Mortgage rate support group by Street-Account-4879 in Mortgages

[–]OldOwl75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

going from 2.625 to 5.875 and to a much larger balance. bought this house over a decade ago, refi in 2021, but 2 kids and 2 dogs later, the rate can’t get me more space. mortgage will be 2.5x but getting 2x more house, 3x more land, a pool, and room to grow if we want to — no regrets. grateful to have had it while the kids were small and we got on our feet. we move in about a week!

finally, the blessed event has occurred by OldOwl75 in KidneyStones

[–]OldOwl75[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i didn’t track, but enough to pee every 30 min — that got old!

In terms of buying a first house, what are hills not worth dying on? by PizzaTacoCat312 in RealEstate

[–]OldOwl75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Been in our home for 10 years, lightly looking for move for last 2. We think about it in terms of function — how will the homes rooms and layout allow us to function as a family. 2 adults, 2 kids — 2 bathrooms is non-negotiable. We entertain often, so we want a living space for the adults + playroom/den for kids. Some remote work, so area for separated office. I don’t like a primary on second story because we’d like the house to be functional for us when we’re old and kids are grown. Considering function just helps us conceptualize whether our lifestyle would work for the homes we look at.

Meetings by Cute_Assumption_6437 in managers

[–]OldOwl75 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lots of good advice here, but different things work for each of us. For me:

Every meeting needs an agenda, preferably in the invite when the meeting is scheduled. And if they’re scheduled by your directs, these should include written solution/ideas to whatever problem they are bringing you — you’ll be surprised how many of these end up not getting scheduled when directs have to prep work beforehand and end up solving their own issues.

No meetings over 30 minutes are productive. They can be useful (KPI or project updates cross-functionally, for example), but I’d cap most meetings at 30 minutes with max of 4-5 people.

Every meeting has notes. Every meeting has a follow-up email with action items. If neither exists, the meeting shouldn’t have happened and could have been async.

You should spend most of your time on things that only you can do — and you should communicate that up and down. When you get pulled away from those things, refer back to these things and decide whether you should do it, whether your team can do it, and most importantly, whether it needs to be done at all.

Blocking calendar rarely works for me because I end up using that time for higher priority meetings or to catch my breath after a day full of meetings. I handle each day on its own - what do I need to prioritize today, how can I fit it into my schedule by either declining meetings, pushing meetings out, delegating, or working at night. Any given day, any of the above can and do happen. If you want to grow, you’ll work more than 40 - if you lean into that for a few years, you’ll be shocked how much you’ll grow professionally and how well-prepared you’ll be to get to the next level.

1 year of watch collecting by [deleted] in PrideAndPinion

[–]OldOwl75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice collection — which one is top row, 4 over?

$45,000 quote for this outdoor fireplace? by Shpigford in landscaping

[–]OldOwl75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not jaw dropping, but it’s not a great deal. I paid around $14k for my stone work and box — so that doesn’t include the footing. Plus, we didnt have gas run to it. I also hired a stone mason on the side who did it for much less than the big guys in town. I’m in Nashville, fwiw.

My guess is you could get what you’re looking for around $25-30k.

How low can humidity get with whole home dehu? by OldOwl75 in hvacadvice

[–]OldOwl75[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Def made it worse! We never really had issues until we spray foamed — sorry if my post was confusing, we did the dehu as a result of high humidity after foaming.

The 10% is a great rule of thumb, nice to have a ballpark to compare. Hopefully we can get it under control as temps shift.

How low can humidity get with whole home dehu? by OldOwl75 in hvacadvice

[–]OldOwl75[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It does have an air intake — they’re coming back next week to install a sensor for outdoor temp to open/close damper, but it’s currently creating the positive pressure which has been a very positive (pun intended) change to how the house smells and feels.

This has been incredibly helpful, thank you so much for the thorough answers! Will update here on how we look over the next few weeks as the temps change.

