I’ll start by telling you that I am not going to identify him by any name other than Razor…  And I’m not going to give you his picture, either. I’ll tell you why later…

His name is Razor…

I heard of him a few months ago.  He is an amazing person.  I would say that he has more courage than just about anyone.  Sure, there might be someone out there than has a touch more… but not much.  His courage is in his determination.  And he is loaded with it.

He doesn’t ask for anything.  He has a ready smile.  And he carries a stick.  And two blades.  But that isn’t why he’s called ‘Razor’.

He also has another weapon… one of Atlanta’s toughest guys in hockey, Dan Sullivan… Sully.

Razor is in elementary school.  He has Cerebral Palsy, and has been undergoing therapy from the age of three years old.  Yes, he is just a kid.  And as long as he can remember, he’s wanted to play ice hockey…  There were a few problems, though.  The first one was that he couldn’t skate…  The second one was that he had some trouble walking.

Enter Sully.  Sully and Razor met in Augusta.  Razor’s mom had tried everything she could to help him learn to skate, but it wasn’t happening.  His physical therapist didn’t think it would happen.  Sully taught him to skate.  Before Sully, nobody could keep him up…

Now, without his name on his jersey, you might have a hard time figuring out which kid he is on the ice.  The other kids like him and respect him… regardless of whether they know about his condition.  He is a really nice kid.

I could have made this post prettier with some nice pictures…

But I want you to think about something instead of looking at the pictures…

The easiest thing in the world would have been for Razor to give up.  Nobody thought he could skate.  Even his therapist didn’t think it was going to happen.  Nobody would have looked at a little kid with CP that couldn’t ice skate and call him a failure… except Razor.

And nobody would have had a second thought if Sully didn’t even try…  Except Sully.  Who would expect that a hockey player… especially one known more for delivering a punch than the puck… would be the stone that would hone the Razor?

I’ve known Sully for about a year.  There isn’t much in his world that is more important than helping kids.  Right after that is helping kids play hockey.  And then play hockey better.

I met Sully’s mom today…

She wasn’t surprised about Sully’s desire to help Razor.  But seeing Razor and hearing the story brought tears to her eyes… over and over.  Heck, me too.

But Sully’s mom had a missing piece of information.  When he was a kid, he wanted to be a hockey player.  During the winter he skated on his uncle’s pond… every day.  He skated until he was dragged off.  He skated until he clothes were frozen solid.

Razor and Sully are cut from the same cloth.  Razor will likely not be a professional hockey player, but he has destroyed the odds against him.  There were a lot of people that thought that Sully, coming from a single parent home, wouldn’t be a likely pro player, either.  It isn’t an inexpensive sport, and the costs aren’t just financial.

Come to think of it, Sully has a weapon, too.  His mom.

Do you have the determination of Razor?  Of Sully?  Of Sully’s mom?

Do you face the same kind of challenges?

Trans-Am...  For most people, they think of Pontiac Trans-Ams…  Some think about the SCCA racing series.  I think about both… but the cars I think about are the Trans-Am racing cars from the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were pure race cars, but they started life as production cars.  Rather than being tube structures wrapped with a body that resembled a real car, they were real cars that were modified to be racers.

When one starts talking about muscle cars, the year 1969 pops up pretty frequently… but the era from 1968-1972 has to be one of the coolest for Trans-Am junkies.  The street cars that came from that era were the stuff of dreams.

• Ford competed with Boss 302 Mustangs…  The 1969 street version was raw and didn’t like low-rpm cruising.  But it rewarded the driver when it was pushed…

• 

  Image by prorallypix via Flickr

  Chevy rolled out the Z28 Camaros as their weapon of choice.  It had a unique 302 that was also kind of a temperamental beast.  Overshadowed by the 350 and some of the larger motors, the 302 Chevy was a high revving racer… built to the 5 liter SCCA spec.

• Chrysler brought out the Plymouth AAR Cudas and Dodge Challenger T/As
• Of course, AMC had their Javelins and AMXs.  Mercury did battle with the Cougars and Pontiac brought the Firebird into the fray.

Any muscle car fan has to respect that sort of line-up…  The stars certainly aligned.

My Concept…

Several of the key players are back. Dodge has a Challenger.  Cevy has a Camaro.  Ford has never let the Mustang go away.  So, why not build a trio of these retro-muscle beasts…  And then race them.

I’m not talking about tube-frame race cars that are all but identical under the skin, with just a different engine and body template, but real production based racers with limited aftermarket parts.  Limit them to normally aspirated 6.0L engines… no turbos or superchargers.  Require that the engines be ‘stock’… and that the company has to sell 1000 of the model (Mustang, Camaro or Challenger) wit hthe same engine.  Transmissions and other drivetrain parts have to be similar to stock… And the suspension would have to be ‘bolt-on’ changes only.

