If Texas is soo great, why is it so cheap? (Houston: mortgage, relocating)

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

"
...
Called Elliots (should have in the first place) and the older gentleman that answered the phone knew right away what I needed and had it and held it for me. When I went to get it he even showed me how to make sure it is put on correctly. I'd be willing to bet the guy was on SS and had the job to supplement his income but I'm sure glad he was there. So when it comes to trades like that sadly a lot of times it is going to be the older worker that you want to hire.
...

Yours is an interesting story that is similar to my experience with door locks. I bought an old place and found that no standard door knob would fit the doors and no one had a solution. Finally went to Elliot’s and talked with an old guy that explained to me that in the past some doors were drilled to a different standard. He showed me my options and instructed me on using a rental kit to re-drill the doors. It was all about having years of experience... I was lucky to have that gentleman help me.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

I can relate to what you're saying. It seems to be almost impossible to find anything made right or anybody who knows squat about anything anymore in this country. Well, I need to modify that, of course there is, but it does get discourging at times. He did have one older man who was a tractor mechanic (not just someone who had tinkered around with tools, etc) and really knew his stuff, but he wouldn't pay him anything , and tried to work him to death, so he eventually left.

As far as any benefits whatsoever, he never made any attempt to offer anything, but as far as that, I could see his point,,,costs are outrageous.

What I was trying to say is the out and out obvious things he did and got by with. There seemed to be no checkpoint. He hired a CPA a few years after I went to work for him and the CPA was always telling him he couldn't do this or that (he didn't even know half of it). The CPA finally just got where he shrugged and gave up.

So, maybe crime does pay! I would have been caught and put in jail, but maybe not, like I said, they don't seem to check things to well here in Texas. You are the first person I've heard of who has been checked on their sales tax, although I'm sure there must be others who have been.

It really is sad that w/ all of the TAKS tests and state funding that vocational training for the most part has left the public school system. Not everyone is going to head right off to college. Besides we NEED mechanically inclined people willing to learn how to make/work/repair our products. My dad has been in that position of being worked to death by some places he went to work only part time.

He better hold on then cause if he does get caught.... yikes. We knew one guy who literally testified in a court that his CPA told him that if he closed up his business on December 31st he could re-open after Jan. 1st w/ a different name and would not have to pay taxes. Pretty soon after that the poor fellow was sent to Terrell and not long after that he had to file bankruptcy. Wonder why

The sad thing w/ benefits is we want to save for retirement NOW and have been wanting to for years. Checked on all kinds of plans and if we pay for it for ourselves thru the company we have to offer it to everyone. Well what do you do when you have the benie person in to explain everything to people and NO ONE will sign up?!?!?!?!?!!! Then they gripe about no money for retirement......... but they just bought fancy new rims for their truck. So it does bite. That is when as a business owner you go to your CPA and attorney and set up a new company and pay yourself thru it some kind of pay and let that pay for the retirement or other benefits we want to have. Can't even do things nice for some anymore.

As for audits for sales tax.......... geez, he has been VERY lucky. I don't know of anyone that has not been audited at some point - one time we got audited two years in a row and each auditor had a different idea of the tax laws. Our CPA was audited last year, all clean and on the up and up. It pays to have a good...... um, GREAT HONEST CPA. With all of the regulations we have to deal w/ and surprise inspections I'm of the firm belief of bore them w/ EVERY SINGLE last detail to where they just check it off and leave. But then you get the rookie looking for ANYTHING to write-up, seen that too.

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

It really is sad that w/ all of the TAKS tests and state funding that vocational training for the most part has left the public school system. Not everyone is going to head right off to college. Besides we NEED mechanically inclined people willing to learn how to make/work/repair our products. My dad has been in that position of being worked to death by some places he went to work only part time.

I had forgotten until you mentioned about your Dad going to work part-time. The man I was talking about hired on part-time, too. Said he only wanted to work 2 or 3 days a week. It started out that way, then the owner would ask him every evening if he would come in the next day, which finally led to it being expected he would be there every day. It got to the point where it would make the owner mad if the man had to take off for a doctor's appointment, etc.

