-
Sponsors
-
Archives
-
Blogroll
-
Subscribe Now
Search
May
15
Should you upgrade your house to help sell it?
May 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment
There was a recent Wall Street Journal Article that talked about if you should upgrade your house and if it would be worth doing. With the way the market is looking right now in a lot of areas throughout the country, it definitely is a dangerous gamble. There are some pros to it as well as some serious cons that you have to consider.
It should come as no surprise that the remodeling activity peaked in 2006 (Wasn’t that when the housing market peaked) and has slowed down since. While that may mean your local Home Dept/Lowes is not filled to the brim with people working on a housing project because the owners know that they cannot recoup the expense.
If you are unsure of when you will move and you want to upgrade, what you need to do is worry about what you want in your house. I have spent far too much time worrying about how much doing this or that will do when selling my house. The problem is that I know the location of my house will make it hard, which means it will take some time before selling.
As I have talked about here as well, I recently did a minor bathroom upgraded. Yes, it did cost me a decent chunk of change (Somewhere around $600 or so dollars) but I did it for a few reasons. The first is because I hated the old bathroom. If I could have just set the linoleum on fire, I probably would have.
The second and really the big reason that I did it was because I wanted to learn how to do it. I was lucky enough to have my father in law help me (By help I mean he did it and I watched). But in the end, I am confident that I can do something similar now. What that means to me is that in our next house, we can can make some improvements if need be in the long run. I would also say that it may mean we can but a fixer upper, I don’t know if my wife would necessarily agree with me about that (She doesn’t respect my skills that much).
And the third and final reason is that the work done on the bathroom will eventually help the house sell. Maybe the price tag won’t be much bigger but it should help with the time on the market (At least I really, really hope so). And with the location question mark, the sooner it can sell, the better for us if we decide to go down that route.
If you have the ability to do the work yourself and put in the so called sweat equity, my guess is that you will really help improve your house. That should allow you to sell it quicker and more efficient if you do things the right way. If you are going to hire someone to do the work, then you may need to really weigh both sides of it.
Would the $20,000 you want to put into your kitchen help the house sell? And if anything, why do you want to make these major improvements and not even enjoy them yourself? That is a tough question to answer because every housing situation is different. That kitchen upgrade may be a perfect compliment to the rest of your house and be able to be the difference to selling the house in one location. At another place, it may be too fancy for the neighborhood and end up costing far too much in the long run.
The first thing you should consider when thinking about this is when do you want to sell. Is it next month? Next year? Five years from now? And then think about what you want to do and what would help you sell your house. If those are on the same page and you have the money to do it, why not go ahead and upgrade things while you live there!
May
15
What would you tell yourself when you are 18?
May 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment
There was an article I read a while back from Debt Kid (Click here for the entire article) that talked about the things that you would tell yourself if you could go back in time. I thought about ten different major that I would try to tell myself as an 18 year old. While it was nine years ago, I can imagine how hard it would be to get the point across to my younger, cockier self. Here is my top ten, in reverse order:
10.) Take sports much less seriously
Playing Division III athletics did not stop me and some of my teammates from taking it way too seriously. While I am proud of what I accomplished throughout my career, I was playing athletics without a scholarship. So basically I was taking something way too seriously and doing it for free. That makes a lot of sense considering I rarely even play the sport now.
9.) Use your time in college to set yourself up for graduation
I talked in a previous article about how a friend of mine used college to save up a down payment for a house and then he was able to live there rent free for seven years (Click here for that article). Really, I wish I would have been able to do something similar. It would have saved me the fun of living at home for a few years (Click here for that article) and given me a nest egg to start with in life.
8.) Take more business classes and study up young man
If I had to guess when I was 18-years old, I would probably be doing computer programming or something related to website building. While that does entail part of my job, I do wish that I would have taken more business classes in college. My supposed bout with mono made me drop an accounting class. I really wish I would have finished that and taken others as well.
7.) Don’t buy a house until you have a 20% down payment and stick to that
I have talked about this before (Click here for the article) and mentioned how much I love paying PMI. If I could do it all over again, I would have not as paid off as much of the student loans that I did. Instead, I would have banked the money and used it to purchase my eventual house.
