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Ren
ParticipantThanks. I’m going to get a few more estimates Monday.
January 11, 2013 at 9:09 AM in reply to: Personal Financial “Advisors” and Self Help “Financial Coaches”…What so many people already knew… #757527ParticipantI hate to agree with BG, but…
I’m an independent contractor, and Kaiser was a nightmare for me. I could NOT get treated, for anything. Long waits only to be sent away. I ended up paying cash for urgent care if I needed to see a doctor, and going out of state and paying cash for a needed surgery after two Kaiser surgeons said it “can’t be done” (read: “I don’t know how to do that”) with as much arrogance as is possible to muster.
Now with Anthem Blue Cross/Scripps and loving it. Wifey had both kids at Scripps, both awesome experiences.
January 10, 2013 at 10:45 AM in reply to: Personal Financial “Advisors” and Self Help “Financial Coaches”…What so many people already knew… #757434Participant[quote=squat300]The book that truly changed my financial life was the tightwad gazette.
Paid cash for it ten years ago. Still have it. I’d say my family is hundreds of thousands of dollars wealthier for having embraced it.
Skip lattes. Duh! Fucking rewash your sandwich baggies! Fight for every dime!!![/quote]
There’s a point where cheapness becomes a mental illness – living on expired food, buying store brand mac & cheese – which tastes like crap compared to Kraft.
Those things don’t add up to much, anyway – a few bucks a month. The real savings are in your housing and car. Sacrifice one bedroom, and drive it 6 or 8 years instead of 4.
Participant[quote=flu]A lot of reasons.
1. They might not have worked long enough to accumulated savings
2. They might be waiting on a green card before they make a commitment
3. They might not have found what they are looking for yet in terms of housing
4. They might be here on loan from a company
5. They might want their kids to go to a good school district without having to pay the premium for the home purchase
6. They might feel that buying a home is a terrible investment and a permanent-renter…
7. They might feel like they can still get 50% off real estate and decide to keep sitting it out…
lots of reasons.[/quote]
8. Military.
I wouldn’t expect or even hope for a 10-year tenant – 3 years would make me happy as a landlord.
I tend to agree that there are good tenants to be found among the low income. If your rental is in good shape and priced below market, the responsible ones will choose yours over the other properties available.
ParticipantRiverside isn’t all bad – it depends on where you buy. If the focus was on super cheap properties (i.e., bad areas), you would get tenants who have no choice but to live at that level.
Bad areas can mean good cash flow but with many more headaches. For better cash flow with less headaches, you need to look out of state.
Participant*bump*
Inventory is very slightly better in Temecula than the coast where I’m always looking, but prices are still rising and getting silly in many cases, especially on the low end.
Just for fun, I put a zillow “make me move” price on our house which I thought was ridiculous – 25% higher than our purchase price 3 years ago, even higher than a recent sold comp which I also thought was ridiculous.
The next day I got an email from someone who sounded desperate to buy it. I explained that we haven’t made the decision, just gauging interest.
December 29, 2012 at 9:47 AM in reply to: OT: FLU refinances (again)…..15 year conforming 2.5% #756919Participant[quote=flu][quote=SD Transplant]FLU or AN,
Would you please share the name of your broker/refi guy? If you doon’t want to share it on the board, you could PM me 🙂 I’m going to refi in the next couple of weeks. Thanks in advance.[/quote]
sent you a pm[/quote]
Ditto? 😀
Participant[quote=zk]It seems to me that the philosophy that I frequently see being followed is more like, “be good to people who have pleasant personalities.”
When you first meet someone, that’s usually all you have to go on. But later on, when you get to know someone, it still seems to hold. I know people who are funny and sociable but who are mean or dishonest or conniving. I know people who are awkward and not smooth or sociable but who have great integrity, are very nice, honorable and unselfish. The former are, almost without exception, treated better than the latter.
The former’s transgressions are quickly forgotten about or glossed over. While the latter’s gaffes are talked about, exaggerated, or blown out of proportion.[/quote]
This may be the case with total strangers, but people you work with are a different story. You’re around them enough to know if they’re conniving jerks or not. And even if someone IS secretly a conniving jerk, it doesn’t matter – I’m not rewarding them for their personality, I’m rewarding them for being nice in the few minutes I have to deal with them. That may help change them for the better and it may not.
It isn’t perfect, but it’s better than always giving equal treatment, IMO.
ParticipantPartly in an attempt to counter those kinds of people, but also to give karma a hand, I make a point of giving nice people priority. If someone comes to me needing help with something, and they’re genuinely good peeps, they get put on top of the pile.
Participant[quote=bearishgurl]And if you haven’t already, you should check out C’oeur d’alene:
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&va=coeur+d%27alene
[/quote]It’s beautiful and comfortable for about four months out of the year. One of my sisters owns a vacation rental in Wallace, which luckily is mostly shielded from the wind that hits Coeur d’Alene in the winter. It’s bitterly, painfully cold.
ParticipantI bought an LG 55″ LED 1080p 120Hz TV on Amazon (excellent experience) three years ago for something like $1,600, a decent deal at the time. Similar sets (same manufacturer, same specs, different model) go for $900 now. I am and have been ecstatically happy with this TV, so I’m not beating myself up over it.
IMO, you shouldn’t skimp (or obsess over cost) on the things you spend the most time with – bed, TV, car, phone.
Participant[quote=UCGal][quote=Ren]
Anecdotal – I know an early 40’s crab fisherman. He works two seasons per year (6-7 months total?) and makes over $150k in that time. He’s got seniority, so he doesn’t do the dangerous work anymore – he sits in a nice warm cabin operating the crane. I’m not sure I would ever have been willing to put in the work he did to get to that point, and probably physically incapable now. He says that most 20-somethings wash out after one season.[/quote]Ever watch deadliest catch? – unless you’re running the pilot house or the crane – that work SUCKS.
That said – I lived in NW Washington for several years. There were a lot of boat owners who lived in Bellingham during the off season. It’s *very* lucrative if you own the boat… but those boats aren’t cheap. And there’s the months away from your family working extremely long hours (up to 48 hours straight if you’re lucky enough to have hit a high yield spot. That puts wear and tear on your body.
A friend of mine dated the son of a boat owner. He was 30, but looked closed to 50 because of the hard life during the season.[/quote]
This particular person is (I think) second only to the owner/captain, and gets a large cut rather than salary. So far he looks his age – maybe he’d look younger if he didn’t do this. He’s single, so no issues there. I sort of envy his life – not the single part, but the adventure, time off, high salary, and relative safety of his current position. Thankfully it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
ParticipantBeing a plumber can be brutally hard work (think cast iron bathtub/stairs) and isn’t a job for the 50+ age set. You also don’t make great money unless you’re the owner. Still, I would encourage my kids to do that if I knew they would manage their money well enough to retire early.
HVAC – another high-paying job for the owner, but imagine replacing an attic furnace in an inland empire summer.
Anecdotal – I know an early 40’s crab fisherman. He works two seasons per year (6-7 months total?) and makes over $150k in that time. He’s got seniority, so he doesn’t do the dangerous work anymore – he sits in a nice warm cabin operating the crane. I’m not sure I would ever have been willing to put in the work he did to get to that point, and probably physically incapable now. He says that most 20-somethings wash out after one season.
November 15, 2012 at 9:41 AM in reply to: What are you folks seeing in terms of 30 year conforming rates? #754732ParticipantSimilar scenarios are repeated over and over again in their reviews. Stay far away.
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