If you are getting ready to purchase a home, whether new or used, before you sign on the dotted line, I recommend that you get a home inspection. Getting a home inspection can keep you from making a home purchase that you will regret later on down the road.

I just had a home inspection save me from making a home purchase that would eventually cause me many headaches and cost me thousands of dollars. I'd been searching for the past few years to find another property to add to my investment portfolio. Remember that investment property I found for such a great price? I thought I'd found the perfect combination of a low-priced property that only needed minimal cosmetic repairs in order to get the house ready to be rented.

I had the home inspected Friday by a licensed home inspector and the results were very disheartening. The house I thought only needed minor cosmetic repairs has major structural issues; specifically, the foundation of the house. Within minutes, the inspector found that the foundation walls have shifted and part of the house is not even attached to the foundation. He took me in the crawlspace and showed me where you could look through at the foundation wall and see daylight. One section was so bad, you could see the cars passing in front of the house. Anyone who didn't know what to look for would not have been able to notice how bad the damage is to the foundation. The inspector estimated that the cost to repair the foundation correctly would be about $25-30k. Right off the bat, the foundation repair would cost me as much as the price of the house.

The other major issue that I didn't know about and wouldn't have known about without an inspection is that the electrical system in the home is not up to code. The power was on and all the lights seemed to work properly so I thought it was ok. The inspector had some kind of nifty little gadget that he plugged into the outlets and determined that there were “open hot's” on all of the outlets. In layman's terms, if this was not corrected by a licensed electrician, the outlets could cause an electrical fire.

The repair cost continued to grow as we went outside to the exterior of the home. I knew the roof would eventually need to be replaced since it looked like the shingles were pretty old. The inspector looked at the roof and advised not only does the roof need to be replaced ASAP, the roof had no flashing so water basically sits on the roof. An inspection of the attic also revealed several boards that need to be replaced due to water damage.

The inspector could see the disappointment on my face and tried to make me feel better. He told me that there are houses out there that can be had for a good price and only need cosmetic repairs. His exact words to me about this house were, “I'm not telling you not to buy the house, but if it were me or any of the many investors I work with, we would be asking for our earnest money back from the seller”.

So there you have it, I'm still on the hunt for my next investment property. I'm out of the $250 bucks I paid for the inspection but that $250 saved me thousands of dollars. I called the realtor and explained the issues and told him I would be withdrawing my offer. He emailed me the termination agreement and advised the $2500 earnest money I submitted will be sent back to me.

Image Credit: tholland

I've had it and I'm fed up. For the past two weeks, I've had this telemarketing company calling me anywhere from 10-15 times a day (no joke) on my cell phone.

It started a few weeks ago when I got a call from an unknown number and I answered it. It was a gentleman with a thick Indian accent asking me if I knew (????). I said yes, I know (???), he is my uncle. They then started about they would like to offer him a free $50 Target gift card for trying some service free for 30 days. I told them I didn't think he would interested in their service (because I knew there was a catch). He had such a thick accent and was talking so fast, I couldn't even understand what he was trying to sell.

I finally got a little tired of the sales pitch and asked the gentleman to remove my number from his database and not to call me again. A few hours later, the calls started coming every few minutes. I ignored the calls and then they called from a different number with a completely different area code. I answered the call and it was a different person, but with the same sales pitch. Again, I told them I was not interested, they are calling the wrong person, and to remove my number. They hung up and I thought that was it....until I received a call again from the first number.

This time it was a female with an undistinguishable accent but still hard to understand. I told her that I was tired of them calling me and I had asked them to remove my number. Her response was that this was her first time calling me. I told her that it may have been her first time calling me but I'd already received several calls from this number. She totally ignored me and went on with her sales pitch. This is when I lost it and gave her a few choice words that I don't usually use. I'm sure I dropped the “F” bomb a few times. She immediately hung up and I thought that was the end of the calls.

Fast forward a few days and the calls start all over again. I answered the first one and the person on the other end started with the same sales pitch again. This time, I tried a different approach. I was very calm until the person finished. I then asked to speak with a manager. He asked me why and I told him that I had asked them to remove my number a few days ago and to stop calling me. Can you believe he had the nerve to hang up on me?

I thought maybe the phone calls were done now. Nope, no such luck. Each day, they would call over and over again. I thought maybe there was some way I could report them but I wasn't able to find any company information. Each time I try to call the number back, I get a busy signal. I googled the number and there were multiple complaints from other people received the same type calls. I then decided I would not longer get mad, it was time to get even.

I remembered my little cousin had left an air horn at my house. If asking them nicely to stop calling me and being mean didn't work, maybe they would stop if I gave their ear drum a nice surprise? Today, they kept calling me while I was at work and I would just answer the phone but not say anything. I hoped they would continue calling until I got home to the air horn. I got home and I didn't think they were going to call but the calls finally started up again. Each time they would call, I'd say hello to get a live person on the phone. When they started speaking, I would sound the air horn until they hung up. I did this about 3 times and the phone calls stopped. Hopefully, this will stop them for good. 

