Real Music & Real Estate . . .

Yiddishe Cup’s bandleader, Bert Stratton, is Klezmer Guy.
 

He knows about the band biz and – check this out – the real estate biz, too.
 

You may not care about the real estate biz. Hey, you may not care about the band biz. (See you.)
 

This is a blog with a gamy twist. It features tenants with snakes and skunks, and musicians with smoked fish in their pockets.
 

Stratton has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post.


 
 

HOW LONG DO THINGS LAST?

by Bert Stratton

Always mark the date. Here is what I’ve learned from marking dates:

Jogging shoes last 6 months.

Bathing suits, 3 years.

Eyeglasses, 6 years.

Stoves, 25 years.

Dishwashers, 18 years (a good dishwasher). [Dang, my 5-year-old KitchenAid — a good brand — is out cold today. Won’t start.]

Refrigerators — a good one, 25 years. (Frigidaire brand, 10 years.)

how long things lastLeather gloves from Sam’s Store, Ann Arbor, 2 years.

Battery for a Shark vacuum cleaner, 8 months.

Screw-in fluorescent bulbs. They do not last anywhere near the claimed 5-to-7 years. Try 2 years.

I had a Hardwick gas stove at a rental property for 36 years. The stove was made in Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1974, junked in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2010. The broiler door fell apart. The stove top still worked.

P.S. I have information on the “useful life” of condensate pumps, hot water tanks and boilers, too. Spare me, you say. OK.

—

Irwin Weinberger and I play at Gigi’s on Fairmount, Cleveland Heights, 7-9 p.m. next Wed.,May 13. Be there! We’ll play jazz standards and some klezmer.

IR & B B&W poster

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7 comments

1 Irwin Weinberger { 05.06.15 at 9:32 am }

Guitar strings – three weeks, artist paint brushes – two months, Microwave – seven years, denim jacket – 12 years (hated to throw that out).

2 William Jones { 05.06.15 at 2:05 pm }

You are so right, Bert. Of course, it pays off only in the long term as you indicate and it should be something of substantial value to make the effort worthwhile. And after all is said and done, products have variable lives as the auto companies have found it. So it’s best to make a judgement based on the widest possible statistics, such as one might find with Consumer Reports, for example.

3 marc { 05.06.15 at 2:37 pm }

I can get you some great deals on LED bulbs, which will outlast the cfl many times. They are subsidized by our local utility.

4 Ken Goldberg { 05.07.15 at 9:31 am }

Do you ever look at the predicted number of HOURS on a lightbulb?
Classic, handmade-made eyewear by an excellent designer/manufacturer: lifetime.
Fleet of identical plastic eyeglasses: 75-90 years.
Interpretation of “last” (as in “how long things last”) can be a bit sticky….

5 Dave Rowe { 05.07.15 at 1:17 pm }

-A Good Caffeine Buzz – 2 hrs. 17 seconds
-Recovering from a Good Caffeine Buzz – 1 hr. 38 seconds

6 JACK { 05.09.15 at 10:40 pm }

more!

7 David Korn { 05.18.15 at 10:22 am }

Bert, As of last Thursday (5-14) I’ve lasted 64 years. I am not as serviceable as I was before, so this whole concept of ‘last’ needs further examination.

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