Click on over to Animal Shak, the newest addition to the Shak family.
Animal Shak Is Unleashed At Shakadoo
Click on over to Animal Shak, the newest addition to the Shak family.
Animal Shak Is Unleashed At Shakadoo
Click on over to Animal Shak, the newest addition to the Shak family.
Animal Shak Is Unleashed At Shakadoo
Click on over to Animal Shak, the newest addition to the Shak family.
Animal Shak Is Unleashed At Shakadoo
Click on over to Animal Shak, the newest addition to the Shak family.
Lease to Purchase Timing
Dear Jill,
My husband and I are looking into buying a house when our lease is up at the
end of March. We will not have 20% to put down on a house so should we rent
longer to save more for the down payment, or should we go ahead and buy with
the down payment we have? The area is growing so quickly and house prices are
going up so I don’t want to rent forever trying to save up enough just for the
down payment! Please let me know what you think is the best plan.
Rebecca
Rebecca, thanks for your question – it’s a good one. I have advised
many people in your position as first time buyers to go ahead and buy rather than renting, because
when you do the math it just makes more money sense. Regardless of all of the doom and gloom we are hearing right now about the mortgage industry, there are actually some great loans
available to the consumer with decent to good credit. I spoke with a lender today about current loan programs, he tells me that you can get a 95%
loan (only putting 5% down) with no PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) payments
at all. This particular program only raises your interests rate by a quarter of a percent
which is still a great rate considering they are incredibly low again right
now. Depending on credit scores, you could potentially get a 95% loan at an interest rate of
approximately 6.5%. (source Fairway Mortgage)It just doesn’t make sense to rent right now when it
is earning you zero equity and you’re receiving no tax benefits.
Another good reason to buy is due to your position in the market. This is prime time for buyers who don’t have homes to
sell to take advantage of the low rates and the softer real estate market. It’s
a wining prospect for renters to move into homeownership while prices are still down
and before rates go back up again. I suggest that you contact a mortgage
professional and have them show you the different options that might be best
for you. They can tell you how much money you can comfortably spend on a home
by telling them the payment that you would be comfortable paying on a monthly
mortgage payment. Then from there, a Realtor can show you homes that fit into your price range.
Going Once…Going Twice… Sold – I Hope
This week I am about to tackle something in my Real Estate endeavorers that I have yet to accomplish during my eleven year career. A seller of mine has asked me to put his home up for auction. Not through an auction company, but rather for me to navigate the process on my own. Now I have sold nearly a thousand homes in my career but this will be my first sale by auction.
I plan to do it up big and pray that I will be successful. I spent a little time today surfing the web for tips on conducting a home auction. I was surprised at the limited information that was out there. One of the few posts I found was on eHow titled How To Encourage Participation At A House Auction They suggest the following;
Hold one or two open houses that last no longer than 2 hours. Hold the
open house close to the auction day, to maintain interest in the house
to be auctioned. Makesure the house is in the best showing condition
for the open
house. The 2-hour
time limit also helps to raise interest
and create a sense of urgency among buyers.
Print flyers and
brochures with the house auction information on the
front. "Auction" should be the first word to catch a buyer’s attention.
Have clear color photos in the brochure and a well-written description
of the house. Distribute the flyers and brochures to mailing lists,
local Realtors, supermarkets and wherever there is a high traffic count
of people.
Advertise in the newspapers and trade journals. Consider a low cost
late night television ad to encourage participation. Advertise the
house auction online as well and consider a website just for the house
auction.
Place signs at strategic locations to maximize the number of people who
will see the sign. Place the signs at intersections where people will
read them while waiting for a traffic light to change. Ask permission
to place signs at the entry or exit to shopping malls, grocery stores
and big box stores".
I plan to do all of these suggestions as well as place an ad on Craig’s list, feature it on all of my websites, make one of the open houses an evening event with food and beverages and contact the local lenders too. The sale date will be the first week in December so I have my work cut out for me.
The seller has agreed to get his home staged since it has been vacant for months now and make a few cosmetic repairs to get it ready for the big day. The current list price is at $695,000 which is already reduced $100,000 from it’s original price. It has 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, is 3600 square feet plus has a finished lower level with a spa bathroom complete with a party sized steam shower. Currently Zillow (for what it’s worth) has it "Zestimated" at $739,186. Any takers that want a gorgeous home in the suburbs of St. Louis Missouri????
So I think I have most of the bases covered to begin marketing this home for auction and look at this experience as a learning opportunity. If any of you bloggers or Realtors out there have had experience conducting a home auction, I’d love to hear your suggestions. If not…wish me luck.
Way Out Baby Names
I was "stumbling" around the internet today and ran across this post about the Top 10 Wackiest Celebrity Baby Names over at abc-baby-names. The following are a few that made their top 10 list;
- Kal-El Coppola son of Nicholas Cage. (Its the name of Superman when he was on planet
Krypton!) - Jermajesty Son of Jermaine Jackson
- Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Daughters of the late Paula Yates
and Michael Hutchence. Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom, and Pixie are
three other daughters Paula Yates had with Bob Geldof. - Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf Lee Is the son of Jason Lee
- Moxie CrimeFighter This is what magician Penn Jillette called
his daughter. Lucky Girl! Little Moxie CrimeFighter has a little brother
now called Zolten. - Bluebell Madonna Is the daughter of spice girl Geri Halliwell.
