I would like to share my recent experince.

I re-entered the 914 world on Nov 19, 2002, with the purchase of a blue '74, 1.8l. I knew it had rust problems, but... Anway, I worked a deal out with my in-laws to build a 2-car carport and shed on their propery, to be able to work on the teener. We poured a 30 x 20 concrete slab and had the shop installed. For Christmas, my wife bought be a 300 piece Craftsman tool box, roll around box and a work bench. My brother-in-law built a wooden work bench in the shed. I purchased a MIG welder and rented an CO2 bottle. After removing the PO 'repair', I found nothing left of the floorboards. Not geting discouraged, I started looking for another car to work on. I found a red '74 2.0l on Dec 29, 2002. This is the car that I've decided to convert to a V8. It had dual 40's, but had a carb linkage problem. I ordered the CB carb linkage and fought with that for 2 months.

Meanwhile, on the home front, my wife was in the process of upgrading our 8 yr old house (we purchased it new) with new counter tops, enlarged the deck area and installed a new cage around the pool, new bushes, new paint and invested about $30,000. The last imporvement was to remove the driveway and have pavers installed. As she was walking around the house, to show the paver guy the pool, she noticed settling cracks in the stucco. That's not right, the house is 8 yrs old, it should be completely settled. Well in central Florida we have sinkhole problems. OK, let's call the insurance guy. They send a geologist team to do soundings. Guess what, we have 3 sinkholes under the house and near the pool, they aren't showing now, but they WILL open up, eventually. The insurance guy says that they'll have 3 companies give bids on repairing. By this time, the wife is freaking out and worried we're going to fall into a hole and loose everything. She starts looking for a new house, not just a house we can move into, but a NEW house. We find one near our current house, but far enough away that the sinkhole can't get us. After the insurance guy gets all of the bids, they call and tell us that they're not going to fix the problem, gives us a check for the FULL coverage and tells us 'good luck'. We contact one of the companies and yes they buy sinkhole houses and yes they will buy ours. All of this is happening between March and July. The house that the wife and I agree on is brand new, but has been sitting for almost a year. We make a low-ball bid, they counter with $10,000 more, we counter with the difference and they accept. The sinkhold guy makes us an offer that we accept. We now sell our house to the sinkhole guy on Friday morning, buy our new house Friday afternoon and move Saturday.

The primary reason the house (2 story) wouldn't sell is the 'curb' appeal and the interior floors. You see, the builder put 18" ceramic tile in the kitchen, breakfast area, dining room and the foyer. Unfortunately, there was 2 teams laying the tile, one started in the kitchen and the other started in the foyer, when they met, it was off by 1/2 a tile. There was also a 3' high, 12' long wall that divided the family room from the breakfast area. Finally, the original asking price should have included a pool, but didn't. Any way, after we moved in, we immediately removed ALL of the tile and carpet in the bottom floor and had it replaced with real hardwood floor. This took about 2 weeks. The 3' wall was also removed. We installed 12 ceiling fans, w/lights, completely repainted inside and outside and added window treatments (blinds and curtains). Our original house was a 1600 sf, 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, 2 car garage. Our new home is 2900 sf, 4 bedrooms, 3 bath, 3 car garage, with a loft, on a 3-par tee box, that backs up to a water hazard. My wife hates to have any room empty, therefore, we purchased new furniture for 4 rooms (formal dining, formal living, office, guest bedroom). Our final imporvement is the pool. Now, since we have an 'executive' home, we need an 'executive' pool. The pool is 14,000 gal, with an attached jacuzzi, with 1600 sf under cage.

The point that I'm making is that even with all of my well laid plans (shop at in-laws), there have been several delays completing my 914 project. I feel very blessed to live in a beautiful house, have a very beautiful and understanding wife and be part of the 914 community. Also, I would like to encourage all members that are struggling with working on their cars, that obstacles will arise and that the way you deal with those challenges will determine your success on the cars and with life in general.

Now that we've completed the improvements to the house, I'll be able to focus on 914.

Sinkholes? Geez, that's rough. Glad you caught it early.

Geez, and I thought my projects were time consuming......are you still married?

Rob,
Now I know why I haven't heard much from you lately. We have friends that just went through the same sinkhole BS. Same story as yours, they wondered why thier front door keep getting stuck and won't open. Than they saw the stucco cracks. Insurance screws around for 8 months, than settle on a buyout price. Now they'er looking for another house.
In Florida we don't have earthquakes, but the ground just sorta falls out from under your slab. We seem to be hearing more and more of theses stories lately.

Good luck,

Paul

I've got a sinkhole out in the shop....it's green with primered fenders.

Hey Paul,

You know, here in Florida we're known for hurricanes and now sinkholes, I'll take a hurricane any day, at least I know it's coming.

Hey Mikez,

Hell yea I'm still married, nothing keeps a relationship active then presenting a house with more rooms to decorate.

Reading that post made me tired. I'm going to go take a nap.

I wish I lived some place where houses where 180k to 250k That would be a mansion here and run you 1.1m. This area is awesome for weather/scenery..blah blah.. but housing sucks.


B

Actually Brad, after all of the improvements, the house will appraise between 400,000 and 500,000. Real estate is increasing because more people from the NE want to get away from the cold and snow. We don't have the mountains, but the weather and beaches are great.

Here's the front of the house after the repaint and replacing the concrete driveway with pavers:

If you look real close I can see a small crack from the lower right corner of the upper window.

Paul

Don't you even start. You make a comment like that in front of the wife and she'll have the house on the market before sunrise.

Awesome house! Very nice. I hope to get something like that someday. The girlfriend and I were talking, and if we decide to stay in Saskatchewan, we'll probably buy some lake front property. She's already got her dream house picked out. 3700 square feet. 3 car garage. I think I could learn to like it. Once she finishes University and gets this high paying job she keeps telling me shes gonna get, we'll have to see. It's nice to dream.

Mike, thanks.

That's a great goal. My wife and I have been together for over 10 years, we watched the credit cards and bought a small house first. Except for the sinkholes, we would probably have stayed in it and had it paid for in about 6 years. Financial responsibility and honesty is the key to getting ahead. Good luck on your dream.

The credit card bill is paid in full EVERY month no matter how big it is.
The wife didn't like my only rule, NO credit card balances, period! I watched my folks struggle with mortgage, car loan, and credit card bills all my life. My Father passed away 13 yrs ago, my Mother just turned 75 last Sept and she is finally out of debt

There is nothing wrong with credit cards and having
a balance on them as long as you can pay it. We
have one Visa card with a reasonable limit, never know when you have a emergency. My best friend
and his wife have no credit cards at all, been married for 19 yrs with 3 kids. His rule is cash only!
Not sure how he rents cars or books vacations but they have never had a credit card. It can be done.

- Garold

We do the same-paid off every month. Some months it hurts but you gotta do it. I know people who have so much CC debt I can't believe it.

Paul

My wife and I have been working on this for the last year and a half. At the end of April, we'll have nothing but a mortgage payment. Until the kid hits college anyway.

Nice looking house, the driveway really makes the house look top-shelf! I NEED to get me one of those 3-car garages

I have no wife, no credit card debt, and no mortgage.

I also have no money, and no fun... and only occasional sex.




M

Me too but I have a wife.

This is the back of the house. They just completed building the cage around the pool today. The only things let to finish is to install the 3 lamp post, seal the pool and fill it with water.