Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Old Real Estate Law Helps Cure Buyer’s Remorse - NYTimes.com

Old Real Estate Law Helps Cure Buyer’s Remorse - NYTimes.com: "The ILSA law came about in response to the midcentury land boom in states like Florida and Arizona. Developers and brokers in boiler rooms not unlike the office depicted in David Mamet’s play “Glengarry Glen Ross” would market properties, sight unseen, to Northern buyers. President Lyndon B. Johnson told Congress in 1967 that he hoped the legislation would “give our investors better protection in their purchases of undeveloped land.”"

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American Energy



Friday, October 15, 2010

Written December 22, 2008 for City-Data: The 3:1 Principle

I have two properties in Glendale, a suburb of Cincinnati. Live in one and have been trying to sell the other. 885 Greenville, [sold June 2009] an old insulated Victorian, where we used to live, heats about 3200 sq ft with three newish furnaces. When in full use on a normal winter I used 280 cu ft/month for the five winter months.  In our present home, a brick ranch two blocks away, we use about the same although the sq footage heated is about 2800. [much lower average use now -- maybe 200 cu ft/month -- after more insulation and more spot heating]


I have a blog which really goes into this topic of average usage during the winter months, http://www.natgagu.blogspot.com/.

What is neat and simple, is that my ratios for both houses are as follows [when the cost was an even $1 per ccf; it'll be $.75, or even $.65 per ccf this winter of 2010-11]:

Go outdoors. If the avg. temp for the day is, like today, [December 22, 2008], 10, then I subtract 10 from 65 degrees, getting 55 "heating degree-days," a recognized term by the experts. Then I simply divide by 3 to get my cost per day per house. So today my cost for each house is $18 per house. [at 2010 prices this would be $13.50 per house] Wow. Sorry I went into this.

Will be cold again tonight but warming thereafter into the 50's.

Click on "heating degree days" and "ebills" in http://www.natgagu.blogspot.com/ for more than you want to know about this topic. Also my very early posts on the http://www.natgagu.blogspot.com/ blog give the normal heating degree days by day for all the winter months, to be used for projecting the upcoming winter months. This used to be readily-available at the Weather Service but it is not now without paying [a small sum] for it. But it is a stable chart for Cincinnati, so it's valuable until they run another 30-year period.

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/cincinnati/518177-home-heating-duke-energy.html#ixzz12RG6t4KJ

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Duke Energy - LIHEAP Clearinghouse

Duke Energy - LIHEAP Clearinghouse: "PIPP Plus
Ohio’s regulated gas and electric utilities are mandated to participate in the statewide PIPP. Low-income customers who heat with natural gas pay 6 percent of their monthly income or $10 (whichever is greater) to their gas or electric company. Customers with all-electric homes pay $10 or 10 percent of their gross monthly household income each month, whichever is greater. Zero-income customers are required to pay a $10 minimum monthly payment for both natural gas and electric. When PIPP Plus payments are made on time and in full, customers earn an incentive credit and an arrearage credit. Each time they pay their required monthly payment on time and in full, they no longer owe the rest of that month's billed amount. They also receive a one-twenty-fourth credit toward any old debt. If they make full, on-time payments for 24 months straight, all of the arrearages would be eliminated. Eligibility: must receive primary or secondary heat source from a company regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, total household income must be 150 percent FPG or below, and, if eligible, must apply for all energy assistance programs. PIPP is administered by the Ohio Department of Development’s HEAP (or LIHEAP) office.
1-800-282-0880 (Ohio HEAP)"

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The dangers of reviewing your portfolio too often - The Globe and Mail

The dangers of reviewing your portfolio too often - The Globe and Mail: "Brandes Investment Partners, the fund company, has recently done work based on insights from the Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman, known for his work on “prospect theory.” This theory demonstrates that investors feel losses twice as much as they do gains. As a result, the stress of losses can cause emotions to kick in and make investors abandon investments, even ones they intended to hang on to for the long term"

Interview With AP

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x1299199568/Ohio-candidate-had-to-quit-P-G-job-to-campaign

Identical story in Springfield, Ohio, newspaper.

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio-news/ohio-candidate-had-to-quit-p-g-job-to-campaign-974421.html

Monday, October 11, 2010

A warm thought: Natural-gas cost likely to stay low in 2011

A warm thought: Natural-gas cost likely to stay low in 2011: "Natural-gas prices remain relatively low, and it appears that they're likely to stay that way."


172 F3d 1255 Duke Energy Natural Gas Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue | OpenJurist

172 F3d 1255 Duke Energy Natural Gas Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue OpenJurist: "Natural gas emerges from wells as a mixture of gas, liquid condensate and, occasionally, oil. Unprocessed natural gas ('raw gas') is separated from this mixture when it passes through a separator near the well or at a central gathering point. After separation, the raw gas continues to contain entrained natural gas liquids ('NGLs'), water, and impurities that interfere with domestic or commercial use of the gas."

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Thursday, October 7, 2010

At Sam Zell’s Tribune, Tales of a Bankrupt Culture - NYTimes.com

Becca worked for this guy and saw the whole thing develop. Now read this piece from page one of October 6th New York Times. The article is one of the longest ever, going into multiple middle pages. Cincinnati's scum infecting Chicago.

At Sam Zell’s Tribune, Tales of a Bankrupt Culture - NYTimes.com: "After Mr. Michaels arrived, according to two people at the bar that night, he sat down and said, “watch this,” and offered the waitress $100 to show him her breasts. The group sat dumbfounded."

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Monday, October 4, 2010

August Duke Energy Bill for 970 Laurel Avenue



Hegel on Wall Street - NYTimes.com

Been posting a political blog for the past two months.  This one belongs on this blog however.


Hegel on Wall Street - NYTimes.com: "What market regulations should prohibit are practices in which profit-taking can routinely occur without wealth creation; wealth creation is the world-interest that makes bankers’ self-interest possible. Arguments that market discipline, the discipline of self-interest, should allow Wall Street to remain self-regulating only reveal that Wall Street, as Hegel would say, “simply does not know what it is doing.”"

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