u/SitaBird

Sorry if this isn’t allowed here, but as a longtime native plant and habitat supporter, I just have to share the news!

Sibley Prairie is the largest contiguous area of remaining Lakeplain prairie in the US, of which less than 1% remains. maybe you’ve heard of it, but it’s a globally endangered ecosystem and it had existed untouched for thousands of years right outside of Detroit, but owned by a private company, who is unfortunately isn’t planning to donate it but is willing to sell it for under market value.

Save Sibley Prairie Coalition is comprised of several local and regional conservation orgs including Michigan Land Conservancy (MLC) urgently and swiftly raising funds to buy this land and protect it. MLC has been given the opportunity to buy it from developers if they can raise $250k more by the end of the year (and they are close to their goal , which is a million dollars).

Please consider pitching in to ensure they meet their goal by the end of the year:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C7nmvBkUN/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Is that the washer and dryer up in a raised alcove near the ceiling?

I cannot make sense of it. Anybody else?

The challenge is that it’s kind of a wide scope of services.

I started off doing photography and creative work, but my masters degree is actually in educational curriculum and nowadays I am getting hired (as a freelancer) to tutor, coach chess/science Olympiad/math pentathlon, and create or review educational curriculum, especially related to math & science education, my specialty. I work with elementary kids. but I still do professional photography and websites.

I live in an area of the USA with a lot of Asians. Thus, tutoring and academic coaching has made me the most money, more than the creative work, and it’s been mostly with kids of friends and friends-of-friends. it started with me coaching chess and math pentathlon at school a few years ago. After winning medals and trophies, parents started to ask if I do tutoring outside of school. I started to take some kids. that was last year. Now I have a waiting list. Some friends I should take this seriously and that I should form an LLC. I don’t have a business/LLC name. I think I want to continue as an academic coach/provider of educational services LLC. Any suggestions?

i also eventually want my work to contribute to building community, not just benefiting the high income families in my area, so I’m thinking of making it a nonprofit, which would also open up access to grants and community partnerships, if that matters.

any advice welcome. thank you.

I know it depends on a lot of factors.

it’s a 20 year old builder grade house in a warm market where average days on market is 10-20 days.

we priced 10k lower than comps in the neighborhood due to the fact we don’t have an updated kitchen (honey oak, laminate) But we do have an incredible new and large finished walk out basement with a new lower deck and the biggest lot in the neighbors hood backed up to woods. new roof. new paint. new upstairs flooring. no past history problems at all, no issues regarding disclosures.

only one person discussing putting an offer in with our agent so far. they have visited four times. they have had a “friend” come with them once to apparently do an “inspection”. (we did not consent to that but our agent says they swear it was just a family member). they even had a contractor come to measure our deck. the deck guy was surprised to see us occupying the house, as the potential buyers didn’t communicate that they are getting a quote for a house they don’t actually own yet. he was as miffed as we were and apologized for intruding. they seemed to have reverse engineered their offer price based on upgrades they wanna make. they are apparently adamant on 499.

we can wait it out, but we also need to relocate asap to a town one hour away for our kids school and hub’s job. otherwise we can sit and wait; and commute daily, despite it being a huge pain.

market is cooling down.

its 96% of our asking price.

the only offer so far.

take it??

Sorry, I’m in the suburbs, not Detroit proper (anymore), but I’m looking for reviews of this school for my 6yo daughter who is currently in a Montessori school that we are soon moving away from (unfortunately). Anybody go there? Know anybody there? Know what it’s like? I know it’s supposed to be a highly rated school. I’m in Novi (edited: but moving to Troy!!! sorry for not mentioning in the post) near Catholic Central and I know a lot more about that one, but don’t know much about ASH.

more context: I grew up Catholic, but not strictly. Married into a Hindu family. our daughter is half Indian and we do go to Hindu temples sometimes. I would be open to having her go to Catholic school though, as I loved growing up Catholic and miss a lot about it, but would probably not be strict about it with my kids (or maybe I would?!). My extended family IS Catholic though. Everybody is baptized (well, in my generation and above… my own kids aren’t) and everybody who has passed away has had a Catholic funeral including my very agnostic dad. Would I feel bad not fitting in with the more devout families? Thoughts or insights?

Relocating to Troy for work. We are a half-Indian family with kids. A few friends recommended finding a house near Bemis Elementary as it’s highly rated. However, houses there cost much more.

My question. Is it highly rated due to something inherent to the school? Or because most of the kids there are Asian and attend Kumon/Tutoring and are raised in families which engage their children in rigorous extracurricular academics?

I recognize that even if we do not push our kids to the same degree that others do (they do not do Kumon), there are benefits to them being in a rigorous school culture. My middle child went to a Montessori for a few years and emerged with so many positive interests in things like Chess and Rubik’s cubes for example, just because of his peers. And even though he is in public now, he is so motivated to do well in school because he was raised in that type of school culture.

Asking because houses there are 50K more than East Troy. It’s steep for us.

