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Richard1954
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Posts posted by Richard1954
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Here it is the Home Depot discount and how to sign up just down load the PDF
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On 6/9/2022 at 10:22 AM, Vync said:
I mean, you're already going to be there...
Yea I thinnk it depends on what the doctors order, mine order a scan on each segmet, but doesn't want me to do them all at once becaue of the contrast. I may not get it anyway because i have to go to waco ( and my wife is in San Antonio) and I don't drive more than a few miles, with my back and knee problems, its just to much,. I just received another offer from offerpad for $271,000 , with them you pay your own closing cost, so there is no fee, and if they want something fixed you fix the issue or pay their estimate. The will allow you to stay in the home for 90 days, and they will pay for a local move.. so the offer is nice, but I am not jumping at it.
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10 hours ago, broncovet said:
contact a local San Antonio realtor, and ask them your question.
My wife is working with a realitor in San Antonio now. We lived in the area about 9 years ago. I got tired of the traffic, other than that it was ok.
Looking on Realitor.com there are a lot of older homes that we would not even consider, but the good stuff doesn't last long.
I got an initial offer from Open door for $258,800, Zillow said my place is worth at least $267,700. It was appraised last Oct for $240,000 but prices keep going up.
I received an offer for $280 the other day, but until I actually find a place to move I am not going to list the house.
The offers I received are initial offers from cash investors, who make an initial offer and after seeing picture or a video the may offer more or less. Open Door charges a 5% fee, others charge more or less. Opendoor will make a final offer then take off the 5% fee plus the cost of items they say need to be repaired. It all a crap shoot.
I really don't want to me. I am too old and set in my ways, and I am happy were we are. But , if my son needs help for a long time, and I don't want to live alone, I have to move.
Last year, we made offers on 3 or 4 houses , hoping to downsize, but every time some investor offered $10-$20 even $30 K over the apraisal I could not compete with that. The interest rates are going to go up and the investors may stop buying and give us poor folks a chance to buy something. The problem with that, means my home will sell for a lot less if the investors stop stealing the houses.
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It should be awarded at the time of the loss of use is awarded, but watch out , the VA doesn't always do what they should do. I had to file a Cue claim when l was awarded service connection for ED, and they forget to give me the K award. They awared the K award about a month later.
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2 hours ago, broncovet said:
My Lowe's still gives the discount, except not on items already on sale.
Well here in Killeen Texas they have stopped all 10% discounts,
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3 hours ago, Dot09 said:
I wish you the best luck in your search
Thanks, I used to live In ( Near) Fayetteville NC until 2003, I kind of wish I was stil there, the cost of housing is what drove me to Texas. Now the whole country has housing cost problems...
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I spoke to my wife on the phone last night, She is in San Antonio helping my son with his young children after his wife walked out. He had a heart attack last month and is only 43 years old. So we are already concerned for his well being. Apparently the heart attack was cause by a prescribed drug. His new doctor took him off the drug, and is monitoring his recovery. I know the doctor as he treated me when I was trying to lose weight years ago. I degress.
So anyway, my wife wants to try to move to San Antonio again. I am not to happy about this development, but when you consider she is down there helping with the kids, I am at home 3-4 hours away, all alone, something has to give. My biggest concern is finding an affordable house and not being beat out of it by investors. I was offered $280,000 cash for my home this morning, but I don't think I can buy the same size houe for the same abount of money. in San Antonio. I am afraid to sell before we get a new home and my son doesn't have an extra room for us to use. In fact, he moved out of his office, that is off his 4 car garage/woodshop in the back yard, he turned half of his bedroom into an office ( he works for MS) , so that he can monitor the children when there is noone to watch them. So wish us luck in this life changing decision. I really don't want to move.
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I have withdrawn from the ILP. here is a copy of the mesage I sent to the counselor who was to do the assessment.
I have decided to withdraw from the ILP.
I am a private person, I keep my information private.
This listing of questions is too invasive concerning my finances, other personal information, and family information.
