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Selling Your Car

: English: Jalopy car in Joshua Tree National Park in Hidden Valley Campground (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When it’s time to replace your car, most people focus on the new car, instead of the old, but that is ignoring real money. Your old car–unless it has disintegrated–still has value. Sometimes, it’s just time to ask yourself, “When should I sell my car?”

When you’re looking to sell your car (like with We Will Buy Your Car), you generally have several options:

Tow & crush. If your car has been wrecked, doesn’t run, or is just old and beat up, you may be stuck with calling a junkyard and accepting $50 for them to pick up your car and crush it for scrap.
Trade it in. This is probably the least hassle, but–other than #1–doesn’t pay well. Dealerships are willing to pay something under what they will get at a wholesale auction, which is quite a bit less than the blue book value.
Sell it yourself. Now you’re thinking, “He’s going to buy my car! Oh, bother.” It can be a pain, but it’s also the best way to get a decent price for your wheels.

When you sell your car, there are a few things to keep in mind, much like when you sell something on Craigslist.

Don’t be alone. There are bad people in the world, but they don’t like witnesses. Bad things are much less likely to happen if you have company.
Know your price. Specifically, know three price: your dream price, the price that would make you happy, and the absolute lowest price you are willing to accept. Make sure you figure these numbers out ahead of time. Know what you are comfortable with before it comes time to close the deal.
Check IDs. The buyer is going to want to test-drive your car. That’s fine, but you want to make sure you know who is driving off in your car. “Officer, Sumdood took my car. He was wearing jeans.” That won’t get your car back.
Clean it up. Get the car detailed before you show it to a potential buyer. A sparkling-clean car will almost always bring in a few hundred extra dollars. It’s well worth the expense.

Following this plan should make the sale go as smoothly as possible and bring you the most possible money.

Readers, what have you done to dispose of an old car?

This is a sponsored post written to provide some insight into the world of used car retail.

The Do-Over

Finance

This post is from Kevin @ DebtEye.com. Kevin is a co-founder @ DebtEye.com, where he helps consumers manages their finances and find the optimal way to get out of debt. . This is guest post is part of a blog swap for the Yakezie, answering the question “If you had one financial do-over, what would it be and why?”.

I usually look on the brighter side of things. There’s never an incident where I wish I could go back in time and change things. Everyone will eventually make mistakes, but it’s up to them to learn from these mistakes and make sure it never happens again. However, if there was one moment in the past I could change, It would be not buying a house straight out of college.

Throughout my college days, I have been fortunate to have saved up enough money for a down-payment on a house. That’s not enough to maintain debt-free living. I worked with several internet gaming companies and acted as an affiliate for them. I saved up around $25,000 and decided to buy a condo with my brother.

I thought it would be cool to own a condo in the city. I was really looking forward to turning this new place in a bachelor’s pad. This was probably the worst decision I’ve made. I always believed that it was better to buy a property instead of renting one, since some of the payment would go towards paying down the loan. Of course, I realized that this wasn’t the smartest of ideas.

Here are some reasons why I regret it:

Property Taxes: Property taxes in Chicago are one the highest in the nation. For a $320,000 property, annual real estate taxes were roughly about $5,800/year. Property taxes usually go up every year, it can be difficult for some people to maintain these payments.
Valuation: Thankfully, the property only decreased 10% in the past 2 years. It’s not as bad as some areas, but the timing to buy a property was poor.
Cost: Buying a property involves more money to spruce up the place. New paint, new appliances, new floors, etc. Most of us won’t get a free appliance from the government. Many homeowners have to put in extra care of the property, so when they sell it, it’s still in great condition.

Looking hindsight, I definitely wish I rented instead of owning a home. In this day of age, I think most people can make the clear argument that renting is worthwhile to look into.

Is That The Best You Can Do?

Finance

If you are a typical, hard-working American, you probably feel that there are not enough hours in the day and not enough money in your pocket!

