all4money's financial journal

I just weighed myself this morning for the first time in a long time. I wasn't happy with the number I saw --- time to get off my duff and do something about it. I am going to use this blog to help me track and be accountable for my actions. Here are the deets:

Current as of 1/26/12
Height 5'0
Weight 120 lbs
Size 2P-4P

Goal for one week 2/2/12
lose 2 lbs

Now, I don't really eat that much throughout the day but my choices aren't all that healthy AND I am a slug all day long... so baby steps first:

1) Drinking more water. Mt Dew is my weakness and I have a 12oz can each day... the bad thing is that's it as I don't drink much of anything else all day long. I've never been a thirsty person and usually don't drink anything with breakfast, just have the can of Mt. Dew with my lunch, and a sip of water with dinner. If I can just make myself drink more water and no more soda, then that would make a huge difference. So, for this next week, my goal is to drink 2 bottles of water each day and no soda.

2) Exercise each day. Yeah, this is the hardest part of any weight loss program. About 2-3 years ago, I got on the exercise kick and exercised about an hour each day for about 3 months and lost 15 lbs. I am going to start this up again with just 30 minutes each day for this next week.

So, let's see, if I cut out Mt. Dew, that's a savings of 170 calories per day x 7 days = 1,190 total calories for the week which equates to a third of a pound of body fat (one pound of body fat equals to about 3500 calories). Add in 30 min of exercise per day x 7 days = 3.5 hours of activity for the week. I should easily see a pound or two fall off at the end of the week. I'll check back in on 2/2/12 to let you know how successful I was (positive thinking).

Long time coming but here are some pictures of some BEFORE shots of the main upstairs bathroom in our short sale house... this is the first big reno we are working on in the house and I think you guys will just love seeing the after (for anticipation sake, I'm going to just leave you with the BEFORE pics for now though)... and I will give you a full budget breakdown with the after pics too so stayed tuned!








(Yes, those are just matchbox trucks screwed into the cabinet to be door pulls)

Icky, yucky, and cruddy = words to describe the before state of this bathroom. Before we moved in, I wanted a clean and "new" bathroom that was completely functional so this was the first room we attacked. I'll be back later with the during and after pics!

So, we are at the stage now where we want to re-carpet the entire short sale house. We went ahead and paid for the family room to be done first and the second and third floors, where all the bedrooms are to be done later.

Main family room cost = $1,966 (615 sq feet) -- We've already paid for this as we thought this was acceptable BUT then the rest of the house will cost a whopping $7,325! This is for the installation of another 1,995 sq feet of pad and carpet. I realize we are carpeting a huge amount of square footage but geez...

Do you guys think this is too expensive? The estimate is from Lowes which in all honesty is our cheapest alternative where we live. I guess I wasn't expecting nearly $9,300 for new carpet (and that is with us tearing out and hauling away the old carpet ourselves!). The carpet we chose is $2.58 per sq foot so it ain't the cheapest nor the most expensive option. UGH.

I have really tiny feet (size 5) and have never found any pumps that would fit... until recently! OMG, I can actually walk around work without my feet killing me and I love it. So, what do I do but go on a shopping binge. Eeek. I've bought 3 pairs and spent $255. They are not cheap shoes and I love them so I figure they are worth the investment but geez, my pocketbook is feeling the pinch!!! I got a black pair, a neutral beige pair, and then a leopard print pair. Quality shoes mean money, I suppose and these 3 pairs should last me a long while.

Our realtor just called to update us on the second showing we had last night. The couple really likes the house and are working out the numbers to see what kind of offer they want to put in!!!! So, we don't actually have an offer yet but this is the farthest we've gotten in the 3 years we have tried to sell the house!!! They said that they will try to get something together and submitted tomorrow --- wahoo!!!!!!!!

I think I did pretty well today at CVS. My sister's baby shower is next week and so I bought a ton of diapers for her since I had coupons expiring today. I also bought some Tide HE detergent that I needed to get for our new front loaders.