I never expect to have to go thru such an assessment, having to invite a stranger into our home , and I simply will not do it.
When I signed up for this program, I don’t remember anyone saying I would have to do such an assessment.
As far as I am concerned this is another way for the VA to discourage veterans from signing up for an ILP, that they really don’t want to provide.
Cancel the Friday assessment, I have sent an email to the VA telling them I quit the program.
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58 minutes ago, Dot09 said:
I personally don’t like the financial questions as I find that to be intrusive.
I did too and I will not answer them. Its not necessary for this benefit.
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Today I received a listing of 82 questions from the guy who was assigned to do my ILP in home assessment. He also wanted me to list all my disabilities explain what each condiiton means , and provide the rating. The last part should already be available to him thru the va. Anyway has any one receive or answered these types of question for an ILP. I think some questions are too personal for this program. I think these are his questions, they are not on a va form. I think they should be asking questions that actually pertians to the veteran, not a listing of generic questions, which do not apply to all veteaans. See the attached. I tried to block out the guys name and number if you can still read them please ignore them. If you print them out, plese blacken out the name and number again, before you pass it around. Anyway I do not want this to come back and haunt me.
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5 hours ago, Dot09 said:
I am asking Congress to compensate our grossly underpaid disabled veterans
Its a good letter, perhaps all veterns should send one like it to our represenatives. But honestly, I don't think it will accomplist anything. still it could not hurt to try.
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21 hours ago, john999 said:
Where I live housing prices have exploded since Covid.
I think this problem exist all over the United States, I know it does in Texas.
I purchased my home in 2013 @ $150K, it is now valued at $300K that is twice the value of my purchase price, and like you say its impossible to purchase any house because of the darn investors. This also started during Covid19 here in Texas.
We wanted to down size last year, but every house we found that we liked, investors were coming in with cash and making offers over the actual value. Most people cannot compete with investors, and from what I know its China doing most of this over bidding. At least in Oklahoma, the news indicated China is buying up the family farms. There should be laws prevent purchase of homes and lands from foreign entities.
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You would think the va would have considered the scars at your prior exam, and they should, but unless you ask for a rating of the scars they are not obligated to consider them.
I had knee surgery at the va in 1997, I never knew I could get a temporary 100% during the recovery period, and I never realized I could be rated for the scars. It wasn't until 2016, that an examiner measured my scars, and it was not part of my claim. However, the exam form for knees requires them to look and measure for scars. In my case my scars are not painful, so while service connected, it didn't increase my compensation.
I sugest you look at the form that was used for your last exam and see if there is a requirement on the form for them to look at and measure any scars. The new form came out in Jan 2022, so that form will not help you. If there was a requirement for them to measure the scars, and they did not , I suggest you may have a Clear and unmistakable (CUE) based on an inadaquate exam. If that exam was completed at the VA, it will be in your medical records. If it was done by a contractor, you will have to request a copy from your VA regional office.
To answer your question, no the effective date of your new rating for the scars will be the date the va Received the new claim.
Best of luck, I really think you may have a shot at CUE depending on what the examining requirments were. I say may because, the raters did not have this information in front of them in 2013, and under the rules for cue the information had to be in front of them at that time, and it they missed the information, it would be a cue, it your case, the information about the scar was not in front of them when they made the decision on the claim in 2013. CUE is not an easy call, but I suggest your try anyway, remember noting ventured nothing gained.
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I think you will need to be careful with this type of loan. I read the information at the link, and frankly I found it confusing.
As a veteran who cannot keep up with normal maintance because of my physical limitations, I am interested is a VA Renovation Loan, and what I may or may not be able to do with one. I assume that such a loan would enable someone to revenate the kitchen and bring it up to date, or add a ramp at the rear of the house. But I lthink at least in my case, there are other considerations to make before jumping into such a loan.
I wanted to refinance my loan 2 yeas ago, to reduce the intrest rate ( 3.64%) however it would actually cost me more money if I were to refinance. Why? You ask, just how can that be.
