[UCGal]

I’m a big fan of shopping around. But you need to shop more than rates – different folks will charge different amounts for various loan origination fees, escrow fees, doc fees, appraisals… So you need to get the whole financial cost to compare.

That said – the last time I refi’d was with a piggington poster – HLS. (You can pm him through the system. He was great to work with and gave me a much better deal than I was being quoted from my credit union and from my bank. Service was excellent, the close happened at my house with a notary showing up to have me sign off on everything. So Sheldon (HLS) gets a thumbs up from me.

[UCGal]

I didn’t what-if the scenario that would never apply.

I priced for current situations, and for the next few years (from an age point of view). Granted the future ones will likely be higher due to the super inflation of health care. I was doing this to get as realistic idea of our budget as possible.

[UCGal]

[quote=no_such_reality]
You also need to control variables. Employers have the “family” plan that doesn’t count how many people[/quote]

You’re right about that. But with 2 kids, we’re not a huge family.

I think the factor was adult ages. I did some what if’ing.. and it appears my husband’s age was a bigger factor. Employer coverage doesn’t include ages of adults in the pricing. (It can’t – age discrimination, etc.) ACA and privately contracted insurance considers age and smoking status.

We’ll have a gap of one year between when COBRA runs out and he qualifies for Medicare… so we’ll have to budget extra for that year. But we can make the adjustments we need with planning.

[UCGal]

[quote=CA renter]
Crazy stuff, and one more reason for us not to build a granny flat in our backyard that we were thinking about. UCGal’s story regarding her tenant’s girlfriend/boyfriend was my other red flag.

BTW, UCGal, how did you end up handling that? Did you have them sign the new rules regarding how many nights a bf/gf can stay per week?[/quote]

We talked to her, and while they weren’t happy about it – his overnight stays dropped (and she was also gone most of those nights). From a legal point the talk did the trick. It did cause some family tension since she is/was family… but not much. (Actually, she was ok, it was another family member who thought we were being ridiculous). She chose not to renew the lease when it was lease renewal time and she and her boyfriend got a bigger place together….

So we’re now on the hunt for a good tenant again. We updated our lease document to include language that specifically addresses this – no overnight guests for more than 14 days continuously and no more than 14 days of overnight guests in a single month. We corrected a couple other deficiencies in our lease, also, that our lawyer pointed out.

[UCGal]

Apparently the family cut off the internet and cable to her room, and padlocked the fridge.

She’s left. But left behind her stuff. She apparently threatened to sue them for age discrimination and other stuff.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/27/fired-california-nanny-wont-leave/11553965/

[UCGal]

This is an extreme case – but it’s a variation of the de-facto tenant issue I posted about previously. Where someone you do *not* have a contract with (lease, etc.) can make you go through the eviction process. And the eviction process gets trickier because there’s no contract of the terms.

[UCGal]

Maybe my workplace was unusual… but we had these kind of discussions in our development lab. My former coworkers are mostly homeowners – some with rental homes… prop 13, mello roos, tax policy of all kinds were discussed openly and in an engaged manner. But the folks who had benches near mine were all smart folks who thought deeply on stuff. (And the discussions were far from onesided – lots of respectfully differing views.)

[UCGal]

Some questions:

– are you ok with being a landlord? There are folks who enjoy it. And folks who look at it as too much work. Given some of your statements in the past I know you’ve had tenant issues and management company issues. Are you ok with future hassles/issues?

– You say you’re not cashflowing. That’s a red flag for me. Presumably, at some point, rent will go up to where you have a net positive cash flow. Are you ok waiting it out?

– You mention depreciation. You know that the depreciation is recaptured when you sell. So that will impact your taxes when you sell.

[UCGal]

[quote=CDMA ENG]
P.S. During my move I picked up my UVerse PVR and noticed it was a Motorola box… I thought… I wonder if there is a little piece of UCGal in this thing… Well… There won’t be anymore if there ever was! Kind of sad…[/quote]

I didn’t work on the uverse – but the group that ran that project is based in San Diego – so I know a lot of folks who did work on it.