7 jumbo packs of Pampers @ $9.50 each
6 Tide liquid detergents @ $5.94 each
Total value = $102.14

Less manufacturer coupons = $18.00
Less CVS Extra Bucks I had = $2.00
Less $10 gift card wyb $30 promotion = $30.00
Less Greentag Extra Bucks I earned = $1.00
Less Free pack of diapers wyb 6 = $9.50
Total coupons/promotions = $60.50

Total without tax = $41.64

And, just because I'm a nerd, I calculated my per unit cost... my Pampers to Tide ratio is 65/35 so that means that each pack of Pampers was just $3.87 each and each Tide detergent was just $2.42.

I think that's a pretty darn good haul for stuff I needed anyway.

So, January 2010 was the last time I received a raise (for earning my MBA). I just finished a 3 year certificate program this past summer and today I got my raise for earning that... My personnel director (love him!) asked for 5% on my behalf which was great but.... After some careful consideration and research, I went back to the boss and asked for 12.5% instead. And, wahoo! I got the 12.5%! I am so overjoyed, you don't even know how much!!! In my profession, there are no automatic raises for performance or cost of living or anything... so I have to "earn" every penny of every raise I ask for. With completing this certification, I honestly don't know what else I can do to earn another raise (short of getting a PhD) so I wanted to make sure I asked for enough and not to settle for just anything. I was going to just ask for 10% but after talking with a confidant, she suggested 15% and so I took it right down the middle. I did present both the 10% and the 12.5% scenarios to the boss and he elected the 12.5% number. It really is a fair amount (I didn't ask for the moon in comparison to my co-workers' pay) so I am very grateful!!! This goes into effect Dec 1 so what a wonderful Christmas present this is for me.

On another good news front, we have a second showing scheduled for our house tomorrow. This one sounds very promising as the couple went to the bank to talk numbers after seeing our house the first time this past Sat. I am trying to stay optimistic and am crossing all my fingers and toes that they will put in an offer --- so we can focus all our attention on the short sale house we just bought. We've only had our house for sale for 3 years now!

Gosh, has it really been nearly a month since I last posted? I need to be a better blogger.

Things are going well with the short sale house. We've gutted the main bathroom down to the studs, hired a plumber to move some pipes around, and have dry walled everything back up. We still have a lot to do though:

-lay down tile
-buy vanities & toilet
-decorate (the fun stuff)

We did have to divert our attention from the bathroom for the past week though... to the laundry room. Our state was having its tax-free weekend on energy efficient appliances so we went ahead and scored a pretty nice deal on a stackable washer/dryer set. After all the discounts, we saved about $500 on the deal. So, in preparation for the delivery this week, we had to tackle the laundry room. Man, that was a chore as well with all the hole patching, replacement of the plumbing stuff, and painting... but all we have left now is to put up crown molding (there were issues where the walls met the ceiling).

Do you guys want pictures of any of the remodel as we go along? Or would it be more fun to get a full on before/after shots of the different projects?

Oh, and an update on the asbestos issue---- we sent off a sample and it came back NEGATIVE! This relieved my DH so much. Yay, for good news.

So, it's been a while since I've posted... we've had the house now for a little over a month -- the roof has been replaced and we've demo'd one of the bathrooms down to the studs. After which, of course, was when we started thinking about possible asbestos in the house. The house was built in 1981 so it was in those few years of transition where builders were using up the stock they had left when the laws changed. Chances are our house doesn't have asbestos in it but we'd like to know (even though we've probably sucked it all in by now with the bathroom demo). So, does anyone have a clue as to how we can send samples out for testing or who we send the samples to??

DH told me this morning that after some thought, he would rather us save the $8,500 that it would cost to hire professional painters to do the outside of the house and for us to try to do it ourselves. He thinks after some research, that we should be able to attempt this... and if all else fails, we may end up using the pro but at least we'll give it the ol' college try.

So, we closed on the short sale house a couple of weeks ago... we've got roofers almost done putting up the much needed new roof at a cost of $11,000! The house also is in much need of a good paint job--- that will cost $8,500 (not including the decks/porches)!! So, for $19,500, we'll have a great looking house from the street... just don't go on the front porch or back deck or in the door yet! Those were the big expenses we knew we had to get done ASAP so we'll slow down now and just do a little renovation at a time and try to slow down the money drain!