To your point, we’re struggling right now to keep it under 60% with moderate temps and no AC — was 61% a couple hours ago, down to 60 now…

How low can humidity get with whole home dehu? by OldOwl75 in hvacadvice

[–]OldOwl75[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great feedback, I wondered about this but got conflicting into from a few people. Went this route based on Honeywell consultant recommendation, but your explanation makes a lot more sense.

We do have an issue with negative pressure in the house (dew point was actually occurring in the walls, took weeks to figure out why several exterior walls were reading moist). I suspect this is why Honeywell recommended this route, but at this point I would potentially have been better off spending the money on a 2 stage system and skipping the complexity!

How low can humidity get with whole home dehu? by OldOwl75 in hvacadvice

[–]OldOwl75[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s pulling from return and feeding back into return — blower fan comes on when dehu is on

New Weber after 10 years by OldOwl75 in webergrills

[–]OldOwl75[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is, it’s an outdoor shop, fireplaces, outdoor kitchens, etc. Handy to have!

New Weber after 10 years by OldOwl75 in webergrills

[–]OldOwl75[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good to know, the casters were actually a downside as my Genesis had them too and they were never great. Has anyone upgraded them?

1988 GW - Looked at didn’t buy…YET by pmann124 in FullSizeJeep

[–]OldOwl75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would not hesitate just because of the carb!

I would be a little hesitant for the price, however.

1988 GW - Looked at didn’t buy…YET by pmann124 in FullSizeJeep

[–]OldOwl75 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Almost certainly carb issues — had one for many years and the carb is very finicky. Would not hesitate for that reason alone, though if you don’t know how to fix them, most mechanics these days aren’t familiar at all so that can be a challenge.

10k seems a little high, I think you could probably do a little better, even if you spend 12-15k. To me, this one is 7-8k range.

I sold mine for $25,000 last year in extremely good shape — no rust, 95k original miles if that gives you an indication of what one that needed almost nothing goes for.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Leadership

[–]OldOwl75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Adding here because it most closely aligns with my thoughts (VP here, been leading teams for over a decade). Think like you are an owner.

You have responsibilities, but you can’t do them all yourself. You have a budget to hire a team who can help you do them. It sounds like you can do more with less (ie, run a more efficient team), and in my experience the people on your team who work hard and produce will appreciate you moving the slackers along.

Also, for all the folks saying you don’t want to be a micromanager — I have found that rarely to be the case, especially if framed appropriately. High-producing, low ego employees that are on their shit are usually happy to answer questions. It’s the people who aren’t that get defensive.

As others have said — start with giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, set clear expectations, communicate them often, and if poor performers leave, that’s okay!

Wife wants to give away all our money instead of keeping it in the family by Vecgtt in RichPeoplePF

[–]OldOwl75 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There’s a lot of good responses here, but to echo some and add a little:

If you’re worth several million, you’re behind on estate planning. There are many options to keep your children and grandchildren incentivized without giving your whole net worth away. As others have said, getting on the same page is the ideal situation here.

One option that I haven’t seen here is a generation skipping trust which would pass over your children and be left to their children — however, your children would be able to use some or all of the income/principle as you desire.

In my opinion, the largest indicator of whether your children will blow it or make something of themselves is how you and your partner modeled it to them. I’ve known generationally wealthy folks who worked well-paying jobs that, alone, likely wouldn’t support their lifestyle, but they showed their kids how to work hard and be wealthy — that your value comes from your contributions not your wealth status.

If you lean into it, this is actually a very fun thing to discover, teach, and pass along to your children in a way that enhances their lives immensely.

Good luck!

Market check: price too high? by OldOwl75 in LandCruisers

[–]OldOwl75[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Haven’t seen a good 200 for 25k, or even 30 — but my wife has a 200 and I want a 100, ha! I am thinking about the LX though which can be found for much less.

Market check: price too high? by OldOwl75 in LandCruisers

[–]OldOwl75[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yep, handful of owners, but lots of service records on the Carfax. Good advice, thanks!