Homeowner Forum / General / December 2004

Avoiding tax on home-sale profits
Dear Tax Talk,
I am selling my primary residence that I have owned for 17 months. I
bought it for $295,000 and am selling it for $373,000 minus $22,000 in

I'm looking for a quality vinyl window with wood grain finish.  I'm
more inclined to go with well known manufacturers, since they stand
behind their product (in case of delamination/other failures).
Does anyone have suggestions on some good products?

I've been enjoying that Bissell commercial where the kids love playing
with the cleaning products they got for Christmas. I normally completely
tune out when commercials come on, but there's something appealing about
that one. Maybe it's the thought of my kids actually cleaning ...

We have a contract to buy land on five acres in Texas.  I want to see
what you all think about this situation:
* The seller checked "no" under "Unplatted Easements".
* There is a power line running 100 ft across the south corner of the

I recently purchased an older house, and now that the winter months
have arrived I realize that this house was probably never insulated or
properly insulated.  I am concerned about my 6 month old daughters
bedroom, it's pretty chilly.  I remember hearing somewhere that there

I need to paint the exterior of my house with a simple white color .
The following paint stores are nearby Duron, Sherwin Williams, Porter
as well a Lowes  all of which will give me their supposed  "contractor
price " . Which line where offers the best value (application and

hello the fence around my front yard (about 260 ft. total) was
originally built with 4' 4x4's sunk into concrete, at 10 ft. spacing.
at this point (maybe 30 years) most of the pickets are cracked or
broken, and parts of the fence have the 2x4 rails mounted flat rather

We have an Amana BR22 refrigerator with a bottom freezer.  The plastic
inner door panel cracked so we ordered a replacement pn 10462101 as
shown at:
http://www.repairclinic.com/0080.asp

I have been installing hardwood for customers for a few months and
things have been going well but seems I met my first challenge. When I
installed 4" wide 3/4" thick mahagony flooring there is excessive
height difference, maybe upto 1/10 of an inch in rare cases, between

I have been installing hardwood for customers for a few months and
things have been going well but seems I met my first challenge. When I
installed 4" wide 3/4" thick mahagony flooring there is excessive
height difference, maybe upto 1/10 of an inch in rare cases, between

I'm looking to install a gas fireplace in an angled wall in my living
room. The problem is that I have a stud in the way behind the wall
(though not part of the wall--those studs are merely 2x2s and seem to
be there for no other reason than to hold up the plaster).

I recently got granite countertops from a local installer. The kind of
granite is SHIVAKASHI PINK. The installer had sealed the countertops
after installation, but yet water is seeping into it and water
marks/spots stays until the water evoporates. After my complaint,

When putting in an application to a co-op for board approval, I have
seen one of the requirements as being the actual contract of sale.
Does this contract of sale need to be signed?
I am interested in knowing since a signed contract would require that I

This is the first comments I have regarding our new Tempur-Pedic
Classic king size mattress. We also purchased the Tempur-Pedic base.
We've slept on it for 5 nights. We purchased ours from a local
retailer who was friendly, helpful, and didn't pressure us for a sale.

We are building a house that is going to be painted dark brown
outside.  We don't like the white vinyl window appearance with that
kind of color.  Are the vinyl windows made in dark vinyl colors? If
so, who has them.  Home Depot says that their only options are white