Friday, October 24, 2008
Sweat Equity: What You Need To Know
Q. SWEAT EQUITY - What does it mean?
A. If your home was ever considered a place to just hang your hat, reconsider the thought carefully. It is the greatest asset you can have as few things in life acquire equity. So you have to think of how to improve it's value, what to do, when to do it and when not to.
First off, when you hire someone, lets say at $40 per hour and you have a job that pays $30 an hour; it does not make sense to do the work yourself. Now if this statement sounds strange, think about this. The guy or gal that is performing the work is paying for insurances that you would not. Do not carry the types of insurances that they do is asking for trouble.
The worse part is that they more likely know more than you. To top it off, they have the tools. No offense to the experienced homeowner but there are just some tools that you cannot afford to buy for a one time use and call it a "good investment". Renting tools is always the best option but when it gets right down to it, can you afford the time to do this, get the materials and still do as good as they can for under $40 per hour? Didn't think so.
Secondly, are you really honest with yourself? Have you ever said I can do that in x amount of time only to find out it took many more hours to get it done and maybe it was not done right? It is the good old theory of "I can do that, for less money and it will be the best." Ok, so who is going to repair the bad parts if it needs to get done right? It makes that $40 per hour look pretty good.,
You have a girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, and family; do they enjoy spending time with you, and you with them? Do you plan weekend outings, trips, quality time together, and school night activities? Well it is time to say goodbye to it all if the project is over your head to begin with. You better get a large calendar as the evenings and weekends may be gone for quite some time. It will drain you of spare time, that golfing you enjoy, that TV show you are addicted to or just make you so tired that you cannot perform well at your normal job. This is what I call Imagination Gone Wild.
I have always gotten a laugh out of the "sweat equity" statements. When this first came about, it was the best marketing tool around to get more potential homeowners to build their new home, maybe that nice addition or some interior improvements that required a professional to start it off and then you finish it. You probably heard the stories, "we will build the foundation and rough frame it, and you can do the rest, trust me." Yeah, right! The words echoed in your head at night, the next day you go buy that dream package and then it hits you, "what I thought I was saving is not saving anymore" unless you were absolutely honest with yourself. This seems to be the one major flaw with everyone, lack of honesty within us.
Maybe you should have asked some more questions to yourself? You know that Imagination Gone Wild stuff. The questions should have been:
Do I have the tools and know how to use them?
Do I know how things went together so I can take it apart?,
Can I totally envision what I want for an end product?
Do I really have the time to do this and sustain my 40-hour a week job?
Do I really know my own limitations?
For those that are so lucky, they can save money-doing things themselves. It is a heavy commitment and burden on the entire family. The sweat equity game is in the mind of the beholder. If you can believe it and are honest with yourself, do it. If not, reconsider your options.
To make sweat equity really work for you and not against you, you really need to understand the scope of the project. This means reading blueprints, if applicable, how to schedule the job, knowing what goes first, why and when to order things and when to install them and avoid the one step forward and two step back routine. What you do as a game plan should be followed. Once you start a project, you cannot go back and start over or you will be losing money! If you need to hire someone professional to do part if not all of it, then do not hesitate. It is going to be money well spent as we are talking about an investment that should have return at time of sale.
Advice: A good Do-it-Yourself project is one that you "honestly" can do it all yourself. Simple answer but hard for most to accept.
A. If your home was ever considered a place to just hang your hat, reconsider the thought carefully. It is the greatest asset you can have as few things in life acquire equity. So you have to think of how to improve it's value, what to do, when to do it and when not to.
First off, when you hire someone, lets say at $40 per hour and you have a job that pays $30 an hour; it does not make sense to do the work yourself. Now if this statement sounds strange, think about this. The guy or gal that is performing the work is paying for insurances that you would not. Do not carry the types of insurances that they do is asking for trouble.
The worse part is that they more likely know more than you. To top it off, they have the tools. No offense to the experienced homeowner but there are just some tools that you cannot afford to buy for a one time use and call it a "good investment". Renting tools is always the best option but when it gets right down to it, can you afford the time to do this, get the materials and still do as good as they can for under $40 per hour? Didn't think so.
Secondly, are you really honest with yourself? Have you ever said I can do that in x amount of time only to find out it took many more hours to get it done and maybe it was not done right? It is the good old theory of "I can do that, for less money and it will be the best." Ok, so who is going to repair the bad parts if it needs to get done right? It makes that $40 per hour look pretty good.,
You have a girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, and family; do they enjoy spending time with you, and you with them? Do you plan weekend outings, trips, quality time together, and school night activities? Well it is time to say goodbye to it all if the project is over your head to begin with. You better get a large calendar as the evenings and weekends may be gone for quite some time. It will drain you of spare time, that golfing you enjoy, that TV show you are addicted to or just make you so tired that you cannot perform well at your normal job. This is what I call Imagination Gone Wild.
