Project Pink... or Green... whatever

In response to janeAnne's post about What would you do if money were no object to build a dream green home, I had to expand to a full post.

Here is what I originally responded with in the comments of her post:

If money were no object... but taste was:

• Active Solar water heating, and power generation.
• Passive solar heating and cooling.
• Xeriscaping.
  
• Intelligent house systems to reduce energy usage.
• Landscape design to reduce heating a cooling loads.

I know that there are more expensive technologies, but these could be incorporated into many current houses.

I followed up, answering questions with this comment:

janeAnne - I'm not a huge windmill in the neighborhood fan. I don't want to live under one, and I know that they will have a heavy NIMBY effect (Not In My BackYard).

On the other hand, active solar can be hidden in a house, no matter the style. I have heard of some roofing materials now that incorporate solar photo-voltaic cells and are almost indistinguishable from standard roofing.

Passive solar is an entire design philosophy, but things like sun-rooms and courtyards can be used to distribute air and light around the house. Overhangs can block heat during the summer, but allow solar heating in the winter.

Xeriscaping to save water... and make for a lower maintenance level... obvious choice. But, by using native plants, it can still be quite attractive. The overall landscaping can use little things like trees that block solar heat gain in the yard during the summer, but allow it during the winter. Blocking prevailing winds to allow the house to have a heat island is another option.

And, since I am a tool guy, what could be better than tools and technology turning things off and on, as well as optimizing everything to run more efficiently.

I had another response in the comments, but I'll refrain. So, without further ado, here is the expanded and explained list.

• Active Solar water heating and power generation
  

It should probably say active solar power generation and water heating, but... I didn't write that. However, in the summer, the greatest power use is on days with the most sun. So, having solar cells to create electricity to power A/C would just make sense. During the winter, the clear days are also usually the coldest, but instead of electric heat, why not use solar heat gain to heat water, and then circulate the water for radiant heat? The hot water could also be used to preheat the hot water for the house. A boiler running on natural gas could heat the water in place of or in addition to the solar heating.

• Passive solar heating and cooling

Unlike the first suggestion, this would require incorporation into the design of the home. Passive solar is a great way to heat a property in the winter in sunny areas. The basics are mass and glass. The sun shining into the area is used to heat mass. After the sun goes down, the mass continues to radiate the heat back into the house. Stone, brick, water and other materials with a lot of mass help to smooth the temperatures out. Think of a house with a two story greenhouse on the south side. In the greenhouse, the mass is situated to allow solar heating during the day. As the sun sets, additional insulating material covers the windows to reduce heat loss. The warmth from the sun-room is moved around the house.

During the summer, the light is blocked during the day, and the area is allowed to cool at night. The cool mass will help to lower the temperature in the house during the day. Appropriate overhangs can block the summer sun, but let the winter sun shine in as well.

• Xeriscaping
  

Simply put, this is landscaping to reduce additional water needs. Often through the use of native plants, less maintenance and water is used.

• Intelligent house systems to reduce energy usage

Most of us know that in a two story house, altering the HVAC vents from summer to winter will allow better distribution of air. Window treatments can be used as additional insulators. Operating heating, cooling and water heating systems only during times that they are being utilized also saves resources.

While none of these things are terribly difficult to accomplish, most of us don't fully utilize them because we don't think about it, or it isn't convenient. And, further efficiencies can be obtained from intelligent automation.

• Landscape design to reduce heating a cooling loads
  

This has nothing to do with xeriscaping. Through using deciduous tress (with leaves that drop during the winter) the summer sun can be partially blocked from heating the home and yard, but during the winter, the rays of the sun will heat the home and yard. Shrubs and evergreens can be used to block winter winds that cool part of the exterior of the house. In warmer climates, using the right vegetation can reduce the heat island effect of driveways and sidewalks.

None of these things are huge, and all are possible right now for reasonable cost. I know that I didn't have to work with a budget, but oddly, I think that the biggest part of the benefits are available with simpler technologies. The exotic technologies may produce additional savings, but I don't think they are cost efficient... and in some cases I don't think they are attractive or practical.

Rock Crawling and Realty

I am about to perform a feat of magic... I am going to combine two such different things, that you won't believe I was able to actually pull it off...