Because when I purchased this house, ( and any house) I qualify for VA mortgage insurance which is based on my age and the length of the loan. I qualified for this insurance because I was granted the VA specially adapted grant. In my case I pay about $250 a month to carry this insurance. The way the laws are written concerning the VA mortgage insurance , it is makes it prohibitive for me to refinance. I was 59 years old when I purchased this house, I am now 68. If I refinance my VA mortgage insurance would increase to about $780 a month. Even if I only refinance the amout owned on the house, the va will require me to restart the mortgage insurance, based on the new refinance loan. The money I would save by refinancing would end up being used to pay the higher mortgage insurance. While I can afford to refinance, the fact is I would only save about $6.00 a month. The return on the trouble to refinance is just not worth it for me to refinance. I have some serious medical issues, one is not service connected and I would never leave my wife without the mortgage insurance.
My only goal in life since 1999, is when I leave this world to make sure my wife will not have to worry about finances. I have seen it too often where a veteran ( or anyone) dies, and in many cases the wife is not even eligible for Survivor benefits. The first thing the wife has to do is to sell the home, and rent an apartment, and live on the proceeds of the sale, because she hasn't worked in years and she is now a senior citizen. In most cases even the social Security check is not enough to keep her above water.
So while I want to repair or make some revenations, this new renovation loan may be out of bounds for me as well. As long as I don't have to actually revenate and I keep repairs in check, the house will be fine until I go. But it would be nice to be able to revenate the home before I pass and that is just one more thing my wife will not have to worry about.
I am going to dive into this new information and see what the va mortgage insurance people say.
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I suspect you are asking how to change your email address her on hadit? If that is the case follow the steps below:
Click on your user name at the rignt top of the page, then click on account settings , then click on edit to the right of the email address to change it.
I hope this answered your question.
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11 hours ago, lee.edwards said:
Is there a good retro pay calculator I can use.
I have no idea.I do math the old fashioned way. I use a pencil and paper, first figuring out what I have alredy received and what they owe me. Although its not as simple as that sounds. One would have to know the dates, compensation rates and perhaps some other inormation, before being able to sit down and figuring it out. To tell you the truth while I understand how to figure it out, I have a bad problem of transposing numbers ( as well as letters). I usually do it three or four times before I am satisfied with my answer. My wife on the other hand can do it in her mind in a matter of seconds. My son is the same way, I guess he got the smart genes from his mother.
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Unfortunately, It is almost impossible to get a copy of exams conducted by contractors. I am still waiting on some copies that were requested 1 or 2 days after the exam took place , in some cases that has been 2 years ago. Even 2nd and 3rd request do not help. Its as if the request are being ignored. I remember the days when you could go on line a day or two after an exam and it would be available in the medical record. I don't really understand why they are not making them immediately available to the veteran if the exam was taken at the VA Mediocal Center, or elsewhere. Its as if they are afraid we will find out the results before we receive the decision.
But some decisions are talking much longer than 30 days, so that can't be the reason, can it? I know for me, when I receive a denial, the first thing I want to look at is the exam report. Sometimes it can be very apparent that the examiner did not do the job, contracted or otherwise, as I have seen this on both sides of the fence.
My left knee was recently examined again because of a faulty exam by the original examiner who is in fact a VA employer. Iranically, that examiner did the exam for my right knee as well and in that case I received an increase. Maybe she had a bad day.
The recent examiner asked me why they had requested an exam again. The lady that had done the first exam was in the next office over, and I did see her that day. I found it hard to tell her that her co-worker screwed up with the exam. Instead I told her I had was not happy with the way the denial was worded.
In any case truthfully the first examiner did a better exam than did the second examiner. At least the first examiner actually looked at and touched my knee absent my clothing. ( just rolled up paints leg) The second examiner felt my knee thru my pants leg and forced my knee into an 80 degree position, so that alone is grounds for a new appeal.
Unfornatually, I have to wait at least 30 days to see the exam before I can perfect an appeal. Both of my knee exams took place at the local VA medical Center.
As far as getting a copy of a contractor's exam within a reasonable period of time, I jusy don't have the answer, its as if the regional offices just don't care.
