If I follow what you're saying, you gave the info to the designer but they haven't followed up with you yet to get it inspected? I had that issue when I converted to gas; the designer (I forget which engineering company was contracted at the time to spec/etc but the designer was not a BGE employee) was incommunicative so I ended up calling BGE directly to explain the situation and asked for their help. The designer's manager called me within a couple of days to apologize and we got the inspection scheduled. So, you may have to go over the designer's head. In my case it was BGE that was actually really helpful in getting it moved along. Not sure where your bottleneck is, but hope it gets straightened out soon.

Meeeeoooowww...

I, in fact, am not a cat.

I just went to log into my BGE account online and this notice was at the top of the page: "Customer bills will increase effective with usage starting on Jan. 1, 2023 and as authorized by the Maryland Public Service Commission. The average residential electric bill will increase by $2.97 per month and the average residential natural gas bill will increase by $3.08 per month. See bge.com/myp (link) for details".

So a rate hike is one contributing factor at least.

Edit to add: My bill is $68 higher for the last billing cycle (Nov-Dec). My online account lists the likely reasons why- "Weather" and "Increased usage".

Barre Circle/East end of Pigtown. TONS of medical students, professors, medical residents. Most students rent but some own. Ridgely's Delight is also within walking distance.

MLK & Wash Blvd still in business.

Yeah, it's pretty annoying not being able to determine what costs what. Good luck with your bathroom remodel. I've got one on my to do list too.

I'm not sure. I was under the impression that at least some types of permits have to be pulled by a licensed contractor/electrician/plumber. I hope you don't mean the company was going to charge you thousands for just handling the permitting, that's been just a nominal fee when I've had it done, or they don't charge at all. Word to the wise, check to see that permits have been pulled if the contractor said they are doing it. I caught an electrician pulling a fast one in that regard and it almost delayed a house closing.

I haven't seen the slamming on the breaks so much, but I do see people gun it and drive like complete dicks when they know they are out of camera range.

Valves aren't cosmetic, nor is updating the GFCI even if it's in the same place. That's interesting they offered a permit waiver for something the city requires. Saves them from you, but not you from the city or protect you from a rejected insurance claim should something go wrong. Editing to add: a lot of people do relatively minor electrical and plumbing work on their homes without issue, and no one is the wiser.

I'm going to have to get off my butt and start shopping around again. That is very inexpensive compared to what I pay.

Geico also raised my rates for inflation. I pay about $600/6 months now. I have an excellent driving record but given the high cost of vehicles and medical care I requested high liability limits just in case. People have suggested Erie, but they were more expensive than Geico. Inertia prevailed and I stopped shopping around at the moment.

Came here to say this!

Also, once you get your bills, register for the water portal. You can track your usage and set up alerts, see billing and payment history (yes, most people pay their water bills), etc.

https://waterbillportal.baltimorecity.gov/#Login

You can appeal, but FYI homes are usually only get a "fresh" reassessment when they are purchased because based on current value (what you paid). This causes a lot of discrepancies between similar properties, because people that have had their homes for a very long time are often not subject to that and the Homestead Tax Credit keeps their taxes in check (as will yours also going forward). When I bought my house, it hadn't be re-assessed in over 20 years. I appealed because they assessed it over what I paid, the condition was a bit less good than the comps they used, and there were errors in the info they used to make the assessment. They get that info from a 3rd party provider I was told.

My title company made sure I knew to do this. I'm surprised that so many people don't seem to get this information from their realtor or title company.

I was going to suggest Fivex3, but OP said treadmill and bikes, and there aren't those there. Plenty of ways to get some cardio in by lifting, straps, and body weight exercises though. Highly recommend Fivex3 for anyone that can afford it. The personalized coaching makes it worth it. Edit: Fivex3 does have some spin cycles. Forgot about those.

I appealed and won. I asked for a copy of the information that the assessment was based on, and asked for an in-person meeting. I brought with me what basically was a mini-thesis I put together of comps that I asked my realtor to pull, printed out listings/pics of the properties recently sold in my neighborhood, pics of my house, etc, to make my case. I found some errors in the info they had (for example I do not have a finished basement) and the pictures of my house showed I did not have the kitchen or bathroom renovations shown in the listings of homes that recently sold. The assessor I met with was easy to speak with and I didn't get push back in light of what I showed. Good luck!

Related, pro tip for traveling- get one of those small Anker PowerCore chargers or similar. They are good for more than a few phone charges.

That may be, but it's not an immediate public safety-of-others issue is what I was trying to convey. I had a good friend killed by a reckless driver, no friends killed by someone eating a candy bar.

I'm all for limiting how fast cars can go, I think that's a public safety issue.

Candy bars... not so much, that comes down to personal responsibility and self harm; until people start swerving in and out of the candy aisle causing bodily harm to others, that is.

As for the constant monitoring? What happens when someone gets mugged? There is a huge push to ferret out every doorbell cam and security system camera that might have video of what happened. So, people don't want monitoring until they want monitoring. Cell phones seem to be the exception.

I'll add that I'm typing off the top of my head and have not put much real thought into the topics.

Joe did repointing work for me and did a really great job, so I had him come out to look at some other work that needed to be done. He said he'd get back to me about it, then ghosted me. Disappointing.

I have one. Switched to T-Mobile over a year ago. $50/mo, fast. Loving life.

They sped like that down MLK yesterday afternoon too and headed on to I-95. Edit: Nevermind, it may have been yesterday morning, the same as you saw. My dog walks are all running together in my head.

I know some people who won the dollar house lottery and still live in their fixed up houses. One had no roof when they bought it! I've heard some interesting stories about how all that played out; the process wasn't without it's tribulations.