No substance of value has held its worth, allure, and esteem longer than gold. No substance or animal creature on Earth. You know what that means: move over cockroach, gold’s got your number. Gold is found in prehistoric burial sites, in jewelry designs all through the holy land, and in modern-day electronic circuitry like circuit breakers and buttered-up computer chips. Gold can also be found in recent investment reports noting that it topped out at more than $1,050 an ounce in mid-March, up from $680 a year ago. Although it dipped to $888 late in April, it has had a wondrous run, up from $349 nearly five years ago.
Gold’s history is long and storied. There was a time, believe it or not, that Americans didn’t have the right to sell coins of the golden variety. Except as jewelry, Americans were not allowed to own gold or sell gold from 1933 to 1975. When the ban was lifted, the controversial government-set price of $35 an ounce was abandoned and gold skyrocketed to its 1980 peak. During this ban, American citizens were still able to sell silverware, but for obvious reason, this didn’t satisfy them as much as dealing with gold. For many years after 1975, it was difficult for ordinary investors like you and me to trade gold. Only the power brokers could do it. An old piece of jewelry could be sold to a pawnshop or some other dealer, but for far less than its true value. Some firms sold gold coins, but they often were marketed as collectibles for prices exceeding the value of the gold inside them. Once a gold stake was acquired, they had to deal with the hassle and expense of storing it. This era is now a forgotten dream, and it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see it again.
I just had an opportunity to visit one of my friends who is living in a temporary home. She needed a Richmond apartment locator solution, so she picked an excellent company named Dabney Properties. I must confess that I was not expecting to discover that there was a temporary housing company this perfect since I will need a temporary home in Richmond myself in the coming weeks. The first thing I noticed about my friend’s townhome was that it was furnished to the brim. It had all the normal amenities you would expect in a fully furnished place, but I never expected the amenities to be as beautiful as they were. The kitchen was much larger than I expected, especially for a complex of this stature, and the floors were made of only the finest, sparkling and shiny hardwood. The fireplace was fully furnished, the backyard was surrounded by a fence, and there was a grandoise outdoor deck. Most impressive, oh yes!
My oldest friend told me that the corporate apartments over there are leased on a short-term basis and are often being rented out by business executives who are being transferred and require temporary living space until they find a more permanent piece of property. Business executives might also rent the space if they are on a corporate housing Richmond temporary assignment at a location away from where they usually work, so my friend runs into a lot of business executives when she uses the workout facilities and the pool that Dabney Properties offers. She also said she met some “uber-duber” friends and acquaintances at the esteemed club house. Overall, she told me that she was having a very enjoyable experience and is almost sad about having to leave soon. Yes, it is a bit of a sob story. But it does give me something to look forward to when I lease from them next year.
Windows and doors bring you light and ventilation, and make the outside world accessible both physically and psychologically. You’ll find many types of windows in mobile homes—bay windows, jalousies, and full-panel sliding glass doors.
Except for needing occasional lubrication, windows are relatively trouble-free. Doors, on the other hand, harbor a variety of problems from sticky locks to warped panels. This chapter explains quick, effective repair for doors and windows. (And if your traverse rods won’t pull evenly, you’ll find an answer on page 106.)
Attractive windows add to the beauty of your home. Browse through your local glazier’s. Explore such things as reflective solar film. It’s quick and easy to apply. It cools your mobile home noticeably without air conditioning. Investigate other new window products. Mobile homes blossom from home improvements every bit as much as any other type of dwelling.
Some mobile-home manufacturers still use jalousie windows because they’re attractive and functional. The louvered nature of partially open jalousies allows ventilation even when it’s raining.
Occasionally you’ll need to lubricate the lever and movable hardware, maybe twice a year. Using a conventional oil can rather than the newer aerosol lubricants will eliminate some extra cleaning.
When lubricating the jalousie mechanism no longer keeps the window operating, remove the glass slats. Unscrew the old jalousie hardware. Measure the frame. Replace the old assembly with a new one of the same size, but use your old slats.