6.) Prepare for your eventual move out west
It may be tough to swallow (Or believe for that matter) but when you are a junior in college, you will meet a beautiful, athletic, and intelligent girl who will eventually bring you to Colorado. Suck it up because it is going to happen and you are going to marry her as well. The good news is that you will definitely think she is out of your league.
5.) Do more relative internships that could help you with your career
Like with school, I took the easy way out with a number of internships. There were some summer jobs that were great and helped me learn things but I took the very easy route with internships. I wish I would have challenged myself and tried to find new places where I could learn more about what I wanted to do.
4.) Start a social networking site that can make you a billion dollars
I could call it Facebook and see if there were users at different colleges that would be interested in trying it. The second option would be setting up a video site called Youtube and seeing where that could take me. Who would have ever guessed these would be worth a little bit of money now?
3.) If given the opportunity, spend more time with your family
I flat out worked too much when I was younger. It was a time where I was building up a site that I was working on and wish I would have spent more time with my family. Now that we are all apart and in different states actually, I definitely would have shown a greater appreciation for my loved ones.
2.) Start a blog earlier!
With this blog, the problem is that it takes time and many articles to get users reading it. If I had started years ago, the hard part would be over and I would have thousands of readers. Instead, the hard part is now. However, everyone reading this deserves a huge thank you for visiting the site!
1.) Take school much more seriously
I should have taken school much, much more seriously. Instead of doing a second major just for the heck of it, you should have taken relevant classes that could help you now. No offense but a second serious major for what I am doing now would have helped you big time in the long run.
May
15
Seven Money Saving Links of the Day - 5/15
May 15, 2008 | 1 Comment
The Simple Dollar had a chance to do a question and answer with Amy Dacyczyn, who authored the Tightwad Gazette. What I find really interesting is that she kept saying how retired she is. Apparently she doesn’t want part of writing anymore. Click here for the entire article.
Get Rich Slowly has a monster article about finding your own health insurance. Since I have independent coverage, this is something I actually have to look into. Click here for the entire article.
All Financial Matters takes a look at the tax cuts from President Bush. These cuts may actually favor the poor rather than the rich like everyone assumed. Click here for the entire article.
Business Week takes a look at the all popular oil price. They basically say that it is a guess whether barrels will go to $80 or $200. Click here for the entire article.
This has been a popular topic on a number of money sites but MSN Money talks about the Sallie Mae change that has really hurt the credit score of some. Click here for the entire article.
Bible Money Matters talks about using Twitter to help your blog grow. It may be worth reading. Click here for the entire article.
A guest writer to the Clever Dude blog talks about how to change your goals when your family is about to expand. Click here for the entire article.
May
14
The good and bad of a Homeowner’s Association
May 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
For those who have looked for a house or own a house, many have either good or bad feelings about a Homeowner’s Association. There are advantages and disadvantages of being in an HOA so I thought I would talk more about why you would look for one in a home search and why it needs to be avoided.
Here is what the great Wikipedia says about Homeowner’s Associations (Click here for the full link): A homeowners’ association (abbrev. HOA) is the legal entity created by a real estate developer for the purpose of developing, managing and selling a community of homes. It is given the authority to enforce the covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) and to manage the common amenities of the development. It allows the developer to legally exit responsibility of the community typically by transferring ownership of the association to the homeowners after selling off a predetermined number of lots. Most homeowners’ associations are non-profit corporations, and are subject to state statutes that govern non-profit corporations and homeowners’ associations.
Basically what it involves is a group of people within your neighborhood who either step into or get voted into positions of authority. Some HOAs meet frequently while others have yearly meeting. They approve what colors you can paint your house, push for a neighborhood yard sale, and other issues dealing within your certain neighborhood. Here are some of the good things that an HOA can bring to the table if you live in that neighborhood:
Keeps neighborhoods clean
What I mean by that is I have seen many, many houses in non HOA neighborhoods with broken down cars in their lot. While that is their choice as a home owner to leave those out front, is that what you would want to see next door as a neighbor? The HOA will also remind members that they need to shovel within a certain amount of time, which is especially important if you enjoy going for walks during the winter. Some also have restrictions on RV and boat parking. There are certain rules about those.