Have any of you received calls from these numbers? The first one is 978-570-2067 and the other one is 603-214-3311.

This post may rub some people the wrong way and I’m sorry about that but it’s how I feel. I’m getting so tired of people blaming others for their problems. I think this country, and the world as a whole, would be much better off if everyone just accepted responsibility for their actions.

What ever happened to personal responsibility? Why is it that your financial problems are usually because of someone else? Don’t get me wrong, I know sometimes bad things happen to good people. I know bad things happen sometimes but most of the time, it’s our own fault.

I get so tired of people talking about how evil the credit card companies are. Yeah, some of them are evil but they are a business and businesses are designed to make a profit. While I may not agree with all of their practices and fees, no one requires you to have credit card debt. I blame no one but myself for the credit card debt I racked up during my younger years. Maybe the credit card interest rates and fees weren’t fair but I accepted those practices when I decided to use the card. I paid them off and now I don’t have to worry about them anymore. I don’t know what the interest rates are on my credit cards and I don’t care. I no longer carry a balance so I don’t pay any interest. If I can’t pay the balance off in full the next month, I don’t use the card. I only spend what I can afford to pay. I’ve become the type of customer that the credit card companies hate. They lose money on me since I don’t pay them any interest. Of course they still get some money from the merchants where I use the card but as far as paying them thousands of dollars in interest; nope, not me, not anymore.

This whole home foreclosure “crisis” is so frustrating to me. I bought a home that I could afford and I make the agreed upon payment each month. There are some people that bought homes with crazy mortgages that they could not afford. They are now blaming the mortgage companies for making their payment unaffordable. No, No, No, back up a bit. Remember all those papers you signed at the closing table? Did you read them? Did you understand what you were going to paying? Yeah, I know there are some people that did buy homes they could afford and knew exactly what they were getting into. They made the payment as agreed until some type of life event caused them to no longer be able to afford the home. For those people, I generally feel bad for and don’t mind them getting help. For the most part though, the majority of those foreclosures though were a result of people being irresponsible.

A couple of months back, I read an article online where these people in California are just walking away from their homes because they are upside down and the banks are refusing to lower their payment. WTF?

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree?

Most financial bloggers, myself included, are always telling you ways to fix your personal finances. But what if you arenʼt aware of the bad things youʼre doing that are wrecking your finances in the first place? If you arenʼt sure of the cause of the problems, but trying to fix them, itʼs like putting a band-aid on a major wound. If you arenʼt fixing the underlying problem, things arenʼt going to get any better.



Are you doing any of these things?

Overspending. Are you spending more than you bring in each month? This is one major way to wreck your finances. If you are spending more than you earn, the deficit has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is probably being covered by taking on debt. As your debt increases, that leaves you less money to save. As you debt grows, your quality of life decreases. You donʼt have as many options in life and your probably always stressing about how you are going to make ends meet and itʼs probably pretty hard to sleep at night.

Not Saving. Are you not setting aside any money for a rainy day? What are you going to do when the car breaks down or you have an unexpected medical expense? If you have kids or own a car and/or home, Iʼm willing to bet good money that you will have an unexpected expense within the next couple of months. Not only is it important to save for those things that may pop up right now, itʼs also important to save for your future. You donʼt want to have to work in your golden years when you should be relaxing and enjoying the good life.

Paying Unnecessary Fees. Are you giving away money to your bank? If youʼre paying monthly bank fees, you may as well take your money and flush it down the toilet. There are many ways to avoid those pesky bank fees; especially the ones just for having an account with the bank.

You may not even need to change banks. Most banks have several different account types to fit your needs. If you arenʼt sure which one is best for you, go in and talk with your bank and have them help you pick a better account.

Most accounts these days are free when you have your paycheck directly deposited into your bank account. Iʼve had my paycheck direct deposited every since I started my job 10 years ago. No matter what, I know on payday my paycheck is there waiting for me. I like not having to go to the bank and wait in line to deposit a check. I donʼt even remember the last time I went inside my bank.

Being Oblivious. Donʼt have a clue about who or what you have or what you owe? If you donʼt know where you are financially, you canʼt make it better or move forward. If you were to ask me how much money I have, I would be able to tell you within a few dollars. If you wanted to know how much money I owed, I could also tell you within a few dollars. Maybe Iʼm a bit more obessive about my finances than most people but I like to know whatʼs going on. I think I have a bit of OCD because I check all of my financial accounts each day. I know this is overkill for some people but this way, if something is not right, I can catch it immediately and get it fixed.

Keeping Up With the Joneses. Just because your buddy Joe just bought a new car, doesnʼt mean you have to buy one. Do you really need to upgrade to a larger home? Just because your friends are doing it, it doesnʼt mean you have to do it too.