In the first corner, we have a real estate transaction. Just about every time a home changes hands, there are obstacles and challenges. Sometimes the challenges are small, perhaps even inconsequential. Other times, they may seem insurmountable. Sometimes, they really are. But, often, those seemingly insurmountable obstacles are just that... seemingly.

In the second corner we have Rock Crawling. In this sport, a team made up of a driver and spotter navigate their vehicle through the course with finesse, muscle, power and experience.

The driver has obvious responsibilities. It is the spotter that is more mysterious. The spotter guides, cajoles, motivates and offers advice. It is the spotter holding the rope that allows the driver to control the vehicle beyond where it would roll of lose traction otherwise.

C'mon Lane... wrap this up...

In a real estate transaction, we have buyers, sellers, real estate agents, lawyers, titles, inspectors, mortgage brokers and the house. Any of them may present the obstacles, and all must be navigated to complete the deal and close the sale.

And, like the driver and spotter in a competition rock crawling event, trust and communication work hand in hand with experience and ability.

I'd love your comments.

And yes, I am trying to lay out a case to get my business manager (also known as My Lovely Bride) to let me get a competition rock crawler for the business to sponsor... and for me to drive.

Making the change... from Blogger to WordPress

It is a big change for me.

I started seriously blogging back in June on Active Rain. In July I picked up Blogger (Blogspot). I wanted an outside platform that would be more configurable. But, everything was fine with Blogger. I changed the theme a bit to better fit with my personality and subject. All was ok.

However, as I delved deeper into what I wanted to accomplish (in regards to my real estate business), I decided that I needed to offer something more than I would be able to offer with a static website. So, I started researching options.

In steps Joomla. Joomla is a content management system. It is kind of a cross between a blog and a website, but as a blog... not so great. I created GarageHomesUSA. This was what I wanted a site to be. it had depth and organization and was very configurable. Most of my blog material found its way there.

Then came the meltdown.

I've chronicled it previously on the blog, but because i selected a version of Joomla that wasn't stable yet, and because my host had me on the same servers as a few years ago, I had to change serveres with my host. I decided as I was doing that, that one of my sites was not really fulfilling a purpose. LaneBailey.com was just kind of there.

In an "aha!" moment, I decided that the blog needed to be there. I could afford to lose that site to bring my blog "in-house" so to speak. And so, I again dived in to do some research. Opting for another open source application, I chose to run WordPress on my domain. Again, it could function almost as a website as it is another CMS (content management system). However, it is a great blog, but less than optimal for a full site.

So, over the last week, I have been running both the Blogger and LaneBailey site parallel to each other. I will continue to do so for a while. After a bit, I plan on just summarizing my posts from LaneBailey to the Blogger platform.

So, if you are my reader...

I'd love for you to visit LaneBailey and hang out in the shop with me.

As always, I'd LOVE your comments and suggestions. I look forward to hearing from you.

Just when you think you've got it beat...

(I thought about naming this Adventures in Web Management Part 715)

So, last week I found a GREAT theme for my Joomla site, www.GarageHomesUSA.com. It is really cool out of the box, and it has a lot of room for mods that I wanted to do anyway. So, I figure...

I got it beat!

But then there was a little compatibility issue... I have been running version 1.5RC2. The new theme was written for RC3. I upgraded, and then I was sure...

I got it beat!

And then I notice (thank you Marchel and others) that the actual articles aren't showing up. I can see all of the front page and the teasers, but no real content. That sucked... After doing a bunch of digging, I find that the PHP version on my host's server is 4.3.1.1, and I need it to be version 5.something. I chat them up, and not only can I change, but it will be a little less money. So, I back up all of my data, and get the change ordered up. Everything is cool. Once again...

I got it beat!

And then I find that the zipped files (spelled a-l-l-o-f-m-y-c-o-n-t-e-n-t) are corrupted. Should I say that this is HUNDREDS of pages of content? I think not. I have EVERY SINGLE SHRED of it in other formats, but that will be a pain in the butt... So, I go to the back-up of my back-ups, and... (care to guess)

I got it beat!

Seriously. It's back online. But I'm not going to say I got it beat! because I don't want to see what happens as I start wiggling things around. That will happening for the next couple of days... between the other changes and migrations that are a result of this whole change-over. More on those changes later...

