I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[Artygal90]

Anyone care to recommend a good diy home security system? Just talked to my neighbor (city cop) and the lady next to me (divorced mid 50s) and whoever is living with her are “using” and the neighbor on the other side of her thinks they broke in or tried to break into his garage.

I’d noticed weird stuff lately. She put a towel up over her pedestrian garage door so no one could see in and a sign that said no trespassing. ((My neighborhood is generally considered extremely safe). And she had a security camera with wires hanging out her window over her garage. Which makes me wonder what the heck is going on in the house.Ugh.

We have SimpliSafe. Really easy to set up, easy to customize for your needs, monitoring is $25/month, and you can usually get an offer for it from Amex. Just make sure to use your own mounting tape - if a sensor falls off the wall while you are away it will trigger an alarm and the cops will come! (Ask me how I know D: )

 

[DaveL]

Anyone care to recommend a good diy home security system? Just talked to my neighbor (city cop) and the lady next to me (divorced mid 50s) and whoever is living with her are “using” and the neighbor on the other side of her thinks they broke in or tried to break into his garage.

I’d noticed weird stuff lately. She put a towel up over her pedestrian garage door so no one could see in and a sign that said no trespassing. ((My neighborhood is generally considered extremely safe). And she had a security camera with wires hanging out her window over her garage. Which makes me wonder what the heck is going on in the house.Ugh.

Easiest to start with is a Ring doorbell, works well and has a large field of view if your doorbell faces to the street and has a good view. From there I am not sure of stuff on the cheaper end, I used to do boarder security/command and control systems so I use hard wired PoE cameras and Blue Iris NVR.

 

[amalone1013]

Here's what I've been up to under Stay at Home.... besides working a bunch still

I made a new friend!



This kitty moved into our barn. It took about a week going from her running on sight to crawling in my lap

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Anyone care to recommend a good diy home security system? Just talked to my neighbor (city cop) and the lady next to me (divorced mid 50s) and whoever is living with her are “using” and the neighbor on the other side of her thinks they broke in or tried to break into his garage.

I’d noticed weird stuff lately. She put a towel up over her pedestrian garage door so no one could see in and a sign that said no trespassing. ((My neighborhood is generally considered extremely safe). And she had a security camera with wires hanging out her window over her garage. Which makes me wonder what the heck is going on in the house.Ugh.

I second the Ring recommendation. We have 2 Ring doorbells, a Floodlight cam, and a Spotlight cam. Between the four they cover all 4 sides of our house. They all work really well and alerts can be customized to your liking/preferences.

 

[Brandilla]

Anyone care to recommend a good diy home security system? Just talked to my neighbor (city cop) and the lady next to me (divorced mid 50s) and whoever is living with her are “using” and the neighbor on the other side of her thinks they broke in or tried to break into his garage.

I’d noticed weird stuff lately. She put a towel up over her pedestrian garage door so no one could see in and a sign that said no trespassing. ((My neighborhood is generally considered extremely safe). And she had a security camera with wires hanging out her window over her garage. Which makes me wonder what the heck is going on in the house.Ugh.

We use Wyze cameras. They are pretty inexpensive (Around $40 or less, typically) but rated highly. Good luck!

 

[havaneselover]

Home Depot seems to have a nice supply so I can cash out some MRs And my ex will install since I'm useless when it comes to anything mechanical.

 

[Artygal90]

Here's what I've been up to under Stay at Home.... besides working a bunch still

I made a new friend!

View attachment 494741

This kitty moved into our barn. It took about a week going from her running on sight to crawling in my lap

She’s gorgeous!

 

[thevalley]

Has anyone gotten a waived annual fee on the citibiz aa card? Or a retention offer?

 

[Albort]

Has anyone gotten a waived annual fee on the citibiz aa card? Or a retention offer?

flyertalk has a list. here are the last 3.

12/21/2019: First renewal, only spent minimum spend. First line agent offered 1k miles w/ $500 spend, declined. Retentions offered $99 credit with $1k spend in 3 months, accepted.
1/20/2020: Have had card over 4 years. Initial reps refused to transfer to retention dept. On the 60th day of fee (last day to get $ back), was transferred and offered $99 credit if spent $3K in 3 months.
5/7/2020: 37 days to get fee back. Was transferred by representative immediately to retention dept. Offered $99 credit after spending $1K in 3 months OR 7,500 AAdvantage miles after $1K spend. Have had over 3 years.

 

[miztressuz]

Dh said the downside is it won’t reflect those long term payments on my credit report which may affect my score even more

Similar to @palhockeymomof2 , hubby has never had a mortgage. He has had other installment loans like a student loan and car loans. Like CCs they stay on your CR after they've been closed. His score stays around 830 (but we have longer credit history under our belts). So it's not as much of a concern if you have other installment options available. AFAIK the big thing with the mortgage is it gives that mix of credit scoring models like to see, but other installment loans with revolving credit seem to work just as well.

Just something to consider as you evaluate your options.

 

[punkin]

Here's what I've been up to under Stay at Home.... besides working a bunch still

I made a new friend!

View attachment 494741

This kitty moved into our barn. It took about a week going from her running on sight to crawling in my lap

She's beautiful!

 

[PaintsWithAllTheColors]

DH and I were just discussing buying a resale DVC contract... I wanted a small 75pt contract, he wants at least 150. Eek... we will wait until the fall to make an offer. But we looked at the different resorts and the point charts... He prefers BLT and BRV... I prefer BCV, but would be fine at either of his choices.

Yay! Can’t wait for you to hear “Welcome home”! For what it’s worth, DH and I are considering adding on and have seriously considered all of those options.

