It's nice to have something from China that is usable. Can't say much for all the other Crap they are pushing on us. I should say "the US ". Guess it is something like "Share the wealth " sure wish we could share some. I had a few cleavers a while back . I sold the last one in my collectible place. I think the name was Beatty. It had a large curved top with a hole in the end. The butchers hung the cleaver on a meat hook, above their work area, using that hole. Didn't really have any use for it, besides saying " I have an old Cleaver" I could have held on to it to chop firewood. Mostly everything is cut up now, in the markets. I didn't have a heavy work top, that I have now. Wouldn't have any use for a Cleaver anyway. I think a normal person, can make due now, with just a few knives . A chefs knife and a couple smaller ones. I'll sacrifice not cutting up a chicken in 4 seconds. I try to buy good tools but " made in the USA " If I had a farm and raised live stock a Cleaver, would be great. Don't do that anymore, either. Depressing ain't I. Everybody to their own taste, If you like it, do it,use it. I do have a Chef's Knife, made in Japan !!! LOU

I use similar philosophy as Rooseveltl. I am stating similar things with a slightly different bent. 1. You have to understand the business of rental properties. At the end of the day, you have to make money. Don't let someone else tell you that you are making money. You have to really know it. Read read and read about accounting aspect of rental business. Know how to do it yourself even if you end up paying someone to do it for you. You are running a small business; debit and credit, profit and loss. You would never run a business without knowing if you are making or losing money in that business. 2. Know your comfort zone. I am only comfortable with people that I would want to know socially as tenants. I don't want them living in my properties that cost 400K or more. (That is a starter home in my town) I could not and would not do section 8 or rental properties in very low income areas. That is my comfort zone. 3. Know how to market your property and how to read the market: good school district, close-in location, up and coming area, apartment with parking in a central location when no one has one. We have done well by picking in high demand areas. 4. Know your local laws pertaining to tenant rights and landlord's responsibilities. 5. Vacation rentals are very different from long term rentals. Ask yourself what you want. I prefer long term rentals. There are many people that do vacation rentals and do well financially. 6. Always have enough capital that you can use to deal with unexpected problems: leaks, breakage etc. We have had to come up with replacements quite quickly many times. 7. In my city, credit and criminal check is mandatory. I personally select my tenants. I do not use any service for managing the properties. Make sure that you make money even after you pay the service. 8. I have a list of people that I call for repairs and issues. I pay them promptly so that they are willing to work for me when I need them quickly. Unless the repair is very minor, we don't repair much because the time is of essence to the tenants. (ie non-working DW, appliances etc) We also charge market rate for rent. 9. We also do not let tenants stay a long time (decade or so) at a below market rate. We did that 20 years ago. The problem was that when they left, we found a significant amount of deferred maintenance that we could not get to which can have severe consequences. We would rather have them move every 3 to 5 years so that we can really go through the empty house and clean and repair. We just raise a minor amount each year: 2 to 5% or so. Then we stay current with the market. 10. I also buy in areas that I want to live in and in a house that I would/could live in if my income was lower or if I was younger. This way, I know that the property is desirable.

gbsim Your house with real wood trim, moulding and doors look very lovely, warm and grounded. Don't let anyone paint that beautiful wood trim in awful contractor special white that looks shiny and tacky at the same time. I am so tired of looking at cheaply done MDF shiny white trim on so many houses that it is a breath of fresh air to see real wood trim and moulding. Not only does the MDF and bad paint job make the trim look shiny, most people end up picking stark white that makes the trim look like pimples with make up on it. Coupled with strong paint color on the walls, whew! Good luck selling your house! It really has kept its age well. I know what you are talking about: the unknown construction quality. We have gutted and redid our house. There is nothing left of the original house. We can't imagine not knowing how things were done behind the walls. My husband even had them put metal flashing between each joins of the lap siding! (kind of extreme but...) We have a walk out basement: we call it daylight basement here. They don't live like basemnet at all. I suggest exploring in floor hydronic heating for the basement slab. It is expensive but it makes the basement quite comfortable.

> There isn’t enough room under my grow light to put them in any bigger of a pot, because it’ll take up more room. you have to make a choice then. find room and get them in a bigger pot or they will continue deteriorating, nothing else you do will make them better.. i am pretty sure that's what's wrong with them -- stress from small pot. if the temperature is above 50 outside, transplant into something bigger and put them outside during the day (start them in partial shade) and bring them in at night.. the plants would likely do better than where they currently are. next year start them later, or plan ahead to have more room / light.