Keeps neighborhood consistent
The HOA can approve or deny the colors that you plan to paint your house. Again, this does depend on the actual HOA itself so keep that in mind. I know if my wife and I want to change the colors to our house, we have to first get it approved by the HOA. I can’t say I know what we would have to do but I know we would have to at least speak with them about it. While this does restrict some creativity, it keeps the neighborhood from having some strange colored houses.
Works on improving the landscape of the neighborhood
The board of HOA members do deal with watering community property. They are the ones that have to pay for it so they have to figure out how often grass and trees need to be watered.
Makes the area more of a community
The HOA may try doing small things to help unite the people throughout the neighborhood. As mentioned above, it could include neighborhood garage sales or even something like cheap tickets to the baseball game. They want the neighborhood to have a family feel through it and they may think this helps.
Out of those, I think the main advantage why my wife and I wanted to be in an HOA is because of keeping the neighborhoods clean. Here are some reasons why getting a house out of an HOA would be beneficial to you:
Save money
Regarding our HOA, we only had a one time $250 deposit to join it and have to pay nothing else in future years. I have seen houses that pay between $30 to $60 per month in HOA fees (This is not counting townhouses that have their lawn care taken care of, which can be much more expensive). While that may not seem like a lot of money, my family looked hard at a house that had an HOA fee of $50 per month. With this being our second year in the house, that would have been another $1,200 in fees. That is on top of mortgage, property tax, PMI, and anything else that they throw at you when moving into a new house. I hope they would have been working hard for that big of a chunk of money.
More freedom
If you want to park your car in your lawn or paint your house neon green, living outside of an HOA gives you the opportunity to do that. It really does give you more freedom and the choices to do whatever you want with your RV and boat. The restrictions of an HOA really are not for everyone so living outside of it may be better for some.
You really only have to worry about yourself
Without anyone needing money to water a neighborhood park, all of your money goes to you. You are not having to worry about other people, especially if you have no idea what exactly they are watering. You can focus on putting that money every month into your own lawn and fixing up your house.
An HOA really should become a factor in your house search. But if you find that perfect house and you disagree with the covenant that the HOA currently has, it may be tough to change it. Most real estate websites do list if it is in an HOA and the monthly costs for it. Think about that when looking for a home and doing your searches online.
May
14
Foreclosures and Bargains: Is it possible?
May 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you have had a chance to watch any of the real estate infomercials over the past years, many times the people on the videos talk about foreclosures. They mention that they get the greatest deal from a foreclosures because the banks just want to get rid of them. And so they sell the houses to buyers at a great discount.
The reason I wanted to talk more about foreclosures is because of this article on Business Week (Click here for the piece). With a headline like this, why would you not look into them: Even in affluent communities, foreclosures often offer a chance to buy a luxury home for as much as 40% or more off the market value
The problem is, I don’t know if I really buy this story. Their first story is one where they talked about a house in Las Vegas. It sold at the end of 2006 for one million dollars, got foreclosed on, and recently sold for $500,000. When looking at those numbers, it is obvious that one of two things happened. The initial assessment of the house was way off and it was worth a lot less than the recent owners thought. The second theory is that the people that lost the house completely trashed it and everything in it.
I recently saw a house in the Denver area that had sold for $210,000 in 2007 and was recently purchased as a foreclosure somewhere around $140,000. Yes, the bank probably did end up losing a great deal of money on the house. It had been knocked down $30,000 within the last few weeks. But again, the house had to have some issues that may or may not have been caused by the previous owner.
The experience that I had with a foreclosure, which I have mentioned before, regarded a house that we found and really liked. It had a lot of minor problems but nothing really major. After reading about foreclosures, I was under the assumption that the bank would just want to get rid of this as soon as possible.
That definitely did not end up being the case as the counter offers we received were a joke and we eventually moved on. The house eventually sold in the fall for somewhere around $6,000 under our highest offer. This was also after they did some work in the back yard that had to cost a decent amount of money. In that situation, the bank certainly did not want to sell as soon as possible.
