Yeah, ripped up news. You need advice, who you don't have?
Come running just as sas as we can. Shooter's gonna help come man,
This is the Troubleshooter Show now Tom Martino. Hello, Tom Martino here,
Welcome to the show. Three oh three seven one three talk three oh three
seven one three eight two five five Here to help you solve problems, answer
questions, take complaints and make your life just a little easier, as you'll
see on the wide shot here if you're streaming the show. I have Brook
White with me from h Red Rocks, Roof and Solar, and we'll talk
a little bit about Sola. We're talking a little bit about everything. Anything
you want call. We try to solve problems and answer questions and take complaints
and do what it takes to make your life easier, as I've been doing
for forty five years. Well, anything on your mind today. Now,
who do we have here? We have deputy docs in the studio. Kachina
is Mark on the line? Is he signed Robeen day for them? So
they are not on the line, Tom, Okay, just curious because they're
on the road on a road trip and they tune in from time to time
I just want to say something very quickly, because as a registered independent,
I get emails from all political parties, including Robert F. Kennedy. I
get them from Biden, I get them from Trump, and and I read
them all. I just read them all, and I just want to say
something. This is this is the truth. Anyone who gets the emails know
what I'm talking about. Whenever I get the Republican emails from Trump and his
camp and the MAGA Incorporated and all that, they talk about Biden being the
worst president in history, and sleepy Joe and Crooked Joe and all of that,
and they say, you know, we have to take back the country
and we have to do this. We have to do that. Every single
email, every single email, until just the other day when he's backtracking.
Every single email. This is just fact. By the way, if you
think I'm trying to tout one over the other, what I'm telling you is
pure fact. I've gotten emails that literally say that Donald Trump is the biggest
threat to America and democracy in history, and that if he is elected now
this is from their official campaign. If he is elected, that will be
the end of presidential elections. He will put an end to the Constitution,
and he will assassinate his enemies with pure immunity. And I said the other
day on the air, you can get the tape. I said, when
you use speech like that, I mean, I'm all for free speech.
By the way, he can use anything he wants. But when you say
things and exaggerate like that, you get people thinking, you know what,
I'm doing the country a service. I'm gonna do the country a service if
I assassinate Trump, because he is in fact. Biden also used words like
he has pledged. This is what he said, Trump pledged to be a
dictator on day one? Do we want a dictator? There was so much
I could not believe some of the things I was reading. And here's what's
really scary. I had. I'm not going to use any names. I
had someone on my show that day and off the air, I said,
I turned the mics off because I didn't want it to go even on YouTube,
and I said, can you believe this? And I read it to
him, saying that Trump will assassinate his enemies, and he will be a
dictator, and he will work to end all presidential elections and overturn the constitution.
This is a learned man that was in my studio with me. I
said, can you believe that I didn't use the word rhetoric. I said
that whatever the propaganda or whatever. And he said, oh, I do
believe that. He said, the man has to be stopped. Now he
meant this person meant legally right, you know, not elected. But I'm
telling you, I've said this before. It used to be we could could
disagree with each other and the other side wasn't evil, or we could disagree
with each other and the other side wasn't hateful. Right now, it's funny
because if you disagree with anyone on anything, you're accused of being hateful.
Hate is the new weapon they use hate, like, for example, if
you don't believe Title nine should be extended to transgender athletes, that's just simply
saying, you know, it's not fair, basically, And I'm not going
to get into that whole thing, because listen, it is what it is.
Here's the deal. If you do that, If you do that,
they say you're hateful. You hate them just because you disagree with the stance,
You hate them. And that's where I can't stand where people use hate
or they say you're racist, if you want to close the border or control
immigration, they say you're hateful. Can we disagree without being hateful? When
people used to have debates and they didn't hate each other, for God's sakes,
I mean, it's amazing to me. And I know all of the
other shows talk about this, so I'm done talking about it. I mean,
you can make comments if you want, but I just I am not
surprised, I swear to God when you read those emails about Trump, and
I look at it. I'm not going to tell you where I stand anyway,
but if you read those about Trump, you would think he is hitler,
honest to God. I mean, it's just so exaggerated. Now anyway,
you can't be surprised that people think they're doing the country as service.
You can't be surprised when you read now, I will admit this. So
I get an email from their campaign from the Democrats following this, and it
was totally different, totally totally different, saying, look, you know,
we disagree, but we're not enemies, and we're not an American and we're
not this, we're not that. And they're backpedaling big time. Three oh
three seven one three Talk seven one three eight two five five. If you
have a problem, question and complain, give us a call. We'd love
to talk to you about anything on your mind. Right now, we have
Jan on the phone. Jan, what's happening? That would be Kaschina's mom.
Are you Kachina's mom? I'm not sure I would. I'm allowed to
talk to you because, uh, we have a strict relatives and especially moms.
We don't allow moms on this show. But I'll make an exception for
you. I yeah, because Tom, I have an air conditioning problem and
I live in hot country out here in California, Aware, in California,
Valencia. Now, how long have you lived in California all my life?
Well my eighty years? Yeah? Did Kachina grow up in California? She
did. She doesn't seem crazy at all. Okay, no, and okay,
so tell me how hot is it getting out there? Seriously? Well,
it's been about one hundred every day for the past ten days. What
happened to your ac? Well, my AC is fine everywhere except one bedroom
upstairs where I have my granddaughter, Kuchina's daughter stayed. Hey, did did
this just happen? Jan? Or is it because of the extreme heat?
It is because of the way this house was built. Yes, Now,
that particular bedroom has the little windows, it has four little ones on one
side and two small ones. But were unable to put it in your conditioning
unit in there because there's nowhere for it to them. No, but let
me ask you do you have Do you have central air in the house?
Oh? Yes, okay, you do have central well, but it's central
air correct. Okay. And you have duct work throughout the house, right,
and the central air goes through your heating duct work. Correct? And
do you have a duct in that room one over in a corner, but
it's not enough to cool that room. No. As a matter of fact,
the other bedroom is the bedroom where I sleep, and I got one
of those new little electric ones from my bedroom. The upcairs in this house
is not dust as well at all. Okay. So you're saying, without
help, the upstairs in your house does not cool. If you didn't have
that auxiliary unit in your room, it doesn't cool. Well, this system
you have, correct, and it never really has correct. Okay. There
are several things, listen, jan there really there are several things. I
mean, I've had this problem in the past and we've solved this problem for
many, many people. And there are definite areas to look at, honest
to God, They're called hot rooms or hot spots or hot second floors,
and there's some logical stuff if you want to take some notes. I'm serious
because and then I might know some professionals out there Valencia. So so hold
on, I think my friend, uh, I think I think we might
have a company out there that I know. But hold on a sec and
I'll come back to you. Okay, three oh three, seven to one
to three, talk, I will. I'll come right back to you.
Brook is with us, as I said from Redbrox rs Brook. So,
as far as this weather, and solar obviously is hot, but hot doesn't
necessarily mean solar weather, right. I mean what I'm saying is obviously heat
means sun. Sun means power, right, But there must be some really
incredible energy being produced right now. Oh yeah, absolutely, And people with
solar can run that air conditioner all they want. The more sun, the
more you can run it, right, yeah. Absolutely. So it just
depends on which utility you have. But for instance, an Excel territory,
you're paying double or triple between one to seven, and that's usually when people
are kicking on their acs the most. Yeah, So if you have solar,
you don't even have to worry about the double or triple charges. And
again, if you have solar, you can also go with a heat pump.
So if it gets cooler and you want to use it for heat,
you can use it for heat too. Yeah, there's different rebates to put
in heat pumps, and depending on where you're at, you can get additional
money back from your county as well as the state. Do a lot of
people do that? Do they convert or buy high efficiency AC with heat pumps
after sol? They usually do it in conjunction because that's when they get the
rebates. But will they get that tax credit if they add it to the
solar system or not? Or is the rebate it excuse me? The tax
credit only on the system itself. The tax credit is anything that's combined into
the system. Oh no, wait a minute, So if you upgrade your
HVAC at the same time you do your solar, you can get across the
board a tax credit. Yeah, as long as it's connected with it.
Holy crap, that's red rocks with us right now. Redrocksars dot com.
Hey, we have more coming up. One of the other things I love
talking about is water because listen, look at them all for doing everything we
can for the environment. And right now, I hate to say this,
but this is a true story. I read about it today. Plastics are
shown up in men's urinary tract in their testicles in their prostates. I swear
to you it is, they're saying now, possibly a cause for all of
the mass infertility we're seeing. Scary thought. If you do nothing else drinking
water at your kitchen sink fourteen hundred bucks. Fully installed the best system at
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six two five five five four. Go with a sure thing Denver's best roofer
Excel Roofing dot com. You don't pay a cent until you're content, wait
time for an insurance checkup free, no obligation. In comparison, call Compass
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all three seven seven to one help. You'll think you're his only customer When
you choose Frank durand the real estate Man dot com to list your home with
Remax Alliance three all three nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Hi Tom Martino,
your troubleshooter three O three seven one three talks seven one three A two
five five. I have one clear choice garage doors man. I always talk
about these guys because I love them and I use them, and when it
comes to garage doors, you don't get better service. All their prices are
on the site right now. You can do adjustments, parts, everything you
need, twenty four to seven service in an emergency, of course. Now
that's one clear choice doors dot com. We're talking to Jan in California,
Valencia, north of LA. She's looking for help with her AC. Jan
these problems. I'm going to tell you it's going to be one of these
or a combination of these. There is absolutely no doubt. Okay, when
you have a hot upstairs, Okay, the number one reason usually, especially
if you have duct work, the number one reason is not that you don't
have enough ducks. It could be you don't have a strong enough AC,
but I doubt it. It could be, but I think the number one
prompt is going to be a hot or a lack of ventilation in the addict.
Okay, now, I don't know how old is your house? Twenty
years old? Okay, many houses did not have adequate attic ventilation. Brook
is in the roofing as well as solar business redrocksars dot coming Brook. I
know that you've probably seen houses when you go there to do roofs or do
solar if it's a hot that it'll it'll kill it'll kill your your AC.
Yeah, absolutely well. And part of that Jan there's a few parts to
proper addict insulation ventilation. One is it has to be insulated, okay,
and even if you don't use heat a lot, you still have to have
it insulated to use AC and to keep your AC good. And so in
addition to insulating the attic, you have to have the proper vents in the
attic. That means your soffits and facia have to have vents on the lower
end your soffits, I mean, and then on the upper end of your
roof you need enough vents if you get a reputable roofer or those are the
people you want. You need to know if you have adequate ventilation. Now,
ventilation is just one of the issues, okay, but that alone will
take a tremendous burden off of your AC. I did this in one house.
I increased the venting in my attic in one house years ago, and
it completely changed the entire efficiency of my AC. The second thing you want
to look at is you have a two story home or is it three?
Do you have a basement? No? Okay? Do you have a crawl
space? No? What is your house on a flat slab? Yes?
Okay? Now is the downstairs way cooler than the upstairs? Right? Oh?
Yeah? Okay. Now you look for a dealer out there for QC
a quiet cool whole house fan. Now, we have QC Colorado here,
but a lot of people deal in that product. It's called quiet cool these
now in addition to but you a whole house fan without proper addict insulation,
an addict ventilation is not going to be good either. What you want is
first the attic ventilation taken care of. If you have a problem, you
may not have a problem. Second, you want to get a quiet cool
fan. Now, quiet cool fans will help your house more evenly, and
it's better than trying to put a new duct work or anything. It's a
quiet cool fan. They place in your attic. They wire it to a
light, and it's remote controlled, and it's one of the best systems you
can have for keeping the air in your home balanced from downstairs to upstairs.
