Previously, we had to buy our first house on Valencia St in Phoenix for ‘all cash’ when our lender could not fund the loan in time for closing. It was an error of closing dates on their part, that we did not catch in time to correct, due to more ‘opportunity costs’. How are we [...]
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 [...]
The “Rent Vs Buy” question has been discussed/analyzed/argued ad infinitum:[...]
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’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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
We’re still in the middle of our negotiations for the 48th St house in Laveen that was shot with 35 bullets. We had seen another listing in the same area that appeared to be a better deal for two reasons. Financially, the expenses (taxes and HOA) were significantly less, about $150/month less. Geographically, it is [...]
Our results to date are reported on a monthly basis on the “Score” table on the Home page. We give you the current total value of TheMonopolyProject (TMP) as a combination of cash held (bank deposits) and the estimated value of the real estate owned minus liabilities (loans).To determine how well TMP project is [...]
DECISION MEETING on the House in Laveen Our house on 48th St in Laveen, a neighborhood of Phoenix, was shot up while in escrow. We held a ‘Decision Meeting’ on 15 May and decided to go ahead with an initial offer of $150,000, all cash. Negotiation Discussions and Strategy on the House in Laveen The [...]