About the video...

Near my "happy place", Moab, UT, there is a trail called Hell's Revenge. Around 40% of the way through the trail, there is an optional side-route. Off of the optional route, there is a slight deviation. The side route goes to an overlook of the Colorado River across from Arches National Park. The deviation gets one to the same overlook, but ends with this little "hill." Keep in mind while watching that this climb is too steep to walk. I'm not kidding.

I was not there for this, but I can very much visualize how it happened. Please note the spotter. A few seconds before it all goes terribly wrong, he is pointing the other way. The driver (I assume) can't see him, and doesn't hear him.

The driver walked away, and the Jeep was driven off of the trail.

Overkill... Just about right...

I would say it is a Jeepguy thing, but it isn't.

• Too much power is almost enough!
• Tim Allen.
• Dana 60s (from an F-350) under a lightweight Jeep.
• V-8 Miata.
  
• 53" tires. (when 44s just aren't enough)
• 24" rims.
• Gas-powered screwgun.
  

It is part of our genetics. It comes from the gasoline (and/or diesel) that runs in our veins. We want to be able to do what we want to do... without worry that we will have an issue. Or we just want to be able to set off car alarms when we tromp on the gas.

So, it isn't any different with tech geeks. I talked to a guy today that has a laptop that the rest of us won't get for 3 years. It isn't much bigger than a hardcover book. It has more computing power than a couple of average desktops. It even has more memory than my wife (at least 32 gigs). And you can't buy one, but if you did, it would cost as much as a car.

It would be the computing equivalent of cramming a Hemi into a minivan... and keeping the good looks of a sports sedan. Kind of BMW M5 meets Town & Country... with a touch of Ferrari F50 to splash in some color.
So, why am I talking about all of this?

I crashed my website. I am currently breaking out the gas powered screwdriver to see what I can make better... and a little groovier.

We'll what happens. Stay tuned.

219 mph in Phoenix... Unbelievable!!

If you think I could let this one go, you have another think... And it is coming as fast as this thing was going.

For the first "video in a blog" post I HAVE to put this one up. The only connection to real estate is that I found it posted on Jay Thompson's (The Phoenix Real Estate Guy) blog. If you are looking for real estate in Phoenix, give Jay a shout... or give me a shout and I'll send a referral. Jay is a fellow Active Rainer, as well as a good guy. I know he's going to find this, because I'm on his subscribed list...

So, without further ado, here is the video...

Now that you have seen a Lambo MP640 Murcielago going 219 mph on the streets of Phoenix, AZ, you can see that the video isn't that exciting. But, it is well put together.

Let me make several VERY strong statements.

• This is not responsible behavior. It would not have taken much for this Michael Schumacher wannabe to have wiped out himself and several other people. It would not have been pretty.
  
• There is NO time of the day or night that the roads around Atlanta are that empty. Especially in Gwinnett County.
  
• There ARE places where this feat could be replicated during daylight hours with the police looking on and cheering.
  

Is the Silver State Challenge still going on? There used to be an event on public (but CLOSED!!!) roads in Nevada where regular people could run as fast as they dared over a course that had some seriously long and straight sections.

In summation, I think it is great that this guy took his quarter of a million dollars and is playing with it like it should be... but I'm not nuts about it being done on roads that other people (the ones that didn't sign the waiver) are driving on.

If you are one of this guy's car buddies... and you are in the Atlanta area, give me a call. I can find a house where you can hide this car until it is painted...

GarageHomesUSA

So, you have a little time and want to think about garages and garage stuff

Let's start the tour with The Garage Journal. It's a pretty cool site. Aside from a forum with discussion from members about all things related to garages, they also have feature stories about groovy tool guy stuff like small parts storage and mobile tool storage. There are also some links to other nifty sites. But, the main feature here is the forum.

Non-garage people might not be thrilled about in-depth discussion of garage HVAC, flooring or lighting, but if one is designing a new garage or remodeling an older one, the money that can be saved by taking advantage of the free expertise is amazing.

Another site worth a visit is the Ultimate Garage. This is a commercial site for Steve D'Gerolamo, a garage designer and consultant. Not only does he advertise the tools and equipment he likes, but he also showcases some of his projects... and his own VERY COOL garage. And, he either borrowed some seriously nifty hardware, or he is doing quite well in the garage designing biz.