To replace broken slats, take out the remaining glass with gloved Measure an unbroken slat to find the correct size—or measure the space from one clip to the other, plus the clip widths. Slide new glass slat into the clips.
The problem of sticky doors and windows often develops when mobile homes have settled unevenly. Before you try repairs, verify both longitudinal and lateral leveling of your home with a carpenter’s level (page 20). Make any necessary adjustments in the blocking.
Inspect the doors again. Leveling may have corrected some of the problems or it may have created new ones. Open and close all the doors several times. For those which do not close easily, hunt for the cause of the sticking. First try lubricating the hinges; an aerosol will do, with silicone lubricant.
Then look for bent hinges. You can either remove them and try to hammer them straight, or use the old hinge as a template to help you buy new ones.
Stress on the hinges may have stripped the wood that holds the screws. Fill the holes with small pieces of wood such as kitchen matches. Better yet, fill the holes with wood putty. Then reseat the hinge screws.
If you find no fault with hinges, inspect the door itself. You may be able to cure rubs at the top of the door by prying downward with a piece of wood, a hammer, or a broom handle. This warps the hinges, but sometimes that saves a lot of time in sanding. You can use a similar ploy to fix some cases of faulty alignment. Slide something firm but soft (like a man’s wallet) between door and frame near the top or bottom hinge. Try to close the door. Don’t force it shut completely, only enough to spring the hinge. To close a gap on the hinge side of the door, tap the open edge with a hammer.
Beyond these quick-repair hints, the job becomes a carpenter’s problem. With metal doors, rehanging a misaligned door involves shimming up under the hinges. Again, you’d probably do well to hire an expert rather than trying to do this yourself. If you leave the fault go, however, it only grows worse and eventually may ruin the door frame.
A spray or squirt of graphite into the keyhole solves most sticky lock difficulties. Buy the lubricant in dust or liquid aerosol form.
an emergency, shave a little graphite dust from a pencil lead with a pocket knife or emery board. Work the shavings into the keyway. Then slide the key in and out of the lock several times. Scrape more lead dust if necessary. But whatever you do, don’t use ordinary oil in a keyhole. It will only gum up the lock.
When locks need changing, you can do it. Residential locks come in three main pieces—one knob, one knob with a shaft, and a latch assembly. But before you can replace your particular lock, you need to know what kind it is.
Work with an open door and a screwdriver. Take out the two screw-head bolts in the doorknob flange and disassemble the old lock. Remove any other screws that hold the latch assembly and pull the latch out. To find the size of lock to ask for, measure from the edge of the door to the center of the lock hole. Write this measurement down. Latch configurations differ also. Therefore, to be absolutely sure of buying a usable replacement, take the old lock with you.
Insert the new latch assembly first. Next slide the outside knob into the latch. Rotate it to position the keyhole the way you want it. The exterior knob flange should fit flush to the door. When you have the first knob engaged, slide the interior knob into position. Let the flange holes line up with the bolt mounts. The knobs should now work the latch, if you have the assembly installed correctly. If not, disassemble it and begin again.
As the final step, secure the flange bolts (they have slotted heads and look like screws once they’re installed).
The modern use of plastic and aluminum materials for window screens has eliminated rusty screen wire. However, screen damage still occurs—most frequently when someone gets locked out.
Place the damaged screen on a flat work surface. In a groove around the screen frame you’ll find a rubberlike spline that holds the screen wire in. Pull the spline out and inspect it. If it has weakened or deteriorated, buy a new length when you purchase the screen wire. Peel out the wire mesh. Measure the opening in the frame and add ½-inch to each dimension. That’lI get you the correct size of replacement screen.
Snip the new screen to size (if it’s not already) with a pair of household shears. Cut the screen parallel with the wire in the mesh, to assure a straight line. Clean the screen frame with a mild detergent and water, and dry it before you start attaching the new screen.
