and humidity settings for each location. These tell me when I need to turn on dehumidifiers in the basement or when to run an attic exhaust fan.
The base stations are AC. All of the sensors are battery operated but they last 5 to 10 years. The app tells me the battery level for each sensor, and the Wi-Fi connection for each base station. Notifications are sent if any base station loses WiFi, or if any sensor has a low battery. We have had this system going on two years now and it works great. The sensor batteries are all still practically full.
I set up 4 different base stations to organize the sensors and alarms. We have a 6,000 sq ft house.
Base Station #1 is called Fire/CO2/Heat:
We have 19 combo Smoke Detectors/CO detectors that will tell us by Voice exactly which alarm type and which room over the base station and from each of the 19 sensors. I also put 2 heat detectors in the garage on this base station.
Base Station #2 is called Mailbox
We have one in our mailbox which is 500' away from our house. The other is mounted on our garbage can under the lip at the top of the can. I can't see the garbage can 500' away through the woods. But I know when they pickup the garbage with this sensor.
Base Station #3 is called Motion/Door/Lights/Water/Boat.
We have Open Door detectors on all exterior doors and windows. I have 3 motion lights that come on and alert my phone if anyone goes into our courtyard, on our deck or into our screen porch at night. I have about 9 water detectors installed but have about a dozen more to put out. I got a water alarm recently that I named Pantry Sink. I checked it out and I have a leaky faucet that leaks very slightly when it is used, so I need to replace an oring. I added 3 more mailbox alarms to this base station for boat alarms. One is on our Jon Boat cover, and two more are on our water bikes down at the lake up on the bank out of the water. Any nudge to these and it notifies my phone.
Base Station #4 is called Temperature/Humidity:
I have six sensors that alarm based on temperature and humidity settings for each location. These tell me when I need to turn on dehumidifiers in the basement or when to run an attic exhaust fan.
The base stations are AC. All of the sensors are battery operated but they last 5 to 10 years. The app tells me the battery level for each sensor, and the Wi-Fi connection for each base station. Notifications are sent if any base station loses WiFi, or if any sensor has a low battery. We have had this system going on two years now and it works great. The sensor batteries are all still practically full.
My wife and I were looking at a new Landcruiser two years ago. What turned us off the most was that it had some cheap plastic on it that made quality a concern. As an example, I recall on the bumper there was some plastic piece that looked really low quality.
Just like all banks, my bank will raise new loan rates instantly when the Fed raises interest rates while simultaneously amazingly dragging their feet for days to raise interest rates on their high yield savings accounts and other interest bearing offerings to investors.
The reverse is true when the Fed lowers interest rates. The banks trip over themselves in the opposite direction as they frantically hurry to gouge their customers.
Banks are just like gas stations. Just replace the current price of a barrel of oil with the Fed interest rate and you have the exact same greedy arse behavior.
The reverse is true when the Fed lowers interest rates. The banks trip over themselves in the opposite direction as they frantically hurry to gouge their customers.
Banks are just like gas stations. Just replace the current price of a barrel of oil with the Fed interest rate and you have the exact same greedy arse behavior.
Yeah I actually like them, aside from having to clean up after them, plus they are killing birds and other animals that we like. The Foxes are beautiful and they remind me of dogs. My wife wants them gone. She's scared of them because the foxes aren't scared of people and they follow us at a distance of about 30'. She also doesn't like walking around the property constantly looking for Fox poop, because they like to poop in pathways. My wife is more important to me than having foxes around the house. So if she wants them gone, I will continue to try to scare them off. Good idea to tell the neighbors to quit feeding them.
Concerning the foxes killing vermin, I don't mind them killing mice, moles, and chipmunks. But they have killed a young otter, quite a few song birds, and I no longer see rat snakes around the house which I didn't mind. We have lots of big Native and Encore Azalea bushes, hydrangeas, Oregon grape hollies, Nandinas and other bushes all around the house under hundreds of mostly white oaks, maple trees and dogwoods. Birds are all over the place, with a lot roosting in bushes at night within reach of the foxes. Small wrens, chickadees, titmouse, blue birds, cardinals and other larger birds. I don't appreciate the foxes killing them.
Concerning the foxes killing vermin, I don't mind them killing mice, moles, and chipmunks. But they have killed a young otter, quite a few song birds, and I no longer see rat snakes around the house which I didn't mind. We have lots of big Native and Encore Azalea bushes, hydrangeas, Oregon grape hollies, Nandinas and other bushes all around the house under hundreds of mostly white oaks, maple trees and dogwoods. Birds are all over the place, with a lot roosting in bushes at night within reach of the foxes. Small wrens, chickadees, titmouse, blue birds, cardinals and other larger birds. I don't appreciate the foxes killing them.
re: Killing Armadillos and Racoons?