If you are a little more hardcore. you might tackle the Tool, Shop, Equipment and Fabrication Forum. This is a bit more geared towards actually using that garage... to the hilt. Woodworking, metalworking, tools and miscellaneous garage talk are all on tap in the TSE&FF. The garage talk isn't nearly as in depth as The Garage Journal about garages, but TGJ can't hold a candle to the tool talk.

For something a little more specific, you might wander over the MillerWelds. They have a couple of forums dedicated to various interests, from motorsports to fabrication to welding projects. Of course the moderators favor the "blue brand", the reader-base are great at answering ALL sorts of questions about tweaking different welding and plasma cutting machines. I know I was able to get some great info about my plasma cutter... it is a blue one.

The final site on the post will be the most radical. It is a very specialized forum, geared specifically toward rock crawling. They talk about trail riding, as well as dunes... and even mud... but it is all about the rocks. Before I say what the site is (like the dramatic build-up? Don't read ahead!) there are two other things I want to mention. The first is that the language is rough. People are cussed out for asking stupid questions, and flamed. The other is that the biggest and best names in the off-road world zip on their nomex because they can learn from the members of this place. I have jokingly called it a post-doctoral degree in 4wheeling. But, it really is. There are folks on this board that know more about metallurgy and structural engineering than people teaching in darn good schools. So, when you are feeling cheeky, visit the Pirates of the Rubicon on the Pirate4x4 Forum.

When you are ready to buy the property with that ultimate garage, or where you can build what others have never even thought about (or maybe they have)... give me a call, or visit GarageHomesUSA.

What has been in the Lane stable... Cars I've owned

Ok, most of these were prior to me having a digital camera... or prior to digital cameras at all. But, I having been wanting to sit down and write a list of all of the junk I've owned through the years. I'm looking at getting a film scanner, which will allow me to scan the thousands of rolls of film (I'm not kidding) and use more of my own pictures.

So, in no particular order:

1973 Ford Mustang Coupe, Grande (w/ Mach I hood)
1970 Plymouth Satellite Station Wagon... with a big block... and 2 4vs
1965 Shelby Mustang Fastback
1966 Ford Mustang Fastback (my street racer)
1967 Mercury Cougar (with a stick)
1974 Triumph Spitfire
1979 Triumph Spitfire
1985 Dodge Shelby Charger Turbo (my Autocross car)
1985 Toyota MR2
1955 Willys Jeep M38A1
1971 Kaiser Jeepster Commando
1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara
1949 Mercury 2 door (chopped of course)
1974 Ford Mustang II
1977 Ford F250 HiBoy (4x4)
2000 Ford F350 (DRW, CC, 4x4)
1977 Dodge Ramcharger 4x4
1985 Subaru Wagon (Turbo)
1984 Subaru Wagon (not Turbo, but drivable)
1995 Saturn SC2
1984 Nissan Kingcab Truck 4x4
1985 Ford Mustang GT
(Does these count? They are/were my wife's)
2001 Dodge Durango SLT 4x4
2005 Chrysler Town & Country Limited
She had a 2000 Jeep Wrangler when we met

So, if you have cars like these moving in and out of your life, and like to have a bunch of toys around, I AM THE real estate agent that knows exactly what you are doealing with. I'd be happy to help you find the right place for your stable. Hit the new site (still constructing...) and give me a shout.

Lend me your "too cool" garage... ok, just tell me about it!

I was going to call this post "A funny thing happened on my way to the Search Engine Results..." and then start it with... I got hijacked. It was one of them long-tailed searches. They sure are sneaky. But, I got hijacked with a different idea, sooo...

I got hijacked. It was one of them long-tailed searches. They sure are sneaky.

This one was called "cool garage toys". Now, if you take a look at my tags, you'll see that I have around 30 posts that mention garages. I have over 100 that involve real estate. One might think that I would get some search engine lovin' for real estate... but, nope. It's all about garages.

Seriously, my top six search terms are all garages. Now, I will say that there is one post I have here that has surpassed all others in contacts... my phone rings twice a week over it, and it is real estate related, but nobody that calls has the $20M to actually do it, and they just want me to tell all of my secrets... but, for the most part, I think that most of my Googling readers are hitting me looking for the grooviest and coolest garage stuff.

