Egads!

[Rapscallion]

With my new working week schedule, I only work Mondays if I get called in. I spent the morning house hunting (not really fair as they don't move that far, but there are no pressure groups against it yet...). Newb though I may be in the field of seeking acceptable residences and paying for them, I know a pile of overpriced cack when I see it, and I saw many such examples in the windows of optimistic estate agents today.

Since I was going to spend some time wandering around the local town, I dropped my car in at the local Kwik Fit - a UK operation that does drop-in work on exhausts, tyres, and brakes. My brakes started grinding a couple of days ago, so you are justified in thinking I was a touch concerned. The pads were replaced two years ago, and nothing had been seen at the MOT (Ministry of Transport) inspection back in August, but this is my life we're talking about. I dropped off the car and was told it would be at least two hours before it could be seen - seemed to have been Brake Armageddon Monday, according to what the manager was saying.

Off I troddled to find that I am completely out of my depth in how much these houses cost, so I spent a merry few hours being surprised by how much people expected others to pay for their piles of bricks, and I sat in a cafe doing some sums of how much I could repay a month considering other expenses etc.

I got back. "Corsa?" the guy behind the counter asked. I nodded. "Come this way, please."

Not a good sign, is it?

The front pads were down to the recommended replacement line, which is fair enough. The rear pads, though... Oh my word. The pads weren't too bad, but the shoe was down to the metal, and the cylinder had dodgy seals on both sides which were leaking brake fluid every time I hit the brake pedal.

It should be fixed in less than two hours, but consider me good and shocked.

Rapscallion, leaking money

[protege]

As someone who has experienced total brake failure :eek:, I feel your pain. My old Tempo was constantly having brake problems. Usually, it was a little noise, and that was it. However, one time stands out. That is, the pedal hit the floor as I was coming home from work! Rather than simply fail in the Hechinger parking lot, the brakes failed as I was coming down the last hill by my house. Did I mention that there was a stoplight at the bottom? The only way to get that thing stopped was to shift into L and let the car's weight slow it down. Next morning, the brakes were fine :confused:

Anyway, the brakes on the MGB GT project car are shot. Er, actually, they're "missing." We'd simply removed the master cylinder, pads, and shoes to prevent things from seizing up. Since the car's front was on ramps, and the rear (less wheels) was on axle stands, it wasn't going anywhere. But, before it was sent away for restoration, I had to reinstall the rear brake drums and wheels. That wasn't without drama though--when we lowered the car, it rolled a bit...and promptly pinned one of my butthead relatives against a shelving unit :eek: I caught it, and stopped it properly, with one of Pittsburgh's finest bricks :)

[Spiffy McMoron]

The front pads were down to the recommended replacement line, which is fair enough. The rear pads, though... Oh my word. The pads weren't too bad, but the shoe was down to the metal, and the cylinder had dodgy seals on both sides which were leaking brake fluid every time I hit the brake pedal.

That's pretty bad, I'll agree, but I can do you one better. This was back when I was working with Canadian Tire, and happened over a year ago.

A Ford Taurus came in, with the owner complaining of bad brakes. It was put on the hoist, and the wheels were taken off. The rear brakes needed new shoes and wheel cylinders, but the front brakes were really bad-the rotors (the big, shiny disk) had been worn down to the venting in the middle. I was able to flake off bits of brake rotor onto the floor. Naturally, this meant that the pads and calipers were screwed up as well. The estimate for the repairs came out to over $1500-and that was using the economy stuff. The owner desided to take it home-the repairs were worth more than the car. But we couldn't let him drive it home-it had to be towed away.

[Rapscallion]

I forgot to mention the best bit. My father drives a commercial van, and he knows his way around vehicles, or so he thinks (at times). I said they were grinding and he went on about dirt on the pads and it would wear off. He went on about how Kwik Fit would tell me they were duff even if they weren't.

Glad I ignored him. Rather amused by the silence on the line when I phoned him to tell him...

Rapscallion

[sportsmom]

Hubby just replace the pads on my front brakes, no problem, but the last time they were done, OMG.

I was driving home with the girlygirls from the ice rink when all of a sudden I heard a loud "Thunk" when the brake pad fell off. Let me repeat that... it fell off...it fell the fuck off. Turns out I had a broken caliper and by the end of it, he had the calipers, roters and pads replaced. Not fun. At least our mechanic is cheap.


OTOH, how's the house hunting going Raps?

[Argabarga]

I had a brake failure once (line blew off the LF caliper, with no warning), in my Taurus, on the way to the garage, for yearly safety insepctions...

how's that for irony....