I have always gotten a laugh out of the "sweat equity" statements. When this first came about, it was the best marketing tool around to get more potential homeowners to build their new home, maybe that nice addition or some interior improvements that required a professional to start it off and then you finish it. You probably heard the stories, "we will build the foundation and rough frame it, and you can do the rest, trust me." Yeah, right! The words echoed in your head at night, the next day you go buy that dream package and then it hits you, "what I thought I was saving is not saving anymore" unless you were absolutely honest with yourself. This seems to be the one major flaw with everyone, lack of honesty within us.
Maybe you should have asked some more questions to yourself? You know that Imagination Gone Wild stuff. The questions should have been:
Do I have the tools and know how to use them?
Do I know how things went together so I can take it apart?,
Can I totally envision what I want for an end product?
Do I really have the time to do this and sustain my 40-hour a week job?
Do I really know my own limitations?
For those that are so lucky, they can save money-doing things themselves. It is a heavy commitment and burden on the entire family. The sweat equity game is in the mind of the beholder. If you can believe it and are honest with yourself, do it. If not, reconsider your options.
To make sweat equity really work for you and not against you, you really need to understand the scope of the project. This means reading blueprints, if applicable, how to schedule the job, knowing what goes first, why and when to order things and when to install them and avoid the one step forward and two step back routine. What you do as a game plan should be followed. Once you start a project, you cannot go back and start over or you will be losing money! If you need to hire someone professional to do part if not all of it, then do not hesitate. It is going to be money well spent as we are talking about an investment that should have return at time of sale.
Advice: A good Do-it-Yourself project is one that you "honestly" can do it all yourself. Simple answer but hard for most to accept.
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/sweatequity
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Sweat Equity Put to Use on a Farm in Sight of Wall St.
by Jim Dwyer, 7 Oct. 2008
The first and hardest part was deciding which crop to take to market from the farm in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
All arguments were charged with the stainless-steel passion of 15-year-olds.
“Corn,” Narcisso Rosado said.
“Raspberry jam,” said Malcom Walker.
“Mine was the best idea,” said Aseel Al Waqza. “Lemon sorrel. A juice drink from it.”
He paused. “It just didn’t taste that good,” he said.
“In the end, everyone agreed with our idea,” Nickeisha Hayden said. “The mint tea.”
Red Hook, an ancient finger of city waterfront that is lined with the husks of faded industry and old piers, sits two clear miles across New York Harbor from Wall Street. It is another galaxy.
There, on nearly three acres of asphalt that have been covered with 18 inches of topsoil, the Red Hook Community Farm operates in an economy that rises from the actual, not the imaginary: lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, collard greens, arugula, dandelion, radicchio, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, beets, radishes, squash, cucumber, zucchini, and beans and herbs — oregano, sage, thyme, mint, six different basils.
“And carrots,” Narcisso said. “I love to eat them.”
The ground is worked by a squad of teenagers who come from across Brooklyn, in a program run by Added Value, a nonprofit organization. On Saturdays, they operate a farmers’ market, selling produce grown in Red Hook and on other local farms. Brooklyn restaurants buy from the farm.
This is sweat equity, not the steroid equity across the harbor.
About 30 families bring their food waste for the farm’s compost heap; an additional 1,000 pounds comes from the four Rice restaurants in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, delivered in a van fueled by the restaurants’ used vegetable oil. And, says Ian Marvy, one of the founders of Added Value, the farmers may soon get spent grain from Six Forks brewery in Brooklyn, and the crushed grape skins from the Red Hook Brooklyn winery, which recently pressed its first barrels.
About eight years ago, Mr. Marvy, then working in the Red Hook Youth Court, was walking with a teenager named Timothy. Mr. Marvy plucked a dandelion green from the ground and chewed on it. Timothy was disgusted.
“I started talking about healthy eating,” Mr. Marvy said. “He wasn’t interested. The nutrition in leafy greens. Didn’t care.
“Then I asked him to imagine the business that could be made from the produce on a 10-by-10 plot.”
This grabbed Timothy, whose family was in the heroin trade. By way of example, Mr. Marvy said they could make a tincture from dandelion root, which is sold as a remedy for various ailments. “It was going then for $9 a bottle,” Mr. Marvy said. “We could sell it below the market for $7. The bottle and the dropper would cost $1. So from that 10-by-10 plot, you could make $600, $700. Because of his family’s business, he really understood costs and return on investment.
“He said, ‘Do you have a job for me?’ ” No, Mr. Marvy did not. But the question propelled Mr. Marvy and Michael Hurwitz, who also worked in the youth court, toward the creation of Added Value and the farm, which they set up on a little-used asphalt lot owned by the city’s parks department. More than 5,000 kids have visited with their classes. About 135 teenagers have steady after-school jobs, receiving monthly stipends that range from $125 to $400 — and plenty of free vegetables.