But with the foreclosure numbers increasing in most bigger states (Especially ones with high property value), there could be more chances that you are able to get a deal on a house. The problem is that you likely have to do some work on the house once you purchase it.
As a friend said about the foreclosures he saw recently, it seemed like everyone of them had at least one hole punched in the walls. What that means is that if you are in a dire financial state, why not tear the house up? The bank is going to take the property away from you one way or another. It is not going to hurt your credit more if the house is perfect or it is trashed.
That is what makes finding a foreclosure with a reasonable price tag sometimes a problem. The banks rarely look at the house to see how many issues are involved with it. They see the assessment and how much the person owed on the house. They don’t take into account how many minor issues are involved.
Finding a bargain in a foreclosure is going to be a difficult test. You will have to look through a lot of houses and eventually be disgusted by some of the things that you will see and smell. But if you get lucky, you may find that diamond in the rough that you have been looking for. So yes, I think it is possible. It won’t be easy, but it is a possibility.
May
14
Six Money Saving Links of the Day - 5/14
May 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The Millionaire Next Door was a great book that I really enjoyed reading. Get Rich Slowly has a piece on a neighbor who has led a similar life. Click here for the entire article.
Parade takes a look at the best strategies if you plan to buy or sell a house. Click here for the entire article.
CNN Money takes a look at six gas saving myths. Interesting to say the least. Click here for the entire article.
Bible Money Matters takes a look at advice from Dave Ramsey and how to buy a new car. Not a bad idea at all. Click here for the entire article.
Article from Real Estate Blogger that talks about what houses with pools do if they get foreclosed on. Anyone ever heard of the mosquito fish? Click here for the entire article.
I can’t say I ever thought about this but Wall Street Journal takes a look at what happens with HOA fees if there are foreclosures. Click here for the entire article.
May
13
While I have been made fun of many times about it, my cheapness is something that I am not embarrassed about whatsoever. So in honor of the Frugal Dad and his list of the five cheapest things he has done to save money, I presents a similar list of what I feel are the five craziest things I have done to save money:
5.) Track rebates like a hawk
I really couldn’t think of a good number five but my rebate tracking has been very in-depth. While I actually have not had to send any rebates in as of late, I used a portion of a notebook dedicated to rebates. I made photocopies, wrote down date sent, date received, and kept very good details regarding the rebates. Yes, this was probably going too far. I am unaware of ever having not received a rebate but thought I would put the full court press on this matter in case I did.
4.) Have not paid for a haircut in eight years
I cannot say the last time that I received an actual professional haircut was but it was earlier in college. After having shaved my head for basketball as a senior in high school, I came to realize that the money spent on a haircut was too much. I found people who either could cut hair or just shaved it myself over time. Since graduating from college five years ago this month, I have been doing the haircuts myself. I just put one blade on the clippers and cut it every few months. My wife really wanted me to get it professionally done before our wedding in the fall but why ruin a good thing?
3.) Made my own Valentine’s Card
So a two years back, I waited to purchase a Valentine’s Day card until it was way too late. On the day of, I went to the grocery store looking for something. While this may not come as a surprise, the selection was terrible and the cards cost around $5.00. My decision to drive to Big Lots across the street and purchase construction paper (For $2) may be considered cheap by some, but for me, I wanted to do something more personal and make my own card. I think my wife actually liked the home made card more, although she knew that the real reason that I did it was financially driven.
2.) Always mentioned Wal-Mart
When my current wife and I first moved in before we got married, money was tight as we both had recently finished college. We would go through the grocery ads every week and then go to the stores to pickup what we needed. Whenever there was something that was not on our list, my wife would want to but it there. I always mentioned that we could get it cheaper at Wal-Mart and that led us to fight the rest of that evening. Let me stress how brutal it is to shop when two people are extremely mad at one another. It is about the worst situation ever.
1.) Didn’t eat lunch in high school
In high school, my mom would give me a certain amount of money everyday to eat lunch (It was probably around $3). I would instead buy a candy bar and a pop to save money. I really do not recall how hungry I was at the time but I definitely should have been eating lunch. The reason that I was saving the money was so that I could buy myself a computer. I had an allowance and a paper route but computers were more expensive in the mid 90s than they are now. This is the craziest thing I have done regarding money to be able to save up for something. And while I didn’t help myself at the time with that eating, I did eventually get a job in computers. So it was a win-win, right?
