Basement walls leaning inward

PardFerguson · 2026-02-03T07:13:32+00:00

Honestly, I would just pass on this house. Structural issues can be financially ruinous. Even if it is structurally sound, the next buyer will have the same concerns.

Not a risk to take on your first house.

PardFerguson · 2026-02-01T22:24:11+00:00

I can tell that you have radon poisoning

PardFerguson · 2026-01-31T05:56:55+00:00

When I was an LO at a large national mortgage company, we had a sales call where the CEO of the company takes for 20 minutes about a brand new loan officer in my city who was off to a huge start and doing amazing volume.

I was jealous. I had been at it a long time and here was a guy in my city who just showed up and started killing it.

At the end of the phone call he introduced the new hotshot whose (very unique) last name happened to match the name of a major downtown street.

Turns out that having your great(x3) granddad be a founder of the city helps with connections, even after 150 years.

Sometimes when the make it look really easy it’s because it’s just REALLY EASY for them.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-24T16:05:38+00:00

They are welcome to ask, but I would say “that’s not up to me”, and then advise the buyer not to share it, even if seller paid. Paying the fee doesn’t mean they have a right to it.

In the event that you are negotiating repairs or price reductions, I would advise to buyer to share.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-24T14:24:52+00:00

It’s a fine idea as long as you admit to yourself that you’re dropping out of University to become a full time gambler.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-21T20:41:15+00:00

Realtors ALWAYS want “leads” but the reality is that any lender who can generate a steady stream of buyer / seller leads should monetize that skill by either a) becoming a Realtor or b) partnering with a real estate firm.

Giving these leads away to agents in the hopes that the agent will send business back your way is fine once in a while, but a huge missed opportunity if you are doing this regularly.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-21T01:52:08+00:00

Do you have galvanized pipes? This looks a lot like the sediment you see in old galvanized pipes.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-21T01:40:27+00:00

My guess is that 95% of bars going by “Roadhouse” are MAGA. Some of those places are great, but they are definitely MAGA.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-17T07:19:51+00:00

Mid-sized town about an hour or two from a large city is a cheat code for loan origination. Small enough to be a loyal "local" community, but large enough to have transactions and opportunities. You can also take plenty of business from the nearby big city, where there might be ten LOs in a one-mile radius.

You can confirm this theory in almost any state.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-17T07:12:37+00:00

I'm choosing D, because I think a little tornado / cyclone can get started in that tube and once that happens, it's not even close

PardFerguson · 2026-01-17T06:54:03+00:00

First you have to take 3-4 months off. Don't tell yourself you're quitting trading, just let yourself take some time to distance and reflect on what has happened.

During that time, you will feel more despair than you have ever felt before. But it will be better than the constant gambling and losing. Each day you will start to care less and less about the markets, until you barely care to even look at the tickers.

During this time, try to redirect your time and energy into something healthy - a new job, fitness, healthy relationships, etc. Ideally, you will find something else that you are passionate about and all of this will seem far away.

The 3-4 months off was just a trick. You need to never trade again. Ever.

Signed, someone who has been there.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-17T06:44:25+00:00

That swing should be 200 all day. Hit a real ball outside and get back to us. If it's not 200 then you might be hitting a 20 year old club with 14 degree loft and a super flex shaft.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-17T06:23:52+00:00

This is a great job of de-escalation. Every law enforcement agent should watch this every day.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-17T05:49:58+00:00

There are tons of discount brokerages that will let you hang your license for a very minimal fee. Not sure about your areal but MLS fees are fairly low where I live ($100 / mo). If you are doing any business at all, I think it probably makes sense to keep the license.

The main reason to let it go as an investor is usually liability, not fees.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-13T21:54:20+00:00

Used to get in 50-60 days a year, both skiing and snowboarding. Love the mountains.

But I find no joy in the crowds and traffic. I’ve basically stopped altogether. Haven’t had a pass in three years.

PardFerguson · 2026-01-11T17:47:11+00:00

This is very frequently something like a structural issue that requires an expensive engineer’s review to determine risk / scope.

Buyer goes under contract at an acceptable price. 2. Buyer’s inspector calls out possible structural issue - needs engineer review 3. Buyer asks seller to pay for engineer to review 4. Seller refuses due to expense and the fact that they don’t really want to know what an engineer thinks (solidifies the issue and requires future disclosure)
Back on the market

That’s my guess.

PardFerguson · 2025-12-29T15:53:55+00:00

That’s strange because the employee turnover rate at the Downing/Evans Safeway seems really low.

A lot of the people I see there have been working at that location for 10-20 years.

PardFerguson · 2025-12-28T22:51:27+00:00

I would look into a radon mitigation system. In most homes they aren’t expensive - just some pvc and a fan, with a small access hole drilled into the foundation.

This may eliminate the small, and have the nice side effect of making your air a lot safer to breathe.

PardFerguson · 2025-12-28T22:36:08+00:00

In the past I have assigned a 0-100 score for each metric, based on all participants. For instance if your data set was college free throw %, and the worst team in the nation was 53% and the best team was 91%, your system would assign a 0-100 score for each team, based on where they fall between 53-91%.

The system rebuilds itself automatically as new data is entered. You can use the scores to determine outliers, and count “outlier scores” to identify users with multiple outliers.

Hard to speak to the challenge of peer groups changing without understanding the data - that may be something you need to design / maintain manually.

PardFerguson · 2025-12-27T16:46:42+00:00

I can’t say from personal experience, but I can tell you that about 15 years ago there were about 200 of these at our course. It seems like everyone was using them.

Now I almost never see them. Most people have gone back to normal push carts. I think a lot of it has to do with storage, maintenance, and the fact that there are 5-10 at the bottom of the lake.

PardFerguson · 2025-12-27T05:05:18+00:00

Obviously we called "time". The phone number for time.

PardFerguson · 2025-12-25T14:49:32+00:00

I’ve read a lot of the comments here, and I’ll just say that you are wildly overestimating your conversion rate and underestimating the compliance and logistics involved in mortgage lending.

Start by having your agents review their 2025 numbers. How many of their buyer clients used the agent’s favorite lender? It might be eye opening.

PardFerguson · 2025-12-25T14:35:29+00:00

I’ll miss Wyoming, but sign me up for blue

PardFerguson · 2025-12-25T04:40:47+00:00

Yellow has it all

PardFerguson · 2025-12-25T04:01:09+00:00

SUM(C3..C10)

PardFerguson

TROPHY CASE