Robert Darrow, @properties

Posts Tagged ‘Video’

Great video I found on YouTube today. I only wish I was the one who produced this.  It’s quite good!

Your Guide visited The Sterling on Tuesday, June 15, for a Broker Re-Introduction event. The Board of Directors has made improvements to the facilities, managed to increase owner occupancy, and improved the financial health of the community. 

In Part 3 I stopped by a couple of units for sale in the building that were open on Tuesday.  These units could be ideal investor units, and the convertible (junior one-bedroom) already has a renter in the unit that would definitely like to remain as a renter for the new owner.

Your Guide visited The Sterling on Tuesday, June 15, for a Broker Re-Introduction event. The Board of Directors has made improvements to the facilities, managed to increase owner occupancy, and improved the financial health of the community. In part 2, we tour a fabulous combined unit with one of the current residents and tour the common facilities with the Property Manager.

Your Guide visited The Sterling on Tuesday, June 15, for a Broker Re-Introduction event.  The Board of Directors has made improvements to the facilities, managed to increase owner occupancy, and improved the financial health of the community.  In Part 1, Your Guide interviews Board President Donna Randel and committee member Charles Rubner on what has transpired in the last couple years.

Your Guides find themselves in the position to need a new hot water heater for the home.  If we were purchasing a new water heater for a rental unit, the choice would nearly be a no-brainer.  We’d go out and find the cheapest and smallest tank-style hot water heater we could find at the local Home Depot or Menards.

($278 at Home Depot)

Most of our units are one bedrooms or very small two bedroom apartments, and each apartment has its own water heater so the tenants pay their own water-heating expenses.

But for our home, the advantages of a tankless system seemed quite attractive:

• We would gain an entire closet
• The new water heater would last three times as long
• Less expensive to operate
• Instant on hot water
• Limitless supply if all bathrooms and appliances were in use at the same time

Plus, this video from This Old House made it sound like hot-water Nirvana.

So we started asking around for referrals to companies that provide, and install, these new water heaters.  What we heard back from colleagues was not as encouraging.

From one co-worker:

Although tankless are very popular there are several drawbacks and I never recommend them especially if clients plan on drawing hot water for multiple sources to be used at the same time. Much of the energy efficiency achieved by a tankless can also be achieved by a high efficiency water heater or a solar powered water heater. And if you are replacing an exisiting water heater there is minimal added expense to connect to existing piping and no rerouting of venting, so long as the water heater is placed in the same location.

From a second:

From my experience going tankless also causes some new piping to be put in as well, whereas a water heater is a much simpler replacement. In my experience multiple use at the same time is not great for a tankless as it does not know how to evenly distribute the hot water that is being demanded so you end up with an uneven distribution. And with rebates available from energystar.gov as well as

http://www.conservationrebates.com/programs/chi/chi_index.aspx

You would most likely save more cash going for regular size water heater that is highly efficient. But you don’t get that storage space!
Tankless water heaters at this point in their technological development are sorta “green bling” in my humble opinion.

And a third:

There is no rage to a tankless hot water heater…trust me I should know because I researched them for my previous house and plumbers really do not prefer them over the standard natural gas fired model. In fact they do not produce enough hot water as efficiently as a standard model unless multiple units are installed which really increases your cost, so depending on the size of the home, it is not uncommon to have several units stacked to insure hot water.

I ended up with 2- power vent 40 gallon “STATE” top line gas fired water heaters with carbon monoxide sensors built on the units. The cost is around 900.00 per heater unit but you can get much less expensive models for 350.00 and up at Home Depot or Menards. I purchased for a deal at a plumbing supply store and my power venting system is usually more money. (Depends on how you have to vent the unit)

There are thresholds to where you are really going green especially when you’re using more energy than you need in specific instances. In Europe they have been using tankless for years but they live in much smaller spaces and use less water. They do not have car washes in shower stalls like you see in some ridiculous bathrooms with multiple body shower heads accompanying a rain head. These will tap through your hot water in minutes.

In our house, it seems we would need one unit to power the whole house with a purchase price of around $1,200 plus installation of another $1,000 for a total of $2,200.

Or we could get a nicer tank-style unit for $800, and pay another $200 for installation for a total of $1,000.

We also learned that the savings on our gas bill will only be around $70 to $100 per year, making the investment a 10 to 20 year payoff.

So unfortunately I am not going to get the amazing new hot water heater.  Rather in our installation, it seems the best course is to go with the more traditional installation.

Your Guide has been noticing a battle of the advertisements in the Chicago Trib ads in recent Sundays with a couple brokerages both boasting to be #1 in Chicago.  Let’s dive into the data and find out whose claims really hold up under scrutiny.  Some revealing details surface when you dig.

Sellers have been hearing for years that there’s a danger to overpricing.  Namely that after a few price reductions and a long time on the market that the eventual sale price will be lower than if the property was priced right from the start.  New tools allow us to examine the list price vs. sale price ratio for properties that have had no price changes against properties that have had one or more price changes.  Follow along as we look at Uptown and the entire City of Chicago.

A couple weeks ago Your Guide went on a walking tour of Boystown with YoChicago’s Joe Askins.  On one of our side street detours, we stumbled upon a great example of a renovated and rejuvinated Four Plus One (4+1) that is a testament to creative thinking.  Typically, the Four Plus One is one of Chicago’s most maligned architectural styles.

With good reason.

Built in the 1950’s and 1960’s, they’re hideously ugly, cramped and dark.  Saving graces to the buildings include modern amenities such as air conditioning, decent kitchens, better closets than in comparable vintage buildings, and parking.

Check out the previous article on the subject here: http://www.yourwindycityguide.com/?p=1218

Your Guide went on a walking tour of the Boystown Neighborhood with YoChicago’s Joe  Askins last week.  Join us as we stroll down Broadway from Addison towards Belmont.  Broadway is the daytime counterpart to the nightlife of Halsted Street. 

Plus, we explore alternatives to living in Boystown.

Your Guide went on a walking tour of the Boystown Neighborhood with YoChicago’s Joe  Askins last week.  We walked past the Nettlehorst School just as school let out which offered the perfect opportunity to talk about the transformation of the neighborhood from the Gay Ghetto into the Premium North Side Neighborhood that it is today.

As we continued west on Melrose, we talked about all the different styles of housing offered on Melrose – from modest to deluxe.