(Photo credit: jack_a_daniels)

Here it is ladies and gentleman. Iʼm currently waiting to hear back from my realtor as to whether or not I am the new owner of this property. If youʼve been following the blog for awhile, you know that: I already own two properties (my primary home and a rental property). You probably also know that Iʼve been looking to pickup another rental property to add to my portfolio for a few years now. If fact, there are a couple of blog posts to document my failed attempts in the past. You can read about those here here and here.



Iʼm looking to spend no more than $30,000 for this property since I will be paying cash. Fortunately for me, due to the “housing crisis”, there are thousands of properties in the Atlanta area (and in alot of areas around the country) that can be picked up for peanuts compared to what theyʼve sold for in the past. Each day, I comb the real estate listing in my area looking for the perfect investment property to come on the market.

A couple of weeks ago, that perfect property appeared on my computer screen. The property above was listed for $12,900. No, I didnʼt leave off a digit or put the comma in the wrong place. The property was listed for $12,900 and is bank-owned. There were about 12 photos available and they all showed that the house was in pretty good condition. Prior experience has told me that properties at this price and needing little work will be snatched up pretty quickly. I found the property at about 10am and by 12:00pm, I was on my way to look at the property in person. The listing broker could not meet me at the house but he was nice enough to give me the lockbox code so I could go ahead and look at it. After checking it out, I called the realtor and put in an offer.

The House. This little beauty is a 3 bedroom, 1 bath ranch on a crawlspace. It was built in 1950 but has been renovated within the last few years. The sales history for the house from the county public records are:

• $105,000 in December 2006
• $63,900 in July 2006
• $115,900 in February 2006
• $108,000 in April 2003
• $82,500 in October 2000

Repairs. The home definitely has good bones. The windows are fairly new. The AC unit appears to be in good condition. The carpet is in good condition but needs to be cleaned. The kitchen and bathroom has nice ceramic tile and the hallway has laminate flooring. There is a nice sturdy deck on the back of the house but it needs to be pressure washed and stained. The roof needs to be replaced but it can actually hold on for maybe a year or so. The interior needs minor repairs to the ceiling and walls and a new coat of paint. I plan to have an inspection completed prior to the final purchase to make sure there are no major issues.

Financials. I said earlier that the house was listed for $12,900. I knew that if I put in an offer of $12,900, I would be quickly outbid. My initial offer was for $15,000 cash with no contentions. A few days after my initial offer, I heard back from the realtor. The home had over 10 bids already and my offer was not among the top. I initially decided to give up on the house and move on to the next one. After doing a little research on the comps and having my uncle (the contractor) check it out, I bumped my offer up to $25,000. I really think the home is worth approximately $60,000 in the current condition. I should hear something on 4/12/2010. You guys wish me luck and Iʼll let you know what happens.

Hello, folks. In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been around for the past few weeks. Well, there was this space ship that came down to earth and kidnapped me for a couple of weeks. They finally decided to let me come back provided I didn’t tell anyone what happened while I was there. Nah, I’m only kidding. Actually, I’ve had a couple of things I’ve been working on that have taken up the majority of my time.

Work has been extremely busy for the past few weeks and I've been working approximately 12 hour days. Unfortunately, it hasn’t resulted in additional income since my salary is based on a 40 hour workweek and there is no overtime pay. If I work 38 hours, I get paid for 40 hours. If I work 60 hours like I've been doing the past few weeks, I still get paid for 40 hours. It's a little frustrating sometimes but I like to think that my hard work is rewarded during my annual salary review.

The other thing I've been working on is a joint venture with my uncle. He's been doing construction for over 25 years and can fix or build anything with his eyes closed. He’s finally decided to start out on his own and needed a little help; both physically and with the business end of it. I’ve helped him with setting up an email account, getting his business cards and putting out flyers to help him advertise his business. In addition to that, I’m also in charge of managing the finances of his business and his personal finances.

To say he is not good with money would be an understatement. This is the same guy that used to go to the casino like he was going to work. This is also the same guy that blew through $20,000 in casino winnings in just a few hours. It’s so weird because he would win money EVERY time he went to the casino. I’ve gone with him a few times in the past and each time, he won some ridiculous amount of money while I would sulk over losing $20 in the slot machine.

So far, the business has been going well. He’s hooked up with a few realtors and they are sending him tons of referrals. All of these things have led to me not having any spare time left for blogging or any fun. Right now, my schedule consists of getting up in the morning and going to my regular day job. After I get done with that, I usually meet up with my uncle to either help him out with a job or work on writing up estimates for a potential job. Before you start thinking I’m a nice guy, let me tell ya, my services aren’t provided for free. Right now, I’m only charging him 10% of each job. For the jobs that he gets, it’s a good deal for me. The only bad thing is that if he doesn’t get the job, I don’t get paid for my time.

Work should be slowing down a little so I should be back to a regular posting schedule. Thanks for hanging in there and I thank you for reading the blog.