Interiors for the race cars could be stripped, fenders flared a little and the ride height would have to be within a couple of inches of stock.

The REAL concept cars would be the factory built racers that would be for sale at the dealerships…

And I think it is safe to say that the manufacturers could have a line for the 1000 cars.  AND a line for the races.  Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.

School is almost ready to start here in Gwinnett County.  It is only a couple of weeks away… and that means that school activities will be starting, too.

Since one of mine is going into 1st Grade, he is old enough to start in Cub Scouts.  He can be a Tiger Cub.  And while the ‘Roundup’ is still a few weeks away, we actually found a Pack and started getting involved a few weeks ago.  In fact, my wife and I volunteered to be Den Leaders.

The Pack that we found is part of the Sweetwater District of the NE Ga Council.  And the Sweetwater District just rolled out a new tool on their website to help parents find a Pack, Troop, Crew, Team or Post for their Scout.  Basically, if you are in the Sweetwater District, which covers Walton County and much of Southern Gwinnett County (east of I-85), you can use this tool to find the units that are closest.

Cub Scouts are arranged in Packs.  Boy Scouts are in Troops.  There are also Venturing Crews, Varsity Teams and Explorer Posts.

Scouting is a great outlet for boys and girls.  It teaches responsibility, manners and confidence.

My son is looking forward to getting more involved in Scouting.  We have been to a couple of events with the Pack, but no Den based activities yet (they generally are inactive during the summer, but the Packs often have several activities and there are also camp opportunities).

I think we are going to have a great year!

Don’t expect it to actually happen…  I wrote about this phenomena a year ago, and there are still lots of practitioners claiming it can be done.  They all say that they have done it, but I have been able to find no verified cases where the mortgage was set aside by one of these operations…  Delayed, perhaps… but not set aside.

The bottom line is that it could happen… could.  BUT, it is WAY more likely that you will spend thousands of dollars on legal fees, and be strung along for months and months… or even years, and then end up in worse straights than when you started.

The line sounds great, and to  a non-legally trained mind like mine, it seems logical.  But, my industry friends tell me that it just isn’t realistic in the real world.

Take a read…

Here is a post that actually goes back three years, but I posted it two years ago on this blog.  It is about the ‘Dirty Little Secret’ that the folks offering to list your house for $999 (or whatever) don’t want you to know.  Yep, they have a business plan, and there is an integral part of it that they will NOT tell you about.  If you ask them about it directly, they will hem and haw… but it is pretty doubtful that they will come right out and tell you…

I’m NOT telling you that one of those services can’t be a great option, but only if you know the secret, and go into it with your eyes wide open.  In fact, I offer a similar services… but I add something that they don’t.  It doesn’t alter the basic premise, but there is a reason why my discount listing plan is different…

But you’ll have to talk with me to find out all of the details.  Don’t worry, I don’t bite.

BTW, I have had a lot of discussions with discounters and they don’t like that I have said this out loud…  They can’t counter it… but they are mad at me.

One of the forums in which I participate has had stories on both sides of this issue for a couple of months… with the more conservative members saying that there is a 3.8% sales tax on the sale of homes, and those that are more supportive of the President and his policies saying that there isn’t.

Neither side was real specific about their information source… talk radio for some, blogs for others… nobody seemed to be going to the source… the 20,000+ page law signed by the President.  In all fairness, there is a LOT of room in 20,000 pages to hide a lot of little Easter Eggs like this.  And being fair to the other side, if there isn’t a tax, the bill isn’t going to say “there is not a tax” anywhere…

I have an answer…

There is indeed a tax on the sale of real estate.  It doesn’t apply to many people, but it WILL apply to some people that have profit from the sale of their homes. Starting in 2013, those with incomes over $200,000 will have to pay a 3.8% tax on profit from the sale of their primary residence or investment properties.  The exact amount will be based on a formula that includes the profit from the property and the income above $200,000.  The tax is not an income tax, but rather it is a “payroll tax”… officially it is a Medicare Tax.

It does not just apply to real estate, but also applies to investment income and dividends.

The bottom line is that both groups are right… and both are wrong.

But…

It will drive another nail into the luxury real estate market.  It has been in the doldrums for a while.  Adding new taxes will not get it going again.  And if you are thinking that this only affects ‘the wealthy’, think again.  Those homes are not built by ‘the wealthy’.  Those homes are not renovated by ‘the wealthy’.  Those consumers are more likely to hire contractors to do improvements.  And they are more likely to update more often…  They are a driver in the housing sector.  This added tax is NOT putting gas in the tank…

Come on… admit it.  You think cop cars are cool.  OK, some cop cars are cool.  Some look like something that your boring uncle would drive, but then there are the ones that are really sleepers… loaded with power and ability, like Superman disguised as Clark Kent.