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congratulation on your win. That will be quite a bit of back pay, spend it well. A vacation seems like a nice way to celebrate.
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Well I congratulate you, but I am sure its not a club most of us want to belong too.
Now that you have won the war, take a break, relax and enjoy life to its fullest....
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On a roll.. I don't know about that, what I have read though is that we can look forward to an 8 or 9 percent cost of living increase in 2023. They way things are going I thing that projection is off by a few points. We will just have to wait and see, and hope we don't go bankrupt in the meantime.
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They may have requested a new C/P exam because the first exam left some unanswered questions. Its also possible that the first exam you had by the contractor may be one of the thousands conducted that someone has identified as having a problem. I am sorry to hear of your Kidney problems.
My oldest friend has faced the same problems with his kidneys and he undergoes dialysis 2 or 3 times a week. I wish you the best, and hope you claim is decided in your favor.
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1 hour ago, broncovet said:
You could write multiple congressmen/congresswomen
I am well aware of who holds the purse strings, and I never expected my phone call to do anymore than allow me to spout off. As to writing multiple congresscritters, I have tried that before and not one even acknowledged my letter. Frankly contacting congresscritters or anyone with power is a waste of time, at least when it comes to veterans affairs issues. All they ever do is send a copy of your letter to the VA. and then the VA answers you letters with lies (been there done that).
My biggest surprise was finding that the Whitehouse does not monitor the Hotline, of course I should have expected this was the case. I don't usually get upset over something I can't do anything about because it just seems like wasted energy.
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I wonder how many veterans have called the Whitehouse Hotline... and more important how many veterans actually had their concerned addressed?
I just made a call this morning, my call concerned the new inflation rate of 8.6% and Disabled Veteran Compensation.
First, I don't expect my call to generate any concern for veterans, in fact the call isn't even answerd by Whitehouse personnal, its answered by employees of
the VA. ( Who knew) Had I know this upfront, I would not have bothered to waste my time, ( regardless it was probability a waste of time anyway).
I basically asked what the Whitehouse, or President was going to do for Veterans concerning inflation and Veteran Compensation, I indicated this president has not
done a darn thing for veterans since he was elected, except get our soldiers killed in Afghanistan. With that said the guy on the other end didn't
say anything except hello and goodby. One thing I am sure of is no matter when a veteran calls the hotline the odds are that nothing will be done to help veterans.
Normally I would not have made such a call, ( In fact, I believe if you have no control over something, why worry about it, because worry won't help) but recently my wife (of almost 50
years) has been going back and forth to San Antonio to help my son care for his young Children. Its not that he cannot afford a babysitter, but his wife recently walked out and he/we
don't think the children should be rushed off to a babys sitter at this time.
It use to cost about $35 for a round trip, to San Antonio and Back to Killeen, Now it cost over $100 a round trip. Sometimes she makes the trip twice a week, this week she has not
been home once. Factually. like most Americans, I have seen our savings go down quicker than we would have expected and its all because of Inflation.
Anyway I felt the need to vent, knowing it doesn't really help. Have a good day all.
Active duty medical records
in VA Disability Claims Research
Posted · Edited by Richard1954
When I retired in 1986 I was handed my active duty medical records as I was handed my walking papers at Fort Dix.
Back in my day they were still using microfich and data punch cards , we didn't have digitial records.
I still have my original records, my wife's, and children's as well. Now they may have screwed up giving them to me, I don't know.
I do know that they make new medical record files when you go to a medical hospital after you retire. I also carried them around with me when we moved from state to state. When I left Fort Bragg, after my forced retirement from civil service, and moved to Texas, they would not let me have my records back. I was ticked! so from then on I made sure anytime I went to a military hospital , I got a copy of the record before I left the hospital.
After the medical retirement from civil service in 1999., I started to scour my active duty records, looking for any thing I though I could claim.
On my first claim to the VA, I gave the va an entire copy of my active duty records, as I filed out my VA paperwork at Fort Dix.