Being a tech savvy guy (think Steve Martin's "wild and craaazy guys" line), as well as a garage geek and swift thinking marketer, I have a solution. I want to see YOUR garage. That's right... YOUR garage.

So, being the swifty that I am, after a mere 4 1/2 months, I have figure out that I need to showcase some cool garages. Now, of course this blog isn't the best platform for it, but I do have a real estate and garage website (duh!) that would be perfect.

No charge. No geographical restrictions. No pressure. I'd just like to see some cool garages. I might even be able to put you on the front lines of a cool reward I'm looking to announce in a week or two as well.

The only thing I ask is that they look better than the sad sack I have pictures of here. This is a truly terrible garage. It is clogged with crap, and needs a much better system for storage. I just haven't had the time of money to finish the projects that is clogging it up... Talk to my wife. As soon as she let's me, I will clean it up and turn it into the 26'x24' one car garage it always wanted to be... with attached tool room.

So, comment and send me an email. I'll gladly feature YOUR garage on my website. For the whole world to see. Maybe my wife will stop buying purses long enough for me to do something with my own garage.

Oh yeah... If you need a bigger garage, let me know. I'm in Gwinnett County, GA and also work South Hall and South Forsyth. Furthermore, I have agents all over the country that would love to get a "car people" referral.

Client Gateway for Buyers... a cool bonus.

One of the great features I offer to buyers is the Client Gateway. If you aren't familiar, it is a custom private webpage that lists all of the properties that meet the criteria we decide on. As new listings are entered into the MLS, they show up in the Client Gateway the next morning.

The example shown is a Gateway that I have set up to keep an eye on new listings of homes with 4 or more car garages in Gwinnett County, GA.

A great feature of the Client Gateway is the ability to organize the properties. While reviewing the properties in the Gateway, one can select "Like", "Possibility" or "Dislike". Properties that are shuffled to "Dislike" drop from the front of the site. Those labeled otherwise will have a bar showing that status. They can be arranged by price, age, number of bedrooms, subdivision or city name.

While surfing in the properties, aside from being able to class them, one may also map them, email them to a friend or family member, make notes or send a message to me about the property.

We've long had the ability to send clients listings as they came on the MLS, but this is a MUCH better way than the old email system. Under the old email system, each day there would be a new email. If one liked one of the listings, then they couldn't delete the mail, or they needed to print out the listing for filing. Now, they are much easier to organize and retrieve.

The Client Gateway is just another great service I offer my buyers. If you are interested in having a Client Gateway to track properties you may be interested in buying, let me know. I'm happy to set one up for you while we work together. I look forward to hearing from you. Drop in to my website and send me a message.

Free, Free, FREE... Nifty open source photo editor

So, without getting real wordy about how I came across this (it all has to do with the new website), let me tell you about a cool open source photo-editor I just came across.

It is called the GIMP. That stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. GNU is one of the open source licensing protocols. I guess it would be best summed up as the open source equivalent of PhotoShop.

If you aren't familiar with open source, it is a movement (sorry, but it really is) of mostly software geeks and engineers that create programs and then allow anyone to have them, and anyone that would like to modify the program to pop the hood and dive into the source code. The community makes revisions, as well as hacks and add-ons. (Hacks are modifications). It is really a cool idea, even though the capitalist in me wants to scream "You could be making money".

This isn't my first foray into open source. I use SMF (Simple Machines Forum) to run my real estate forum and the forum for my 4wd club. I also have recently started to use Joomla to build my new website. So far, I have been pretty impressed with each of these products. I will say that many of the open source products don't have the same prettiness as their high dollar counterparts, but they still seem to have the performance.

Floating around this post, you will see the results of a couple of minutes of editing. It didn't take me as long to edit this image as it did to write this post.

Not too bad for something that is free to use, free to upgrade, and I haven't even looked at a manual yet.

Calling one developer... you don't know who you are yet.

I must admit that I was a bit amazed at the reaction to my last post. On Active Rain, it received a Feature within an hour of being posted. It was also one of my most viewed and commented blog entires. I was shocked that the comments weren't closer to the "Are you nuts?" type.

