Real Estate Investing

I hate moving so much that I have vowed to only help those who have helped me.  That would be me helping NO ONE … we had one friend who helped us move a couch, but he has since passed away.  Otherwise, we’ve packed our own boxes and hired Two Men and a Truck to haul for us the two major moves my husband and I have undergone.  I do miss the military moves from when my Dad was in the Air Force - they came in to pack and load for you.

As much as I hate moving, it suddenly it appears I have to help a friend later this week.  Fortunately she knows a couple of youngsters who can do the heavy lifting - I’m just bringing the truck thankfully. She is making the move as inexpensively as possibly - by getting friends to help.  The Lazy Man and Money site offers this as a suggestion to move on the cheap, along with several other ideas.  We all know about eating your food before the move and getting rid of extra stuff, but this idea is a great one,

Go Electronic - It’s a lot easier to move a 500GB hard drive of music than it is to move hundreds of CDs. It’s easier to move an Amazon Kindle than a pile of books (though the Kindle does have some drawbacks). My Netflix account is infinitely lighter than a DVD collection. I’m not saying these are perfect solutions, but just something to think about.

The other issues the site talks about is not being scammed by a moving company.  I love the idea that you shouldn’t pay a deposit because they already have all your belongings as collateral.  Here are a couple more valuable suggestions from the post Save Money on Moving,

• Don’t Sign a Contract with Blanks in it - A moving company can fill in those blanks and change those terms on you.
• Look at the Truck - If it’s in good shape the company may care about your stuff more.
• Don’t Sign a Skinny Contract - A one page contract is too small for a move, you want something more detailed.

Excellent site!  Great read!  Happy Monday!

Photo from 5 Minutes with Molly.

I have a guilty pleasure.  In addition to watching Survivor, LOST, and American Idol that is.  (Guilty!)  I love my Facebook page.  I do try to be careful about what I write because of course the whole world can see it, but I couldn’t stand not illustrating my friend’s experience today while she was on the phone with me.  I groove on Pathwords, Scramble, and WordTwist - it still annoys me that my sister-in-law didn’t even allow me a full day before she kicked my butt out of first place on Word Twist.  I think her whole family must’ve helped her but don’t tell her I said that - I’ll deny it! 

My latest favorite place to be on Facebook is Yoville.  I’m an official resident, a Yovillian.  My character is Katalina.   I have lovingly decorated by earning money at the Widget Factory and buying furniture, flooring, landscaping, etc.  Here’s my place.

So for anyone who likes virtual decorating, there are many places to go online to see what your project will look like once you’ve added a new floor or paint color.  Here are some of my favorites (besides Yoville on Facebook).

iVillage Room Decorating Ideas

National Wood Flooring Association Design a Room

Daltile Design a Room

Pure Contemporary - I like this one because it also lets you arrange furniture too!

Your other option is to invest in some CAD software (computer aided design), but be picky about what program you choose.

See you on Yoville!

I should link to BripBlap more often because they nearly always provide pause when you’re considering decisions that could impact the future of your financial health.   A day or two ago, they said,

In real estate, the quicker you can go into massive debt, the quicker you can become massively wealthy. (Link)

It’s true, but in a very misleading way. The operative word here is “can.”  It is easy to miss, and many people will automatically interpret this as “will” or even worse, “probably will.”  That is precisely incorrect.

If you go massively into debt, what you do is you take on a massive amount of risk.  Risk isn’t necessarily a bad thing; we take risks many times every day – getting on the highway, crossing the street, eating that Big Mac (well, a bunch of Big Macs, over time).

I have taken risks before, but have never ventured into buying real estate for investment purposes.  I’d like to, but the specter of draining my retirement account to buy a house is daunting.  Then again, my retirement account has been steadily receding anyway - as has real estate.  Maybe this would be a good time to cut my losses in my 401(k) and invest in real estate while prices are low.

However, it’s not a decision to be made lightly, as our friends at BripBlap say.  It’s a crap shoot.  Is it worth it?