Live Real, Now

The no-pants guide to spending, saving, and thriving in the real world.

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Carnival Roundup

Misc

Live Real, Now was included in two carnivals last week:

Carnival Masqueraders in Trinidad and Tobago
Image via Wikipedia

Carnival of Personal Finance #348 hosted by Money Qanda

and

Yakezie Carnival hosted by 101 Centavos

Thanks to all of the hosts for including my posts.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader.  I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook.   Facebook gets more use than Google.  It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter.   This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of.   I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great week!

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Carnivals This Week

Finance

I seem to be failing frugal parenting.  My son spent the entire week telling me how happy he’d be if we could go to the game store so he could spend some of his money.  Tying emotions to shopping is badbadbad.

Live Real, Now was included in four carnivals last week:

Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #224 at AaronHung.com

Yakezie Carnival – Mardi Gras Edition at Young Adult Finances

Canadian Finance Carnival #76 at Canadian Finance Blog

Carnival of Financial Camaraderie – Rain Man Edition at Thirty Six Months

Thanks to all of the hosts for including my posts.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader.  I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook.   Facebook gets more use than Google.  It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter.   This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of.   I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great week!

Mortgage Race

Finance

I spent last week at the Financial Blogger Conference.   Saturday night was the big debauch, a 90s themed hip-hop dance party.

Yeah.

Instead, Crystal, Suba, and I hosted a super-secret pizza party to let some of the less “dance party” inclined attendees discuss things like the sanitary concerns of group body shots, sex toys, and horror movies.

During the course of the party, Crystal and I decided to race to pay off our mortgages.

Her balance is just under $25,000.

My balance is $26,266.40.

We both technically have the cash to pay off the balances right now, but we are both dealing with secondary housing issues.  She’s building a new one, and I’m updating an inherited house.  Neither of us is willing to use our cash reserves to pay off the balance right this moment.

Now that my credit card is paid off, I’ve moved that money to an extra interest-only payment on my mortgage, effectively doubling my mortgage payment, which puts my projected payoff date as about the end of next year.   Crystal’s aiming for June, so I’ll have to hurry.

We do have tenants lined up for February, and all of the non-expense related rent will go to the mortgage.

I think I can win.

Update:

I forgot to mention the terms of the bet.   The loser has to go visit the winner.  When I win, Crystal’s going to fly to Minnesota to experience snow.

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Comfort Zone

Life

Even though some people disagree, I am an introvert.

Poker
Poker (Photo credit: Images_of_Money)

Crowds, strangers, and activities I don’t understand are all things that make me uncomfortable.

A couple of weeks ago, my business partner forwarded an invitation to me.  One of our clients  invited us to his annual “Giant-Ass Poker Tournament.”

I haven’t played more than a hand or two of poker in more than 20 years.  If you do the math, that’s junior high school or earlier. I’ve never played Texas Hold ‘Em at all.  Thirty to forty people were expected to be there.

Crowds?  Check.

Strangers?  Check.

An activity I don’t understand?  Check.

I was planning to blow it off.  My partner could handle the social niceties, I could stay home and watch Dexter.  Win/win.

Saturday, I got a text telling me that our client wants to talk business at the tournament.

Cue four letter words.

I tried to get out of it.  I tried to play sick.  My partner–also my best friend and designated extrovert–wouldn’t hear of it.

So I walk into this tournament full of people I don’t know.  I was late.  I thought that would make a good compromise.  I’ll deal with the crowd, and ignore the activity I don’t understand.

First words out of the client’s mouth?  “Jason!  Great to see you, we just started, so let’s buy you in!”

Crap.

I sat out the first game, and talked the business that needed to be talked.  Mission accomplished.

Half an hour into it, my friend sends me a text telling me to do a quick wiki search.

Teach myself to play poker using wikipedia while watching a $50 buy-in game played by experienced players?   That’s effen nuts.

I knew the hands, I was already familiar with the bet/call/raise process in general.   I was really just missing a few details and the mechanics of Hold ‘Em.

What the hell, it’s only $50.

I went out to the living room/bar area and pulled up wikipedia.   After reading everything I could, plus a few terms that had never previously registered (A check isn’t what happens when you bet more than you have.   Who knew?), I went back to the game and watched with a bit of understanding about what I was seeing.

When the second game started, I bought in and played until almost 2AM.  I had a great time and went home $150 richer than I arrived.

Leaving your comfort zone is, by definition, uncomfortable.   Sometimes, it’s downright painful.  Without it, you can’t grow as a person.   Find yourself someone who is willing to obnoxiously drag you into situations that push your limits.   It really can be fun.

 

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Net Worth Update

Misc

Welcome to the New Year.  2013 is the year we all get flying cars, right?

Here is my net worth update, along with the progress we made over the course of 2012.

As you can see, our net worth contracted by about $11,000.   Part of that difference is due to selling our spare cars and–against my better judgement–taking payments with a lien on one of them.  That is supposed to be paid off within a couple of months.  If not, I’ll play repo man again.

The other part of the difference is in the final preparations for our rental property.   The only things left to do are sanding and polishing the hardwood floors and cleaning the living room carpet.   The final push to get to this point cost some money.   All told, we’re nearly $30,000 into getting the house ready to rent.    For the naysayers who think we should have sold it, we would have spent more getting it ready to sell.

Other than that, we’re not doing poorly.   Our credit card is still being paid off every month and our mortgage is shrinking.  If things continue to go well, we’ll have our truck paid off in a couple of months and the mortgage by mid summer.

Buying a Fixer Upper House

Business

English: Fixer Upper in Dorena
English: Fixer Upper in Dorena (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Have you ever thought about buying a fixer upper house? In recent years there have been some great options for people looking to purchase property for the sole purpose of renovating and flipping real estate. There are some great locations with pretty nice houses that have either been damaged or neglected and are now for sale. These circumstances make it difficult for someone to purchase and remodel the house without spending a lot of money. In recent years there have been a couple of options for people who want to buy run down houses to flip. Mortgage companies have come out with different mortgage options for anyone who is looking to invest in real estate. There are loans tailored to meet whatever goal you have when purchasing a house that even allocate funds for renovation. The two that we will discuss in this post are Home Path and FHA 203 (k) renovation loans.

HomePath Loan:

The HomePath loan program was created by Fannie Mae and is meant to offer foreclosed homes to anyone who qualifies to purchase them. This type of loan is great because not only do you qualify for a loan to buy the house but also receive enough for renovations and remodeling. This pushes buyers to purchase homes that have been foreclosed and thus contributing to the real estate market and the economy as a whole. It’s also great for the buyer because it give them incentive to purchase a space that they might not go for right off the bat. Everybody wins.

FHA 203 (k) Renovation Loans:

203K loans allocate funds for the initial purchase of the house along with funds for the renovations. Companies offer low down payments and flexible underwriting guidelines. Almost any kind of residential property qualifies making it really easy to get approved. Many people don’t know that this kind of loan exists but it is definitely something that is not only beneficial to those taking out the loan but also to those looking to get rid of a place that won’t sell on its own because it isn’t visually or aesthetically appealing.

If you are on the market looking for a home, consider taking out a HomePath or 203k loan designed for houses that might need some fine tuning to look their best. It is a great option for anyone looking to flip property and for anyone who wants to purchase a space that might not be appealing upon first glance. Fixing up a place will not only increase the value of your new home but also probably cost a lot less than if you were to purchase a newly remodeled space for market value.

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