It is a shame that a lot of kids are not taught simple basic stuff that is needed to get by in life. I suppose every kid thinks their daddy is the smartest, etc. guy there is, but really, even now, I think my daddy knew just about everything. He grew up in East Texas on a farm, didn't get but a 4th grade education, yet could read and do math better than kids graduating high schools these days.

He and my Mom just had us two girls, and he taught us just like he would have if we were boys. (He also taught us how to fight...my Mom would say, don't be doing that, and my Dad would say...they need to know how to take care of theirselves. We had to know how to change a tire before we were allowed to drive. He showed us how to check all the fluids and how to change oil in a car. When we were 10 and 12 years old, if we wanted to build something, we went and got the skillsaw, hammer, lumber, nails and did it. My Mom kept saying, don't let those girls use that skillsaw, they'll cut their fingers off, but we never did. I guess that old saying of...jack of many trades, master of none, would apply to him, although he was good at whatever he attempted. If the roof needed replacing, he would buy the shingles and we would go up there and put them on.

He had never built anything from the ground up and neither had his brother, but they got to talking and decided Arlington would be a good town to put a motel in, what with Six Flags, etc. (My Mom's aunt and uncle had sold their dairy farm years earlier to Six Flags so they could put the amusement park in, and the rest of the farm to the state for the tollroad (Interstate 30). So they bought a a piece of land there on Hwy. 80 between Cooper and Davis and built a motel! HaHa, that was my first real job...cleaning rooms in the summertime at a big $1.00 an hour, but it sure beat pulling bolls in the cotton fields down in Depot where we had moved up from!

After that, Daddy started building houses for people and we would help him. I've tied steel for the foundations, wired plugs in the walls, textured, painted, roofed, etc. He thought we should know these things just in case. I learned growing up that it doesn't matter that you're not going to be doing a certain thing for a living, if you at least have some knowledg,e of it, you are way better off. I learned the value of hard work, how to save and manage money, and one of the most important lessons of all, I believe, how not to be wasteful and take care of your belongings.

I am trying to instill these same values in my daughter and now that she is becoming older and is beginning to see the reasoning behind this, it is starting to be a little easier. It was hard when she was younger, as it seems most of her friends were just handed whatever they wanted on a silver platter. Tear it up??,,,well, that's ok,,,just get another one,,,mentality. She thought she was being punished when I would make her get out and help me repair fence, or cut mesquite in the pasture, etc. when her friends were out playing. Don't get me wrong, we don't just work, work, work, all the time. There's plenty of fun and play, it's just that really, some of these kids she is growing up with have never done a lick of work! She will tell me how they have to keep the door to their bedrooms shut all the time, and when I ask her why, she said, you should see it, you can't even walk in there. I ask her why they don't clean it up and she said they don't have to. They are just given a large allowance every week and yet they don't do anything to earn it. What are you teaching someone when you give them something for doing nothing? I don't know, I believe you should earn what you get. I got my daughter some chickens when she was in the second grade and they are hers, she is responsible for them. She sells the eggs and she buys the feed out of that money and the money left over is hers to keep. I have kelped her along with this, but for the most part, she's been solely responsible. She started off selling her eggs to friends, neighbors and her teachers at school. She has done quite well with this, so a few years ago I bought her a few goats. She sells the babies and that gives her another way to earn money. Same thing, she is responsible for them. She's learn to be quite good at fixing fence! She gets aggravated at times, especially with the goats, but it gives her a sense of pride that she is accomplishing something on her own.

When we were kids, we were taught to take pride in our schoolwork. I have friends who will reward their kids with money for each passing grade they make in school. If we made a bad grade, we were rewarded with a whipping, good grades were just expected. We were taught that we were allowed to go to school so that we could learn and make something out of ourselves.

I know that these kids I was talking about, the ones who won't even pick up their rooms, I know this is not typical of everyone, but the theory of...let someone else do it...has become entirely too widespread in this country to suit me. I realized you can't know everything and do everything, but you should certainly do your best to learn as much as you can regarding different matters.

