Any Members in Arkansas?

We had some family visiting over the weekend and used it as an excuse to grab a cabin up near Jasper. If only it was about 20 degrees cooler and we were camping instead!

 

Starting to look at houses/property.

 

Nice. I'm trying to keep my work commute to sub-30 minutes if I can. Definitely not more than 45 minutes.

I looked at a place on Friday that looks really promising. It's toward the top of my budget, but doesn't need more than some drywall repair (old screws/etc) and some paint touchup. It's on 3 acres with a good size conditioned shop. It has a pool too. I'm not a big pool person, though. It's above ground, so maybe I could sell it.

 

You should notice some savings, particularly with property taxes.

 

Good luck with it. I don't know what has been going on in my area but people are asking absurdly high prices for property and houses where I am. Someone in our area is asking $500k for a ~90% complete 2,000 SF house on 18 acres. There's another place not too far from us that's asking $1.5 mil for 96 acres ($15k per acre AKA twice what we paid for our property). Ridiculous but I'm hoping the high asking prices help us when we sell our house in the next 2-3 years.

 

I've noticed that too, especially out in west pulaski where the zoning has gone mixed commercial/residential just inside city limits. It can only help with values, but our little 2 lane with no shoulder has seen the increased traffic too. There is 5 acres zoned mixed that is for sale for a couple million just down Lawson off Colonel Glenn. Jasper is looking better every day....

 

The 2 lots next to me are listed at $55k, about an acre each and steeply sloped. Expensive build. Seems like good houses on normal or small lots are still reasonable, but the larger lots jack the price up. Fayetteville is probably slightly cheaper.

 

I think that the NWA area would be a great place to buy several lots and build on for investments. I imagine that area growing exponentially in the next 15 years

 

With Walmart and all their supplier presence here, there's a lot of turnover in housing. When I moved here 2 years ago, there seemed to be very little newer multi-family options in Bentonville, but it exploded. Lots of cool new options centrally located. Not that I am in the market for that, it just struck me that more might be needed. Obviously they figured it out. Most of the new single-family stuff has gone on the west side in hay fields, as far as I can tell. Lots of folks that owned land just made big, flat subdivisions. Seems most of the land for sale is priced pretty high unless you are in a more questionable/rural area.

If the lot next to me went down to $30K, I might consider combining lots and building a shop with a small Airbnb option above it. Problem is I already have one of the largest developed lots in the neighborhood, so my house is already on the high end for the neighborhood (even though it is average in size). If I make it to retirement age and decide to stay, it might be worth it, but not really a smart move at this point.

 

I got lucky over the weekend and caught a break in the cloud cover just long enough for a shot of the sunset.
by Dave M,

 

Another screen saver shot

 

@Doc's Rig got my KEY amp installed last night before the rain hit. That is a nicely engineered unit. I thought I was going to blow the speakers when setting the gain. It was plenty loud, so I backed it off a little more than I had to. Great upgrade, but the real test now is whether I can hear it over the AC blasting.

 

Glad to hear, @TenBeers. I too need to cut back on my gain a bit. It is a very impressive unit for cost, size and power.

 

You have serious 3rd world problems, Mr Tenbeers, if you can't hear your sound system over your AC blasting.

 

I can't argue with that. But, not a problem anymore! This thing is loud and clean after running the automatic tuning, kind of amazing. The factory tune for the rear speakers is super weak and muddy, so replacing those speakers really didn't do much. After the amp and tuning they sound great. And since I'm running more tweeters now with the dash tweeters and the front 6x9's, the tune did bring those frequencies down to a more balanced level. Really impressed with how the tuning corrects the stock output and balances everything. There's an amazing amount of bass now with the additional power, even without a subwoofer. I made a harness from 2 Metra harnesses, so the entire setup has been plug-and-play, no cut or tapped wires.

Next challenge is determining what thickness of ribeye is best, can't seem to decide whether I like the thick or thin ones better, or maybe something in between.

 

You cooking for me too?

 

What a day, fellas! My lovely bride purchased me a new iPhone XS yesterday for our anniversary, and this morning it went kaput! It's off to Apple for diagnosis. Apple did give me a new loaner.

While I normally put in my own wrench time, I wasn't comfortable wrapping my roof so I had it professionally done. In the process of having it wrapped, the installer broke the 3rd brake light (but didn't tell me). I had to have it fixed by Toyota and now I'm in the process of battling to get a refund from the installers. Toyota tried to get it covered under the t-sb-0055-18 and under my extended warranty, but to no avail. So beyond what I spent on the wrap, I forked over another $400+ to have the brake light replaced and installed. And while at the dealership, lightening struck a telephone pole in front of the dealership and knocked out the power for several hours, delaying me even longer.
I'm home now, got some tunes playing, and helping the wife cook dinner. Keeping things in perspective. 'Hope y'all are well!

 

Not sure if I should like that post or not like it, but that sucks!

 

Well, don't they say that these things come in 3's? You're done, so nothing more to worry about today. Man, $400 for a brake light.

 

That sucks. When it rains it pours, right?

Don't you have to drop the headliner to get to the bolts that hold in the 3rd brake light on 3rd gens? I think I remember reading that on here. That will rack up labor costs fast having to tear apart the interior.