I’m shopping for stuff for the house. Not furnishings but things like the tub, sinks, tile, etc. Things that reflect my tastes and budget. And that means running around to Home Despot, Lowes, and IKEA for some things and the Brass Knob and Community Forklift for older home items.
For things like clawfoot tubs and radiators I compared Brass Knob and Community Forklift. Brass Knob wins the beauty contest, but with my budget I’m looking at CF. 
Clawfoots at the BK start at $450 for the ones sitting outside and at $850 for the nice re-glazed ones. At CF all the tubs sit outside and range from $200-$400 depending on how dinged up they are and if they have feet. The one pictured here had $400 taped on it and came with feet. It didn’t have any dings in the tubby part of the tub, the feet weren’t rusty and really there wasn’t a lot the tub needed. There was another tub that had a ding or two on the lip and had rusty feet and it was listed as $250 with feet.
It has been a while since I priced radiators at the BK. Off the top of my head they were something like $9 a fin. I did get a price from CF which was like 1/2 that depending on size. Plain was @ 19″ high $4 per fin, then 26″ $5 per fin and 36″ $6 per fin and the fancy just add $4.50 per fin over the plain price.
Unlike BK, CF had insulation, the denim kind. If you need more the fellow working there said he had more in the back.
Day: May 3, 2007
Cutting off your nose to spite your face- a rant
When I moved here from PG County my first shock was in the form of my newly adjusted paycheck. I can’t remember the exact amount now but it was over $30 bucks in increased taxes on what was around about a $36,000py salary. The second shock, I think, was the odd sound of gunfire.
The Post reports that the City Council is looking at two tax proposals. I’m not too concerned about the inheritance tax, because of my age. However, as a homeowner I would love it if the city capped the real estate tax increase at 5%, down from 10%. However, the voice of opposition to the 5% is that it would be a tax break for the wealthy.
Honey, it would be a tax break for me, and I’m very sure I’m not wealthy. How do I know, well if I were to go out and have a car like the average American, I couldn’t eat. The insurance and gas would kill me. As it stands now my mortgages with RE taxes and homeowners insurance eat up 1/2 of my take home pay. That’s even after I reduced the amount I contribute to my retirement. It seems one has to plow over the middle class to try to punish the rich.
The current real estate tax system rewards people who stay put. Longtime residents pay way less in taxes for the same type house on the same block, than someone just buying a house now. Is that fair? I dunno. But I wouldn’t complicate the system specifically to punish them for not trading up in house and staying put. Supposedly the system does punish abandoned properties for being abandoned properties regardless of the income of the properties’ owners. Someone who has been around long enough probably knows how to play the system to evade the higher vacant property tax.
Anyway, whoever is in charge please don’t take out your frustrations with the wealthy out on the middle class. You already tax my income more than the surrounding areas (for a single car-less person). You tax my property according to an amount I couldn’t pay if I were to try to buy my house today.
Also the property taxes seem unfair to the small non-big chain businesses we love, but that’s another rant for another day.