Blue Suede Shoes – Response to ‘Great REALTORS are Great Dancers!’ with Ivan Greathouse Reminiscing About Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins

By |2019-09-15T16:04:11+00:00July 29th, 2019|

Thank you Jeff for your first-in-a-series “Great REALTORS are Great Dancers!” What looks easy from the outside, is carefully ‘choreographed’. Jeff has gone beyond dancing to choreography: Another Day of Sun - La La Land Opening Scene, Listen to the warning from the great Aretha, the Queen of Soul:“You better think about the consequences [...]

Bank of Michelle – Alternate Mortgage Paydown Strategies

By |2019-09-15T16:04:13+00:00July 23rd, 2019|

Previously, we explained how we got a loan from “The Bank of Michelle” to finance the purchase of our first TMP house when the lender could not meet the close date. Here’s the comparison of using a 30-year fixed loan at 4.99% versus a 15-year fixed at 0.625% less. The rate differential is per Wells [...]

Opportunity Cost – 75th Anniversary of D Day Trip

By |2019-09-15T16:04:16+00:00July 19th, 2019|

In the middle of escrow for the house on Valencia that we eventually purchased, Jim and Michelle left for a 12-day trip to Europe to celebrate the 75th anniversary of D Day. We went with the Concordia Wind Orchestra of Concordia University, Irvine who were invited to play on Omaha Beach at 4 pm [...]

Wix Vs WordPress – Introducing Chris von Nieda, Webmaster

By |2019-09-15T16:04:19+00:00July 14th, 2019|

I’ve been reading “FIRE” blogs for years. Wikipedia says “The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement is a lifestyle movement whose goal is financial independence and retiring early.” I already gave a shout out to JL Collins in my very first blog post. Now my go-to FIRE guy is Sam at FinancialSamurai.com. I started [...]

We Bought Our First House-Part Three – No Loan Available, We Buy ‘All Cash’

By |2019-09-15T16:04:20+00:00July 12th, 2019|

We’re coming close to buying our first house for TheMonopolyProject.Previously we had to specify three fixes to the house on Valencia. Then the appraisal came in $11,000 UNDER the sales price. As you learned, we turned that to our advantage and negotiated a reduction in price of over $5,000. That $5,000 goes directly into our [...]

We Bought Our First House-Part Two, Appraisal Woes

By |2019-09-15T16:04:21+00:00July 10th, 2019|

Previously, we explained our ongoing purchase of the house on Valencia. The financial analysis assumed a purchase price of $203,200 with a 20% down, 30 year fixed mortgage of $162,560 at 4.99% yields a monthly PI (Principal and Interest) of $871.66. Taxes ($105), insurance ($51), HOA ($65) and management fee ($127) total $348. Assuming [...]

We Bought Our First House-Part One, Three Repairs

By |2019-09-15T16:04:23+00:00July 8th, 2019|

Previously, we made an offer on a house in Laveen and declined to buy the other shot up house in the same neighborhood. Our realtor/broker Jeff is in Israel, so he has arranged for a colleague, Rayven Macnab, to fill in. Jeff introduced Rayven via email: To Jeff Sutherlin, RAYVEN MACNAB, Jim Sarina [...]

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