I think we’ll end up going with BCV for this reason: it’s the hardest to get at the 7 month window. During our research it seems that if you want to stay at BCV, you better own there. Whereas the other two you mentioned are generally easier to transfer into at the 7 month window. Of course there are all sorts of caveats, etc., but this is what we found during our research. Hope that helps!

 

[pillow]

Thanks! I just got my reward from the cruise last June. My membership renewed in July so I will plan on downgrading until I figure out what we are doing with the placeholders. Even with a full priced upgrade I would probably be ahead since I'd have 2 rooms

I upgraded a couple weeks prior to our Feb cruise. I can confirm that they do prorate.

 

[wendow]

Anyone care to recommend a good diy home security system? Just talked to my neighbor (city cop) and the lady next to me (divorced mid 50s) and whoever is living with her are “using” and the neighbor on the other side of her thinks they broke in or tried to break into his garage.

I’d noticed weird stuff lately. She put a towel up over her pedestrian garage door so no one could see in and a sign that said no trespassing. ((My neighborhood is generally considered extremely safe). And she had a security camera with wires hanging out her window over her garage. Which makes me wonder what the heck is going on in the house.Ugh.

We have SimpliSafe as well. We installed it when we moved into this house 7 years ago. We'd always had hardwired security systems but this house is older and it had a hardwired system but a lot of the wired were cut or frayed and I wanted something I knew would work. Our neighborhood is very safe as well but my house was broken into when I was a teen and I just sleep a lot better at night with a security system.

We are actually considering getting a new SimpliSafe system. We bought ours back when they were new'ish and they've come out with a lot better products in the last 7 years than what we have. Waiting on a good Amex offer

 

[wendow]

Yay! Can’t wait for you to hear “Welcome home”! For what it’s worth, DH and I are considering adding on and have seriously considered all of those options.

I think we’ll end up going with BCV for this reason: it’s the hardest to get at the 7 month window. During our research it seems that if you want to stay at BCV, you better own there. Whereas the other two you mentioned are generally easier to transfer into at the 7 month window. Of course there are all sorts of caveats, etc., but this is what we found during our research. Hope that helps!

I would agree with you completely. I think when we add on (and we definitely will...!), it will be at BCV. I stalk the site like crazy and rarely can find even one night there, much less a few nights.

 

[disfanforlife]

I would agree with you completely. I think when we add on (and we definitely will...!), it will be at BCV. I stalk the site like crazy and rarely can find even one night there, much less a few nights.

We have had some luck getting BCV at 7 months but never a studio. We wanted to buy there when we added on but couldn’t find a contract. Found a great one at BWV and have been happy there too.

 

[disfanforlife]

DH and I were just discussing buying a resale DVC contract... I wanted a small 75pt contract, he wants at least 150. Eek... we will wait until the fall to make an offer. But we looked at the different resorts and the point charts... He prefers BLT and BRV... I prefer BCV, but would be fine at either of his choices.

Any of the 3 sound good to me! I have been trying to convince my DH to do another add on. I hope that you can find a good contract in the fall.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Anyone care to recommend a good diy home security system? Just talked to my neighbor (city cop) and the lady next to me (divorced mid 50s) and whoever is living with her are “using” and the neighbor on the other side of her thinks they broke in or tried to break into his garage.

I’d noticed weird stuff lately. She put a towel up over her pedestrian garage door so no one could see in and a sign that said no trespassing. ((My neighborhood is generally considered extremely safe). And she had a security camera with wires hanging out her window over her garage. Which makes me wonder what the heck is going on in the house.Ugh.

Easiest to start with is a Ring doorbell, works well and has a large field of view if your doorbell faces to the street and has a good view. From there I am not sure of stuff on the cheaper end, I used to do boarder security/command and control systems so I use hard wired PoE cameras and Blue Iris NVR.

Oof... hope you're not living next to the trap house.

But I agree with the recommendation for a Ring-style camera. You'd be amazed at how many cases we have with Ring videos where we're at least able to get a good clear picture of someone to start off with.

 

[havaneselover]

Oof... hope you're not living next to the trap house.

But I agree with the recommendation for a Ring-style camera. You'd be amazed at how many cases we have with Ring videos where we're at least able to get a good clear picture of someone to start off with.

What is a trap house? Ugh.

Okay--I googled it. I don't have a clue what's going on but it's not good. I do have really good neighobors who are always out and about so during the day I feel safe.

I'm looking at a Ring Doorbell and either one spotlight cam and a floodlight cam or two floodlight cams. My ex can install. I did find a simplisafe offer on Amex. I'm thinking I'm okay without in house security--just want cameras for now.

And I told my 13-year old lap dog we needed a German Sheppard and she was not amused

 

[DisneyMandC]

What is a trap house? Ugh.

Okay--I googled it. I don't have a clue what's going on but it's not good. I do have really good neighobors who are always out and about so during the day I feel safe.

I'm looking at a Ring Doorbell and either one spotlight cam and a floodlight cam or two floodlight cams. My ex can install. I did find a simplisafe offer on Amex. I'm thinking I'm okay without in house security--just want cameras for now.

And I told my 13-year old lap dog we needed a German Sheppard and she was not amused

Lol don’t worry, I’m sure it’s extremely unlikely that that’s happening. I don’t mean to sound alarmist, but neighborhood break-ins are a lot more common than you think. Just remember to keep your doors locked, particularly your car doors, and keep an eye out for unusual activity like increased foot traffic or multiple different vehicles showing up nearby. A locked door is often enough to deter most neighborhood thiefs.