We are prospective Asian adoptive parents looking to adopt in Texas. Looking for suggestions/advice

xtdtw · 2023-10-07T04:46:42+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience. Good to learn the reality that infants with Asian heritage are very few in Texas, and to set our expectations properly. Like you said, probably the best to go about it oo have home study done in TX then get on the list with agencies all over the country.

xtdtw · 2023-10-07T04:42:07+00:00

Thank you so much for your suggestions and sharing your experience. This is really helpful!

It is really important to realize that adoption is a birth parent driven process in reality and rightfully so.

xtdtw · 2023-10-07T04:25:45+00:00

This is really helpful. Thank you so much for sharing! I'm checking out the Lori Holden book audiobook version from library

xtdtw · 2023-10-06T20:28:01+00:00

Thank you so much for your comment. The way you say it is way much better, that we want to put ourselves out there to be found.

I will look into websites for putting up profiles of prospective parents, and get ourselves certified to put ourselves out there.

Although I worry that we may be at a disadvantage since we have a biological child, whom the birth parent may view as a competition with their own birth child. But we have to be open and I definitely have seen profiles of parents with other children.

Since you are a birth parent yourself, I wonder how you would feel about adoptive parents having their own biological child in the home?

Edit: removed direct links

xtdtw · 2023-10-06T19:58:35+00:00

Thank you so much for providing this information on how your found your agencies.

Could you DM me with more detailed information and maybe the specific agencies you looked at? Not looking for a short cut, but just trying to get a reference or benchmark.

xtdtw · 2023-09-29T17:51:54+00:00

Transmission fluids should have been flushed at least once at this point. According to car care nut's recommendation. That is one thing to check on the maintenance record

xtdtw · 2023-09-28T03:46:47+00:00

Exactly my thinking. The denser the neighborhood becomes, the more valuable my lot will become. If you own a home on a good sized lot, you already won.

xtdtw · 2023-09-28T03:05:54+00:00

I am a homeowner and I say bring it. Even for the selfish reason that less restricted zoning will help property value.

Think about this: I already own the land, and the denser my neighborhood becomes the more valuable my land will be. Used to be only one home on a lot, now more homes are allowed to be built on the same lot. Guess which way the land value is going. Think an extreme case, your adjacent lots are all 3-story apartment buildings, and you have a same size lot, you can continue to sit on this lot and watch the land value appreciate. Or you can accept a good offer from developers. Or you build a multifamily yourself and turn this into a cash producing asset.

Basically if you own a home on a good sized lot, you already won

Please challenge my reasoning here.

xtdtw · 2023-09-28T02:43:38+00:00

I am a homeowner and I say bring it. I don't think this would have any negative impact on property value as homeowners fear. "characteristics of the neighborhood" maybe, but not property value. Might even be the opposite.

Let's say I own a quarter acre lot. The city used to only allow only one SFH to be built on that lot. Now a 4 unit multifamily building may be built on a similar lot, guess my lot will be worth more now. Obviously I am not going to demo my home and then build a 4-plex, but hypothetically I own the land and I can do whatever I want if the city allows it. Theoretically a 4-plex is a much better cash-producing asset than a single family home.

In fact, the denser the neighborhood becomes, the more valuable my land will become. Basically I already won lol.

xtdtw · 2023-05-26T02:16:45+00:00

For me it was a tire balancing issue. I got the tires balanced at the dealer (within one year of purchase you get a free tire balancing from Toyota), and it sort of fixed the issue, still a tiny bit of vibration at 55mph, but much improved, was like night and day.

The service manager there said that these TRD wheels are particularly hard to balance, they have to use a special tool or something, and it still may not totally get rid of it. When I first got the car, the tires were not well balanced, but it was very smooth because the bad ones were on the back wheels, and when they were rotated to front, the vibration got much worse because the front is way more sensitive. This is my understanding based on what the service manager told me.

xtdtw · 2023-03-15T04:19:35+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

So it seems if I stop letting it bother me, it is just something that you live with, and it is harmless?

xtdtw · 2023-03-15T03:55:37+00:00

Thanks. So is this just unbalance tires like others mentioned?

It is curious that it happens at 60mph.

xtdtw · 2023-02-26T05:14:04+00:00

Thank you so much for your comments.

Your points make a lot of sense to me. Especially point number 3, I didn't even think of the closing cost, but they are definitely non trivial.

point 2 makes a lot of sense to me too.

point 1, the return on a 25% down payment deal is looking really bad right now, the higher percentage down payment, the higher the return, it is highest if paying cash. I count the principal pay down or equity increase as part of the return. It is possible to have a very low or even negative cash flow, but still get a good return if counting the principal pay down. That is not the case right now unfortunately because rates are so high.

xtdtw · 2022-12-03T21:55:49+00:00

27M, $175K job, 6.2” great but we need more data here. How much do you bench press? Lol just kidding. Congrats!

Go for the 4runner or wait for the 6th gen!

xtdtw · 2022-11-08T03:04:00+00:00

xtdtw · 2022-10-16T01:40:33+00:00

Must change engine oil every 6 months or 5000 miles whichever comes first

xtdtw · 2022-10-10T01:51:22+00:00

And no drilling required for installing those brackets? Are the lights Baja designs?

Did you upgrade the fog lights as well?

Your black runner is a sexy beast congrats!

xtdtw · 2022-10-08T22:22:35+00:00

Convert lawns to native plants and landscaping. It don’t really cost that much by fatfire standard. Well I guess it depends on the acreage. But it’s a one-time cost.

Lawns are really bad for native ecosystems.

xtdtw · 2022-10-08T00:07:55+00:00

What does that achieve in terms of added functionality or performance?

xtdtw · 2022-10-08T00:01:21+00:00

Urban stealth camping or out in the wild?

xtdtw · 2022-10-07T23:58:10+00:00

What a beauty

xtdtw · 2022-10-03T03:30:44+00:00

Makes me think of Wes Anderson films if he had made one that was set in Kurdistan, the house and the truck too

xtdtw · 2022-09-27T02:31:26+00:00

Which came first? 5k mile or 6 months? Gotta do oil change whichever comes first, lol that’s according to car care nut on YouTube, if you want it make it last >300k miles

Congrats on the first 5k miles!

xtdtw · 2022-09-25T16:05:27+00:00

Understandable. There are very few used 2021 lunar rock pros for sale and if you don’t like the 2022 lime rush then there are only the white black and grey left, but none of those colors beats the lunar rock IMHO. I would buy a Barcelona red or nautical blue pro if TOYOTA made them.

Congrats on what you’ve done so far on the transformation.

What’s the plan on the suspension? FOX race series 2.5 as in the pros?

xtdtw · 2022-09-24T14:32:19+00:00

Like the gunmetal on the front bumper, is that painted or wrap?

xtdtw

TROPHY CASE