Insert the screen along the longest side of the frame first. Square the screen with the frame. Push the ¼-inch edge allowance into the frame groove with a small screwdriver. Once it’s started, clamp the screen mesh by inserting the splirie into the groove, on top of the screen.
Continue all around the frame. The final side is the most difficult to secure, because you must stretch it taut. But it’s not too difficult if you got the short sides clamped in smooth. Trim off any excess screen and spline with the scissors. You’re ready to rehang the screen.
Since the law did not require written disclosure of cap costs or interest rates, Ford Motor Credit did not provide
it. This allowed its dealers to use (and get away with) deceptive sales practices, such as quoting lower prices and interest rates than people actually received. And it allowed dealers to overcharge their customers.
Even after witnessing numerous acts of blatant overcharging (from dealer worksheets), Ford did not provide disclosure of cap costs until July of 1995, following an investigation in Florida. At the time of publication, the company was still not providing written disclosure of interest rates to its lease customers.
Ford Motor Credit witnessed outrageous acts of overcharging by its dealers and did nothing to stop them. In some cases, vehicle prices had been secretly increased by $5,000 (or more) over suggested retail and Ford Credit approved the leases, collected the money from customers, and paid the dealers their “share” of the profits. For example, Honda resident Carla Higginbotham leased a 1994 Ford Mustang through Ford Credit, making a cash down payment of $4,695. Since the price was not disclosed in the lease, the dealer was able to increase it to $25,692—a secret “bump” to $4,802 above MSRP. As the result of that “disappearing down payment” trick, her monthly payment was $441 when it should have been
$250.
(By the way, when Higginbotham was asked why she made such a large down payment on a lease, she said she thought it was a purchase, not a lease. A similar thing happened to W.E. Mulkey in Georgia, who leased a 1994 Ford Ranger through Ford Credit. He made a down payment of $6,319 which should have reduced his monthly payment to about $3 (yes, that’s right: only three dollars), but he was charged $251 per month for the whole term. The price of his vehicle had been secretly increased by $5,500 over MSRP. (Out of eight leases involved in one lawsuit against Ford over early termination, six of them had overcharges ranging from $1,175 to $5,500.)
Several attorneys general working on leasing investigations say that fraud is assumed to be involved any time a vehicle price is increased by more than 5% above retail. In those two examples, the increases were 22% above retail for Higginbotham, and 36% above retail for Mulkey. And Ford Credit has been well aware of outrageous overcharges such as those two, because they receive itemized reports from dealers that contain the information.
Dealers were required to complete a “dealer worksheet” for every lease that was turned in to Ford Credit, listing the actual selling price, the suggested retail price, and the exact amount of mark-up on the vehicle. Any price increases that occurred would have been immediately noticeable on the worksheets. For example, the dealer worksheet for the Higginbotham lease showed the $4,802 price increase, and listed the total mark-up as $6,388—on a car that retailed for $20,890. (The normal dealer markup on a car in that price range would be about $2,000.)
Ford even had a system set up to handle significant overcharges. In their Red Carpet Lease (RCL) dealer handbook, under “Excess Deferred Gross,” dealers were told that the company would withhold funds from the dealer on leases that had “excess mark-up.” At the end of the lease, Ford Credit would then pay the rest of the money to the dealer— but only if the car was purchased by the customer or dealer, not if it was turned in to Ford.
Apparently it was OK for dealers to take advantage of their customers, but cheating Ford would not be tolerated. The company’s dealer handbook said, “Ford Credit does not restrict the amount of profit the dealer may include in a lease, only how much is advanced to the dealer at lease inception”
Since the law did not require written disclosure of cap costs or interest rates, Ford Motor Credit did not provide
it. This allowed its dealers to use (and get away with) deceptive sales practices, such as quoting lower prices and interest rates than people actually received. And it allowed dealers to overcharge their customers.
Even after witnessing numerous acts of blatant overcharging (from dealer worksheets), Ford did not provide disclosure of cap costs until July of 1995, following an investigation in Florida. At the time of publication, the company was still not providing written disclosure of interest rates to its lease customers.