Worth it? Thoughts?

we are house hunting. our friends sent us a listing in their neighborhood. I noticed (for the first time) that it is close, within 1/2 mile, of a golf course. I have a friend who studies diseases of the elderly (namely Alzheimer’s) who advised me never to buy a home within a mile of a golf course due to high frequent pesticide exposure and consequent increased risk of Parkinson’s. do I tell my friends why we are prob gonna decline to consider the house in their neighborhood? i feel like it would be too much of a dig on them, would be similar to saying something like “no thanks, we would prefer a home not on a city dump.” Then again, they’re our friends , and we are now concerned about them too. Would you buy it if it were a good deal? Is there any way to mitigate the effects (maybe indoor air purification)? WWYD?

I had a 9 month old baby when we first toured our current house ten years ago. I liked how the house already had high-quality child locks installed on all the cabinets. it also had little those soft bumper pads already installed on the sharp countertop and cabinet corners. as a new mom, I felt like the house was just so ready for our family. we loved the layout, location, schools, but I also loved seeing those little child safety things everywhere.

of course, those things would have cost like $20. but they made the house seem extra welcoming to me as a mom. we bought the house. loved it.

now ten years later we are selling. I’m finally unscrewing all those locks, but thinking I’ll keep them on the cabinets under the kitchen sink.

is there anything that charmed you into buying or almost buying a home?

question in title. House is on a hill. front of house faces east. Back faces west. huge wall of windows facing nature from 2nd story, get a stunning scenic view of sunlight through trees spilling into 2 story great room. Circles of light dance everywhere due to pinhole effect of sun through thousands of fluttering leaves. Absolutely magical. she seemed hesitant and said people don’t come to afternoon open houses. But imo, seeing that would be one of the biggest selling points of the house. WWYD ?

I recently toured some houses and loved the VOC smells of new carpets and paint.

as we look for new houses, we are simultaneously selling our house. we put fresh paint everywhere but used low VOC paint so you cannot smell it. we also had our carpet cleaned professionally but it doesn’t have any kind of carpet shampoo smell. I really wish our house had that new smell house!

any scents that I can spritz around the room that capture those exactly VOC smells?

We have a guest bedroom and are wondering if we should stage a single bed inside, two beds inside, or even a crib, to hint that it's a baby or kid's room. I see SO many listings with cribs! Thoughts?

we are the second owners of our small but lovely home. I remember the previous owner crying during the closing ten years ago, this was the house she raised her kids in. now I’m in the same situation, this time as the seller. i cry every night thinking about leaving, but my husbands job is being relocated and my son got into a great magnet program in a different district. I was thinking to reach out to the previous owner (we stayed in periodic light contact in the beginning to pass on mail, packages, etc. but fell out of contact over the years) to let them know we are getting ready to sell. maybe she’d like to know, just for fun. maybe she would be curious to walk through during the open house. maybe she might recommend the house to somebody she knows. would you reach out or not trouble them about something that could stir up emotions?

We have elementary-aged kids, and found a cute house in a neighborhood districted for these schools. I've heard about how awesome Bemis is, but I have not heard much about Wattles. If it matters, our kids are half-Indian, half-American. Any thoughts or opinions?

is a well landscaped pollinator garden a bug or a feature? it is a certified monarch waystation full of native blooming wildflowers. lots of butterflies. it doesn’t look super neat like a row of boxwoods would, but the flowering perennials are planted in rows and it’s beautiful IMO. our real estate agent didn’t have an opinion.

Home was built in 2004. honey oak kitchen with solid maple cabinetry and beige laminate countertops. hardwood floor everywhere. fresh neutral paint everywhere. new roof, new appliances.

the countertops are the only thing left. our real estate agent says either upgrade the countertops or offer a concession. we are on the fence.

if we upgrade, it wouldn’t be installed by the photo/listing date. the photos would show the old countertop. would be installed three weeks after, and the buyers may not even like it (we would pick something neutral w no color, just plain white quartz).

Agent says that’s fine, we just have a sample of the new countertop out for people to see during showings.

would that be okay????

or should we just offer a concession? how much would be appropriate?

I have one about 1.5 hours away from me — I’m in the market for a lasagna pan or a roaster, and would love to see if they’ve got one there. are they the same quality products sold in the stores or are they of a different line of quality? thanks!!

Feeling bad I don’t live in NYC or LA! I’m here in Metro Detroit but can travel 1-2 hours. anybody know which brick and mortar shops that have the most / best / most niche selections of scents to sample? I am familiar with the department stores but am open to hearing your feedback on them as well. I’m curious to try more than just Chanel, Dior, Tom Ford, etc… I want to try diptique, DS&Durga, etat Libra d’orange, Arabic perfumes/ouls, and just… everything I can get my nose on. willing to make several trips.

Thanks!!

so I know this totally depends on the vibe of the home, but thought I’d ask anyway.

think of a cute little cape cod with a white picket fence in a little high income historic neighborhood. it looks cozy/small on the outside with a cute little porch with Virginia creeper vines running up the side, but step inside and it’s surprisingly open and airy with a two-story tall great room with sunlight streaming in thru big windows spanning almost the whole width and length of the opposite wall — through shimmering green trees, casting hundreds of little dynamic circles of light everywhere in the room. I have a few houseplants around which love the high ceiling, and all the natural light. Furniture is sparse and low but high quality. the hardwood flooring, big windows, but historic, worn-but-maintained wooden surfaces throughout makes it feel kind of zen.

what kind of candle would you pick for selling a house w/ this kind of vibe?

Even something generic would be fine - like a lemon, linen, eucalyptus, etc?

thanks!!