The Olympics
I love the Olympics. I always have. I think I got hooked in 1984 with the LA games. I watched more hours that year than I can count. I was 12 years old. That was the year of Mary Lou, Carl Lewis. It felt magical. Every single Olympic year after that I was hooked. Now I am trying to hook my kids at an early age so they have the same love of it that I do. The competition is great. I love travel and culture so having a world wide sports event is fun for me. The personal stories are so insirational. I want to celebrate with the winners and cry with the losers. The music is some of my favorite of all time. I have had a secret dream for a couple decades of being an Olympian. So every 2 years I quietly in my mind think of what my life is like now and how thankful I am to have it the way that it is but wonder how different it would have been it I would have been an Olympian.
a couple budget tips...
I love stretching a dollar! I will likely add to this post too as I get time. I just posted this a reply on a pastors wives group page so I thought I would blog about it too.
1. Use cash. When we get a paycheck we write a check to ourselves and then we get cash to put in our envelope wallet (crown.org or financial peace sells them) and that is what we use to spend on groceries, date, babysitting, gifts, clothes, family fun, etc. That way you can save up for things like your kids brithdays, it limits your grocery spending, and allows you date money before the money runs out (no excuses!). Another cash envelope we each have is for personal money. We each get $30 every 2 weeks for whatever we want. Coffees, lunch out, book, whatever. That way the other of us can't complain about what the other is buying.
2. Have a direct deposit account to a seperate checking account that allows us to save for larger one time or yearly purchases like Christmas gifts, estimated taxes, landscaping, furniture, new car fund, vacation fund, and savings,etc. That way you are always working towards saving for things that you know you will need or for things you'd like.
Selling your house: "For Sale By Owner"
Disclaimer: I have no education in this field, just experience. I am just sharing my tips here:
First take digital pictures of the inside and outside of your house. Make sure the rooms have NO clutter. Even if you take down family pics or items just for
the photo. Start looking for a for sale sign-- heavy duty we found is best-- Menards/Home Depot/Lowe's types I think is where we got ours. Buy something to hold your flyers to attach to your sign. We have a see through box that has a lid attacted. I think we got it at an Office Max type store. Some people use a tube and that works too.
When you take pictures (and show your house)make sure all the knick knac type stuff and any extra things are gone--even photos if you can. You might want to start packing stuff up like that. Magnets off the fridge, any little extra stuff that isn't needed to make the space look less like yours so others can visualize it as their own. I even took every single thing off my kitchen counter and that made it look like a new house actually. Keep some of this in mind to a point when it comes to showing your house as well.
You also have to set what price you want to sell your house. My best thought is to know what you paid and what you did put into it, then take into consideration what needs to be done to it if anything then look alot at what is comparable to yours. See what houses have sold for on your block and what is for sale that is most like yours in your area. I think in a bad market it is best to set the price a little under everyone elses like yours. You can and not lose money because you don't have to take out realtor fees. I like going to www.remax.com and then enter the zip code you are in then it will show you all the houses in your area. Use the tools to look at maximum and minimum prices and see where you think yours would fall. Remember when people are looking for houses they also put those price ranges in so make sure when you set the price you fall in the bracket that you want to be in. For example-- setting your house at $204900 would take out anyone that set their maximum price at $200000. The ranges usually go about every $25000. You would likely get $200000 or less with negotiations anyways.
Best way to make your flyer is at FSBO.com if you chose that route that website. Other websites have them available as well. It makes it for you!!!! And it is very professional. Once you have your flyer (also make sure to include your price, amenities, as many details about the house as possible (even room dimentions are nice) and put the sign out you are in business. Either right before or right after the sign goes out call a local title company as tell them what's up. Tell them you are wanting to sell your house on your own and it is your first time and you want to know what they need from you once closing comes around. (If you feel better you can hire a lawyer for a couple hundred just to cover yourself--IL requires it so we had one there for $200). The Title Co. can not give you legal advice but if you ask them questions about what usually happens they will likely tell you and as our title officer said "Lawyers create our documents".