Posted by 98eagle on 7/30/26 at 8:42 pm to RetiredSaintsLsuFan
Can we bring Fox into this discussion? We live on wooded acreage. I believe my neighbors on both sides are feeding Foxes. My neighbor on one side said they have a den on their land. It used to be a mother fox and three babies. Now that they have grown up, they have split up territories. I usually just see one fox, but I sometimes see two now.
I see one fox, one of the young females pretty much every day and night and capture videos of her and sometimes two foxes on our security cameras playing and catching prey.
I didnt mind having Foxes around our property, but they are starting to annoy us. Our property is lit up with lots of solar lights, and solar LED tiki torches. The Foxes apparently love our property. The foxes, even if just the young female like to poop in our driveway, on our deck and in our gravel pathways. They also kill small prey and there is blood, feathers, etc. on our driveway and sidewalks.
The lone female also occasionally stalks us. I think she just wants us to feed her, and that's why I think my neighbors are feeding Foxes. I can sit down at the lake and turn around and there she is standing in the pathway about 15' away just staring at me. I will shoo her away but she only keeps about a 30' distance and will not run away. I can walk all around the house and she follows me. This doesn't bother me too much, but my wife has had enough. She wants the foxes gone.
I could easily shoot and kill the foxes, but I really don't want to. My current plan is to get a decent paintball gun, and shoot at them with semi automatic or full automatic rounds of soft rubber or talcom powder balls. I think I will just aim close to them without trying to hit them, and hopefully they will become afraid to come close to our house. If that doesn't work, I might try to hit them with a single shot from maybe 100' away from a side shot. I don't want to hurt them.
If none of the trying to scare them away works, my last resort is to kill them. It's legal in our area to shoot and kill a fox during daylight hours. I don't want to kill them or injure them, but I might have to if I can't keep them away.
What would you do in my situation?
I see one fox, one of the young females pretty much every day and night and capture videos of her and sometimes two foxes on our security cameras playing and catching prey.
I didnt mind having Foxes around our property, but they are starting to annoy us. Our property is lit up with lots of solar lights, and solar LED tiki torches. The Foxes apparently love our property. The foxes, even if just the young female like to poop in our driveway, on our deck and in our gravel pathways. They also kill small prey and there is blood, feathers, etc. on our driveway and sidewalks.
The lone female also occasionally stalks us. I think she just wants us to feed her, and that's why I think my neighbors are feeding Foxes. I can sit down at the lake and turn around and there she is standing in the pathway about 15' away just staring at me. I will shoo her away but she only keeps about a 30' distance and will not run away. I can walk all around the house and she follows me. This doesn't bother me too much, but my wife has had enough. She wants the foxes gone.
I could easily shoot and kill the foxes, but I really don't want to. My current plan is to get a decent paintball gun, and shoot at them with semi automatic or full automatic rounds of soft rubber or talcom powder balls. I think I will just aim close to them without trying to hit them, and hopefully they will become afraid to come close to our house. If that doesn't work, I might try to hit them with a single shot from maybe 100' away from a side shot. I don't want to hurt them.
If none of the trying to scare them away works, my last resort is to kill them. It's legal in our area to shoot and kill a fox during daylight hours. I don't want to kill them or injure them, but I might have to if I can't keep them away.
What would you do in my situation?
re: Wear some sunscreen
Posted by 98eagle on 7/25/26 at 11:00 pm to Texas ellessu
When we were young kids and teenagers suntan lotion was more about getting a tan and not much about protection.
There was Hawaiian Tropic with like sunscreen 2, but many times we were using baby oil and sometimes mixing in iodine. We had no idea of long term skin damage.
There was Hawaiian Tropic with like sunscreen 2, but many times we were using baby oil and sometimes mixing in iodine. We had no idea of long term skin damage.
re: Any fishing tips for Toccoa river in late summer?
Posted by 98eagle on 7/25/26 at 10:04 pm to Chilton4Bama
Trout are lazy. They face upstream into the current on the slower side of a seam between faster current and wait for bait to float by close to them. The trout will dart across the seam grab the bait, and back into the slower current all in two short movements. They also sit behind big boulders in the eddies or anywhere slower water is with faster turbulent water moving very close. They could be in a cut bank of deeper water with faster water moving above them. They just want the food coming close by to their mouths so they can do a quick grab and go back to their relatively calmer water spot.
So fish walking upstream against the current and cast upstream (at maybe 45% angles or what makes sense) near seams, eddies, pockets and cut banks and let your bait float back downstream, knowing that the trout are facing the faster water waiting on your bait to float by. Don't cast into the middle of the fast water. Cast near the edge of the fast water.