[momof2dfw]

OMYGOSH!!! Too funny and sounds WAY TOO familiar. LOL!!! One of my grandfathers was in maint. and worked for Parkland Hosp and the Dallas Housing Authority (yep, I'm a kid that grew up going w/ him to work at the projects, lol). This was of course when they moved to the "city" but then retired back to "the country". He fixed everything and my dad was just like him, "jack of all trades". Oh, and it was two girls for us too (my lil sis and I). I know WAY more than my sis. I'm the one she calls if something breaks or something is wrong w/ her car if daddy is not around. Geez, where is your husband? That guy you married that wants to go buy and live on a farm. The guy that does not even on a screwdriver till we gave him a set for Christmas. Honey, your car is not blowing up. The windshield wipers stopped working because the fuse went out. Here is how to change it. Girl, your engine is not blowing up nor is the transmission shot. It has a small leak and by the smell of it just walking into the garage this is what is wrong. Your HUSBAND did not know this and he brags about growing up on a farm and wants to live on one?!?!?!?!?! Oh, this weekend we were at the lake and a bunch of friends came up and one went and picked a cucumber and onion out of the garden. She was excited because at close to 40 this was the first time she had ever picked something from a garden. LOL!!! One time I was behind my grandfather as he planted onions and when he was done and went in I came running in later all excited because they had "grown and ready to pick". And picked them. LOL!! He just got up and went and replanted them. This is also the grandfather that when the preacher (my other grandfather) asked in church one Sunday who could come up and fix something he raised his hand. Sure enough by the time Monday was over it was fixed. Everytime after that when the preacher would ask who could come up and fix something he never raised his hand again but by the time the fellow that did raise his hand came up it was already fixed. This went on till they found out it was my grandfather. He said they asked who could fix the stuff around the church and he could and just did. THAT is the TEXAS spirit.

As for kids and knowing about cars, I totally agree. I knew and do know and when my hubby brought me home this new BMW I was looking under the hood and totally at a loss. Where is the dipstick? How do I check the oil? Change the filters? Where ARE the filters? Where is the battery? (Under the backseat in case anyone can't find their battery under the hood). I've rebuilt the front end of a car before. If my lights went out I knew how to go get what I needed and fix it. Of course I loved it when I was young and would go into Chiefs to get car parts and none of the guys working ever believed me when they asked what size motor I had. I know how to use the reference books but if you want to help and make a fool out of yourself, sure, go for it. That is why I tell my girls they are getting a car that is older and can be worked on. That way as they get older and get the newer cars that can not be worked on as easily when they take it in they are not ignorant and won't get taken. OHHHH! This is funny. A good friend has a BMW just like mine. One day she came over and mentioned that her car was making a funny noise and had taken it in. No one could figure it out and this went on for awhile. So I went out into the drive and she started it. Right away I knew what it was. She had a valve sticking. She said that it only makes it when she first starts the car and for awhile then goes away. Well yes, as the car warms up the oil heats up and helps "unstick" the valve temporarily. So she took it in AGAIN and asked them to keep it overnight to start up cold (as I told her to do). Sure enough..... I'm still waiting on my fee

Why do I live in Texas? Because I've learned the value of hard work and determination. I know how to get the job done and it does not matter how dirty one gets doing it. Manual labor is always good. That even us "fancy" girls that get all dressed up and wear makeup and nice clothes can get dirty and no a thing or two about the "boy stuff". Having that Texas spirit that whenever you see something that needs to be fixed even if it does not belong to you, you just do it. You help your neighbor before they even have to ask for help.

[lonestar2007]

[quote=momof2dfw;797220]OMYGOSH!!! Too funny and sounds WAY TOO familiar. LOL!!! One of my grandfathers was in maint. and worked for Parkland Hosp and the Dallas Housing Authority (yep, I'm a kid that grew up going w/ him to work at the projects, lol).

This is too funny, my Daddy was a minister too. When we were just kids living in Dallas before we moved to East Texas the church had a mission they ran on the west side. We would go and pick up people who lived in the projects and bring them to church. I rememer one time at Easter, one of the shoe stores in Dallas donated a ton of the buster brown shoes for the kids so they could have a new pair of shoes for Easter.