Now if someone wants to buy your house we usually negotiate over the phone but you can do it other ways I guess like email or around a kitchen table. One tip here-- if they make an offer and it is too low-- it is better to negotiate back and forth until you find out their highest price and your lowest I think. Instead of saying no out right say something like: "I can't go that low but I am willing to negotiate" (good idea to have in mind what your ideal lowest price would be before you get to that point. Lowest ideal then rock bottom lowest that will you WILL NOT go below.
A purchase agreement must be filled out. I believe the seller usually does this but I think last time our buyer wanted to do it. I think it just depends on the personalities involved of who does it. It has to be signed by the sellers and buyers so don't sign it until it is written the way you want it and they agree and vice versa. This link is just an idea of what a purchase agreement looks like.
http://www.lectlaw.com/forms/f100.htm
Any other things should be added to the purchase agreement like: if you have a basketball rim on your garage and the people buying the house want it write in the agreement that the basketball hoop stays. Your title company would be able to get you these forms easily if you don't have them already.
The main thing is the TITLE CO. They are the ones who close the deal. Get from them what they need and you should be in business. They do this multiple times a day and it is no big deal for them. They won't let you do anything illegal basically because they can't. They are usually very nice..if they aren't then call another title company that is.
Advertising: No matter if you sell by owner or use a realtor YOU are the best salesman for your house. You know your house better than any realtor and don't let
them tell you otherwise. You have to be honest about any problems with the house BUT you can talk highly too about how great it is! Be confident with realtors. They will do what they can to make you think you need them.
I used www.FSBO.com and loved it. It is the best price for what you get and it is nationwide and highly used. I think I had over 500 hits or more on my page in less than 4 months. I did use Craigs List as well but I don't think anyone came out of that. I did the bronze package at fsbo.com for $69 then had a promo code. I just checked and the promo code is still valid. If you use fsbo.com, when you check out to pay put in promo code: FSBO2008 for another $25 off your total! You get that for 9 months!!!
Newpapers...Yes I do that too. They can be costly especially the bigger the area that the paper goes out. Small towns are reasonable usually. What I did was put the smallest add I could in over the weekend-- Thurs- Sunday or so. Most people look for houses on the weekend and realtors put their adds in then too and people look for those then. For the ad I would write something like this: Marion, 4 bedroom, close to schools, Completely remodeled in 06. www.fsbo.com/000000 That way they are directed to the website where they will see all the photos, more desciption, ways to contact you etc.
Openouses...I don't do them. I have in the past and have felt they were not worth the time they took to prepare. You can if you want. My thought is that if you present all the info that you do online that if someone sees all that and still wants more info they will set up a private showing with you.
Now you will start to get calls from Realtors or others offering some new way to sell your house. You have to decide how you want to deal with realtors. In this market I advise you don't turn them away. They might have your buyer. I have never sold to anyone that used a realtor but have shown it alot to realtors bringing people through. Their cut is negotiable. I told them that they could get 3% but the price of the house would not be negotiable. You can do what you want. Average rates for realtor are 2.5-3.5% (times 2 if each side used a realtor). Also you have to decide if you want to be there when a realtor comes to show the house. They don't want you there I will just tell you. It is your house so if you want to be there you can but they will tell you they will want to speak openly to the buyers about your house without you there. Something to decide.
Incentives: We offered cash back if they closed before July 31 and you know what? They closed on July 31. To do this we just set the final price of the house higher in our final negotiations and it allowed them to have cash in hand to own 2 houses until theirs sold. To do this the title co wrote up a "Bill of Sale" stating that for the cash we were giving them we as sellers were taking the washer and dryer with us, some landscaping pots etc... Now if you don't have extra cash sitting around you
could ask the title co about giving money back at closing out of the profits you make off your house at closing. Not sure about this, never tried and never asked but you could ask. Another incentive is warranteeing your house. Here is an example of one I looked into:
http://www.nationalhomeprotection.com
Especially good for older homes I feel so buyers have confidence they aren't buying a lemon. If you do this make sure you advertise that you are. It is a great selling point!