“It’s more than a job,” said Kimberly Vargas, 19, who has been coming to Red Hook from Crown Heights since she was 15, a trek of an hour by bus and subway. “It’s my go-to place.”
Ms. Vargas said the farm showed that food did not have to come from some distant, unseen place. And Vanessa Nimblett, 14, said she had come around to the idea of collaboration. “Doing a bed — I can do it better with a group,” she said. “Weed it, turn it, rake it, seed it.”
Tariq Alexis, 15, nodded. “It brought me out of my shell,” he said.
Aseel’s grandfather, a farmer in Yemen, heard about the honest work being done in a corner of America’s biggest city.
“He’s proud of me, that I found a job like this,” Aseel said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/nyregion/08about.html?ref=nyregion
The first and hardest part was deciding which crop to take to market from the farm in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
All arguments were charged with the stainless-steel passion of 15-year-olds.
“Corn,” Narcisso Rosado said.
“Raspberry jam,” said Malcom Walker.
“Mine was the best idea,” said Aseel Al Waqza. “Lemon sorrel. A juice drink from it.”
He paused. “It just didn’t taste that good,” he said.
“In the end, everyone agreed with our idea,” Nickeisha Hayden said. “The mint tea.”
Red Hook, an ancient finger of city waterfront that is lined with the husks of faded industry and old piers, sits two clear miles across New York Harbor from Wall Street. It is another galaxy.
There, on nearly three acres of asphalt that have been covered with 18 inches of topsoil, the Red Hook Community Farm operates in an economy that rises from the actual, not the imaginary: lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, collard greens, arugula, dandelion, radicchio, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, beets, radishes, squash, cucumber, zucchini, and beans and herbs — oregano, sage, thyme, mint, six different basils.
“And carrots,” Narcisso said. “I love to eat them.”
The ground is worked by a squad of teenagers who come from across Brooklyn, in a program run by Added Value, a nonprofit organization. On Saturdays, they operate a farmers’ market, selling produce grown in Red Hook and on other local farms. Brooklyn restaurants buy from the farm.
This is sweat equity, not the steroid equity across the harbor.
About 30 families bring their food waste for the farm’s compost heap; an additional 1,000 pounds comes from the four Rice restaurants in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, delivered in a van fueled by the restaurants’ used vegetable oil. And, says Ian Marvy, one of the founders of Added Value, the farmers may soon get spent grain from Six Forks brewery in Brooklyn, and the crushed grape skins from the Red Hook Brooklyn winery, which recently pressed its first barrels.
About eight years ago, Mr. Marvy, then working in the Red Hook Youth Court, was walking with a teenager named Timothy. Mr. Marvy plucked a dandelion green from the ground and chewed on it. Timothy was disgusted.
“I started talking about healthy eating,” Mr. Marvy said. “He wasn’t interested. The nutrition in leafy greens. Didn’t care.
“Then I asked him to imagine the business that could be made from the produce on a 10-by-10 plot.”
This grabbed Timothy, whose family was in the heroin trade. By way of example, Mr. Marvy said they could make a tincture from dandelion root, which is sold as a remedy for various ailments. “It was going then for $9 a bottle,” Mr. Marvy said. “We could sell it below the market for $7. The bottle and the dropper would cost $1. So from that 10-by-10 plot, you could make $600, $700. Because of his family’s business, he really understood costs and return on investment.
“He said, ‘Do you have a job for me?’ ” No, Mr. Marvy did not. But the question propelled Mr. Marvy and Michael Hurwitz, who also worked in the youth court, toward the creation of Added Value and the farm, which they set up on a little-used asphalt lot owned by the city’s parks department. More than 5,000 kids have visited with their classes. About 135 teenagers have steady after-school jobs, receiving monthly stipends that range from $125 to $400 — and plenty of free vegetables.
“It’s more than a job,” said Kimberly Vargas, 19, who has been coming to Red Hook from Crown Heights since she was 15, a trek of an hour by bus and subway. “It’s my go-to place.”
Ms. Vargas said the farm showed that food did not have to come from some distant, unseen place. And Vanessa Nimblett, 14, said she had come around to the idea of collaboration. “Doing a bed — I can do it better with a group,” she said. “Weed it, turn it, rake it, seed it.”
Tariq Alexis, 15, nodded. “It brought me out of my shell,” he said.
Aseel’s grandfather, a farmer in Yemen, heard about the honest work being done in a corner of America’s biggest city.
“He’s proud of me, that I found a job like this,” Aseel said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/nyregion/08about.html?ref=nyregion
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