And that balance alone keeps you way cooler and you don't have to run your
AC as much. In fact, you'll save money. That's number two.
So you have attic ventilation. Then you have what I call destratification, and
that would be I wouldn't use anything but the quiet cool whole house fan.
And you can look it up online and see who the dealers are out there.
Now, those two things will probably solve your problem. But in extreme
conditions where you have a room that you just can't get cool or a section
of the house, probably do not need this. But in extreme conditions where
it does happen, what you may consider it's what called a mini split.
You mentioned that you do not have a window you can put AC in.
There are systems called mini splits. Now. The reason they call them a
mini split is because they split the AC into two parts. One that goes
on the wall and then there are tubes going to the compressor that sits outside
on the ground. And so they're actually more efficient than window units and they're
way stronger and it's for homes that don't have the window access or the duct
work, but they still want to put AC in a part of a house.
Many people do it when they're adding an addition to their home. I
don't think you need it, but for those listening, a mini split is
put through the wall. They take a section of your wall and they they
cut a hole in it up high and it's remote control, and then they
put the front part in there, which looks like a grate or a grill,
like the front of an AC. And then the back part where it
comes out of your house, that's trimmed, and then there are tubes with
the free on or whatever they use. Now they're refrigerant going down to the
compressor which usually sits on the ground below it. And that is an amazing
phenomenon. Now a lot of people instead of doing attic insulation and a whole
house fan. What attic ventilation, I should say, insulation is part of
the ventilation, But instead of doing the proper ventilation and the proper you know,
destratification with a whole house fan, they go ahead and put a mini
split in and overpower the heat. Now that, in my opinion, is
just spending too much money because you're gonna run the damn thing all the time.
So I recommend these steps first. First, attic insulation and ventilation.
First. If that solves your problem, fine, But if you go a
step further and you want to save some money on AC, then you put
in a whole house fan. And if you want to go beyond that because
nothing's working, that's when you consider a mini split. And those are the
that's how you take care of a hot upper story. One of those things
will absolutely help you. Now right now, I don't have the names at
the tip of my fingers, but I know a lot of our HVAC companies
are owned by big firms, right like fix It's a local company started here,
but they opened up branches all over the country. I don't know if
they have anything in that area, but I could all I could find out.
Or we have other companies like Plumbline is owned by a national company.
Now again they started locally, and maybe they have someone out there, or
some of our other people might have someone out there that can help you,
and we can look into that. But those are the those are the recommend
day since I would have right now, Brooke, do you think I mean
in a nutshell. Do you think I covered the hot attic kind of or
the house problem with upper stories? Yeah? I think that was great.
And then one more thing I would add is if she does look into the
mini split scenario, if she's in California, her utility will probably pay her
to do that because Excel pays folks to install mini splits. Why is that
they're just more energy efficient, so it helps the state and the utility hit
there are electricals California. You might have some rebates for you even on the
insulation too of the attic, so you might want to look into that.
And again a good contractor can help you with that. But you want those
three areas addict ventilation which includes insulation. You hope you can get one contractor
for both, but maybe you have to get a roof for the ventilation,
and then maybe you have to get an insulating company to insulate the attic if
you need it. You may not need the insallation part, and I think
you do though, because in California, because it's not really cold, they
don't do a lot of which is weird because you need inslating for air two
uh, and then the other thing. After that would be the whole house
fan QC I would I would recommend quiet cool, and then the last thing,
the most extreme thing and that they're not extreme bad, they're good,
would be the mini split for that room or for what you can put them
in any room. By the way, we have more coming up on the
Troubleshooter Show. Three O three seven one three eight two five five. Go
with a sure thing Denver's best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't pay
a cent until you're content. Time for an insurance check up free, no
obligation. In comparison, call Compass Insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens
of insurance companies find out now three O three seven seven to one help.
You'll think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand the real estate Man
dot com to list your home with Remax Alliance three oh three nine two zero
sixteen twenty two. Hi Tom Martino, your Troubleshooter three O three seven one
three talk seven one three eight two five five. Doug has a comment on
fans. I'm not sure what kind of fans, but we were talking to
a woman about getting rid of her hot upstairs second story and doing things to
alleviate it. And I mentioned insulate the attic, ventilate the attic, do
a whole house fan to get rid of the to destratify the air, and
then if all else fails, you could add a mini split in that room.
So, Doug, which part of that do you want to talk about?
Sir? Mainly it's the Vince. Can you hear me? Okay,
Tom, I can hear you, find sir, Thank you. Okay,
I'm an old time listener, thank you. I go clear back to when
you had a little problem at the Greeley Airport was landing your helicopter out.
Oh yeah, that was weird, wasn't it. Yeah? It was weird,
And for those listening, all it was was it was during that heightened
security we had for nine to eleven, wasn't it. So I landed and
was going in for breakfast and they wanted to know how I got behind the
gate and I said, well, I landed and that's how I got behind
the gate. I mean, they were it was weird. I don't know
why. But anyway, so what's going on with you? Okay? Well,
I had an attic fan for thirty three years, so I got a
lot of experience. Now, when you say an attic fan, do you
mean a whole house fan. An attic fan ventilates the attic. A whole
house fan ventilates the house through the attic. Okay, this is an attic
fan. Okay, they're good, They're good to have. Yes, and
it goes on at eighty degrees automatically. Yeah, yeah, huh, yes,
I have. I learned this from my dad. I have a trap
door, and because of my work, I never came home during the day,
so I didn't have air conditioning until like four years ago when I retired.
What I would do is I would override or turn the override switch,
open the trap door, open the windows. Just four days ago, I
was sixty eight degrees in the house, and then I closed the windows back
up and then lower the trapdoor. But the big thing is I was burning
out electric motors on that fan about every year for four years. Then I
had the house repainted and I wanted to add more vents. So when we
took off the old vents, most of those vents have a wire screen behind
them. That wire screen between the trees, the pollen and all the stuff
from the different trees. They were plugged, and that is why I was
burning out motors. But I went ahead and added three more. But a
lot of people that have older houses, those vents could very well be plugged
like mine, work that could be Now do you know what excel Roofing does.
Excel Roofing has this fan that's solar operated, and so the fan has
a panel on it and the fan is self propelled. They just drop it
in and as pop Peel used to say, the don Popeel, I believe
it was with the vegiomatic, He says, you said it and forget it,
or with whatever he had that did that. So so you just put
it in and it goes on and that's it. It's all solar powered,
self contained, no wiring, and they're really really great. They're really great
to don't talk about them a lot. And that's what I would put in
if I was going to replace my present situation, because it sounds me and
being solar powered. And now keeping your attic ventilated is so important, it's
so important. Anyway, anyone who comes to do your roof should check that
automatically. Anyone that comes to do any kind of insulation should check that automatically,
and I think when Brooke does her solar systems, she should check all
of that too, and they do. I think that's a good point.
But I bet there's a lot of vents out there that are partially or fully
plugged. That's a good point you make, and I'm going to go one
step further. That's going to shock you. Not only Doug, are there
probably vents plugged? But I moved into a home in Littleton, a really
nice home back in the day, and I, as I always have,
I have my contractors, my sponsors check the house. And Jay checked the
roof and the soffits of facia, the ventilation, and he said, Tom,
do you see all those grills on your soffits, all those vents?
And I said yeah. He said, they just nailed them up there.
There's nothing cut open, There was no vacting. They just they took this,
this big custom home. They took it was I didn't have it built,
somebody else did, but they had this. They had them nailed up
there, screwed into the soft to the soffits to make it look like a
vent. But they never cut them anyway, Thank you very much. Three
all three seven one three eight two fivey five. Artists is next with a
drainage problem with a neighbor. We've dealt with that before too. Right after
this, go with a sure thing Denver's Best roofer Excel Roofing dot com.
You don't pay a cent until you're content. Time for an insurance check up
free, no obligation. In comparison, call Compass Insurance. Paying too much
your coverage at dozens of insurance companies find out now three all three seven seven
to one help. You'll think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand
the real estate Man dot com to list your home with Remax Alliance three all
three nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Tom Martinez here three oh three seven
one three talks seven one three eight two five five. Hey, listen,
the longer problem sits in festers, the worst it gets. If you have
a problem, call us soon, artists. I don't know how long you've
had this problem. What's going on? Artists? I live in Washington Park,
and as you know, they're they're building these huge houses. They're tearing
down all the old houses. And I had a new house that was built
a couple of years ago to the north of me. Yeah. And the
street I live in is on a hill at a big slope that runs down.
Yeah. So the house next to me, to the north of me
is discharging water. And to my is that house? Is that house higher
than you? Yes, and it's discharging water. Is it a new home?
Yes? And how new is it compared to yours? My house as
one hundred years old? That house is two years old, okay? And
is it an entire subdivision or just an infill house just one single residence?
Did they knock down the old house or did they rebuild that one? How
did that happen? They demolished the house that was there and got a new
one? Yeah, we call those yeah. Yeah, so they raised it
and it's an infill project. They're doing new homes inside the city. Now
here's the important thing to know. Usually to get permits, they have to
show what they're going to do as far as landscaping and changes to the elevation,
changes to the lite had I got a copy of the architectural plans and
there was a French train or something indicated there that the water from the gutters
and the discharge was all going to run to the back to the alley and
maybe can't do it all? Right, how do you know they didn't do
it because the water is coming into my property? But but how do you
know the French drain's not there and it's just not adequate. You said they
did not do it. You said they did not install a French drain.
Well, I assume when I when I see water coming out of the gutter
to the surface of the property, that there's no drain for that water.
Do they have a down spout? Yes? And where does the downspout go?
Where does that water go? Yeah? Where does the down spout go?
If you look at it before it's there? They're directed toward my house.
The down spouts come down and are directed down towards your house. Yes,
okay, they don't go into the ground. No, okay, So
they don't have under any underground drainage there. Do you know what a French
drain is? For? A French drain is not for your neighbors. A
French drain is to keep water out of your basement. Right, So the
French drain you saw on that plan was not a plan to keep water out
of your house. It was a plan to keep water out of their house.
You said all of the water was supposed to be directed to the alley.
I need to know what on the plan. A French drain would not
show that. So what showed all of the water in the drainage plan going
to the alley? What showed? Yeah? Jan, let me ask you
something. I'm not trying to trick you. I'm trying to help you.
Did you have an engineer look at that or someone? Or did you look
at it the plan? Yeah? You said you looked at the plans?
Yeah? Get Did you have an engineer look at it? Huh? Okay,
hold on, hold on, Jan, I need to know what they
did wrong, and if you don't know, we'll find someone to help you.
But I need to know where you discerned that they were supposed to direct
water and did not go with a sure thing. Denver's Best Roofer excel roofing
dot com. You don't pay a cent until you're content. Time for an
insurance checkup free, no obligation. In comparison, call Compass insurance paying too
much your coverage at dozens of insurance companies. Find out now three oh three
seven seven to one. Help. You'll think you're his only customer when you
choose Frank durand the real estate man dot com to list your home with Remax
Alliance three oh three nine two zero sixteen twenty two new need advice, So
you don't have come running just as fast as we can. Shooter's gonna help
come Man Dix is the trouble Shooter show Now, Tom Martine, Hi,
Tom Martino, your Troubleshooter. Three O three seven one three talk three oh
three seven one three eight two five five? What's going on? How are
you and how can we help you? So we have today a guest with
us from Red Rocks, Rufe and Solo. That is the owner, I
should say, not just a guest from there, but the owner anyway,
So anyway, what's going on in your life? We have artists who's talking
about drainage. Drainage is a terrible problem. It happens in a lot of
neighborhoods. You know, conventionally or traditionally maybe is a better word than conventionally.
Traditionally. Drainage problems in subdivisions and in drainage plans actually have a weird
precedent. In the past. The precedent has been the people at the low
end of the drainage have the responsibility for movinging for moving it onward, except
in rare circumstances, if you're doing a giant project, and that giant project
is going to have impact down the line in lower elevations, and when I
say elevation, i'm talking just a few feet here. It doesn't have to
be down the mountain. But when you're going to have an impact, they
sometimes require drainage ditches or retention ponds or some kind of a drainage plan.
Now, when you build an infill project where you go into a neighborhood,
the only requirement usually is that you don't change the drainage plan. Now that
doesn't mean you have to divert water or anything. You just don't change what's
there. Now, that's very difficult to build a new house and not change
anything. Or if you excavate, you're supposed to put it back to the
way it was. But this common problem of people down the line with new
constructions saying, ever since that house was built, I'm getting a flooded basement,
or I'm getting puddling, or I'm getting this, or I'm getting that.
Doesn't always mean it is their problem. Now, it does a lot
of the times, So I don't know in this case. So a lot
of the times, it can be your problem, it can be their problem,
it can be a combination. And how would it be your problem if
somebody built a new home. Well, if somebody built a new home and
it was larger, but they didn't change the drainage plan and the county did
not require them to, this larger home would have a larger roof and more
capacity for gutters and downspouts, and would create more drainage by its mere existence,
because a home captures water and then it drains down and out. So
if it was a larger home approved by the county and they did not substantially
change the elevation, it kind of would be your problem to divert that water.
I know it sounds crazy, but in many cases, the building department
will say, this house is way larger than the one you're replacing, what
are you going to do with the excess drainage? And in rare cases,
counties who are really with it or cities will require the builder to have a
drainage now. Artists said, when she looked at the plans for that home
next to her, it said something about a French drain, which has nothing
to do with drainage. It only has to do with keeping water out of
her base, out of that basement, out of that builder's basement. It
has nothing to do with drainage of your neighbors. Okay, it's only that
a French drain is only for the house being built, not for the neighbors.
Okay. So, but then she said something else. She said the
plan showed that the water was being diverted to the back. And I asked
her, did she have an engineer look at that? Did she look at
that? And how did she know that's what the drainage showed? So,
artists, let's start there. Chat artists. I didn't say there was a
French drain on the plans. It's just something that I know about. Oh
okay, mentioned that. I'm sorry, go ahead, So what about the
drains? Does it show a drainage plan? Yes, and tell me about
it. Also, is the drainage plan you said it shows a drainage plan?
Okay, there's an engineer signature on there. There's an engineer stamp on
there. So what does the drainage plan? You know how to read a
drainage plan? No, I don't. And I had to look up several
words on that plan to understand what that meant. Okay, and you said
that was two years two and a half years ago. Oh and so two
years later, nothing's been done, and I need to see if I still
have that. I got the plans from the city. They were huge.
Did you complain to the building department? Artists? To the building department,
they're the ones that issued the permit for that house to be built back two
years ago, when you started noticing problems or too much? How is it
affecting you? By the way, Well, as I mentioned, I'm in
Washington Park. We have a high water level here. People have problems in
their artists. I'm all familiar with wash Park. So I'm asking how is
it affecting you? Are you on this house is above you and water is
coming onto your property? Is it puddling? Is it pooling? Is it
swamping? Is it going into your basement? How is it affecting you?
That's a fair question. How's it affecting you? It will affect my foundation
when it drains off and settles on the foundation. Has it Okay, it's
been there for two years, It's been there for two years. I'm asking,
have you gotten water in your basement? I have not had water in
my basement. I don't know about the foundation. I can't tell. So
you're assuming, but I need to know. But how do you even know
the water is coming onto your property? Is it visually flowing onto your property
like a little stream? Artists they have your gunners and the down spout,
the down spout is discharging water onto their property. I assume it's going down
in the ground and going into my foundation. It's a possibility. How far
away is the end of their drains, their downs I'm not arguing with you,
I'm trying to figure out the problem if there is one. So the
end of the down spout, there's a down spout that goes vertical, and
then there's one that goes along the ground. The end of the one along
the ground, how far is it from your property line? I'd say four
feet okay, so you're assuming, And then how far is your foundation from
your property line? Tree feet? Okay, So approximately seven or eight feet
from their downspout is your basement, And you're thinking that's seven or eight feet
the water must be draining down into the ground and affecting my basement, although
you've not seen any effect to your basement. No, then what are you
complaining about the possibility of damage? Yeah, yes, but you've not seen
any damage in two years, nor have you seen any swamping or any excess
water on your property. Well, everybody knows in this area here they have
problems with their basement. There is a damp foundation. Everybody knows, there's
a high water level here. It's such a high water here level here.
And on these new houses they're building, they build the basement so deep they
breaks up. Pumped now and that's charged out to the alley. Okay,
now here's what here's what you need to do. You need to have seriously,
artists, if you called this is really what you need to do.
Yes, So Denver has a printed booklet on homeowner's guide to discharge and their
responsibility to direct this. That's right, that's right, And you read that
and it's everything that's happening here. And I gave that to the owner of
the house last year. I gave it artist this year. That's only if
it's causing problems, you cannot the problem. The reason you're not getting attention,
well one is you never complained to this building department probably and and if
you did, you don't have any evidence at all. I'm going to tell
you how to get evidence. You need to get an engineer to do a
study next to your foundation to see if there's excess moisture going down to your
foundation. It's it's an engineering report. If it shows excessive moisture around your
foundation and that there is a problem, then you have something to complain about.
But if the soils are porous, and if they're going down into the
underlying water a table or and not affecting you, and there's no water in
your basement and there's no moisture on your basement walls on the inside, you
can't. There's nothing that anyone can do. You may not like seeing the
water being discharged into their yard, but there's nothing you can do about it.
That you can only do something about a problem. You can't say,
well, I know there's going to be a problem, because everyone knows we
have a water problem. It's not that simple. And if you get some
kind of a it doesn't have to be that expensive, but you need some
kind of ammunition if you want to attack their drainage. The drainage just because
it's happening doesn't mean it's causing harm. It doesn't have to wait for damage.
No, you don't. I just know. No, you don't have
to wait for damage. Okay, But what do you want them to do
now? Now, as as a neighbor, they could I guess they could
put in a system to divert the drain out to the back. They could
if they wanted to, And maybe that would be being a good neighbor to
put underground corrugated a pipe in to carry that drainage out to the alley.
I don't know. But but but you have to first to have you Have
you even complained to the building department? No, I don't know who to
complain to. Okay, the building department. The building department. You don't
call the water department. You call the building department issued the permit. You
have to tell them that you believe the drainage is doing harm to your property.
Then they're going to ask you why, and you're not going to have
anything. But if you had an engineer saying there is excessive moisture build up
outside of a basement wall and it will eventually move it, or there is
some kind of evidence, then you will have more ammunition. Otherwise, there's
not much you can do. No, you don't have to wait for damage.
If you're anticipating a problem, it's up to you to prove it these
people. You can't just go to them and say, I assume that your
drainage is going to cause me a problem and I want you to change it.
It just doesn't work that way. You're the one assuming that there's a
guide that member's done that regulates what needs to be done so that you don't
do this to another person's property. That guide is only in the event that
the elevation is changed or anything is causing a problem. Okay, give me
one example where the guide. One example where the guide has a problem.
What are they violating one example of that guide? Why don't have it in
front of me? But okay, but find it for me. Find it
for me, because but then what you should do is take that guide and
call the building department and say, according to section three B, they're not
doing this. Do it. Then if you have it, but I don't
think you're reading the guide properly. That guide is to divert drainage in the
event they change the elevation. They probably said in their permit. They didn't
change it, and you're saying, but it's causing a lot of drainage.
Then you have to complain to the people who issued the permit to make sure
that they abided by what they said. That's all I'm not. I'm not,
you know, trying to brush off your problem. I'm telling you how
to get action for it. Three oh three seven one three eight two five
five. Go with a sure thing Denver's best roofer Excel Roofing dot com.
You don't pay a cent until you're content. Time for an insurance check up
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to one help. You'll think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand
the real estate Man dot com to list your home with Remax Alliance three oh
three nine two zero sixteen twenty two times. Tom Martino your Troubleshooter three oh
three seven one three talk three oh three seven one three a two five five.
Welcome to the show. By by the way, I think I've said
you have said this to you before, but you can text me at my
Google number, and that's my private Google number, and I forward that sometimes
to my cell phone as well, and I can turn it on and off,
so it's a good number to have. You can leave a message here
at seven four seven nine nine fifty to eighty, and of course you can
also text me at the regular texting number for the station, which is five
seven seven three nine. And I do have some texts here. And they
said, Tom, you're right about By the way, you're right about the
emails from the Biden camp. I'm on their mailing list as well, and
they've been downright frightening. One of them said that Trump was the biggest threat
to America in history and has to be stopped, and it said one of
them said, we have to do everything we can to keep him from being
president again. They said on day one he would become a dictator, he
would try to put an end to the Constitution and look to assassinate political enemies.
Now, I swear to God, this is what they were putting out.
So when people look to change things, I think they think they're on
a mission from God. I mean, think about it. It's scary.
It's scary stuff. Brook whites with us from Red Rocks, Roof and Soular.
And by the way, if you have any questions, problems, complaints,
give us a call three oh three, seven to one three he talks
seven one three eight two five five. And air conditioners have been working around
the clock. They've been crazy. Brook. Have you been hearing from anyone.
I'm just curious if someone put you said, you've actually been in homes
and the reason they called you is because they argue about the air conditioner and
how much they should run it. And heat does really irritate people way more
than cold. If people are cold, they get fun, but it doesn't
irritate them as much as the heat. And you said, there's absolutely there's
absolutely a dynamic where they argue about how much to use the air. In
fact, Seinfeld did a one time they did an episode on this where they
were visiting Jerry's family in Florida and Elaine was dying from them not using the
air conditioner. And that's because they wanted to save money. And you said
that they decided to go solar, so just because of the air conditioner.
Oh yeah, absolutely, this was a unique couple. So they had an
outside kitchen setup and so if the temperature was so hot, the husband would
actually make the wife cook outside because he didn't want the heat of her cooking
to increase the heat inside the house. So it was weird for sure.
But yeah, absolutely, by going solar, it saves money on that electric
bill, so it definitely negated their fights. In fact, can a solar
system handle one hundred percent of your AC needs and heat like this? If
you like? And if so? When people, I got two questions.
First, can solar handle one hundred percent of the solar of the of the
AC? Yeah? Absolutely, it's just part of your electric usage right now,
Here's what I'm asking When people do solar, do they do it so
one hundred percent of their bill is covered? Or do they do it as
an auxiliary or can they do either? Yeah? Either one. It just
depends on life. I don't think i'd go through the trouble and money.
Why would you go through the trouble not to pay all of your electric bill
or not to cover all of your electrical needs because your electrical needs really won't
grow over the years. I mean, your house is your house. I
guess if your kids grow up and leave that, your your needs might go
down, but very seldom will your needs go up. Yeah. I mean
it just depends on the roof space, the shade factor. I mean,
everybody's property is a little bit different. So are there some that can't generate
one percent? Yeah, exactly, And so having eighty percent of your bill
covered versus none is still a better option because you still have a return on
investment. All right. So have you had systems where you said to them
it really doesn't pay at all? I mean really because they didn't have the
proper setup with the house or the exposure or never, or is there always
some benefit? What have you found? Yeah? So actually one of your
callers had me out to their home and they have a utility company called Mountain
View Electric. Okay, so with mountain View they have a huge connection fee
and they charge very little for their kill a lot hours and so as Solar,
I mean they don't they're not expensive. No, so they're still paying
like forty bucks a month just to be connected to the grid, okay,
but they're charged like seven cents for the power they consume. So in that
case, solar can only replace the consumption because it's like, okay, the
not the hookup fee. Yeah. So in that case, I told them,
like, you know, at least for the next ten years, you're
actually going to be paying more to go solar than you would with U utility.
Now, if the system lasts the thirty years we're anticipating, you'll see
the savings later, but it'll take a while for you to recoup it.
It's more if you want a battery system and to make sure that you're always
connected to electricity if the grid goes down. And so, yeah, one
hundred percent. That's a real story of somebody. I said, Look,
you're not going to save money for a really long time if you do it
all. Because now we'll talk about more. I have a couple more texts
if you have any phone calls on anything and including solar three zero three seven
to one three talks seven one three, eight two five five. You know,
I love talking about the heat and all that. And one thing that
Garrett over at eight eight eight Heating dot Com said is he said, Tom,
one of the things we love doing is we love putting in a conventional
furnace along with a heat pump and a air conditioning system all in one unit,
well not one unit, but one system. So in other words,
the heat pump is programmed to come on with the furnace, and the furnace
only kicks on in extreme conditions. So it's all computerized, so you can
set it when the furnace comes on and when the heat pump is used less
and so. In other words, if it gets really extreme where the heat
pump wouldn't handle it, that the furnace comes on, but the furnace doesn't
have to work as hard because it has the heat pump. And then the
heat pump, of course is being paid for by solar. And again it's
it. And then in some cases he even said that he's doing. There
are electric furnaces as well. Have you heard of those Drouck electric furnaces?
Yeah, yeah, and so and so anyway, eight eight eight heating dot
com. If you're looking for people for the high efficiency stuff, they're good,
honest people eight eight eight heating dot Com three oh three seven seven zero
two seven seven six Go with a sure thing Denver's Best roofer Excel roofing dot
Com. You don't pay a cent until you're content. Time for an insurance
checkup free no obligation comparison call compass insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens
of insurance companies. Find out now three all three seven to seven to one
help You'll think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand the real estate
man dot com to list your home with Remax Alliance three all three nine two
zero sixteen twenty two. Okay, got several questions. Today's a very busy
day for a very busy day for texting. I want to ask Brook,
red Rocks, Ruf and Siller Brook. Somebody wants to know do you get
a lot of calls for new builds? Yeah, we get quite a few
for new builds. Yeah. Use they're way easy to do on a new
build, wouldn't they be? They would be. But usually the new build
persons like GC already has a solar company that they work with. Okay,
yeah, but do you get those tax credits the same if you're building new
It depends on how the builder has your contract set up, because the builder
can actually take the text credit's from you. Oh so like in that relationship
I was telling you about, Yeah, they already have a builder. Then
usually the builder is the one who gets the tax credits instead of the homeowner.
So you need to make sure your contracts set up the right way.
Okay and on okay, And then I have some others, but I'll wait.
Kevin Colkin is with us. He's one of my auto experts. Kevin.
I got another text here. They want to know about sea foam.
Now. I got one a while ago, and I didn't really pay attention
to it because it was during a card day. We were really busy.
But then I got another one from someone else. So are they doing a
lot of advertising or something? Have you ever heard of it? Seaphone's been
out for a long wile time. Oh really? What really is it?
What is it? It's basically an additive that you can use in a lot
of different ways for hydrocarbon residences and different things in the fuel. I've seen
it used in transmissions to help shifting. It's kind of a jack of all
trades, you know, additive. Yeah, as I'm looking at this,
it's talking about motorcycles, lawnmowers, outboard engines, any quick, any small
engine, or actually any engine. It says it really cleans out. So
what do you know about it? It? Like, would there be a
BG product similar or that you would recommend? More? The VGs are more
specific to fuel, oil and transmission where the sea phone. They say you
can use it in almost anything to basically liquify the gum and varnish and everything
else inside components. Have you ever used it? Maybe a while back,
but nothing recent? No? Okay, now, while I have you on,
we must have talked about this. I don't know if it was on
or off the air. But I got a follow up question about fuel storage.
This guy said he used to buy some fuel and put it in in
a tank and he wants to know. Then he was told it's not going
to last that long. So I didn't know fuel how to storage life?
I mean, well pull ahead climate? Yes, I mean it can break
down over time. Sure, what breaks it down? Is it heat or
cold? What is it? Well? I think heat breaks it down more.
But yeah, it starts to separate and it gets a foul smell to
it. You know a car that's been in a bar and if you will
for five years? Well, can it hurt the engine? Though? I
mean, do you drain it? What does it do? Yeah? You
need to drain you know if it's if it's that contaminated, it almost won't
burn. Is there a way to test it? You know, I don't
know. I mean short of the smell is you know, most mechanics can
smell fuel and say that yeah it's okay or no, this is stale it
definitely and okay. Then then I have a follow up question because we're talking
about it a little the other day. Do these fuel stabilizers extend the life
of fuel? Oh? Absolutely? Yeah? And what do the Yeah,
go ahead. It just it just keeps the properties together. I mean it
works great in lawnmowers, motorcycles. You know, with is the smaller the
fuel, the harder the contamination is going to affect it, you know,
like a half a gallon as opposed to fifty gallons. Okay, I see
what you're saying. So if you have a small okay, So so this
goes for lawnmowers and pressure washers and all kinds of small engines where gasoline could
sit for years. Yes, yeah, like stable you know you put that
in the end of the season, run it like in your boat, all
kinds of things that it's going to be stored for a while. It works
very very well. So normally, what would normal shelf life if fuel be
normal just without any stabilized I think anything more than six months is pushing it?
Oh wow wow? And then with the stable, what would it be?
I think you can extend it out past the year easily. Okay,
but even then, man, that's that's good to know. Thank you have
three all three seven one three talk seven one three eight two five five.
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with a shore thing Denver's best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't pay
a cent until you're content. Time for an insurance checkup, free no obligation.
Comparison call compass insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens of insurance companies.
Find out now three O three seven to seven to one help. You'll
think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand the real estate man dot
com to list your home with Remax Alliance three three nine two zero sixteen twenty
two. Hi Tom Martino here, let's talk to Chris. Chris has a
question about HVAC. What's going on? Chris? Hey, Tom, Hey,
make some foundation repairs in the basement, and I need some vet duct
work re routed. And I know Plumbline, who I use a lot,
will not do that. I'm looking for a resource to reroute doc No,
no, no. If you use just an HVAC company to do ductwork be
very expensive. We need to have some kind of mechanical contractor that can do
that, that does just deduct the ducting. Now listen, here's what I
want to tell you, though. There is a less expensive option with the
flexible ducting. Are you willing to convert to flexible? Sure? I'm just
willing to. I need somebody to give me a strategy. I don't know
how I'm gonna now. There's okay, there's a few different strategies. One
would be you, what kind of section has to be rerouted? A big
section? Yeah, like one whole side of the house runs right atop the
foundation while in the basement and I'm having some structural repair done where they're moving
the wall back and they need to bolster it on the inside across the All
right, so how many feet run? Is that? Probably twenty thirty and
is it one straight run? For the most part, that's going to be
pretty easy. Now, you can do it in a number of ways.
You can find someone and they do a flexible, which is literally connecting one
end to the other, and then they'll just hang that they hang it from
the from the choice or that's not a finished basement, right, correct?
Okay, so it depends on what you want. Are you going to finish
this basement in the future? No, okay, So you can do a
flex Now, in addition to a flex you can do something that is like
semiflex, I call it. It's not the steel, but it's a it's
a cheaper duct and it will move the move the duct where you want it.
But I'm trying to think here, who do you get did plumbline have
any recommendations for it well, believe it or not, they just said you
should call Tom Martine. Yeah, okay, now we need to no,
seriously, we need to call a few of our people because, believe it
or not, they don't normally do that. What they do is they do
the system with but it's a ductwork they usually sub it to. And I'd
like to know a good company and who they use, Kachina. Could we
call over maybe to uh adam At fix it? Okay, since he's he's
already called Plumbine. And then let's also ask Tony At what you would call
it. Uh, I don't think now I'm sounding never mind. Don't call
me a name, Shannon, I promise, don't call and don't play the
theme music either. He started playing Hail to the Chief. Uh, we
want come on now, I'm I'm bringing a I'm bringing a fart here brain
fart. But Tony, you know who I mean? Right? And Master
Services? Gosh, I knew i'd come up. Okay, I was just
gonna say maybe Master services. Yeah, let's call it, ask them who
they use for ducting? Hang on, Chris, let's see we get you
an answer, or if you have to hang up, that's good. Two
three oh three, we will talk about it three O three seven to one
three talk seven one three eight two five five. Okay, I got a
question for our solar expert and we have brook with us. By the way,
thanks guys for using this number for texting. The number is it's my
private Google number, which means you can text me anytime. I'm serious,
I will get it. And I don't know why I put it out there,
but you know what I figure. Look, direct access is good seven
four seven nine nine nine fifty two eighty seven four seven nine nine nine fifty
two eighty and uh, that is a one here. Okay. So I
have a text about swimming pools. They really want to heat their swimming pools,
keep it open three seasons. Do you do solar systems just for swimming
pools or do you think that's foolish to do? If you know, I
don't know where you stand on that. When people have a single use solar
need, do you do you think that's wise? So in Boulder County you're
required to add soul if you add in a pool or a hot tub.
Really, so that is a single use requirement by the jurisdiction. So yeah,
we do. But if you're doing it, aren't you really just In
other words, here's what I'm asking, Can you really save money doing that?
Or if you're gonna do it anyway, can't you just add more panels
and get more out of it? Isn't that the time to do it?
Or do you have to upgrade everything like the inverters and everything. No,
you can do it piecemeal, are altogether. You're going to get more bang
for your buck if you do as much solar as you possibly can, since
you're there working anyway. Yeah, exactly, because then you get the right
size inverters, your racking's done, which is what the panels are on,
and you already have your panels. What's the most expensive part of a system?
Oh? Like, the are the panels themselves, the inverter and what
is it? There's the panel, the inverter, and what else. I
would say the inverters probably the most. And the inverter takes the DC and
turns it into AC right, yep, exactly, And then what else do
you have to do it? You don't have to do a new panel,
right. It just depends on the system and what they're doing. Typically,
if they're already adding a pool then they probably have a sufficient main panel,
right, But if they don't have a sufficient main panel, they have to
add the panel. And then what is the net meter? Is that something
the utility company does? Yes, and it's a special meter. The new
smart meters can't be automatically a net meter. No, the new smart meters
are set up for that, all right. We have more coming up on
the Troubleshooter Show three O three seven one three talks seven one three eight two
five five. You can also text five seven seven three nine, or of
course my Google number seven four seven nine nine nine fifty two eighty go with
a sure thing Denver's best roofer Excel roofing dot com. You don't pay a
cent until your content wait on top of it. Time for an insurance check
up free, no obligation comparison call Compass Insurance Paying too much You're coverage at
dozens of insurance companies find out now three all three seven seven to one help.
You'll think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand the real estate
Man dot com to list your home with Remax Alliance three oh three nine two
zero sixteen twenty two yea ripped of news need advice, so you don't have
come running shoes as fast as we can show Shooter's gonna help come. Man
Dix is the Troubleshooter Show. No Tom Martino, Hi Tom Martino here,
Welcome to the show. Three oh three seven one three talk seven one three
eight two five five What is on your mind today? How can we help
you? This hour brought to you by waterpros dot Net. You and know
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four. Brook is with us from Red Rocksproof and Solar. We've been talking
a little about solar. Now Lisa wants to talk about landscaping. Let's talk
about landscaping, Lisa, and then Mike wants to talk about an apartment manager.
Anything on your mind, folks, That's what we do here. We
just discuss things, you know, really what we love doing is helping people.
That's what we love. And by the way, can Brook guarantee we
can sell our tax credits if we can't use it. Let me just ask
you that real quick that this texta just came into my Google number seven four
seven nine nine nine eighty Brook, what happens in there on if they can't
use the tax credit they heard they could sell, Jeviny says, can Brook
guarantee we can sell our tax credits if so? How Yeah, So the
Inflation Reduction Acts allowed folks to start selling their tax credits, or if they're
a nonprofit, they get in IRS rebate check back instead of the credit.
Now, as far as guaranteeing it, I'm not a CPA, So you
need to apply with the IRS to get a number so you can sell your
tax credit if they approve that, which from what I've heard, is a
pretty simple process. As long as you have that number, you can sell
your tax credits. People have been selling tax credits for decades, just not
Solar like okay, I didn't know that. Yeah, like your tax credits.
Now, who buys them? Oh? Anybody that has a high tax
liability. So, in other words, if you have a system and you
have somebody that wants to sell a credit, I could buy them. Yeah,
I would talk to your accountant, because your accountant's going to know people
with high tax liability that are going to want to buy it from you.
Yeah, I would talk to your accountant. What if I wanted to buy
them to credits? So obviously idea is you don't pay one hundred percent form
or you don't get the benefit, right you're yeah, you're usually paying about
seventy to seventy five cents on the dollar. So cool, So everyone benefits
exactly, all right, three O three seven one three Talk now, Lisa?
What about your landscaping? What's going on? Lisa? Oh yes,
I want to Hi Tom, it's good talk to you. Well, good
to talk to you. What's happening. I'm a senior and I'm just hard
to take care of this grass and just everything I try on it doesn't work.
I get big long ways. I want to find a laundscapers that could
and do away with the lawn. And oh, so you want to do
it, but I mean now I'm putting us them big rock blocks. And
see that you're talking about. They call it zero scaping. Yeah, mm
hmm. Are you allowed to do that where you live. Some neighborhoods don't
allow it. I live in Lakewood in a regular neighborhood or in a subdivision.
Oh no, a regular neighborhood. So do other people in the neighborhood.
I doubt there's any rule against it where you are. So no,
I've seen people are around here with it and even with him great big kimber
rocks around their house. Okay, you know what I would do, Rob
at l em Landscaping, great person. You could also Rob. It's it's
l E. M Landscaping on my referral list. He's a great guy.
He'll take care of you. Yeah. And then there's also we also have
other landscapers. Hold on, let me just go. But Rob's a good
guy, and you'll like Bob. Bob is what I meant, Yeah,
Bob elim. But then there's also what mister green Jeans. I don't know
if he does that. I don't know if he does that, but you
can check with him. Do you need numbers to do that off the air
for you? Okay? So l E. M Landscaping and mister green Jeans
both on my referral list. Hold On and Kaschina will help you out there.
Thanks Katchina. Mike, what's going on with you? Mike? What's
happening? Oh good man, what's happening with you? Well, actually,
my daughter and her friend moved into an apartment here in Coloras Springs, and
over the time that they've been staying there, they've you heard somebody trying to
get inside their house. So they decided to hang a camera up outside the
door. Yeah, come to find out it's the property manager. He walks
around, that's his ear up to the door, listens, and then he
tries to open your door. Wait a minute, daughter, Wait a minute.
Does he know there's a door can there? Or is he? Is
he a moron? Well, I'm sorry, I don't want to insult my
YouTube morons. But is he just crazy? Does he know there's a door
can there? I don't think he did. At first she showed me the
videos, and one of the videos finally he had looked up and seen this
little tiny camera. Is this a house or is it an apartment? That's
an apartment complex and is and this manager is trying to get in or is
he what is he doing at the door? He puts his ear up to
the door and then he tries to turn the handle. She so her camera
kind of faces the apartment across the hall from her, and you can physically
see him grab the handle and try to turn it. And then he comes
over to her apartment and you can see him put his ear up to her
door and he tries to turn her hands. So he's doing more than just
hers. Yeah, did you report him? She's just no, she just
wants to move out, and she wants I mean, honestly, she has
a lease and she wants to know what she can do to get out of
there. I mean, obviously he's on camera trying to do all this stuff.
So what you're really asking, Mike, you're asking, is that a
good enough reason to leave? Yep, and get her deposit back and break
her lease? Okay, we should examine that. Maybe Brad Obrian would have
something to say about that, our real estate attorney I want to ask.
But here's here's some of the things I think could happen. I think the
guy could make an excuse saying, well, you know, I just checked
to make sure they're locked and that we don't hear anything unusual, you know,
would he say something like that, like I don't know what is that
is weird? That is really weird. Yeah, it's creepy. How many
times has she recorded this? More than a dozen? She's got more than
a dozen times. All right, wait a minute, no, no,
no, no, that's that's really weird. More than a dozen times.
She needs to call the owners. I think you know what though, sometimes
during the middle of the day. Sometimes they could be at two o'clock in
the morning. Okay, that's that is creepy. Does she live that you
say she lives there with someone? Right? Yeah, my daughter and her
friend. They're both girls. So they're both uh just barely over twenty so
okay, hold on, that would freak me out. Uh, she needs
to call the police, Tom, Yeah, have you has she called the
police? Well, she doesn't want to start any problems and get kicked out
of there or him come try to do something. So why would they get
kicked out of there? That would be there's a management company that has this
manager. Who's the management company? I'm not too sure. I would have
to get the name, Mike, Department Complexes. Mike. If it was
my daughter, I would take that video. I would find out who the
management company is and get this guy fired. I mean, now, if
she now this is between you and me, I want to ask you something.
If she's looking for an excuse to break her lease anyway, okay?
Is that I'm not saying she's making this up. I'm saying, does she
not? Does she just want out of there? Oh it's a pretty rough
place, and with that going on, she yeah, she just slumps out
of their No. In other words, even if the guy was fired,
she still wants out, doesn't she? Yep. Then I would still contact
them and say, look, this is an intolerable situation. We would like
to do this in a friendly way and get our deposit back and break the
lease on a given date. But I would talk to someone. I really
would at the management company. You're asking me, can they do a constructive
eviction? In other words, can they just evict themselves? Yeah they can.
You can go through that. But then if they want, they can
argue and say he was checking or whatever. All I'm saying is it's not
as automatic as if somebody will let you out of it. So I would
tend to go ahead. What my biggest concern would be is, you know,
I guess you know, if it was just checking, he's honestly doing
it throughout the night. No, no doubt, I don't doubt. I
don't doubt the guy's a weirdom okay, And I don't doubt that she wants
out of there. But what I'm saying is if they want to put up
a fight, a constructive eviction is not automatic. A constructive addiction where you
where you evict yourself, basically saying it's unsafe. Although I think with this
video evidence she would win in court, but I'm trying to avoid that.
What I'm saying is if she calls or you call the management company, and
you say, we have video of this clown doing this, we want out
of the you know, even tell him you're gonna go to the media with
it. I mean, you want your deposit back. She wants her deposit
back because she wants out of the lease. So see what they say first
and call us back. I mean, I think you have every reason to
want out of it. Three all three seven to one three talk seven one
three eight two five five. Someone else on YouTube says she needs to follow
up in writing, you know, with the management company, and to see
first of all what they say about it. Are they going to say they
approved it. Are they gonna say, yeah, he does that periodically.
I mean, I think that's I don't I think that would be stretching it.
But I think you need to contact the management company. I mean,
wouldn't you feel bad or terrible if something happened to someone as a result of
this? Three all three seven one three eight two five five. Compass Insurance
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one help. You'll think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand the
real estate Man dot com to list your home with Remax Alliance three all three
nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Hi Tom Martino here three all three seven
one three talks seven one three eight two five five All Right, so welcome
to the show. We have Red Rocks RS with Us, Red Rocks Roof
and Solar with Us today talking about solo tongue. Anything on your mind,
problems, questions and complaints. One of the most common complaints I got one
today, but we've gotten them over the years, where when people build a
house next to an existing home and drainage changes, what can you do again,
if a home doesn't change the elevation of the property and doesn't substantially change
it, according to the county, there's nothing they have to do. Drainage
goes with the natural drainage of the land. If you don't change it,
even though you might now get more water onto your property or you think you're
getting more water, that's really up to you to prove it's doing any damage
and that they did the changing. It's not as easy as you think to
simply complain about it. Now. There are some obvious cases where people change
the drainage plan, and when they do, then they have to reconcile it
or do something about it. There's suppose if they're going to change the elevation
of the land, they're supposed to get submit a drainage plan. Three oh
three seven one three talk three oh three seven one three eight two five five
red rocks, roof and solar. Another question for you, let me go
to the camera. Well we get the white shot here. Somebody wants to
know. Are you allowed if you're in an area served by a utility?
Can you go off grid if you want to? Are you allowed to even
go off grid if you don't want to pay any connection fees or anything?
Can you use the solar system and batteries and go off grid? Do you
know? Yeah, you can shut off the connection to the there's no requirement
that you're connected to the grid. No, I mean you're still always going
to pay a connection fee unfortunately, because they've got gas and electrical already connected.
But that's usually between eight dollars. Well, it depends on the region
that you're in. But yeah, you can go off grid if you want
to. People do it all the time. They do. But then is
it hard to get back on? Well, you're already connected, and so
you just flip on the switch. Oh so you do it yourself. Yeah,
you just flip off the switch so that power can't go out to the
utility and power can't come into the utility. Okay, I didn't know that.
Okay. And so you have people that have been able to use the
solar system to completely isolate themselves, but then they won't get any net credit,
right, Yeah, but they don't need to because if they're not taking
power from the grid, Okay, worry about it. Okay. Now with
an off grid system, you are talking about a substantial battery investments. So
that's why most folks don't do it. So batteries would be for when what
percentage of the time in Colorado would we use battery drains? Thirty fifty?
What what do you do like all night? I mean, is it half
the time? What when do you use batteries? Yeah, so the battery
itself to keep it healthy has to drain down to forty percent every day anyways,
But you don't necessarily need that. That's just going to be extra value
that you're adding in your net. If you're Excel Territory and you're in town,
you probably will never use your batteries except for maybe once or twice a
year. If you're in the mountains, you might be using it once a
week. Excel just came out with a new that's if you're on the grid
that's if you're on the grid. If you're off the grid, when would
you use it half the time every day? You would need it every night
every night of course, yeah. And would you have enough to sustain you
all night? Yeah, you would. We would build it that way.
And ever do people ever do generators in addition to a batteries? Yeah?
I think generators are a great add on. And when you do generators,
are you allowed to do gas or diesel generators or are they getting strict about
that? No, you can use whatever generator you'd prefer. And honestly,
if you connect the generator to the battery, that's the easiest way to do
it. So the generator is powering the battery supply to go into your home,
and then you need less batteries. Okay, So you keep the batteries
charged and the generator is a backup, so you have fuel, you have
battery, and you have sun yep, and then the grid at the last
resort, yeah, if you want to, okay, And then do they
have if you're on natural gas, do they have generators that run on natural
gas? Yeah? There are really, Yeah. Absolutely. Generak is our
favorite generator company to utilize and they've got all three. They've got solar,
they've got propane, and they've got natural gas generators. What do you mean
solar gener You mean it's powered by solar panels. They there's polar panels that
pop up out of the generator and actually power the generator itself. Oh my
gosh. Really yeah, it's wild, so you don't have any fuel in
the generator. But then, okay, all right, three, all three,
seven, one three, eight two five five. We have more coming
up and and any kind of question, problem or complaint. And again I
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In comparison, call Compass Insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens of
insurance companies find out now three all three seven to seven to one. Help
You'll think you're his only customer when you choose Frank durand the real estate Man
dot Com. List your home with Remax Alliance three all three nine to zero
sixteen twenty two. Hi, Tom Martino, your troubleshooter three O three seven
one three talk three all three seven one three eight two five five. I
don't know if you guys talked about this earlier, Dragon or not. I'm
not sure what time the decision came down, but or maybe everyone talked about
it already. But the case on the UH, the case on the documents,
the UH it was dismissed against Trump for classified documents. Yeah, I
think that came down roughly a ond eight thirty or so. Are time.
Yeah, incredible. So they're saying that part of it had to do with
the UH inappropriate appointment of Jack Smith as a prosecutor. Correct, So they
didn't look at the merits of the case at all, as I gather,
Yes, because if you think about it, the immunity would go into that
case as well. If he said, as president he took official acts to
declassify or classify that kind of would the immunity ruling would have gone into that
as well. I mean, you know, but what's amazing to me is
how in this case they chose to prosecute him but not Biden for essentially the
same exact thing. But I guess they said Biden cooperated with them more.
I don't know the official reasoning other than he was a kindly old man who
would get the sympathy of a jury. I mean, well, it's obvious
Joe Biden is a good guy and Orange man bad is Orange man bad.
Yeah, I guess that's what it is. But anyway, that case has
been dismissed, and you said that came down early this morning. That's major
news. But what's really weird is that special counsel who they said was improperly
appointed is also in on. Isn't in also in on that other indictment in
Georgia for election interference? I don't is that just or is that just the
district attorney Fanny with and Fanny's case seems to be losing ground as well.
For that's pretty much put on hold, right, Well, yeah, because
you know he supposedly was acting as president. But I will say this,
and this is for sure. This is for sure, and that is that
the whole attitude of both candidates, and also the emails I'm getting now from
Biden Harris have really cooled down compared to what they were. I mean,
I was reading some stuff that just literally shocked me. I mean, I
swear to God, and in fact, you know what, I even thought,
I really thought this. I thought, I don't think Biden and Harris
personally would allow this, some of the things they were saying. They had
one bullet points list. If President Trump is elected. One, he will
become dictator on day one. He is pledged to be a dictator. Number
Two, he will do away with the US He will fight to do away
with the US Constitution. Three, there will no longer be presidential elections.
He is the most dangerous man in history, in US history. He cannot
we have to do everything we can to stop him. And that he will
assassinate his political enemies with complete immunity. I mean, they all of this
is in writing out there, by the way, they can't even deny it.
I mean, I swear to God. When you get emails like that,
I can see where someone a little unbalanced would think, you know,
I'm doing the country of service by getting rid of them, really truly?
Uh? Anyway, three three seven, one, three eight, two five
five, what's on your mind today? We do have a red Rocks roof
and solar with us, and I wanted to talk about a few other things
in the news, and one of them is, of course you know what
happened there and what's going on with the news. But we have a new
report out on I'm trying to find those stories on dependability of used cars.
Now, I know it's not car Day, but it's really important because what
they did was they went through a ton of stories on what is the uh,
what is the most dependable used car? And how much does it cost
to maintain used cars? And what are the worst used cars? And they
came with a list of the used cars to avoid based on they say statistics.
Now this is Consumer Reports, by the way, they unveiled its list
of sixty used cars to avoid, they said after scouring data from its members.
Now remember this is by members who say their experience would dependability was and
this does not match which is important. This does not match what my experts
say here. It says Ford and Chevy are the most guilty parties as far
as reliability. My mechanics say that they are really really good Fords and Chevyes.
So I don't understand that. But Ford and Chevy each had seven vehicles
on the list, and according to Consumer Reports, the cars with the absolute
worst scores were the twenty twenty one Chrysler PACIFICA Hybrid, the twenty twenty one
Jeep Wrangler, the twenty twenty three Nissan Frontier. I'm surprised to see a
Nissan on there with the worst scores, the Rivian, the twenty twenty two
Rivian, and the twenty twenty one Volkswagen Jetta. And they said as far
as bad manufacturers for evs, god, there are a number of them,
a number of EV's that are supposedly bad news among them, as you would
think. Yes, Tesla is on there as well. So it's you know,
like I've always said, Consumer Reports now and I'm telling you they don't
really necessarily talk to a lot of experts or do a lot of surveys.
They do surveys for consumers. That's why it's Consumer Reports, and this is
solely on the experience of consumers and their experiences, which I think can be
pretty act. But I often I often say this consumers who have any problems
yell the most right, so it can be skewed for people who are angry,
then you might say, but still it tells you a story because the
ones more angry might have reason to be more angry. Now, in general,
Consumer Reports finds that evs in general are less reliable than conventional cars according
to their surveys. So think about that and if you want to know reliability
readings. Of course, I'm taking all this from Consumer Reports, which again
is based on owner surveys. There is no like magic uh matrix. No,
But Tom, I think Consumer Reports is excellent when they test products.
That's that's the real uh you know, strength and and okay, you know
when they say, what's the best fact you can clean up, what's the
best uh fry, what's the best Yeah, I imagine that they don't have
a dog in a fight. You're right, you're right, but that serial
forte. You know you're right about the uh the survey. But when it
comes to testing products, you can't beat them because like you say they had.
They don't have a dog in the fight, right, they don't accept
advertising at all, and all of that. Now. One thing though,
that that did bother me years ago about consumer reports. One thing the Suzuki.
Remember that little Suzuki suv that rolled over right, Yeah, okay,
Well the problem with that is that they really did not compare it to others
that were similar, and and what I and and what. The way that
started was somebody there who worked there owned to Suzuki and had a problem and
then they I feel this was back years and years and years ago. It
doesn't speak to them right now. I feel like they went after Suzuki specifically
because of an of an employee there who wanted to go after them. I
don't. They weren't really substantially any worse than the Ford, Bronco and all
of those. Again, I don't. I remember at the time thinking it
was unfair. I can't really to be fair. I can't tell you why
exactly, but it was a it was a number man, that little Suzuki
suv that they did. And then over the years, of course, I
think in general they're very dependable. I mean, who can say they're not
right? They're they're uh, you know they are, and most of their
stuff is driven by surveys and as far as they're testing of products, as
I said, they're not behooving. They're not you know. They don't have
any advertisers they have to please, and they're able to say what they like
and don't like, and they don't care, and so I think that's important.
Anyway, We have more coming up on the Troubleshooter Show three zero three,
seven to one to three talks seven to one, three eight, two
five five. We have a Brook White with us from redrocksars dot com and
uh, don't forget. If you have any kind of problems, questions or
complaints, you can give us a call at three oh three Martino twenty four
to seven and get help at any time. Leave your name and number and
we will call you back right after this. Go with a sure thing Denver's
Best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't pay a cent until you're content.
Time for an insurance check up free, no obligation. In comparison,
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now three oh three seven seven to one help. You'll think you're his only
customer when you choose Frank durand the real estate man dot Com to list your
home with Remax Alliance three oh three nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Hi
Tom Martino your troubleshooter or three all three seven one three talk three all three
seven one three A two five five All right? Guess what when it comes
to college education, do you know that in a survey of college graduates,
this isn't crazy, thirty six percent said they're using their degree or it was
worth it thirty six percent. Wow. Is it shocking that it's higher than
I thought? Is it higher than you thought? No, that is higher
than what I thought they would say. Is that shocking? I don't know,
man, I thought more people than that would say they got something out
of their education, don't you. I'm not lower, to be honest with
you, with all the different kind of I have a history arts major.
What are you doing that with that in the real world? And it says
that now these are the students themselves, let alone, Let alone America right
now? And Gallup and the Lumina Foundation did some surveying and found that no,
no, actually, I'm sorry thirty six percent of all adults say that
they got little or nothing out of their college or no, excuse me.
Thirty six percent said I'm sorry, they liked their college thirty two So the
majority said they don't have confidence in their education. So that's fifty seven percent.
So much from fifty seven percentage CLUBB. I think it shows up in
other ways. All My husband's in that IT industry, and he always talks
about how his degree is just a piece of paper. He learned way more
on the job doing experience times. Most colleges are outdated what they're teaching anyway.
Yeah, I mean he learned what colebalt, which is from the forties.
I mean, are the only people that still use that as John dere
so it's not even relevant. So I believe that stat. Most of the
folks that are my generation that I went to college with aren't using their degree.
They're in a different industry or it wasn't helpful now, So I think,
go ahead. I think she's right as far as specifics go. But
I think when you go through four years for college education, it makes you
more of a rounded person. It gives you a much better perspective on what's
going on around you and a greater understanding of the world, and it may
not be specific to your wellco where right now, sixty seven percent of respondent
say college is in the wrong direction, and compared to thirty one percent who
feels going in the right direction. And then the other people who say that
about they're not down on education, they're talking about college. I mean,
a lot of people are going for trades or for other training like real estate,
life licenses and other kinds of professional skills that don't require a degree.
So you know, and I say real estate license, that's one of them,
but there are several kinds of industries now where you have to take competency
tests but you're not required to have an underlying degree. And I know what
you're saying, Doc. That argument has been made time and time again about
college making you all around it. And I've always called it like a halfway
house. Kids get out and they get to live at a dorm or on
their own in an apartment with other kids, and it is a halfway house
to adulthood. Possibly, but in some cases I think it's artificial and kids
learn a lot of stuff that's not real. In my opinion, it turns
them a lot of times into idiots. I mean, I've talked to kids
who are pretty intelligent in high school that go off to college and get the
easiest ideas at college. I'm serious, but but I know what you mean.
I mean, in general, do you meet enough people over time with
an exchange of ideas? Uh? It is helpful in a way, but
that's a hell of a lot of money to spend to meet people and to
become well rounded. Anyway, we got more coming up on The Troubleshooter Show
three O three seven one three eight two five five. Go with a sure
thing Denver's best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't pay a cent until
you're contenth time for an insurance checkup free no obligation. In comparison, call
Compass Insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens of insurance companies find out now
three O three seven to seven to one help. You'll think you're his only
customer when you choose Frank durand the real estate Man dot com to list your
home with Remax Alliance three oh three nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Ripped
up in need advice so you don't have come running is just as nass as
you can. Shooter's gonna help come Man Dix is the Troubleshooter Show Now,
Tom Martino, Hi, Tom Martino, Your Troubleshooter three O three seven one
three talk three O three seven one three eight two five five. Welcome to
the show. Here again to help you solve problems, answer questions, and
take complaints. I have brooked with me from a Red Rocks roof and solar.
We can do anything you want as far as topics and concerns. Right
now, Bob wants to talk about life insurance and we handle it all,
folks. Every day, aches and pains, the things that tick you off,
the things that make you tick. What's going on, Bob? Hey,
Tom, Hey, Bob, what's happening? Oh, it's just another
day in paradise. My wife and I are both in our seventies and probably
thirty five forty years ago. How about a life insurance policy. Far it's
a whole life variable premium life insurance, and it cost me not ten thousand
dollars, but the theory was the interesterned on that ten thousand would pay the
premiums, which it did for about twenty years. Right, and then at
such time it does not pay the premiums it takes cash value. Yeah,
so every year this thing is going up and up up. Last year was
four thousand, This year was five thousand. We thought we paid that.
Now we just got a letter saying no, no, no, your three
thousand more. Next year it's going up again. My question is is this
just normal policy or they jerking us around. Let's get Joe Kiano on.
He knows more about life insurance than he forgot, more about life insurance than
most people know. It could be either one. First of all, well,
let me put a tea. Really, I shouldn't say could be either
one. Most of the time, major insurance companies are not going to rip
you off, Okay, I mean they're not going to lie to you to
try to steal some money from you. But here's the deal. These life
insurance products all have benefits and they all have disadvantages. So it's both.
In your particular case, do you know what you really bought? Was it
really called was it called variable? What was it called? Actual product you
bought? Oh? Was it called that? Okay? Whole life? Okay,
whole life variable premium? Right? Correct? Correct? And how long
did you did you make a lump sum payment initially? Yeah, I was
like ten thousand okay. Then okay. Then when you made that payment,
did you make any other premium payments? Not for a long long time,
because every year interest starting paid the premium. Okay. Then when it stopped,
were you ever notified that the interest was no longer paying the premium?
Correct? Yes, probably fifteen eighteen years ago okay. And when that happened,
what did you do? Well, they started billing it stuck bea like
a thousand a year, and did you pay it? Right? And I'm
sorry? And did you pay No? No, everything's been paid okay.
So you didn't just let them say I'm sorry. You didn't just let it
sit back fifteen years ago, when your interest stopped paying the payment the premium,
did you you continued to make payments on your own right? Yes?
Yes, Well they sent us a bill annually and we paid the bill.
And on that bill, this is really important, that bill, did they
show a cash value and what the interest paid and then what was the balance
or did they show no longer did you have a cash value? No,
there was no cash balance when they started billing us. So your interest was
zero. It wasn't earning enough to pay the premium any longer. That that's
what I'm getting. But did it show didn't show? Did it show what
it was earning. No, they won't tell us anything. They won't tell
us anything about the policy. And another reason I'm calling you probably half a
dozen times they've tried to cancel us. They were wrong every time they've done
it, but they just kept playing these games with your head, and it's
just been a caution to fight with them. All right, So right now,
and I need all this for Joe Kiano, So I'm hoping you get
them on Kaschina right now. I'm asking these questions because he's going to want
to know. I want to know, do you do you have coverage right
now or are they lapsing it? No, we have coverage right now.
They tried again, they tried to lapse it again, but we followed them
and they've reinstated it. And how did you invite them? Well, what
they'll do, they'll tell you we sent you a notice of payment and you
didn't pay us, so you're canceled. Well, they didn't send us a
notice, and we go back and forth them, back and forth, and
Finally they go, oh, that's right. Maybe some of y'all didn't get
the notice. You're reinstated, you know, that's right, and okay,
but what about this three thousand they said was due? What was that?
Well, they're just saying that we paid them almost five thousand, which is
what we thought we owed for the year. Thirty days before the end of
the year comes up. They don't, No, that's not enough. You
owe us twenty nine hundred more, three thousand more or whatever. So basically,
basically, back when the money ran out, the interest stopped paying the
premium. What was your premium yearly? Normally about what it was only it
was only like a thousand, But recently you said it went way up.
However, year it's going up and up and up and open. That's my
only question is is that the way this policy works. That's what I'm going
to ask Joe Cannon. I got Joe Sanno. Okay, hold on,
Joseph Cano. In addition to doing fixed index annuities, they do overfunding whole
life. But the products he has are are different from what you're talking about.
He doesn't mess with a lot of these what I call tricky insurance policies,
but he certainly knows about him. So, Joe, are you listening
Joe? Years ago? How many years ago did you start the policy?
Bob? Probably a good thirty five forty years ago, okay, So Joe,
about thirty five forty years ago, as you heard, he starts a
variable premium life insurance policy with a lumpsum payment of about ten grand. Then,
for many years, the interest paid the premium. Am I right?
So far Bob? Correct? And then after how many years did they say,
okay, now you have to start paying again. I'm roughly probably twenty
years a little bit more so. For twenty years, Joe, that ten
grand seemed to generate enough income to pay us premiums. Then they said you
have to start paying again. And so back about twenty years ago, he
starts paying one thousand dollars a year to three two thousand and three thousand.
And now your last premium payment was how much? Well, it started out
at five thousand, but they want three thousand more. Okay, So,
and so to renew next year? When will it be another eight grand?
You know? Or will it even go up more? Be more? It
will be more? Okay, Joe? Tell us it'll be more. And
what's the name of the company. It originally started with great West and somebody
else has taking them over, and I don't know the name they've Joe,
do you know about these policies? Is this how they work? Did they
do? Tom? You know? And you know what is your your college
first name? Bob? Bob? Yeah, you know. Unfortunately, those
policies are what they call variable life insurance policies. Then, is that you
either have a variable universal life or just a variable life. Now, what
it means is that the policy is made up of two elements. You have
a cash value element and you have a death benefit element. Okay, Now,
unfortunately, you know, we're getting older, so your cost of insurance
on those type of policies will go up every year the older. Yet,
so if you're only paying the minimum premium payment into the policy, they're going
to ask for more, for more money. And eventually what happens with those
policies, you know, people cannot afford to keep them. So it's almost
Joe, isn't it almost like having terms turned with a cash account? Basically
so, but his cash account, what happened to his original ten grand was
it exhausted, probably with the course of are you paying only the minimum premium
above or are you paying more than what they're asking you to pay? No,
we're just paying what they're askings to pay. Okay, So that that
is basically the minimum payment. So that announce show a lot like a term
policy that it is. It is a term policy with a cash writer on
it. So basically, so it's a lot other than if every year I'd
have been putting more money into that policy, I wouldn't have this problem today,
that is right, that's right, And you would have had some cash
accumulation. Yeah. But and to the and by the way, I don't
love these policies. Neither does Joe. But to their defense, you did
go about twenty years without paying a premium, right correct? Right? See?
So so joh, basically, you know, the cost of insurance was
covering because of your age, you know, I mean, your cash was
covering the cost of insurance because of your younger age. So but I got
an idea, Joe. I want to ask you a question. And I
didn't call Joe for this reason, Bob, I swear to God I didn't.
But Bob, you may not want to keep this policy, is what
I'm saying, if you have no cash value, tell me the benefit Joe
for him keeping it? Is it because now that he has it, they
can't take it away? Or what what would be the benefit of keeping it
if the cost gets so expensive? Well, you know, if you were
to change the policy, Bob is going to costing more money because you're older,
probably now than you will. How old you now, Bob? Well,
tell my wife, she's seventy six. It's her policy, and she's
seventy six, so it would be really hard to get her a policy.
Joe, Let's ask you this. What is the what is the death benefit?
Bob? Two and fifty? Oh my god, two hundred and fifty
thousand. So, Joe, what would a term policy cost a seventy six
year old woman for two point fifty? I can calculate of all that,
you know. But the thing is, so we have to be realistic,
you know, because since we get older, our insurability goes down. So,
of course, depending on her health. Is she a healthy woman,
Yeah, she's pretty healthy. Yes, mother, Is is it worth keeping
the policy? That's what we're trying to figure out. That's exactly so,
Bob, Hey, hang on, this can be fifteen thousand a year after
that? Pretty sure? Okay, hang on, I have to that make
any money? No, I get it, Joe, I want you to
do some figuring. He has a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars death benefit.
She's seventy six years old. Is it worth him going on with this?
Or what else can he look at? If anything? And sometimes that
you don't. Sometimes people don't need insurance. It depends on what you're ensuring,
Bob. If you think you need her and her income for some reason,
you may not need insurance on her. I know that sounds weird,
but not everyone needs insurance. You hang on, Joe is gonna do some
calculating. We'll talk about it. Coming right up. Go with a sure
thing Denver's Best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't pay a cent until
you're content. Time for an insurance check up free, no obligation. In
comparison, call Compass insurance paying too much your coverage at dozens of insurance companies
find out now three all three seven seven to one help. You'll think you're
his only customer When you choose Frank durand the real estate Man dot com to
list your home with Remax Alliance three all three nine two zero sixteen twenty two.
Hi Tom Martino, your troubleshooter three all three seven one three talk three
oh three seven one three eight two five five. So we're talking to Bob,
who, by the way, like a lot of people end up paying
for stuff, okay, And I was just talking to brook Off the air.
Companies do it, individuals do it. People do it. It's called
not minding the story. You just figure, you know, I need this,
let me do it. And in some cases people pay for insurance.
And Joe Keanu is our insurance expert on a lot of stuff, including life
insurance. But Joe, the sad fact is, I bet you you run
into a lot of seniors who have life insurance policies they paid for years and
years and years, and they're really not even worth having. I mean,
let's just be honest about it. That is absolutely right. A lot of
people, you know, maybe they just you know, they get sold basically
into the wrong policy of the wrong reasons. And the universal life has that
danger. Yes, if you don't get the right kind. Now now,
most not all life insuranance is good. Not all life insurance is bad.
There's a time for term. There's a time for investment grade policies, there's
a time for you know. I would say, of all of them,
Joe, variable is my worst kind. I don't like this. It is
any kind of variable universal life or any universal life, and particularly they have
that component of the term insurance. And this is why with universal or with
some variables, they're considered almost a security, right, and they're not.
Yeah, it's not, which means it's not a guaranteed product. That is
right. Whenever somebody talks securities, it's not guaranteed. So that's why variable
nuity is a security. Fixed indextinuities are not securities because they're guaranteed right.
Right. So now with Bob, with what he's paying ten, it could
be eight ten, fifteen thousand, she said, seventy six she gets a
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars payout, or he does, or whoever does
is it? What have you found? Did you do your number crown?
Yeah? What I found, Bob is that you know, in a frankness,
I think you should keep what you have. I hate to say that.
You know what it would cost you over twenty thousand a year to ensure
your wife for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So it's the cheapest option
now that it's in place, right, I mean it's the cheapest. I
mean if you right, you know, whatever you're paying right now is not
twenty thousand a year, right right, it's it's Bob, what is it
you're saying? You eight thousand just in money that we need. It's something
we were just going to lead you to the kids, So I need to
go forward with it. No, you don't, you don't, you don't.
You don't need to do that, if you know, most people buy
those type of policies when they have a family that's growing up, like little
children exactly. Just in case, sir, Bob, I want to ask
you something. How much income do you and your wife have right now?
Income wise? I wish not much, just seventy eighty thousand. But we
have no bill, We don't know anybody any Okay, but let me explain
something. In your estate. There's a reason I'm asking do you what is
your estate worth? What you own, not what you make, what you
own probably seven to fifty something like that. Okay. What I'm saying to
you is, Bob and your kids how many kids do you have? I
have two kids both then okay? And how old are they they're in their
forties. Are they successful? Yes, they don't need this money. Then
here's what I was going to say, Bob, and I mean this sincerely.
I would say to my two kids, if you want to continue paying
the premium, we'll leave it to you as beneficiaries. If not, we're
not going to pay it anymore. I mean, if you if they want
to pay it, that would be an option for them to decide, because
you were going to leave it to them. Anyway. If you have your
house paid for her, no bills and seventy eighty thousand, that's a big
portion of your income for nothing, and I would recommend if I were talking
to you, I would recommend that unless you needed that payout. And by
the way, do you have insurance? Bob? Yes? Okay? What
kind do you have? You know? I stilln't even know? Is about
one hundred thousand. It's older than I am, but it's still there.
How much do you pay on it? I don't pay anything on it.
How do you know it's still in force? Me? What it is?
I don't have any idea. How do you know? It's still in force,
Bob, because I get notices from him every year. Good, good,
You know what you ought to do, and I swear to God,
Joe won't try to sell you anything, not a thing. He just told
you. If you want to ensure her, just keep what you have.
But you ought to call him off the air. He's a good man.
He'll just talk to you and he won't try to sell you a thing because
you're at an age now where you don't need anything right now. You have
good income, you have a good life. I'm telling you you're wasting some
money here, Bob. You are well here. Here's our other thought.
And what you said was exactly what we were talking about them paying it.
But I don't I don't want to give him shot paying fifteen twenty thousand a
year. We were thinking about just putting to eight thousand in a savings account,
canceling his policy. Right with your passors, they just get that you
could do that too. Yeah. You know a lot of wealthy people they
use life insurance, you know, to transfer their you know, their not
their wealth, but to create a legacy for the children. It's like almost
like a real kind of a morbid you know, thought. But a lot
of the kids are buying policies on their parents and grandparents because they know even
if to day fifteen thousand a year your lotivity you know, you're seventy six
years old. Basically, Hey, shut up, Joe, I know,
let me just think about that. I'm gonna last that long basically, so
they're going to have a great return. If they're going to get two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars death, then it's correct. Yeah, but listen,
you can leave that choice to then, Bob. But but that that much
money you guys can live on, that is that's not a bad idea.
If you put that money away. Okay, let's say you guys have ten
more good years to you. Okay, if you put seven or eight grand
away every year, or however you want to do it, or ten grand
a year, that would be a substantial amount of money. And again I'm
not trying to sell you anything. But even if you did that in a
fixed annuity, I mean, that would that would be something to leave them
that would generate income. But I'm not saying to do that. I am
not saying to do that. I'm saying that there there are a lot of
other better things to do with your money than pay for this piece of crap
variable life insurance. Well, you know, we say it's a piece of
crap, but it you know, it's protected here for forty years. So
no, no, you're you're absolutely right. And if you looked at the
total money you put in, you're right. You probably got a hell of
a deal because you put ten in to begin with, and then you put
another. If you looked at all in how much have you paid since inception
for forty years, probably in the last fifteen to twenty years, we've probably
paid thirty thirty grand, and then you add to a ten. So for
fifty grand, let's say you got forty years of coverage. That's not terrible.
That it's not bad. No, it's not. And so it's really
up to you if you want to continue it. Like I said, there's
nothing all good or all bad about anything. I mean, you really have
to be reasonable here. I used to be an absolute person. Don't do
this. Do this. There's no such thing. As you get older,
you realize that. But I'm just not sure if you can't put that money
to better use, unless you think she might die within five or ten years,
it would be well worth to continue it. Yeah, she's got at
least another good ten twelve years. She's in good help. Yeah, it's
really up to you because at some point you're putting in another If that's the
case, you're going to be putting in more than one hundred and twenty five
hundred and fifty thousand for two fifty So it may not be worth it.
And that's the whole idea about life insurance. They design it so you don't
make the money they do. Yeah, Joe, right, I'm saying the
reason I had an issue was that I'd say, they kept trying to cancel
us, so I didn't know whether they're playing games. I didn't know what
it was. But what do you say makes sense? We just have to
decide how we're going to handle it, or let your kids take on the
burden as like it's kind of morbid, But it's an investment. I swear
to god. They might say, you know, dad, we'll each pay
half of that. Who knows what they'll say, Okay, and you're also
going to leave him yours too, so they're gonna have that on top of
it. So this is something you get together as a family and you do.
By the way, do you have and I'm not trying to I'm really
not trying to sell all my sponsors, but do you have an estate plan?
Do you have a basic plan? No, you need a basic will.
You need a simple with basic will. Okay, good, that's really
all you need, I mean really truly with what you have and what you
describe. A basic will would probably take care of that. And just make
sure it's updated, Bob, Just make sure everything is updated. Go with
a sure thing Denver's best roofer Excel Roofing dot com. You don't pay a
cent until you're content. Time for an insurance check up, freegation comparison call
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three all three seven seven to one help. You'll think you're his only customer
when you choose Frank durand the Real estate Man dot com to list your home
with Remax Alliance three all three nine two zero sixteen twenty two. Hi Tom
Martino, your troubleshooter three all three seven one three talk three oh three seven
one three eight two five five. Okay, omah or z Uma, we
had you on the show before and you have a follow up. So I'm
looking for your original call here and who worked with you on our staff here?
Oma? Uh, let's see, it was oh, no One.
I told you you had Blue Ribbon Construction, right, and it was in
fall of twenty twenty one. Your roof was fixed, but you had interior
damage that was not fixed. And then you said you're insurance. This was
very confusing to me. You said your insurance contractor sued your insurance company and
got a settlement, right right. But I never understood that because that insurance
that Blue Ribbon Construction Company had no standing to sue your insurance company unless they
claimed they did work for you that they didn't get paid for. So I
asked you to find out some information for me. What did you find out?
I sent all the paperwork in on July seventh to your Yeah, I
got some I got that paperwork, but we were waiting to hear from you.
Did you talk to them since you talked to us or not? No?
Okay, Uma, I might be misunderstanding then, I'm sorry, dear,
you were expecting us to contact them. No. I wanted to ask
you what I can do. You see, my daughter is a quadruphage.
She got out of the hospital Friday. Yes, it's Friday until twelve.
We have no kitchen, think, we have no kitchen counters. You know,
we can't take care of her. Okay, No, we have no
light in the hallway. Let me get this straight. Though, your insurance
company claims they paid for all of that. Is that right? Yes?
Yes, but you didn't get the money. It went directly to Blue Ribbon
Construction. Is that correct? Yes? And when you call Blue Ribbon Construction
and you tell them, hey, I see where you got money for this,
what do they say about it? Or they just keep putting stuff off
like I said, Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Here's what we're going
to do. It never came or fixed anything. Okay. So this morning
the supervisor called me and said they're going to try to be here this coming
Wednesday. Hey, Bo, is Bo around? Is he still there?
Bow? You still run? Bo? Listen? Listen, bro Bo knows
a lot about the construction industry. Bo. I want you to try to
help her with this. Blue Ribbon Kachina can give you a copy of the
email. I'll call him Tom. But here's the deal. I got the
emails. I think Kachina still has them. But here's the bottom line,
and that is that Blue Ribbon, from what I can see, actually did
get a settlement from her insurance company. What I find odd. This is
what I find odd. Bo. I don't know how the hell they got
standing to do it. I think she had to sign over the claim to
them, so they got paid, but they didn't finish the job. So
that's what you're going to find out in this work, is that they did
get paid. Now they got to finish it. She has a quadriplegic daughter
they can't take care of, you know, Oma, I'm so sorry that
I didn't pass this on to someone sooner. I'm sorry I misunderstood and thought
you were going to contact Blue Ribbon. So Bo, if you could call
Blue Ribbon and get the bottom line on this, it would really help.
This has been going on since fall of twenty twenty one. I will call
this afternoon. Thank you, Thank you thinking. Hey, Oma, you're
in good hands now. Bo. Speaking of you, did you say you
had a follow up? Did I get a texture from you earlier saying you
had a follow up? Yes, it was. Let me go back to
my notes. She called in last Thursday, her name is Lorie. At
the twelve o'clock hour, her son was living in a hotel slash apartment building
and they haven't had hot water for eight yes, yes, yes, yes,
he's going through a divorce. She's paying for the hotel and it's temporarily
in a hotel with no hot water. Right. So I called the management
company that day, and I made a couple of calls the following day.
They just would not They would not call me back at all. So I
went ahead and called Xcel Energy, gave them the address, and they had
the work order to go over there and turn on the gas, but no
one from this Denver West End hotel ever called them to come out. So
I just told them that they need to gas turned on. If the work's
done, would you please go over there and turn it on. They turned
on the gas on Saturday, and it, oh, man, what what
idiots that they dropped the ball? What was the name of that motel,
Denver West End Hotel at seventy one to fifty West Coalfax there's goofballs west Coal
Facts. I mean, that's too bad. And you were able to get
it done and all they had to do was make a phone call. They
just had to make a call and initiate an order to come turn on the
gas because the contractor whatever the gas league was, was completed by the It's
a motel, isn't it. It's they call it a hotel. I think
there's thirty units over there. Okay, so everybody's got hot water. Now,
that is so the show. Okay, hold on, I you know
what, I don't know if my dinger is even working today, but I
haven't been hot. It could be too hot, but I'm gonna I'm gonna
give it a try right now. Hold on, this absolutely deserves now where
the heck? Ok there it goes, there we go. Yeah, so
we got my dinger. We got more coming right up. I'm Tom Martino.
Hi, Tom Martino here three O three seven to one three talk seven
one three eight two five five. Welcome to the show. And don't forget
Denver Regen dot com. In addition to Semaglue, Tide and Turzepetide for weight
loss on a fraction of the cost you pay for the name brands, they
also do stem cell therapy Denver Regen dot com. Okay, so we are
getting toward the end of the show. I have Redrocks roof and solar with
us and that's Redrosars dot com. So I want to talk to this.
We get a lot of interest in this REAP program. Ore EAP. Is
that what it's called? Okay? So REAP is for commercial systems, right,
commercial or AG? Can you explain how it works and how people can
make money with them, like like the people businesses who put it in,
and how they can actually get it all paid for? Yeah, So any
business or AG project, automatically it's sixty three point nine percent of the project
paid for regardless, that's between all sixty three point four percent. Is that
with credits to Yeah, that's your tax credits as well as your depreciation.
So well, and how long does it take to recoup depreciation? It's over
six years. Eighty percent of the depreciation is in year one and then you're
getting the other twenty percent over the next five years. So that automatically pays
for sixty then sixty percent roughly, right? And then what about grants?
Yeah, so the REP grant pays for half of the project. So if
you total those two things together, you're looking at one hundred and thirteen point
nine percent paid for. Okay, with government benefits, did you, And
the government doesn't mind even though you're getting tax credits and depreciation, they don't
mind paying half with money going in your pocket. They're looking at the install
agreement for the half, so they don't know your depreciation piece or your tax
credits are. And it's all legal and above board. Yeah, because if
it wasn't, I wouldn't be able to well of course, yeah, okay,
I don't look at an Orange. So if the system bottom line is
one hundred grand, yeah, sixty grand could be paid for and then half
of that fifty is paid for, So you're getting one hundred and ten grand
in your pocket. Yeah, and your system's completely paid for. Plus it's
generating free electricity. Yeah, then you're at your electric bill toos whatever those
savings. If you have a commercial system, you might want to check that
out. Redrocksars dot com three oh three seven zero four two four four nine.
That's Red Rocks Roof and Solar three oh three seven zero four two four
four nine. And don't forget to call me for help three oh three Martino,
save all your problems for me.