Wow! Now those are some names. Be sure to check out their post for the rest of the weirdest names I have ever heard as well as the meaning behind some of them. It’s no wonder the kids of Hollywood are such tortured souls. Imagine if you had to live with names like these!
What are some of the strangest (non celebrity) names you have heard?
And The Winner Is…
Congratulation to Deb from Debmomof3girls! She is the new owner of our giveaway product the Rocketfish TM Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse.
At the beginning of this month I was contacted to review Best Buy’s wireless keyboard and laser mouse. Rocketfish is Best Buy’s internal technology brand.
The first thing that I was impressed by was the ease of installation. Simply, plug in the USB Bluetooth device and your on your way. After installing the included CD, the mouse and keyboard pair automatically.
The next thing I noticed was the easy touch to the keyboard keys. It has a very sleek, flat design that is easy and comfortable on the wrists. I actually noticed myself typing faster and more accurately with this keyboard than with my previous big name one. This keyboard is lightweight at 1.6lbs and the mouse weighs only 3.2 oz. The range is also a plus reaching as far as 60′.
Now for the fun stuff….The Bluetooth technology actually acts as a hub, providing instant access to music, the internet and more. You can even transfer photos to your Bluetooth enabled phones. The mouse, in addition to a scroll wheel, offers control buttons for media commands. All of this and more with NO WIRES!
I have to say I highly recommend this product. So much so that I will be purchasing one for myself immediately. I can’t bare going back to my old one! If you are in need of a new keyboard, this has an affordable retail price of $99.00 at Best Buy.com and is well worth every penny.
Congratulations again Deb! Hope you enjoy this product as much as I do.
What A Mother Will Do….
Last night, I had the experience of a lifetime with my 9 year old daughter and my 12 year old son. You see Hannah Montana kicked off her "Best of Both Worlds" tour in my own very fine city of St. Louis, MO, but tickets were nowhere to be found.
I tried for weeks to acquire the coveted tickets, to no avail. My kids were increasingly disappointed as they heard a few lucky friends ooze with joy as show time was quickly approaching. I was running out of time. At lunch yesterday (day of show) I happened to call a friend to make dinner plans for the weekend and learned that she was one of the lucky one who actually got tickets and was indeed taking her daughter to the concert that night. She had gotten tickets from a ticket broker a few weeks back. She offered to give me the cell phone number of the guy she had dealt with to see if he would help me.
I was not real hopeful, the guy was in New York and I am in St. Louis. When I called, he informed me that they had no more tickets, but to call back later as they were working on getting a few more. I called back and still nothing. I was OBSESSED! I went back on the internet again thinking with just 3 hours till curtain, surely the ticket prices from the brokers who bought in bulk would start to come down. At this point in time, tickets for 3 people were ranging from $750 dollars a piece all the way up to $1,500 dollars! Insanity!
2-hours till show time and still no tickets. Prices remained ridiculous and I stated to resign myself to the fact that the show must go on…with out US! We would have to start trying to get tickets for the next show in another city 4 hours away, when suddenly, my phone rang and it was a New York number. I cut the person off that I was talking to on the other line and tackled the phone like it was my drug supplier calling (I don’t do drugs but thats what I imagined it would feel like…desperation). HE DID IT. HE scored 3 tickets for me just 1.5 hours before the show began. The down side was I didn’t get to sit with my kids but we were in the same row about 100 feet apart. Good enough I thought, it’s a deal.
We raced to the concert venue through rush hour traffic and arrived with just minutes to spare. Ahhh, my obsession paid off, we made it. What a show I was about to see! (and Hannah was great too) I couldn’t keep my eyes off my kids. What a true pleasure it was watching the look on their faces as they sang along with almost every song and got swept up in the excitement all around them.
There were all kinds of "shows" going on around me. Mothers with their young daughters dressed in long blond wigs like their idol, mimicking the dance moves and waving their glow sticks. And a another very special show that I was lucky to watch. Billy Ray Cyrus, Hannah’s (Miley Cyrus) father was just a section below me. It was something special to see him watch his beloved child perform at her very first world tour. He was beaming- how proud he must be!
I knew how he was feeling. I may not be famous (yet) and I may not have millions (yet) but I know the love I have for my children, how seeing them succeed, is the highest riches you could ever experience. Just that one simple thing I could do for them to give them a few hours of simple pleasure made it all worth while. I am sure last night is something none of us will forget.
If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend seeing the concert. Miley Cyrus is quite the performer and her opening act the Jonas Brothers were fantastic too. She performs half of the show as her persona "Hannah" and the other half as Miley. There are pyrotechnics, lots of light effects, several costume changes and great music too. Just one word of advice…don’t forget the ear plugs, as I have to say it was probably the loudest concert I have ever attended. 15,000 girls screaming in unison can definitely make the ear drums ache! But other than that, FANTASTIC. I say – Rock on Miley!!!