u/fashion_opinion

I'm in NYC and bought a co-op. I need to refinish my floors, remove a built-in, and get a fresh coat of paint. I've fired off requests for quotes from various contractors. However, I'm not sure how how to tell if a general contractor can be excellent at all 3 things or I'd be better off hiring individual ones.

Please send tips. I'm a first time home owner and have no one else to ask for advice! A lot of the highly-rated NYC-based general contractors on Yelp seem to have good but mixed reviews (ex: did an excellent job on floors but left gaps in painting).

I just found out about the travel ban on permanent residents who have been in Uganda recently and I sent a panicked email to our TA this morning. We were originally scheduled to visit Uganda on the first week of October, and then Kenya. My spouse has a GC.

Due to work, we must re-enter the country on our scheduled date, so quarantining in another country to wait out the 21 day window is not an option. This situation doesn't seem to be covered by our travel insurance either.

Has anyone had to pivot safari plans this close to the scheduled departure (for any reason, not just ebola)? What options did your agency provide you?

I've never hiked in boots. I have done moderate day hikes in Nike Pegasus trail sneakers but I don't think these would be ideal. Most of the advice I see online seems to be divided between trail running shoes or ankle-supporting boots. It might be muddy and rainy so I'm not sure what would be a good idea. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Like a true boglehead, I would rather set and forget. My tax-advantaged accounts are all in VTWAX or TDFs. With these, I like that I don't have to re-balance to get some international exposure. My personal brokerage account is currently divided between VTIAX and VTSAX and I would incur a huge tax bill if I were to convert to VTWAX. It's mildly annoying to have to check the balances every once in a while.

Anyway, I'm just sharing this boring story in case it's a helpful perspective to new investors. My taxable investments have actually done well, but now that my finances are getting more complex as the years go by (mortgage, family, etc), I am craving more simplicity.

Hoping to close soon and we would have a few weeks between closing and move in. Apart from a deep clean, is there anything else you would recommend doing? I would love to repaint the walls and hire an interior designer to help visualize the space but that’s probably best done after we’ve lived in the place for a while.

My parents are in town and getting into the Finals spirit. They are mobile and happy to be in an energetic crowd. I'm just looking for an UES sports bar or restaurant that has reasonable seating/space and okay bathroom situation. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks for reading!

We're apartment hunting and found an amazing 2bd 1bath co-op below our budget. It checks everything off the list, especially location, but the bathroom and kitchen definitely need renovating. I'd love to hear from any BWT about your experience doing this type of remodel in NYC. How did you find your contractor and how long did it take? We don't want to change the layout or rewire anything.

TBH the idea of not having shower access for weeks/months seems awful but in the long timeline of our lives might be a blip worth dealing with in order to get a place? For reference, the ready-to-move-in options we've seen are 200-300K more expensive and of course that means the mortgage + maintenance are also $2-3k higher.