Browse by Tags
-
Posted
Aug 29 2008, 11:40 AM
by
Karen Datko
Congratulations are due to blogger Lynnae, who recently realized her personal version of the American dream: She and her husband have bought their first house. "I'm now the proud owner of my own home, and in more debt than I've ever been in my life! It feels good!" she wrote. How can she be happy about debt, when so many others are ruing their home-purchasing decisions? Lynnae and Jim bucked the trend: They waited for prices to fall and made an offer on a house they can actually afford -- even if they were ever forced to swing it on one income.
Read More...
-
Posted
Aug 13 2008, 06:13 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Financially stressed homeowners hoping to benefit from the federal housing bailout should be glad that Kyle at Rather Be Shopping is not in charge. While people who seek help through the plan will have to show they can afford to make (newly reduced) mortgage payments, Kyle has a different set of questions they'd have to answer before getting help. Among them would be: How much do you spend on vacations? What kind of car do you drive, and what kind of clothes do you buy? In other words, are you responsible with your money?
Read More...
-
Posted
Jul 31 2008, 07:06 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
"Brainy Smurf" at Pants in a Can isn't unhappy to see car leasing apparently going the way of the dinosaur. In fact, he's practically gloating. After seeing an NBC News report on the Big Three automakers' moves to discourage or totally eliminate leasing, he wrote: "Only being able to drive something that you can actually afford? "How dare they!" he added, snarkily.
Read More...
-
Posted
Jul 19 2008, 11:24 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
"Broke Grad Student" would like to have a big honking wad of cash as much as the next guy. But that's a dream because of his big honking student loan debt. In a post called "6 reasons why I hate cash," he explains why he otherwise has little use for bills and coins. For instance, if you lost that big wad of cash, it would be gone. Poof. "You can't call an 800 number and have them cancel your $20 bills," he says in this humorous post at Broke Grad Student.
Read More...
-
Posted
May 06 2008, 03:29 PM
by
Karen Datko
If you don't want your house to sell, make sure it looks like some of the houses featured at snarky I Can't Sell My House, a blog that's essentially a pictorial history of our current housing woes. You know that look -- a Christmas tree still on the curb four months after the holiday season, an overgrown lawn, or a few grocery carts parked near the driveway. Inside, make sure buyers can immediately identify what kind of pet you have -- just by gently inhaling. If you really want to sell your house in this tough market, read The Wisdom Journal's "52 tips to make your home irresistible to buyers." Ron shares more than the obvious in this post.
Read More...
-
Posted
May 01 2008, 12:49 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
It used to be that if you wanted to buy a house, you simply talked to a lender. "This is nice, if you have an honest, unbiased broker," writes Jonathan at My Money Blog. "This is also how people got talked into 0% down, subprime adjustable-rate mortgages." If you are thinking about, saving for or on the verge of buying a house, we strongly recommend that you read Jonathan's two-part series on shopping for a mortgage. We've been through the house-buying process three times and wish we could have read these posts before we did.
Read More...
-
Posted
Apr 23 2008, 03:31 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Credit cards are about to get smarter. A story in BusinessWeek reports that MasterCard is about to introduce the inControl card for corporate clients, which will allow the boss to limit how, where and when employees use a company card on business trips. This has prompted one credit card expert to ask why the technology isn't being offered to regular consumers who have trouble controlling their credit card use but aren't willing to cut them into tiny pieces.
Read More...
-
Posted
Apr 02 2008, 12:11 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Mike at Clever Dude makes an amazing confession for a personal-finance blogger. He and his wife bought a house with an interest-only mortgage and no money down "because we wanted more than we could afford," he admits. Not only that, but "I can directly blame ourselves for not understanding the terms of our loans," he says. He depended on the mortgage broker to do the math, rather than educate himself about what he was getting into. "So I accept full blame for my shortsightedness, laziness and ignorance," he writes. (Luckily for them, they've still built up some equity.) Thus begins his examination of why he made uninformed decisions.
Read More...
-
Posted
Mar 31 2008, 05:54 PM
by
Karen Datko
Your credit card company isn't giving you airline miles, points or cash back because it loves you. No, sirree. "New rewards, incentives, tricks, deals, dog-and-pony shows, and other marketing gimmicks are continually coming out with the aim to extract you from your money in the fastest, most pain-free way possible," writes Randall at Credit Withdrawal. "Reminds me a little of Las Vegas," he adds.
Read More...
-
Posted
Mar 10 2008, 12:48 PM
by
Karen Datko
Lots has been written about whether this is the right time to buy a house, but regardless of your decision, you should know this: The past has became the present, and the pre-housing boom guidelines for how much house you can afford are now back in play. So says Michael B. Rubin of Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck. In case you've forgotten the guidelines, we'll give you a little refresher. What should your down payment be? The boom answer was: "Those loose coins in your car and in your couch? That's plenty!" Michael writes. The "way it is and ought to be: You should be able to put at least 20% down."
Read More...
|