It seems life is busier and more expensive than ever before. In the midst of a global economic recession, the price of daily living is increasing, with higher utility bills and food prices.

It is difficult in these hectic times to be alert to other available options and yet with so much competition between rival companies, you may find a better deal elsewhere.

From mortgages to loans to gas suppliers and everything in between there are numerous options out there that could be highly beneficial for you.

So how do you go about finding the best deal for you? After all, your circumstances are totally unique and what works for you will not be the same as for someone else.

This is why taking advice from family or friends is not always the wisest move. Naturally their intentions are good, but the information they have maybe outdated or incompatible with your circumstances.

Comparison shopping can provide you with the details necessary to make an informed decision, whatever your circumstances. By researching the options available, you can find the perfect product or supplier.

Perhaps you are a young professional looking for your first mortgage, an older couple thinking about retirement funds or maybe you simply want to reduce your mobile phone bill.

Investigating the options available will help you clarify when you are being offered a great deal and what conditions or benefits may be attached to an agreement.

Mobile phone providers, for example, often try to tie you into a long-term contract by tempting you with the latest phone. Many consumers will find this offer irresistible and sign up without thinking the implication through.

It is financially more astute to calculate the cost of the contract against the cost of buying the phone outright and finding a lower priced tariff from another provider.

Credit card companies will offer 0% or lower interest rates on balance transfers, so spend a little time comparing providers to see how much you could shave off this debt.

Even if you have a low credit score it is worth comparing credit cards for bad credit to get the best deal for your circumstances.

Often, credit cards companies offer additional benefits when taking out one of their cards, such as discounts at certain stores or money-off vouchers, travel or car insurance and fraud protection.

If you are planning a family vacation with Disney for example, taking out a Disney credit card can provide additional benefits. Credit card holders benefit from 10% discount at their shops and $50 credit on cruises.

There may be other factors that influence your decision, such as the charitable ethos of a company. Many firms favor certain causes and will donate a percentage of profits to charity.

So invest some time in researching better deals to suit your circumstances or use a reputable price comparison site to do the research for you. Then all you have to do is to enjoy your savings!

Post by Moneysupermarket.

A Perfectly Maid Home

Finance, Life, Relationships

Last night, I got home after a 13 hour day at the office and found a spotlessly clean house. The laundry was folded. The dishes were done, and everything was put away.

It was great.

I work 80 hours a week, 90 if you count commuting time.

That’s about 50 hours at my day job, 10-15 hours working on this site, and 20-30 hours working on my other side hustles. Some weeks, my volunteer geek skills get put to use for a local non-profit, too.

My wife works at least 40 hours every week.

We chase our kids around, plan or birthday parties, visit family, take care of the yard, and do everything else that every other family does.

The difference is that, if I take work in all of its forms out of the equation and give myself permission to get a full night’s sleep every night, I have a total of 20-30 hours per week to eat, socialize, and spend time with my family. That not a lot.

I hate cleaning.

Between my work schedule and my cleaning aversion, I’m not always a lot of help around the house.

Half of my work time is spent at home. It’s hardly fair to expect my wife to clean up after me.

This has been a huge point of contention between us. She sees me on the computer and gets frustrated when I’m not helping her clean up. I get frustrated because I’m trying to make us some extra money, but she’s complaining that I’m not cleaning.

About a month ago, we hired a housekeeper. She comes every other week for a few hours and does a phenomenal job cleaning our house. We pay her about $150 per month for the work.

It’s been great.

My wife is happy because the house is clean. I’m happy because the complaining has stopped. Our housekeeper is happy because it’s more money. It’s a win/win/win scenario.

Now, $150 is a decent amount to add to our debt snowball, but paying for the cleaning services facilitates my side hustles, which bring in quite a bit more than $150 per month, so it’s even a good idea financially.