Use baits that mimic what they eat. If you fly fish, then dry (floating) flies or sinking nymphs are great. If you are spin fishing cast a rooster tail or small bait with a metal spinner, or live worm or powerbait.
Ask a local bait shop what they recommend.
So fish walking upstream against the current and cast upstream (at maybe 45% angles or what makes sense) near seams, eddies, pockets and cut banks and let your bait float back downstream, knowing that the trout are facing the faster water waiting on your bait to float by. Don't cast into the middle of the fast water. Cast near the edge of the fast water.
Use baits that mimic what they eat. If you fly fish, then dry (floating) flies or sinking nymphs are great. If you are spin fishing cast a rooster tail or small bait with a metal spinner, or live worm or powerbait.
Ask a local bait shop what they recommend.
re: Why the big push for Data Centers?
Posted by 98eagle on 7/23/26 at 10:17 am to BayouBengals21
Massive data centers and cameras everywhere plus AI is eventually the end game for freedom. Look at the evil idiots trying to gain control of our government right now and the recent Open AI rogue AI agent gaining access to the Internet and hacking into another AI application on it's own. It's only a mstter of time for evil doers or autonomous AI agents to do things that are very bad to anyone in their way that think differently than they do. They will be able to easily identify and locate anyone who is against them.
quote:I'm assuming you already have at least several million dollars in cash or cash equivalents and at least several million in equities, some income producing with dividends. If not, if you are only spending $10K a month but making over $1M a year in salary, you will be before long.
TheOcean
Once you reach that point, I would retire and transition to passive income and not lose anytime with rentals or any other active income. Being retired with passive income that requires zero amount of your time and still exceeds your monthly spending is the way to go.
What a fight. Never seen a fighter draw picture frames around his opponents face and then throwing the punch right through it.
I would recommend that you go to DoMyOwn.com, look in their menu for "Contact Us / Ask A Pro", get their phone number and call them and tell them your situation. They are hands down the best when it comes to Pest Control. They will tell you what works the best and tell you exactly how to use it.
We had a bad case of Carpenter Ants in our house and it was driving us crazy. DoMyOwn.com was a lifesaver. I have been using their site for all of our pest control. They have great customer service and the products that work.
We had a bad case of Carpenter Ants in our house and it was driving us crazy. DoMyOwn.com was a lifesaver. I have been using their site for all of our pest control. They have great customer service and the products that work.
re: McGregor took a dive for the money
Posted by 98eagle on 7/12/26 at 7:29 am to JamalMurry27
The one thing that bothered me was why would Holloway stop and point out to the ref that something appeared wrong with McGregor's legs. That's not a normal reaction at all from an MMA fighter. They go into aggressive killer mode when they detect a weakness.
re: Water Coming In to Basement
Posted by 98eagle on 7/11/26 at 7:46 pm to BhamBlazeDog
Can you figure out what is going on outside as the source of water? We bought a house four years ago that had water leaking in the basement on two walls. One I determined was the water main leaking just a couple of feet from the house. At the water meter 400' away from the home entrance I determined there was a significant leak somewhere losing 1 gallon every 7 minutes. The ground was sandy limestone and draining the water where I couldn't find the leak bubbling above ground through the wooded area to our house. I hired American Leak Detector and they determined the leak was just outside the entrance into the basement wall. That was a pretty easy fix.
The other wall with a basement leak was due to crunched underground 4" thin wall PVC pipes connected to the gutter downspouts and diverting rain water about 40' away from the house to a dry creek bed. When it rained hard, I could see water bubbling out of 3 gutter downspouts and down the foundation wall. I put a snake camera into the 4" PVC pipes where they emptied out in the yard into the creek bed. I could see where the thin wall PVC pipes were flattened and causing the problem. That was a lot harder to fix. I dug down to all of that crushed pipe and uncovered the crushed pipes for a good portion of the overall trench length and just decided to replace all of the pipes all the way to the gutter downspouts. I had to temporarily relocate quite a few nice bushes and move them back after I replaced all of the pipes with 4" PVC pipes, but with schedule 40 instead of the thin wall PVC.
At our previous house, we had a small leak into our basement where the ground was fairly flat. I checked out the ground at the house near the leak and noticed several chipmunk holes, a sunken area and the ground at the house pulling away slightly from the wall. I dug the ground up around the chipmunk holes and sunken area and then packed in dirt and tamped it down good. Then I put about 20' of some clay up against the house to about a couple of feet away and around the perimeter of that area near the leak and sloped it away from the house. That stopped the leak. Later, for good measure, I put some hydraulic cement in the basement floor joint and painted Dry Lok on the inside wall.
Not saying you have issues like I did, but perhaps you can identify the source of the water and fix it outside. If the basement leak is on a wall where the outside ground slopes into the house, you might need to install a French Drain.