So, just to get one step closer to reality, here is a compromise first step. Let's team up to build houses for a variety of car people. We're out there. There are at least as many of us as there are horse people, maybe even golf people. Ok, maybe there are more people that hit the links on a Saturday than there are building street rods, but you get my point. There are a LOT of folks out here in the world that love cars. Not only do they love cars, but they have more than two or three. Not only do they have more than two or three, but they like to work on them. For many car people, working on the car might involve a lot more than changing the oil in the driveway.

"What can we do with that little nugget, Lane?"

Let me derail you for a moment. Take a look at a couple of posts I tossed out previously.

• First, there is a post about specializing.
  
• Next up, I posted about unique selling propositions.
  
• Lastly, let me once again point out the NAR Buyer's Study saying that over-sized garages place behind only central air-conditioning on buyer's wish lists (sorry, I don't have an NAR link, but here is the post I made about it).

So, buyers want bigger garages, specialists thrive when generalists fail, and in order to sell in a weak climate a unique selling proposition is one of the key weapons. Builders are choking on inventory in many areas, but other spots are selling like hotcakes. Even in a relatively local area, one development can't keep up, and the next can't keep its head above water.

Of course, pricing is one of the things that can make a difference... but so is value. Building what others don't is one way of creating value. If it is building something desirable, it will separate the leader from the pack.

Instead of building houses and needing to give away TVs and 5%+ commissions, why not build something that will draw buyers. There are some unique (and relatively inexpensive) marketing opportunities. Also, the word of mouth could be amazing. Many people in the car culture community are involved in clubs, and word of a development that was geared towards them would spread like wildfire.

You just need the right type of agent to handle the process and get the ball rolling. Let's team up. Contact me for more info.

Let's build a subdivision that will have the buyers lining up... in their coolest cars.

If you lived here, you'd be rock crawling/drag racing/road racing now...

I just answered a question on another board about marketing a drag racing track that is for sale. I just couldn't help but hit a flight of fancy over it. I started to think of some of the unique, but also fairly popular concepts that I have run across over the years.

There are several road racing communities around the country. The basic concept is to take a private track, with nice views, and instead of trying to make money holding races all of the time, turn it into a private club with residences sprinkled throughout. Throw in a paddock, a nice clubhouse and a few other amenities, and it's a country club for race folks. There are plenty of amatuer racers that have a lot of money to play with... it isn't a cheap hobby. For those that are really into their own racers, factoring in track rentals and transportation costs just for test and tune days, and having access to a track in the neighborhood starts to look great.

Now, people that like to turn the wheel aren't the only ones that would enjoy having a local facility to play. There are at least as many folks that enjoy powering something down the track against the clock. One would need to look into the requirements for private events, but there might be some restrictions that would limit the track to 1/8 mile sprints rather than the traditional 1/4 mile bursts. However, a 1/4 mile track could be set up with lights and timing equipment to run both distances. Just think, Saturday morning and one could pull the dragster out of the garage at home, not even load it up on a trailer, but drive it over to the line... and make a few runs.

The final option would be the most original one. A residential rock crawling club... Rock crawling is one of the fastest growing motor sports in the country. Private off-road parks are popping up all over the country. Unlike drag racing and road course racing, rock crawling happens at VERY slow speeds. While one could argue that there is plenty of carnage in rock crawling, or even its faster cousin rock racing, injuries are pretty rare and pretty mild. So, it might be the safest of the three to host in a private facility without safety crews and emergency transportation. Also, because of the nature of the desirable terrain, it could be hosted in a smaller space, or scaled to larger spaces. It could be done with rolling topography or a fairly flat area with arranged obstacles.

Depending on the desires of each of the communities, events or public days could be hosted to offset some of the costs of the facilities. While the amenities would likely be more expensive than all but the most luxurious traditional clubs (golf, tennis and swimming), the extra income flow, as well as the rarity of the facilities/communities would create good value for the home owner's association.

It sure does make for an interesting group of concepts... and looking at the possible demographics, I think that the right developer could create some VERY popular and unique communities. Free press and publicity would be a breeze, too...

Drop in to my new (as in still under development) website. Take a look. Give me a call.

It's about the garage!

I just had the opportunity to wander through the October issue of REALTOR(R) magazine. Cars and Cable caught my eye (pg. 14). As I had previously mentioned in a blog post in July, oversized garages made a pretty good showing. Second place.

