BLHTAZ

I have lurked from time to time, but yeah, I have not been around much in a while. :cheers:

We call ours Joe, but that is short for Mighty Joe. My wife loved that movie and it is the first thing she thought of when I brought the "MJ" home.

Yep...we tried hard to avoid short-sales. I have two friends that bought short-sale houses and both of them waited 3-4 months for a response to offers and then it took nearly a year before they finally got to closing. I was told by our Realtor that FHA/VA lenders will not approve a loan on a house that is not move-in ready...or incredibly close to it. He said the Safe, Sound, and Secure are three primary requirements to even hope for approval. This is why we were happy to find a house that is a straight sale and is currently occupied. We had an inspection last Saturday, and everything went very well except for an active termite colony being found in the kitchen bay window area. They are on the outside only and the seller is paying to have them taken care of this week. The property will be treated and we will sign a contract with the pest control company to pay $150 a year and they will check it and treat it once a year and include a $250,000 damage repair guarantee.

Wow...that is interesting. There are so many rules and hoops to jump through any more. I can't believe what we are going through to be able to use my VA benefits.

Thanks Pete. We got a terrific deal on it, too! The owner passed away, the house was paid off, and the children did not want to keep it up as they do not live in the area and it has been rented for quite some time. The current tennant decided to move to NC and they do not want to deal with the house any more.

Glad to hear you found something that you are interested in. :cheers: We finally found one as well and have an excepted contract and deposit on it. It is a 3/2, 1550 sq ft, custom built pool with 3 waterfalls, 1.7 acres, completely move-in ready, and a 2 Jeep garage. Here are a couple pics... ...and a couple videos - be sure to right-click the video and select open in new window or tab.

Hey Pete...it's going OK right now. We found a house that we really like, FINALLY, so we will be signing the offer on it today and see what happens.

My experience with VA was much better in the pre-approval part. I sent them a ton of info, as you have described, and they emailed a letter of pre-approval to me and our agent within 2 hours...and this was at 6:00 p.m.. We keep having the same issues with the houses, though; either it is a great house but in the wrong place or the property is too small, the price is out of line and the seeler won't play, or it needs too much work to qualify for VA financing. VA is tough in that respect, if a house needs more than just some minor cosmetic repairs, they will not approve it. FHA is similar but not quite as strict. Keep your head up, brother...the right one is out there. :cheers:

No one will regret buying from Tom! I got one of the first sets of MJ springs he ever produced a few years ago and they are still doing great. Only had one small issue in the beginning, they used poly bushing that sqeaked horribly, but Tom immediately sent me the appropriate rubber bushings at no cost to me to fix the problem.

I don't have good news for you either, unfortunatley. We are working with VA financing to buy a house right now. We are also still in the looking phase, and have been getting extremely irritated, frustrated, and disappointed in the process. The VA mortgage process does require all of the paperwork and BS noted in previous postings as we have had to jump through many hoops and provide a lot of paperwork just for pre-qualification. We have been looking for nearly 5 months now and still have no solid hopes for what we want. We made one offer a while back, but the seller was quite unreasonable in his asking price and would not move much. We are being quite picky in what we get, as we realize--at our age--this will likely be the house we live the rest of our lives in. I feel your pain. Best of luck to you and keep us posted on your progress.

He is, unfortunately, still crippled, but happy and hopping like all the rest.

Yep, I have done that one before too :thumbsup:

As long as they are spay/neutered, they are quite easy to litter train. Rabbits are very clean critters and only make messes to mark territory, but when fixed, they have no need to do so. Most of them are very friendly and love attention.

All of the rabbits are spayed/neutered and litter trained, so they do not make a terrible mess. We have to clean the carpets once every couple weeks or so. Although I have had rabbits for food many times, these are pets. We are a foster home for the Gainseville Rabbit Rescue (Gainesville, FL). We currently have three rabbits of our own, and nine in foster care awaiting good homes. The ones we own run free in the house just like a cat or dog would. See our website at; http://www.HugABunny.net if you would like.

The inner ends can now be replaced. It wasn't long ago that they were not serviced by Chrysler, but that is changing on most vehicles; although, some are still not available. Tech Tip Description: When replacing steering gear inner tie rod ends - the technician MUST always replace the outer tie rod end nut using P/N 6508273AA or its approved supercedence. The outer tie rod end nut is a one time use only Ny-lock type nut. Nut - 6508273AA Inner end - 68019643AB Outer end - 5066373AB The inner end package includes the large bellow clamp, small bellow clamp, breather tube clamp, and limiter. I hope that helps, if this is what you need.

The neighbors got a good laugh out of it; they were outside when I did it :wavey: :thumbsup:

Welcome Tim :cheers: Nice TJ...can't wait to see the MJ. :D

I thought ya'll would like that :yes: :cheers: I started to try to find a rope to tie between the two; then I remembered the winch cable :brows:

Cleaning rabbit cages and needed a place to dry the carpets that I just washed. My wife called me a crazy redneck; I thought it was quite ingenious. :smart: :rotf: What do you think?

My apologies to everyone, as this never did happen. My wife and I have decided to discontinue our t-shirt business, at least for now, as we just do not have time for it and the economy has pretty much killed any business we were getting. Our website has been removed, and when I get around to it, we will likely have a BIG sale on our remaining inventory.

Depending on the wheels that you use, you can get 31's on it stock, but they will rub badly in the front, making the truck useless for most anything other than very easy grocery getter duties ;) . The definition of "fit" is having a tire that will not rub at full steering lock or at full articulation of the suspension. A 3" lift is needed for a 31" tire to properly "fit". :smart: :cheers:

Not true. You may put 31's on it without a lift, but the truck will not be useable for anything other than very careful mall driving. I had 235's on mine stock and they rubbed, so I know that 31's won't work. I have 31's now with the Rubicon Express 3.5" lift front, and the Hell Creek Suspensions 3" rear leaf springs--the front tires don't rub, but they are close to the fender when turning with about 1.5" clearance. :thumbsup:

Being from a christian upbringing, there is no other belief than creation. I understand the process of evolution, and believe that some "things" have evolved, but can in no way believe that humans evolved. :cheers:

I have the 3.5" RE kit in the front; the 3" HC springs make it perfectly level..

That is always a good thing! :thumbsup: