OCR Text |
Show 10 Advertising The Sait Lake Tribune, Sunday, October 4, 1992 Continued from Page F-4 If your lawnisin fairly good condition, overseeding will help thicken it up and restore the thick, fresh appearance of lush grass. Calculate your area before you go shopping. The packages will tell you how manysquare feet the seed will cover. Manygardeners like to use fextilizer Jabeled “starter fertilizer” with their new grass seeds. A soil test, available through the N.C. and Clemson Cooperative Extension services, will teil you just hew much lime should be added to your soil to get the right pH, the acid-alkaline balance, for growest information is ailable through county agents. Fertilizer will push the grass into good growth during the cool days of autumn. Use a high-nitrogenlawnfertilizer at _the rate directed on the package. This is a better choice than standard 10-10-10 fertilizer, because lawns benefit most from the higher level of nitrogen in specially formulated lawn fertihzers. Some gardeners like to use “starter fertilizer” on overseeded lawns to get the young seedlings growing well, then the regular fertilizer in mid-October, after the new grass is up and growing. Some areas may be so bare of grass they need total renewal. three and half to four inches tall, mow it three inches tall. Mowoften enough: so that no more than one-third ofthe blade is removed. A sharp blade will avoid a ragged edge. Mowingand watering will keep you busy until November, when shedding leaves must be carefully raked off the young grass. And about midNovember, you'll give the lawn light applicationoffertilizer to keep it green through the winter. Dig small bare patches by hand,at least two inches deep. Rake it smooth and sow the seeds. After seeding, cover large areas, especially slopes, with straw to prevent seed washing away. Rake off the straw gently after grass begins growing. Water gently. And don’tlet the young grass dry out. It’s still hot and the seedlings could perish on ahot day. Once the new grass is about a a GaN \ Ned pi X by the Agency Ci By Georce Karvit KnaGHT-RUDDER/TRIBUNE SERVI @. Your article (on owner-occupied duplexes) ... has raised gartling questions among myself andtwo other duplex owners. Widowed al 46 years of age in 1974, { moved into the “other side” of the dapkx owned by my mother. After her death in 1995. | converted her side to rental property from December 1996 yitil a tenant moved in August 1998It is not presently rented so (it vas) rental property less than thre: years. I am now age 70and wouldlike to sell entire the duplex and have been told that half ofthe duplex could be treated as “my home”sad not subject to capital gains and thatthe other half would be subjectto captal gains. Could you please give ne a correct answer? A. You have beeninformed correct- | ly. The duplex is a combinationrental property and personal residence. The rental portion is subjecttocapital gains tax while the perional residenceis exempt from &xation. Q. On July 22, 1998 ve putin an offer on a house thatjust came on the market as an estate salt in Warren | County, N.J. The offerwas countered | and we agreed but the zontract was never signed by the seling party. We were leaving on vacatpn and wanted to get the wheels in metion before anotheroffer came thnugh so we sentthe contract to out attorney and ‘on July24, 1998 he seatouta letter advising that he was representing us and the contract wasspecifically denied based on a fewparagraphsin the contractthat our iavyer disagreed with and a few items ye needed clarified. The seller at thistime had still not signed the contrac: On July 29, apparently theseller wasstill undecided asto what she wanted to do because another contract came in at thai print and she didn’t know which ort to sign. Her attorneystill had not esponded to myattomey’sletter ornumerous phonecalls made. We countered our ownoffer and gavetle seller additional monies above ind beyond the asking price because wedidn’t want to lose the house beciuse the price was excellent and the house was practically brand ney in almost every +t... but the condition wasthat c| od and faxed to our attoney by She obliged and w« felt we were under way and madean appointment and had the termite ad home inspection done on Aug. 3,1998 when we returned from our varation. Everything went smeoth on the home THIS iS NO TI ME FOR SPEEI UMPS. Whenyou want a manufactured homeloan without the hassle, come to Washington Mutual, the Pacific anda Northwest's #1 home lender, We offer tie flexibility offixed or adjustable rates, a 5% down option your convenient home/ land loan. This allows us to customizea loantofit your needs, and makethe road to new homesurprisingly smooth aq Washington Mutual | Fora free pre-approval call 1-800-756-8000or visit the financial center nearest you. x ae. ‘ inspection and we fet good about the house. Then a day larthe seller weirded out on us ard decided we were not good candidates because we had a house toseli orlease and she didn’t wantto take chance on our tenant walking outo1us before the closing. Tosatisfy he, we applied for the mortgage and were approvedin one hour. Our house was rented and wefelt we lived up te our end ofthe deal. ed OnAug.7, 1998ber attorney a letter stating the contract wasni and void to ourattomey and she wouldnot reconside! under any circumstance. Now my questions * When did attorney review start? Myattomey advisedmethat since he | denied the contract m July 24 there neverreally was one, even though she signed it and agreedtoall ofthe conditions on July 2! * Do[have any legal ground to block her fromselling the house to anyone else, since she agreed to all conditions including the sale or lease of my currentresidence? * The clause in the standard real estate contractstates that the buyer or seller has 72 hours to bieak the contract. The Aug. 7 date was well past Ss. I'm out over $600 incash for money spent on the mertgage application and the home/temite inspection. Is it worth pursuirg in cout? A. Myadvice is to forget the property and find another house to buy The time and cost oflitigation, combined with the uncertainty of winning, must be considered. Litigation is not warranted. Should you decide to pursue a legal remedy you may argue that you have an enforceable contract and sue for “specific performance.” In other words you ask fhe court to order the sale of the property in accordance with the terms of your contract. Your attorney has advised you that you do not have an enforceable contract. ‘That should bea sufficient basis for recognizing that there is little basis for attempting to recover any costs or damages. Better luck nexttite. | | | | | j Final loan approval subject to acceptable property valuation « \ |