I ran across a post on Raw Justice that outlined a bunch of Bad@$$ cop cars.  They looked at some squad and pursuit cars that are used elsewhere in the world, and there are some that are pretty surprising.

Among the rides that I really didn’t expect to see in Police livery were:

• Lamborghini Gallardo from England
• Lotus Exige from England
• Spyker C8 from the Netherlands
• Peugot RCZ from Hungary

Of course, there were some American cars that I wasn’t too surprised about, like Hemi Chargers, Mustangs, and a Viper.  And then Germany had some strong entries with Mercedes Benz, Porsche and BMW providing local flavor…  And of course there are some killer cars in Japan, so why not have a Skyline cop car?

Enjoy.  Let me know what your favorites are…

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Everything old is new again…  Happy Days, set in the 1950s came out in the 1970s.  That 70s show, set in the 1970s came out in the 1990s.  How many shows from the 1990s are running in syndication right now?  And doesn’t it seem like all of the shows we liked 20 or 30 years ago are becoming movies?

Trends get recycled…  Rat Rods are referred to as “traditional” rods by many aficionados.  Retro is hot…  The New Bettle…  The New Mini…  Mustang, Camaro, Challenger.

One trend that might be ready to resurface is ‘Sedan Deliveries’.  They have a few advantages over traditional vans.. and they are cooler.  Because they are smaller and lighter, they would use less fuel.  Many of the vans running around are mostly empty anyway… at least they are most of the time.

They were big in the 1930s… and again in the 1950s.  They popped up in some compact cars in the 1970s.  And then minivans got real popular in the 1990s.  There were some minivan delivery specials a while back, and more recently, the PT Cruiser and HHR have had Sedan Delivery variants…

But what about full size vehicles?  The Dodge Magnum would have been a great choice.  The Ford Taurus X was another one…  Just how cool would a company look with a fleet of Dodge Magnum delivery vehicles?

Of course, having a 2 door would be much more authentic.  GM has a perfect platform that would be relatively easy to deploy…  The Holden Commodore Ute.  Holden is the Australian marque for General Motors.  Previously, GM brought the 2 door Commodore into the US as the 2004-2006 Pontiac GTO.  The again tapped Holden when they brought the 4 door Commodore in as the Pontiac G8.

Holden has a ‘Ute’ version of the same platform.  It has undergone a lot of testing in the US and should be pretty easy to certify for US sales.  It has plenty of engine options, ranging from a nice V6 up to a couple of 400hp+ Corvette V8s.

Pontiac is gone now… but there is no reason that Chevy couldn’t be the brand that benefits from the Australian Connection.  Heck, they could even bring back the Nomad name.  I don’t think it would be a top selling model… but it would be a killer niche vehicle.  Maybe that trend is ready to roll back around again.

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The time has come.  I will be re-aligning my blogs and websites to be more subject specific.  I have a lot of presence on the web, and for too long they have had overlapping content.  As we get through this re-alignment of the sites, each will be more focused on a specific purpose.  There will still be connections between the sites, but the content will be less connected…

Some of the sites that will be part of the re-alignment are:

• LaneBailey.com
• LaneBailey.info
• GwinnettGarageGuy.com
• UltimateHomeMarketing.com
• GarageHomesUSA.com
• LilburnDwellings.com

I might also be re-designing the looks of the sites at the same time…  It will be fun…

Two years ago I wrote a post about whether a (would-be) seller would be better adding on or moving if their current home wasn’t meeting their needs.

Honestly, I didn’t give an outright answer.  There isn’t an outright answer.  OK, there might be an answer, but it has to come from within, Grasshopper.  That hasn’t changed.  But that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been changes in the overall situation.

In the last two years a lot of neighborhoods have had more value drained from them.  More owners are underwater, or close to it.  Getting loans and HELOCs is tougher than it was a couple of years ago.  But… interest rates are rocking for those that qualify.  There are fewer homes on the market… in fact, as of July 1st, 2010, there were about 6400 listings in Gwinnett County, GA.  Two years ago there were just under 10,000.

Contractors are hungrier… deals might be had.  Sellers are too.

There still isn’t an outright answer.  In fact, for every point on one side of the argument, there is a new point on the other.  If you are looking to make a complete change, give me a shout.  I know where there are some good schools, big garages and nice deals…

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