Gary H

I am under contract on my first home sale. I've been in the house 4 years and now I'm relocating. The house had been treated for termites years ago and upon seeing the old damage, the inspector writes that he recommends treatment, even though the house had already been treated and termite-free for years. Now the buyer is demanding the house be re-treated for termites. He also wants the electric box upgraded, not because there is anything wrong with it (it's only 4 years old) but because he wants to up the amperage from 100 to 200. There is also some more minor stuff which just seems dumb like pulling the mulch away from the house and replacing an AC condensation line because it's not transparent enough. Being my first home sale, I am wondering if he is being ridiculous or if this is par for the course? I didn't make any demands at all when I bought the house!

Last month I bought a truck from a "private seller" on craigslist. Big mistake. I realize I should have known better but I am wondering if anything illegal occurred or if it was merely unethical:

The truck's title was in a used car dealer's name and the truck had dealer plates. The seller had a story that his uncle was a used car dealer and he had been driving it for 4 years that way to get a break on insurance or something to that extent.

Long story short, the truck had hidden issues that will be expensive to fix and would cause it to fail inspection otherwise. Also I have seen another truck for sale by the same seller so clearly he is some sort of shady used car dealer that is trying to take advantage of people.

This has been a learning experience for me to be sure but I want to know if I have any grounds on which to go after this guy or am I just screwed and he has found a loophole in the system?

I purchased a used car 2 weeks ago as a private sale in PA. The title was actually in the name of a used car dealer who was supposedly the uncle of the seller who let him drive it so he wouldn't have to pay insurance or something along those lines. It was advertised as being a 4x4 and the description stated "no money needs to be put into it." I look it over as best I can and it looks okay but on the way home the check engine light goes on and I find that one of the emissions sensors was purposely bypassed. The next day I find out that the wiper nozzles are missing and the tubes are plugged. Then I find out the front drive shaft has been removed and will not function in 4x4 at all. It is dangerous and will not pass inspection without repairs. The seller claimed to have had the car for 4 years but pleads ignorance. I think now that it was a scheme for the used car dealer to get rid of the car.

I think generally as a private sale I would be out of luck but I want to know if the title being in the name of a business changes anything? Would I have a chance at winning in small claims?

I always wanted an early 3rd gen Trans Am and I have an opportunity to pick one up that's in great shape. I would have to keep it in the garage to keep it looking good. Problem is I just traded in my 2008 Civic for a 2012 Challenger as a daily driver and the thing is pretty big. I did some measurements and there would only be 40" of space left over width-wise in the garage which I imagine would mean them wedged in like sardines.

Is it worth keeping the new car outside to keep the old one looking nice? Or should I just scrub the idea and forget about the Trans Am. I had hoped both cars would fit but I think it might be too tight.

I know they are not exactly fast, but I have always wanted a 1982-1984 Trans Am. I finally found one in the area that looks great, but it's hard to say if the price is fair or not.

The car has 136k on it but seems to have been well maintained. It has been repainted at some point and looks great. The interior is in great condition and everything works. New brakes, suspension components, exhaust, o2 sensor, spark plugs & wires, and tires. Black with gold decals and wheels.

The seller wanted $7600 but will let it go for 7k. Is this a fair price or should I let it go?

Every day on my way to and from work I pass by the car I have wanted ever since I was a little kid: a black 1982-84 Pontiac Trans Am. I know it's slow as heck by today's standards but I loved Knight Rider as a kid and just think it looks really cool.

Anyway, in the 15 months I have lived here I have never seen it move. The only other car I have seen there is under a car cover. My girlfriend says she has seen the person who lives in the house and they are in a wheelchair.

I was wondering if it would be totally inappropriate to ring the doorbell to ask the owner if they would be interested in selling. Is that something that people do? Should I leave them a note? Or should I just leave them alone?

Last year I bought a 2008 Yamaha V Star 1100. I ride it to work 20 miles during the nicer days of the year and go on long trips on it with my uncle. Right now I have just over 10k on the clock.

We just got back from our last long ride together (800 miles) and my uncle is trying to convince me to buy a Harley his friend is selling. It's an 88 Softail with a bunch of add-ons that has just under 39k on it. He assures me that this guy has babied it and done every service imaginable to keep it running great.

I have always wanted a Harley, but I am concerned that with its age and mileage I would have a lot of problems. He is asking $5800 for it but I think would come down lower. I could probably sell the V Star for almost that. I can't see the bike in person just yet since he lives almost 200 miles away.

So,,, Should I expect a lot of issues with the Harley? Is $5800 (or a little less) a good price for a bike in great condition? Should I make the deal?

I purchased a home this past winter, and I am still trying to work out some of the kinks. One thing I can't figure out is why one corner of a room is constantly damp. It is a split level home, and the room in question is sort of a walk out basement at ground level. The exterior walls are solid stone, but towards the stairs there is wood paneling. At this corner, which is towards the middle of the house between levels, there is a noticeable damp stain at the base of the paneling, and the carpet at this spot is damp. It seems to be consistent regardless of rainfall. The floor beneath the carpet is concrete. The spot adjacent to this area on the outside of the house is at the corner of the exterior wall and concrete steps. I patched up a crack running up the side of the steps but this didn't seem to help. No water seems to accumulate in the corner. There is a lower level in the house, a full unfinished basement that is next to this level, not directly below, and I have not seen any water. Also I should mention that I don't have any pets.

I'm not really sure what the problem could be and I'm also not really sure who I should call to ask for help. Any ideas would be much appreciated!