May
13
Eight Money Saving Links of the Day - 5/13
May 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Get Rich Slowly breaks down the anatomy of the mortgage mess. Really, it is an interesting article from my perspective. Click here for the entire article.
Smart Money takes a look at six ways to dine out less. My wife and I go out once a week and I am wondering if that is too much these days? I really am not sure to be honest with you. Click here for the entire article.
After a few brutal days last week, CNN Money talks about how the stock market went back up today. That is good news for those with money in the market, to say the least. I had a really bad day last week. Click here for the entire article.
Yahoo Finance takes a look at oil going down and the dollar gaining steam around the world. That sounds like good things to me! Click here for the entire article.
Not sure if it is worth purchasing but Bible Money Matters takes a look at the Universal Membership Kit from Dave Ramsey. Click here for the entire article.
The Wall Street Journal goes through what a couple in California went through to go bankrupt. This is not a fun path to say the least. Click here for the entire article.
The Frugal Dad talks about three keys to finding true happiness. Click here for the entire article.
The Simple Dollar takes a look at the stuff that he wants and the guilt from buying it. He talked about Mario Cart for the Wii, which really is something that I would like to play as well. But then again, we really don’t play the few Wii games that we have very often. If that is the case, when why buy it? Click here for the entire article.
May
13
Garage Sale Purchases over the weekend
May 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Over the weekend, I was finally able to go to garage sales for the first time of the season. And after using some of the tips I talked about in this article, my wife and I were able to find some great deals. I spent about fifteen minutes on Friday scouting out the Saturday only sales and it was definitely worth it. Here is what I ended up spending money on:
Black and Decker Cordless Trimmer - $5
Two Ramps (Used for oil changes) - $10
Professional Grade Weed Sprayer - $2
Horizontal Bread Maker (Which will be given away to a relative) - $5
Cooking Book - $1
Those were the main purchases. I believe there were two others as well but I honestly don’t recall what they were as they were small items (Totaling around $1.50 overall). Overall we ended up spending $24.50 at about ten garage sales.
The only items that I was able to actually haggle the price over were the ramps and the cordless trimmer. It was at the same garage sale and the person selling the items sold both $5 below what he was asking. For the trimmer, I was ready to walk unless he would take $5. I actually have another trimmer that I bought two summers ago that cost $30. The problem is that trimmer is electric and I need to get an extension cord to use it. While I am not sure what I will do with it (Possibly Goodwill), the new one is so much easier to use. Instead of having to drag the cord around the cord, I was able to get it for a cheap price. If he had stayed at $10, I would have been fine with what I have. But he gave me a great deal.
As mentioned above, I had been in the market for two ramps when changing oil. My father in law basically taught me over the last year or two how to change my own oil and bought me the supplies for my birthday during the winter. I finished up my third official oil change by myself this weekend and the ramps will come in handy. It is a huge time saver over jacking up both sides of the car, which for those who have done it, know it is a great time.
The weed sprayer is a bigger container and should allow me to buy weed concentrate that can be diluted to save money. I really have to look into this a little more but from what I have seen, it should help prevent weeds in my lawn. Since the lawn of my neighbor looks excellent, I have to step up my game in lawn care. For real, I would like to make my lawn look nice so hopefully this can help.
My wife and her family feel that a horizontal bread maker is like finding lost treasure. Considering we have seen multiple bread makers already (This really is a hot item on the garage sale market), I expect to see many of the horizontal models. If so, we can find even more treasure! Regardless, this will not be staying in our house as it is a gift.
The cooking book was in good shape and seemed to have a lot of good recipes. It should be something that we can definitely get a $1 use out of.
May
13
Carnival of Personal Finance #152
May 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment
After having my article related to joint finances listed in this week’s Carnival, here are some of my favorite links from other sites (Click here to view the entire carnival)
- Financial lessons that a mom taught this writer
- More tips on how to be a pro at a garage sale
- Having fun while being frugal, which really is important
There are obviously a lot more as well to check out but those are a few of the ones that stuck out to me.