Now, before you go gloating about second place, keep in mind that first place was central air conditioning... which is pretty tough to beat, and almost everything on the market is already equipped. Also notable is that garages moved up from 5th place in the last survey (2004). And it is a HUGE jump. A full 56% of buyers said they were ready to spend premium money for an oversized garage this year, vs. only 6% in 2004.

Sure, SUVs have contributed to the desire to have a larger garage, but we have a car-centric culture. Americans LOVE their cars. And we love having a lot of them. And... we want to park them inside.

I'm not surprised... I'm just ahead of the curve.

When you are ready to step up to a big garage in Gwinnett County, I am the REALTOR(R) that knows garages AND houses.

Nothing, nothing, nothing... Jet blast!

I used to have a favorite writer named Satch Carlson. He wrote for Autoweek Magazine back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had a statement that I have found to be prophetically true...

He was talking about the heater controls in an old truck. The fans speeds were "nothing, nothing, nothing and jet blast." How true is that?

I'm not talking about blower motors in old trucks right now, but rather life. Have you noticed that things never move along at an even pace? It seems like things sit for a while and then...

BANG.

But, I kind of like it... I like the slow times. I get to play with my son, and work on the Jeep. I like the frantic times too. I like rushing around, looking for the most efficient path. And then it is back to the slower pace. I can look back at the insanity and see how I can do better next time.

I guess if I just sat around waiting, I'd go crazy. Of course, if it weren't for the lulls... I'd go crazy, too.

My wife thinks I have a little cabin deep in crazy. She thinks she can already send me mail there...

Enjoy things for what they are.

Can I call a moving company for content?

I have taken a step. In a few weeks, I'll be making a big change in my real estate career. I'm not ready to announce it yet, but one of the parts is an all new website. Because of the HUGE amount of content I have created do to blogging... and blogging here, I have a LOT of content to put into a site. So, I decided to jump into the world of CMS. I finally was able to set up a test with Joomla, and I think I am really going to like this.

While I know that I probably should hire someone to handle my website, I'm not going to... :P

I will be hiring a designer to build a custom template, and possibly also to design a new logo and some other portions for the new business plan, I will remain the one responsible for content and implementation. Because I know that I will be updating and adding content frequently (if I migrate my blog to this platform, it will be updated almost daily), I know that I have to learn how to handle some of these responsibilities.

In the mean time, I just realized that I will be migrating a SERIOUS load of content. I have 125 blog posts here. Many of those posts are suitable as articles and content on my new site. That is a LOT of stuff to get set up and categorized on the new site.

Don't worry, updates and progress reports will appear here first.

Shhh... Can you keep a secret?

This is a serious work in progress.

Three days ago, I didn't know anything about Joomla. I got past the installation, and started populating with content. The first thing on the agenda is getting all of the articles and pertinent blog posts migrated (copied) to the new site as well as put meta tags and descriptions on them.

While all of this is going on, I am having to design menus and figure out the best way to organize the content. The organization has to intuitive for a user that doesn't know what might be there. I think that the organization is the toughest part of this.

So, if you want to play along, feel free to drop in. If you are on in the evening, you might even see the site change around you while you are there. Buttons will pop up on menus. Themes will change. Content will show up... and then move.

It certainly isn't "live" for public consumption, but for those that like watching races just to see wrecks... this might be fun... and it will last for weeks.

More Groovy Cool Garage Stuff...

Last week I posted up a couple of entires about cool garage stuff. One of the items was a fridge make-over kit that seems to have disappeared. While trying to find it again, I wandered over to Northern Tool's website. I was pretty sure I had found the fridge kit there previously, but it wasn't there... but there was some more cool stuff I couldn't just pass by.

Need a cool drink? Of course, don't forget a cool opener for your beverages. And, if you need to mix your drinks, don't rely on spotty, weak electrical power... power your blender with GAS.

Of course, no self-respecting garage geek would be proud of an undecorated garage. We decorate the every other room in the house... why not get a little decor for the garage, too. Drag racing Christmas tree lights, or cool neon would be a great addition. Maybe a racing hood would be cool. BTW, Northern Tool has a great series of ads that are all guy-centric. These hoods have the tag lines from some of their ads.