Even if it’s not, the peace of mind of knowing that I didn’t have to fold all of the laundry that was waiting for me yesterday makes it worthwhile.

How about you? Would you consider hiring a maid? Why?

Priorities

Business

I once saw a sign on the wall in a junkyard that said, “Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

Another good one: “If everything is top priority, nothing is top priority.”

Once a week, I meet with my boss to discuss my progress for the previous week and my priorities for the coming week. This is supposed to make sure that my productivity stays in line with the company’s goals.

Great.

Once a day, my boss comes into my office to change my top priority based on whichever account manager has most recently asked for a status update for their customer.

Not so great.

At least twice a week, he asks for a status update on my highest priority items. Each time, he could mean the items we prioritized in the weekly meeting, or the items he chose to escalate later. Somehow, getting a new task escalated doesn’t deescalate an existing task.

Everything is a top priority.

To compensate, I’ve been working a few 12 hour days each week, and occasionally coming in on the weekends.

I’m dedicated and still behind.

Prioritizing is treated as an art, or in the case I just mentioned, a juggling act. It should be considered a science. It’s usually pretty simple.

Is the problem costing you money? +1
Is the problem costing your customer money? +2
Is the problem going to hurt your reputation? +1
Is there a deadline? +1
Is it soon? +2
Is it urgent? +1
Is it important? +2
Are there absolutely no real consequences for anyone if it doesn’t get completed? -500

That’s it. Too many times, we get hung up on urgent-but-not-important items and neglect the important things.

The hard part comes when it’s someone else setting your priorities, particularly when that person doesn’t rate things on urgency, importance, and cost but rather “Who has bitched the loudest recently?”

Can I tell my boss that I’m not going to do things the way he told me too? No. A former coworker very recently found out what happens when you do this.

Can I remind him that I’m busting my butt as hard as I can? Yes, but it will just earn me a request to come in on the weekend, too.

Can I ignore the official priorities part of the time, and work on what I feel is most important to keeping our customers happy? Yes, but it’s easy to go too far. “Boss, I ignored what you said, but this customer is happy, now!” won’t score me any points if it happens every week.

Priorities are simple, but not always easy. How do you balance your priorities?

Refinancing Your Existing Loan to Purchase An Investment Property

Finance

Many people are looking at the housing market slump right now as an investment opportunity. Here are a few of the things that you need to know before getting a new home loan or refinancing your existing loan in order to make that happen.

Amount You Want to Borrow

A lot of borrowers go shopping for real estate and have exactly no idea how much money they can borrow. One of the first questions that you need to ask before going real estate hunting is how much can I borrow. You can ask a bank, lender, or financial institution to give you a ballpark figure of the amount of loan that you would qualify for. This will make it easier for you to narrow down exactly what type of property you can afford and what areas you can concentrate on.

Amount of Interest You Will Pay

Too many people are overly concerned with the purchase price of the home that they are buying. They fail to find out how much interest they will have to pay back to the bank in order to make their home ownership dreams come true. This is where a home loan calculator can be really useful. You can find out exactly how much interest you will repay over a 10, 20, or 30 year loan time period. You can also change the interest rate and down payment amount on those calculators to see if you can secure a lower monthly payment.

Credit Score Needed to Qualify

It doesn’t matter if you are buying a home for the first time or refinancing an existing loan. Your credit score matters. You need to start doing some research now if you want to secure a loan with a really low interest rate. This involves taking the time to see what credit scores traditional lenders are looking for and doing the work necessary to qualify for this loan. Your credit score will make a big difference in determining if an investment property purchase is a profitable endeavor or one that winds up costing you money. It will depend heavily on what kind of loan your credit score allowed you to negotiate.

Make the Choice

Once you know how much you will need and exactly how much you will be paying out over the life of another mortgage, you can decide whether you want to refinance your current home loan to get another one. Adding on another huge debt to an existing one is a big risk. Make sure to think it through fully before jumping in.

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