I built this PC about 3 years ago:

Raidmax Smilodon case

Raidmax 530w psu

Intel core duo 3.3 ghz

ASUS p5Q Pro mobo

4 gigs G-skill ram

evga geforce 9800 GTX+

It's worked like a champ since I put it together. Today though I updated to the latest graphics driver version and installed a new game, endless space. After playing for about 2 hours, the screen suddenly went black and there was a really awful noise from the speakers. I held the power button to shut down. When I tried to restart, the case lights and fan came on really loudly, but there was nothing displayed on the screen. The computer then started shutting itself off and turning back on every few seconds until I shut off power. I let it sit to let it cool off (it didnt seem all that hot) and when i tried to power it up again the fans just kept blowing but no boot screen. Just black like there was no signal to the monitor.

My guess is that either the psu suddenly went or I somehow fried the psu or gpu. I tried to reseat the RAM but that didnt help.

Does anyone have any ideas for me or any advice they could offer? Thanks.

I just got home from work and I noticed something peculiar. I have a semi-cathedral ceiling in a split level house. The middle of the ceiling has an exposed wooden beam running its length. I noticed that on one side of it there were two water droplets on the bottom of the beam. The rest of the beam and the ceiling seemed dry... no water dripping or on the floor. The roof is only a few months old and hasn't leaked in any of the recent storms. The temperature today is about 20 degrees cooler than yesterday, and yesterday was 20 hotter than the day before and much more humid. Any ideas on where this water is from and if I have reason to worry? Is condensation probably a good guess?

I moved into my house 3 months ago, and since then I have seen a few carpenter ants and I'm not sure how concerned I should be. I know they they have the potential to cause a lot of damage, I just don't know if the number I have seen is anything to raise alarms over. Basically I have seen probably 3 winged ants in my walk-out basement, 1 really big winged ant in the lower basement level, and 1 non-winged ant in my kitchen. All were quite large so I'm pretty sure they are carpenters. I have seen quite a few outside so I laid some bait traps around, but they don't seem to be traveling in any particular direction so it's hard to track where they are coming from. They sort of just wander in circles. Anyway, can anyone tell me if seeing 5 carpenter ants in 3 months is likely to be a big deal? I'm getting a little paranoid about this. Thanks.

While my girlfriend was taking a shower, the soap dish magically dislodged itself from the wall and fell into the tub. Looks like the tiles around it are still firmly secured to the concrete board, but what I am worried about is what I will be resecuring the dish to... the mortar that is set back in the hole wiggles when I press on it and I can reach my hand in and feel insulation behind it. If I chip away the old mortar, what should I expect to find behind it? Can it be fixed without destroying the wall?

Since I bought my house 2 weeks ago, the cold water in my shower only comes out at a trickle. Sometimes when I first turn it on, it will come out at full strength but will suddenly slow to a trickle again with a loud THUNK. Hot water works absolutely fine. I replaced the cartridge/stem thinking this was the likely issue but it did absolutely no help. What else could the problem be? I am seriously getting pissed off about this.

I just took the faceplate off my shower knob to change the cartridge which seems to be leaking behind my wall. Behind it and stuck to it there is a brown papery flaky material much similar to a wasp nest. This has me very concerned. I do not see any insects but I really have no idea what it could be. Calcium deposits of some kind? Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

I just moved into my house last weekend. It was built in '57 but recently renovated. I have noticed a strange issue with my shower where when I turn the knob (there is only one) to the left, the hot water comes out with plenty of pressure. However, when I turn it to the right to get water that isn't super hot, the flow reduces to a trickle. This is clearly leading to some pretty uncomfortable showers. The shower in the other bathroom works fine, as do both sinks. Any suggestions?

I recently purchased a house and apparently the inspector overlooked that three of the outlets in the house (all in the master bedroom) are not grounded properly. All of the others in the house are properly grounded. The place was built in 1957. I'm not really sure how urgent it is that this be fixed but I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea if this was something I could fix myself with very limited knowledge or give me an idea of how much an electrician would charge to fix this? Thanks.

I have been getting more into target shooting recently as a hobby and I have numerous firearms. I recently purchased a Cimarron Arms Single Action Army clone in .45 Colt. It's beautiful and feels good in my hand, however shooting it is another matter. At 30 feet with my .357 double action (686+, 6" barrel), I can usually make 2" groups at the center of the target. I don't expect to be as accurate with such an old design, but I am consistently shooting about 4" to the left of the target in a much looser group with the single action. I feel that the gun "flips" a lot more because of the shape of the grip, which might have something to do with it. Any tips someone could give me on how to hold or aim the revolver differently would be appreciated. Thanks.

So I upgraded to Windows 7 x64 last week and I am reinstalling some games. I expected there to be some compatibility issues with installing some older games like Homeworld 2, but I really want to get it to work. It actually seems to be running okay with on exception.... when I try to move the camera with the mouse it is EXTREMELY sluggish, almost to the point of it not working at all. Obviously this is a very important aspect of this game. Any ideas on how this can be fixed, if at all possible? Thanks for the help.

I just bought a used 2002 gary fisher utopia and I don't know much about bikes. It seems like its in good overall condition, the only thing that bothers me is that when I am in the middle gear on the front sprocket, the bike makes a creaking sound only when I am pushing down hard on the left pedal. In the higher or lower gear there is no noise, also pushing on the right pedal makes no noise. Any ideas how I could fix this?

My friend, his girlfriend, and I are planning on moving into an apartment soon. They would be sharing the master bedroom and I would have the smaller bedroom. What percentage should I pay?