[Critter]

I’m glad my parents didn’t give me the down payment for my first home buy. Doing it “the old-fashioned way” (saving for ten years) meant I did a lot of research on loan scenarios before picking the best one and it definitely was NOT an IO, neg am, or any of the other funky chicken loans!

I think people treat earned money with more care than they do hand-outs.

[Critter]

SDR, I love your posts, but you gotta put the “u” before the “a” in guarantee.

[Critter]

I also considered paying six months or more upfront for a discount – but then I realized I would be stuck here for six months at least (in case a much better rental became available), plus, if something broke, the landlord would be less likely to make a timely repair since I would not have the leverage of withholding a portion of the rent to get the repair done myself.

The whole place could go up in flames as well. Also – with that kind of cash, why not put it in a six-month CD instead of your landlord’s wallet?

[Critter]

Why depend on the government? Live beneath your means and do your own “alleviation of the pressure put on families.”

I’m not trying to pick on you personally, but I for one am pretty tired of people borrowing money and then expecting other forces to bail them out.

[Critter]

This run-up-the-bills mentality really ticks me off. It reminds me of people who charge up their credit cards knowing they will be declaring bankruptcy and feeling they won’t have to pay the piper in a short time. Thankfully, the laws have changed so this is no longer so prevalent.

I also know a person who, when diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, ran out and bought a new car, plus indulged in a bunch of other luxuries charged onto his credit card. His attitude was, I’ll enjoy life now and someone else can clean up my financial mess after I’m gone.

Then he ended up on life-sustaining medication with his disease in remission and…. had to pay off all of his bills himself. Same thing is happening here with this Brown character. These kind of people deserve their albatross mortgages.

[Critter]

Builders.

[Critter]

“He talked about money and wealth quite a bit, and after much though he arrived at the figure of $20 million dollars in net worth as “wealthy.” He defined wealth as never having to worry about money again.”

I dunno…. sounds like this guy worried about making it so much that when he finally did, he probably worried just as much about keeping it, or making more.

I’d rather make a comfortable amount and enjoy life more, than focus completely on financial gain and enjoy life less during the process.

A distant relation claims her lifetime goal is to make five million dollars, then she will feel accomplished.

Meanwhile, she’s a total bore at our family get-togethers because her conversation is all about money… making it, keeping it, and what others are spending. She repeatedly asks what things cost (like when my brother bought a new car) which makes me wonder if she thinks dollars are the only indicator of quality.

[Critter]

On that note, somebody making $100K a year with $110K a year expenses is living a nightmare.

I have a couple of friends who make a lot and spend it all, and a little bit more. They LOOK rich but in my mind, they are impoverished mentally and physically.

[Critter]

Maisel Presley has left the building (to the lender).

[Critter]

It’s harder to get a rental application approved than get a mortgage. Imagine a “stated reference” portion of a rental app, where the landlord just takes you at your word as far as what kind of tenant you are.

[Critter]

Google does have advertising – all the “sponsored links” off to the right-hand side. What makes these blend in is that they are not in loud colors or banner ads. What I despise is those “interstituals” which are the ads that crop up between pages – common on the NYTimes website.

I would pay for premium business info such as Hoovers.com or LexisNexis but usually the boss picks up the tab for these services. I also pay to list items on eBay and accept payments via PayPal but these are not info sites.

What holds me back from other sites is their efforts to shoehorn me into a subscription service – ie, hanging onto my credit card number and charging me every month whether I go on the site or not. This is definitely a barrier to entry that companies should offer a choice about rather than forcing on their readers.

One last site that offers good paid content – Morningstar for stock and mutual fund info.

[Critter]

Check http://www.bankrate.com for options depending on the length of time you have available for the funds to mature.

Locally, I have seen good rates with World Savings, Imperial Capital Bank, and Indymac (in LA). There are slightly higher CD rates out of state (Corus Bank for one, Ascencia for another) but do factor in travel time to get the cash out – most banks won’t return the money electronically and it may take a week to get the check in the mail, and then you have to wait another ten days for the check to clear.

It may not sound like much, but 20 days for your money not to be making interest can be a lot, depending on how much money you have to invest.

[Critter]

I would be all for that sort of system – trying to compare potential loans is an exercise in frustration, because different lenders use different terms for the same thing. And the prices are all over the map.

Any loan officers or mortgage brokers out there that want to comment? How do real estate agents feel about a streamlined system?

[Critter]

Good question, since past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

[Critter]

I agree with VCGuy. I recently read that it is better to toss the purse or wallet and then run in the opposite direction – most thieves will grab for the booty while you escape with your life.

[Author]

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