Once you have a buyer they will likley get an inspection. They pay for someone to come in and look it over. They may or maynot come back with anything. Our first house had some rot in some exterior wood we didn't know about so it was a $750 fix so we had to fix it or pay them the amount and they would worry about fixing it. We then continued with the sale of the house. Good to be open with your buyers I feel.
If you need to go away for a couple weeks while your house is up for sale try asking a neighbor or close friend nearby to show it if you had to. We did this in MI and
IL and my IL neighbor actually sold our house! I gave them a large gift certificate for their time and efforts and they were happy and I didn't pay commissions to a realtor!
The best thing to do when selling by owner is PRAY. I told people on our last sale that God was my realtor! ;)
Please comment back any questions, comments or other ideas you might have.
Times have changed
Ok-- I am making myself sound old just by saying "times have changed". I see it over an over in a certain way. Sales. I remember as a kid going downtown Holland to stores like Dumez or to Rogers Dept. Store in Grand Rapids MI and getting true help at a store. They would bring you clothes in a different size. Honestly tell you if it fit or not or matched or not and they knew what they were talking about. In the past 24 hours I have a few stories about how this has changed. I went to Dunhams sports today just to run in and get Max some new shoes for basketball. I asked the guy if he could measure his foot. He tells me he is at least a size 3. That surprised me as the last I knew not long ago he was a 2. I looked at the foot measurer and noticed it said ladies size. I measured him at home with this certain shoe guide I have and what I thought was right. The guy was completely No help-- hurt the situation almost by me buying the wrong size shoe (even at the store I didn't buy what he said I needed). Then yesterday I was at an appliance store in Muncie to shop for an entire kitchen full of appliances. I came with model numbers, and internet print off's of what I wanted and I just wanted to see in person what I picked out. The guy was SO clueless with every question I asked it seemed as though he was making it up as he went. With the hours of research I have done online on what appliances I want I am quite certain I knew way more about what I was buying than he did. He tried to tell me that the fridge I wanted may be discountinued. I said there is no way as it is the Top rated side by side rated by Consumers Reports. Once he found the fridge on the floor there it was a big magnet on the front saying it was the top rated fridge. Oh brother! Lowes was a bad one for me too. I was looking at lights and would ask a simple question and the person would have no idea the answer. I said I would just go online and look. That way I knew the right answer if I could research it myself. I have seen this over and over to the point that I won't ask for help anymore at stores. With the help I feel I often need in buying a house and decorating it I am regularly finding that people in sales now are there for a job and not to provide any service or help. Well, I think I have complained enough.
I am on parole
Ok, not exactly as you would think but I am a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. I have been for over 1.5 years. I have to go in once per calender month and weigh in and I can't be more than 2 pounds over my goal weight. If I am I have to start paying the weekly fee until I get back under that 2 pounds over my goal weight number. It feels like I am on Weight Parole. So today was weigh in-- could not put it off any longer as this was the last day of the month to weigh in. Fun...after thanksgiving no less. Since I moved to Marion I have watched my weight slowly tick up. Not sure if it is the lack of exercise, Baldwin dining at IWU or just eating too much. Maybe a bit of all those reasons. Today was my final wake up call to get going with some weight loss again. I was not over but too close to mess with. So I went grocery shopping after my weigh in and came home with alot less...I did pretty good actually. We'll see what December brings...
Willy Wonka Day
Today marks the 12th annual Drury family holiday called Willy Wonka Day. On the first of October we either make or order in pizza ( this year was Papa Johns) and we hide candy that we got for each other then look for our candy and watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I know it doesn't sound like much but the kids talk about this all year round. We take pictures of our evening then put the pictures in a special photo album to remember each year. This year Dave surprised us and bought us "fizzy lifting drinks" ( aka Stewarts Key Lime pop). Just an FYI-- the date that the golden ticket says to meet at the factory is Oct. 1-- cool huh?