It is a discerning feeling to have the pedal go right to the floor....

[Rapscallion]

OTOH, how's the house hunting going Raps?

Let's just say that some people are optimistic about at how much they can price their piles of bricks. In general, despite this being a relatively non-affluent area of the country (compared to the Kent and London areas sort of thing), people are trying to sell their houses for a metric craptonne of cash.

I may start a thread for suggestions for houses in these regions for people to help me decide on what to spend my cash, actually. That would be funny. In the meantime, though, I'm just getting an eye on what the market is like. I'm going to meet a mortgage advisor next Monday so he can tell me what the repayments would be like on a mortgage of what type, what size, and what duration. From that, I can get a clear idea of what I'm going to have available to me.

Rapscallion

[Cia]

Are you sure you don't live in Rapid, Raps? House prices are ridiculously high - houses that would have gone for $30,000 - $40,000 ten years ago are going for at least $110,000. And these are tiny starter homes.

[Rapscallion]

I think I'd have noticed by now :p

Rapscallion

[AFpheonix]

I've never had my brakes go out, although my accelerator got stuck down on my first car right about when I wanted to go around a 90 degree turn...:eek:

There was a lady in our barn though, that was hauling over Chehalem mountain towards Newberg to go to a rodeo, and her brakes went out on her truck on her way down the hill. I'm not sure how she managed to keep control of her rig (probably turned up the trailer brakes...but still....askeery!).
I got to go play pickup with my family's truck and trailer.

[Melxb]

Are you sure you don't live in Rapid, Raps? House prices are ridiculously high - houses that would have gone for $30,000 - $40,000 ten years ago are going for at least $110,000. And these are tiny starter homes.

Are you taking USD???? I live in SoCal. A 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home will cost around $550,000 in a decent, but not too posh neighborhood. In my neighborhood, there are house that are going for $1.2million that 10-12 years ago were around $250,0000. Please keep in mind that my little suburb isn't the most expensive or most sought after. It's sort of middle-middle class. No upper or lower there. I'm beginning to believe that I'll NEVER be a homeowner here.

[stormtreader]

House prices in the UK are STUPID. The 'average' home is now £185,000, it was under £100,000 two years ago.
I often think i should sort a private pension out, since it'll have to cover my rent....

[Rapscallion]

After talking to some colleagues about house prices, I'm vaguely considering the idea of not being single.

It's not serious, but it's the only way I can see that I'd be able to afford something that's not a fleapit.

Rapscallion

[protege]

After talking to some colleagues about house prices, I'm vaguely considering the idea of not being single.

I'm single...and I'm currently living in something that's not a fleapit. It's a little 2-bedroom house out in the 'burbs...and it was perfect. That is, other than replacing the furnace (cracked heat exchanger), I've had to do very little. Since the previous took such good care of it, I was surprised that nobody wanted it. After a little negotiating, I was able to buy it for a bit less than they were asking.

Locally though, most property is *extremely* inflated. I've seen several houses priced well over market...simply because people don't know any better. They all think that their properties are worth more than they are...even though the market for existing properties is going through a downturn right now--most people buying out in the 'burbs want much larger and newer houses.

The kicker though, is I know someone who bought a house up the street from me. Her house is slightly bigger than mine (the lot is actually smaller though)...yet she ended up paying about twice of what I did.

[Rapscallion]

Heh - Barefootgirl and I were throwing URLs at each other yesterday. If I get around to digging some out, I'll show you how shabby some of these are :p

Rapscallion

[Rapscallion]

Yowsers - BFG and I have been drooling over this (http://www.homesonview.co.uk/Scripts/ShowProperty.asp?css=&CompanyID=RYDUHALI&AgencyID=RYDUHALI&ID=RXP00298) one for a day or two. It's very close to work, it has plenty of space for me, it's conveniently on a main road, and best of all it has its own 'moat'.

It's priced at about 20k more than I would want to pay, which is a downer - I'd struggle to get and repay a mortgage for that amount, and it wouldn't leave me much for the nice things in life - such as solar panels, water bed, and so forth.

I'll let you do the drooling. I have a mortgage advisor to see in the near future.

Rapscallion

[Broomjockey]

Nice place! Very cozy looking.
Hope you get the place!
:)

[Rapscallion]

Heh - I'd need a higher wage, or for it to be on the market for another twelve months while I save up enough for a larger deposit, or to work out that girls with incomes are strangely attractive...

I'll see. It's still the early stages.

Rapscallion