Of course, don't forget that you also need to store things on shelves, as well as have a little hanging room for welding helmets and jackets, as well as some of those other clothes that really don't need to come into the rest of the house.

Enjoy.

Now let's try some cool garage stuff that won't break the bank

In the last post, I highlighted a few really cool items. Now, I'm going to move the other way and look at some cheap (but still cool) stuff. Of course, I think that the most links I've come across have been regarding tool storage. And, tool storage is a biggie. Personally, I have two bottom boxes (rollers). One is a Craftsman box that I've had for years, and the other is a US General (Harbor Freight) box. The Craftsman is a 26" wide box. It has roller bearings and such. The current cost of the box is about $500. The US General box is a 45" wide box. It also has roller bearings. The regular price is $500, it is usually on sale for $400, and you can find coupons on the net to drive the price down by 10%, 15% or even (rarely now) 20%. I paid $320 + tax for mine. I think I will probably pick up a couple more of these in the next year or two, and use them as my primary cabinet.

Another Harbor Freight find is their powder coating oven. The two big options here are to buy a dedicated oven, or renovate your kitchen, and re-utilize some appliances. I would also like to mention that if you are using an oven to powder coat, don't use it for food...

Continuing the thought about renovating the kitchen, I know more than one person with a dedicated dishwasher in the garage... and it isn't for dishes... and if any of the items that ran through them made it into the kitchen, there would be a bigger mess. I don't know what they are using to clean with, but I do know there are things that can be cleaned with water and then (compressed) air dried.

Now, if we are going to have appliances, we can have cool appliances. You might get a small fridge that looks like a tool box, for about $300. For closer to $1000, one might look into a full sized, garage styled and built refrigerator. Whirlpool has their Garageworks Gladiator line. I should mention that they incorporate a few different technologies than what is used for an inside fridge. These are designed to work in a wider range of ambient temperatures. They also look cool with their other GarageWorks stuff.

At this point, I was going to insert another nifty product I ran across from TooCoolKits... but the domain is parked and inactive. They made covers that were attached to an older fridge and made it look like a tool box or old gas pump. They weren't supper cheap, but they were a lot less than the cost of a new fridge... that doesn't look like a tool box or an old gas pump.

So... there is your million dollar idea for the day. Make replacement panels for refrigerators to make them look like tool boxes.

Where is the cool garage stuff?

I need to find more cool garage stuff. So, off to Google I go... hhm..

I try to type in cool garage toys to see if I can come up with... cool garage toys, or at least some websites about cool garage toys. What did I get? Number one was watches. Watches. This is an organic result. Ok, I can move on. Boy, there are a lot of garage sales with cool toys... Poo. I better change it out.

Let's alter the search and try cool garage stuff. I like stuff... especially cool stuff for the garage. Wow. I thought there were a lot of garage sales before. Craigslist seems to own cool garage stuff. The other popular result had to do with garage bands... Cool cars belong in cool garages, not bands.

I did run across Coker Tire. They make new old tires. If you need a period correct tire for your resto project, these are the people to talk to. Whether you need Red Lines for a muscle car, or a set of tires for your Model T, they will have them.

Ok, I guess I need to be more specific. Let's try cool garage tools. Google gave me cool tools: garage sale maps. There was a link to some SERIOUSLY boring stuff that Popular Science was hawking. Oh wait... this isn't a tool, but it involves tools, and would live in a garage (yep, I'm not going to say what it is, just go look). after digging back a few pages, I was able to find a ratcheting breaker bar that can handle 376 lbs/ft of torque. Then I hit another site. While I really like diamond plate... I think this is going a little too far.

But, linking back from there I came across the vendor, car guy garage. There is some pretty cool storage stuff there. The pic at right gives you an idea of what $3200 and change will get you. Of course, if you want to buy more cool, there is always a refrigerator. They have these in several styles for around $3400. Expensive, but cool costs money, right? Of course, a real garage geek will have a LOT of tools that need a home... so, here is a nice option... for about $7500.

Keep in mind that I haven't used these guys (yet). Boy, it look a lot of surfing to find what I was looking for, but I was able to come across some more stuff. I will admit I have found plenty of options for tool storage. I'm always on the lookout for cool stuff for the garage.