Central AC - DIY

Central AC - DIY

Installing a Central AC: This is NOT a DIY. It's always installed by a professional.

Replacement of AC: AC replacement labor is pretty expensive at $4K per installation just in labor cost. It's definitely a DIY. Here's 2 part video explaining it:

Part 1 (Replacing outside condensor unit): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR5wIbNrs7Y

Part 2 (Replacing inside Evaporator coil): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIDSNBOpBKg

Part 3 (Brazing and Pressure test): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUwIKPoBYSo

Repair and Maintenance: Most of the repair of Central AC is around Freon leaking, which is a very common issue. Some Freon leaking is OK, as you can just top off every couple of years, instead of trying to find the leak and fixing it. However, AC repair companies which come and top off Freon charge a lot of money, usually around $100/lb, while you can get freon for around $10-$20 per pound.

Freon Topoff: Here's a video detailing how to do it => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1s4wxDBe24

Look for High side and low side pressures to be inline with what it's supposed to be.

 

Stock watchList

These are stocks that are at year lows. These are large companies, all dividend paying and financially strong enough to keep paying dividend.

  • Target (TGT):
  • Pfizer
  • Accenture
  • Pepsi (
  • Stanley Black and Decker
  • Fedex
  • Baidu:
  • Kohls (KSS)
  • Medtronic (MDT) => dividend aristocrat
  • HPE
  • Kraft Heinz = KHC

 

Currency trades

Currency Trades:

You'll hear a lot about Currency trades too, where people bet on a pair of currencies and depending on what direction the currencies move, you make/lose money.

Currency Basics:

Currency Pair: A currency pair is the quotation of two different currencies, with the value of one currency being quoted against the other. The first listed currency of a currency pair is called the base currency, and the second currency is called the quote currency. It indicates how much of the quote currency is needed to purchase one unit of the base currency.

Ex: 80 USD/INR = 80 => This implies that 80 INR (quote currency) is needed to buy 1 USD (base currency).

The US dollar (USD) is often used as the base currency because it is considered the world's primary reserve currency. So, most FX quotes are written as USD/<Quote_currency>. The value quoted is > 1 for most currencies as you need more of the other country's currency to buy 1 USD. That makes it easy to quote, as 0.012 doesn't sound good in quoting (if quoting was done in INR/USD). Notable exceptions are USD/GBP,  USD/EURO which are slightly < 1 as of 2024.

The EUR/USD currency pair is considered the most liquid currency pair in the world. NOTE: it's not in the conventional USD/EUR form, with USD being the base currency. This is how it was done historically. The USD/JPY is the second most popular currency pair in the world.

Forex Market:

Forex market is where these currency pairs are traded.

 

 

Home Owner Association

Home Owner Association (HOA):

Wiki => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeowner_association

HOAs are Associations that a bunch of homes in a neighborhood form. In homes built before 1980's, there didn't use to be associations. The only associations that existed were for "Apartment" like housing complex, where a bunch of homes shared common wall, or common roof, or common ground. Associations were necessary in such cases, since no one owned the land, instead they owned just the air space. Any maintenance work needed for the building had to be shared. So, associations were needed, where associations collected some yearly fees from Homeowners. This money pooled in was used for pay for any ongoing expenses to maintain the "Flat system community". These "flat or apartment" systems are known as "Condo" and "Townhome" in USA. "Condo" are exactly like "flats" in India, where houses are built on top of each other, generally 2 storied. Bigger cities have Buildings which have 10's of floors. "Townhome" are little better than "Condo" in the sense that each house is built on it's own land. To keep price of houses low, houses are built next to each other, where they may share a common wall on one or both sides. However, the hmeowner still doesn't own the land. All of the land in a condo/townhome is owned by the Association (HOA).

Fast forward to 2000's and now even stand alone home with their own land have associations. Infact, no builder builds houses w/o HOA anymore. If you buy any of these houses, you have to become member of HOA and  bound by the HOA rules. HOA also have yearly fees to pay for common area maintainence, etc. These HOA dues are usually $1K/year, but in some neighborhoods go as high as $5K/year. Condos/Townhomes have even higher HOA dues.

HOA Pitfalls:

HOA is a legal "GundaRaaj" in USA. There is a Board for any HOA which comprises of couple of elected homeowners. They go hire a "Management Company" which provides services for a yearly fees. These "Management Companies" take over all the power, and Board members become mere "puppets" of the Management Company. Dues start going up, services start going own. Anh how does it become a "GundaRaaj". Because there is

http://www.poliakoffoncondohoaliving.com/2011/04/enforcing-covenants-rules-and-regulations-in-condos-and-hoas-the-concepts-of-waiver-and-selective-enforcement/

If r4ule hasn't been enforced in years, it cannot be enforced.

Ask for mediation or arbitration prior to lawsuit.

http://www.dallasbar.org/sites/default/files/October%202014%20-%20HOA%20Foreclosure.pdf

Texas property code :

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.209.htm#209.007

Does the unit owner’s debt consist solely of fines? If Yes, that association can't forclose. Tex. Prop. Code §82.113(e).
=>
The association has the right to foreclose its lien judicially or by nonjudicial foreclosure pursuant to the power of sale created by this chapter or the declaration, except that the association may not foreclose a lien for assessments consisting solely of fines.
 
Sec. 209.0062.  ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT SCHEDULE FOR CERTAIN ASSESSMENTS.  (a)  A property owners' association composed of more than 14 lots shall adopt reasonable guidelines to establish an alternative payment schedule by which an owner may make partial payments to the property owners' association for delinquent regular or special assessments or any other amount owed to the association without accruing additional monetary penalties.  For purposes of this section, monetary penalties do not include reasonable costs associated with administering the payment plan or interest.
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.82.htm
 
(12)  impose interest and late charges for late payments of assessments, returned check charges, and, if notice and an opportunity to be heard are given in accordance with Subsection (d), reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules of the association;

Illegal fines for delinquent dues:

Deals 2025

Deals: Here I'll put some of the deals that are FREE or I believe are worth my money. Most of the deals will have links from slickdeals,.net and doctorofcredit.com since that is where I find the deals from wink

Most of the deals we are interested in are ones where we make free money. There are also other deals where items are on sale for a price below what it would cost to make them. Deals are listed for each year separately. Let's make some moolah !!