The other wall with a basement leak was due to crunched underground 4" thin wall PVC pipes connected to the gutter downspouts and diverting rain water about 40' away from the house to a dry creek bed. When it rained hard, I could see water bubbling out of 3 gutter downspouts and down the foundation wall. I put a snake camera into the 4" PVC pipes where they emptied out in the yard into the creek bed. I could see where the thin wall PVC pipes were flattened and causing the problem. That was a lot harder to fix. I dug down to all of that crushed pipe and uncovered the crushed pipes for a good portion of the overall trench length and just decided to replace all of the pipes all the way to the gutter downspouts. I had to temporarily relocate quite a few nice bushes and move them back after I replaced all of the pipes with 4" PVC pipes, but with schedule 40 instead of the thin wall PVC.
At our previous house, we had a small leak into our basement where the ground was fairly flat. I checked out the ground at the house near the leak and noticed several chipmunk holes, a sunken area and the ground at the house pulling away slightly from the wall. I dug the ground up around the chipmunk holes and sunken area and then packed in dirt and tamped it down good. Then I put about 20' of some clay up against the house to about a couple of feet away and around the perimeter of that area near the leak and sloped it away from the house. That stopped the leak. Later, for good measure, I put some hydraulic cement in the basement floor joint and painted Dry Lok on the inside wall.
Not saying you have issues like I did, but perhaps you can identify the source of the water and fix it outside. If the basement leak is on a wall where the outside ground slopes into the house, you might need to install a French Drain.
re: How much did you pay for your 1st vehicle and in what year?
Posted by 98eagle on 7/2/26 at 3:17 pm to Everyday Is Saturday
In 1978 my dad bought a 1970 Cutlass Supreme with long hood scoops and a spoiler for about $200 if I remember correctly. We had to tow the car as it wasn't running when he bought it. It needed a good bit of work including engine work, a paint job and interior work. We rebuilt the engine and suspension, replaced different parts of the car mostly from junkyard parts, put on new tires, had a little bit of body work done and sanded and painted the car and had the bumpers rechromed, and the stereo replaced. I think we probably had about $1500 in total costs for the car. It's ridiculous how inexpensive cars and parts were back then and we did part of the work ourselves. The car was canary yellow when he bought it. I had the yellow bumpers chromed and painted the car candy apple red. It was a total badass hot rod after we finished it. I even drove it on the Talladega Speedway in 1984 after Dale Earnhardt won the race. I had lost my keys in the infield and had to come back the next day with a couple of friends to pick it up. The guy at the gate told me to not drive my car on the racetrack, and that gave me the idea with my friend's input to absolutely drive it around the racetrack.
quote:
just a bit of reality.... Im newly retired and have never been more busy in my life. All of the undone projects around the house, last minute pop up issues, I am the uber driver for the kids as well as a door dasher for all of their meals (spolied brats). I usually have no idea what day it is and I am utterly exhausted by days end... hoping I dont get a heart attack
Yeah, it's amazing how the number of projects, chores, tasks that pop up out of nowhere can happen. I fix as much as I possibly can around the house. I will YouTube and fix just about anything I can.
Plus, I keep adding more projects on top of everything else due to hobbies, and we keep adding hobbies. As an example, we just recently added kayaking (recreationally and fishing) as another hobby. I've been building portable kayak racks, a portable kayak launching system, custom trailer, rigging out kayaks, etc.
I like designing, MacGyvering, and doing everything myself, so I have a propensity to create new projects.
re: Late Night Snack Thread: Marco's Pizza
Posted by 98eagle on 6/21/26 at 12:19 am to GreenRockTiger
quote:The Marco's Pizza Extra Large New York Style Pepperoni pizza is damn good without changing any of the standard ingredients. The garlic seasoning and tomato sauce must have drugs in them to make you an addict.
is it any good?
Frogs (1972) is another horror movie in the same vein as the Blob. Giant Frogs munching on people.
re: Data center planned near my farm
Posted by 98eagle on 6/17/26 at 9:00 am to lsufan1971
Yeah but is AI some distributed network or something? Why are hundreds or thousands of these tremendously sized computer farms needed across the country? Computer chips and storage are significantly faster and smaller. Why are acres of gigantic data centers needed at multiple sites across every state?
One thing I don't understand is why all of these enormous data centers are needed and being replicated all over the place for AI. Does every company need an AI data center/super computer, do I need my own AI data center, or data going to be collected on every square inch of the planet including everything everyone does or says?
re: Wood duck decoy sells for $1.26M
Posted by 98eagle on 6/16/26 at 9:10 pm to weagle1999
I have one of those. I need to check and see what it's worth!
Popular
17