I had a '57, '58, '59 and 63' Chevy. These were all 6 cylinder and so simple to work on. I knew how to change plugs and set points, change the fuel filter out if it got cloggged up, My oil pan started leaking around the bolt on the '63 and I went and got a self threading bolt and put it in. It still dripped a tad, so I got under there and tightened it just a little bit more and stuck a wad of bubble gum I had been chewing on it. HaHa never leaked again...I swore it was the bubble gum! HaHa

Ever since they started putting all the pollution stuff on these cars, it really is like...where IS the dipstick??

I got the '63 from my cousin. I wanted it ever since she bought it new. It was a red, 2 door, hardtop and lke I said, was only a 6 cylinder, but that girl had broke that car in right! It was fast! I don't know why it had the 8 cylinder emblem on the side, but it did. I know it was never wrecked so it wasn't like a replacement fender or anything, maybe she got the emblem and put it on for kicks. Anyway, it was so funny, we would go hang out at the old Bullpen on Abrams St. in Arlington (you might remember it) and I could get more free beer because of this. Guys would pull up and start talking, next thing they'd be saying something about cars, etc. I'd mentioned my car was a 6 cylinder, than they would say, no it's not, it's an 8, finally we'd bet a beer on it and they'd raise the hood and lo and behold...A SIX CYLINDER! Had more fun with that car!

[momof2dfw]

LOL!!

And YES, I'm VERY aware we got off topic to whoever gave me the neg for it. Geez. If you don't like the way us Texans do things which means getting off topic from time to time......... get over it. Life is WAAAY too short to let things like that get your panties all in a wad over something on a cyber chat board.

[johnrex62]

We tell everyone how hot it is, how little water there is, and how crowded Houston is. It works well to keep the riff raff out. Except for the Californians, but they never listen to anyone anyway.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by johnrex62

We tell everyone how hot it is, how little water there is, and how crowded Houston is. It works well to keep the riff raff out. Except for the Californians, but they never listen to anyone anyway.

LOL!!!!! So here are some answers to those (all in jest of course as I actually LOVE Texas and know the real truth).

How hot is it? So dang hot that your tires melt to the pavement. You MUST take an oxygen tank w/ you just to walk the 10' down your front sidewalk to get the mail. Yes, our front yards are THAT small. Why are they that small? Because if they were any bigger any thing alive like grass or plants would die from lack of air and water. How hot is it? So hot that if your a/c went out you would die before the repairman made it out that day to fix it. Of course he was tied up getting new tires to replace the ones melted to the pavement. BTW, those "blacktop" roads are not ashpalt. They really are just melted tires. Cheap way to get new roads around here since we are so "cheap", "ignorant" and don't know no better.

How little water do we get? Water? What's that? Our "lakes" are more likely to be compared to the Salt Flats (no wonder they like it here ). Boats....... we outfit those to work on dirt instead of water. ATV's are more our thing instead.

How crowded is Houston? So dang crowded that chances are when you need your wallet out of your pocket your more liable to get someone elses out of their pocket than your own. You see all those massive crowds of people on tv in Asian cities....... that's it to a "T".

You know, you may be onto something. Whenever someone jumps on the "Let's Bash Texas" Bandwagon whether they have been here or not we need to agree w/ EVERYTHING they say bad about the place. LOL!!!

[graffixjones]

Originally Posted by johnrex62

We tell everyone how hot it is, how little water there is, and how crowded Houston is. It works well to keep the riff raff out. Except for the Californians, but they never listen to anyone anyway.

LOL!

The problem is that you pretty much described about 90% of California... so to us it's like "Hey, it's California, only cheaper!"

You gotta come up with some new scare tactics.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by graffixjones

LOL!

The problem is that you pretty much described about 90% of California... so to us it's like "Hey, it's California, only cheaper!"

You gotta come up with some new scare tactics.

We don't have rolling blackouts. Oops, that just makes Texas sound more appealing. hmmmmm.... The houses are really trailer homes w/ brick veneer. Since they are trailer homes and not bolted down to the ground about every year or so you have to replace it when it gets blown away by a tornado. The chances of having a tornado blow your house away? At least once a year. Basements you ask. We don't have those here as the ground is soooooo hard being that in North Texas we have clay that it makes it impossible to dig more than the required 3" to plant a small flower much less a basement or underground shelter. Now if you can get some good pipes in the ground and put some good rope on'em to fasten yourself to then you might be able to stay put when they blow thru.