San Diego’s time warner doesn’t use much in the way of Mot/Arris products… Tend to deploy Cisco and Pace boxes. But I was working on a product for TW until I quit. It’s actually a cool product if they can work out the kinks of the various parts of the system (servers, gateways, clients, etc.) It’s in field trial now – but not in this market.

Comcast uses a LOT of settops I’ve worked on. I can go into various in-laws homes and say “Hey – I wrote code that runs in your cable box!”. But that’s in Philly and Lexington. If it’s a MOT box and the model number starts with DCT or DCX chances are I wrote code for that box – or at least fixed bugs for it.

[UCGal]

You’re not the only one.
My kids have to be enrolled in a sports program (baseball or basketball) pretty much year round. And they have to do something physical every day – regardless of sports.

Right now they’re in gateways. I make them walk the 2 miles home from the bus stop. If they weren’t in gateways they’d be required to play hoops or ride their bikes for at least 45 mins/day.

Their preference would be to sit inside and play video games all day.

We actually have a schedule of “musts” this summer – and it includes the physical activity daily.

[UCGal]

I was pricing insurance this week to determine if I wanted to go COBRA or ACA exchange. The coveredCA website was less helpful than the einsurance.com website. On einsurance they let you filter options by whether you’re ok with a more limited network.

I found that my employer plan, even at full COBRA prices – is a much better deal than what I can get via an unsubsidized private plan. Equivalent plan outside of COBRA is $700 more per month. Proof again, that employers can use their negotiation to get better deals. I was comparing Kaiser Permanente prices, since I’m a satisfied Kaiser customer.

[UCGal]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=FlyerInHi]
I’ve wondered if messy people become more organized after they have children just to set a good example for their kids.[/quote]

No.[/quote]
+100
LMAO
(oops – does that count as cursing?)

[UCGal]

Thanks gang!
My dog is loving it – he’s getting more walks in funner places. (Two morning walks at the Shores so far.) He’s crashed out taking a nap… I’m considering joining him in it.

Scaredy – I have plenty to worry about still (I’m a parent, LOL). So that should keep my stress levels and brain activity to a point that I don’t stroke out.

And yes, Shoveler – I feel busier than ever – but doing things I want to do… not what my former boss wanted me to do. Big difference, and much more satisfying when you achieve the results you want.

[UCGal]

[quote=njtosd][quote=CA renter]Sounds like you’re going to be great parents, CE (but stay away from that soda!). I like your ideas here. Don’t worry too much about the food; you can make a hobby out of cooking with the family (that’s what we do, since we also love good food, unfortunately).

This will be such an awesome experience for you guys! :)[/quote]

OK – I have to agree that soda isn’t great. And maybe I am sensitive because I developed a morning Diet Pepsi habit in college before I started on (the more caffeinated) coffee. But why does this thread put so much more emphasis on soda than, say, alcohol and/or smoking? Plus, I feel like the biggest battle we face is not soda but staying fun and cheerful in the face of unfathomably messy rooms, mountains of laundry, homework, bills and (for example) my 12 year old’s incessant drumming. Sometimes I go to bed at night and realize I was a real buzz kill for most of the day. Staying positive in light of all the commotion is a daily challenge . . .[/quote]

Good comments. I’m a buzz kill too.

And I agree that smoking is way worse than soda – but so few people smoke these days, it wasn’t on my radar.

[UCGal]

[quote=SD Squatter]Any discussion about racial/genetic differences, especially when it comes to predisposition to crime, IQ, school test scores, etc. is a total and complete taboo. Any racial comments in general (see Donald Sterling). I can’t think of a bigger taboo than that.

Maybe less of a taboo:
– democracy (i.e. the ultimate social system that is desired by all people)
– homosexuality (i.e. orientation vs sexual disorder)
– support of Israel
– support of veterans
– money
– prop 13 in CA politics ;)[/quote]

Interesting – I would put some of the ones you listed as opposite of how you worded them.
It’s taboo to NOT support Israel, no matter what.
It’s definitely taboo to not support vets.
I agree that prop 13 is semi taboo – but we seem to be able to discuss it here… (See my conversations with BG and CAR for examples.)

[Author]

Posts