Just closed on the deal about an hour ago!!! We officially own the great short sale house now. I'm so excited. I walked through the house this morning with our realtor just to make sure it was still in the same condition and it was. So, after a very smooth closing, we now have the keys to make it our own.

I got some information at closing that I thought was interesting... there was an offer on the house prior to ours. It was for $240k and after a counter here and there, the buyers' last offer to the bank was $280k. The bank at that point just dropped it because they didn't want to play anymore with those buyers. A few weeks later, we appeared in the picture and put in our original offer of $300k. I truly believe our realtor was the reason for our ultimate success with the deal. He suggested we offer a number beginning with a 3 and not a 2 so that we could get the bank's attention... and it worked. We were glad to offer $300k and it made perfect sense not to offend the bank with an offer in the $200's. Months later, the house is now ours for just $305k. Yahoo!

I've showed some photos but hadn't showed the overall house yet so here you go! Oh, and I hadn't mentioned that it comes with a pool too (albeit, nasty right now but we'll fix it up)...







So, tell me... in your neck of the woods, would this have been a good deal (with all the work that is needed)?

3,782 heated sq ft
6 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms (and more bonus rooms)
1.1 acres
final sales price of $305,000

OMG, how things are moving quickly since the contract was put into play!

A timeline for the curious:

June 14
We put in an offer of $300k on a short sale house that is listed at $395k (down from $550k)

June 24
The sellers accept but the bank says no and counters us at $375k

June 28
We offer a counter to their counter of $305k plus $1k in seller's closing costs

July 28
The bank says OK to our offer!!

August 25
Finally all the paperwork is signed and completed...officially in contract now

August 31
Inspection of house with contractor went very well -- just the obvious expense which is to replace the roof like yesterday

September 1
Met with the bank to finalize mortgage... ugh

September 8
Appraisal of house comes back at $360,000 so we are good there

September 15
CLOSING DATE!!!

We got our good faith estimate from the bank yesterday... yuck. With each of the 3 houses we've bought in the past, we always negotiated for the sellers to cover closing costs. So, it was a shocker to see how much we'll have to bring to the table with this short sale deal!! Yuck, is all I can say. Poo!

So, we had the contractor come out and do an inspection of our short sale house. We were cautiously optimistic as the house is 30 years old. We knew that it needed a new roof like yesterday but other than that, we thought it looked alright from our naive viewpoint. Since the house has been vacant for over 5 years, we wanted to make sure the structure and major systems were okay instead of the minor stuff that inspectors look at so we hired a contractor to come out to investigate rather than a typical home inspector.

He came yesterday and the news was great! He said that we definitely need a new roof but other than that he said the house was built very well. He said even the sub-flooring was built in a way that was top notch and not just with regular particle board stuff. We went through a small punch list of items to address but other than that, the contractor said that we were getting a solid house that just needed cosmetic updating. Whew!! This is what I wanted to hear.

So, now I am heading to the bank today to finalize our mortgage process. Looks like we are moving full steam ahead!

I've shared some pictures before but here are a couple more to tease you with:

Nice gas fireplace


French doors to the office


Some of the backyard (that stuff in the bottom right corner is a ton of MINT growing!)

We have finally received the signed agreement from the seller's bank approving the short sale. Looks like we have ourselves a contract, folks! Our realtor has scheduled a contractor to come out to look at the house next week... so sit down and buckle up. Here we go!

I helped my mom do a yard sale at her company's annual yard sale event this past Sat. Let me tell ya, my mother can sell anything to anyone!! Together we made $582! She gave me $382 and she kept $200. I put $100 in each of the kid's accounts and put the rest in our savings account. Love it when we make money like that.

In other news, we are still waiting for the fully executed contract on that short sale. The realtors on both side are very positive that things are going to go through just fine. We are just waiting for the seller's bank to sign off on everything and then we'll schedule the inspection, etc... DH and I can't wait to get our hands on that house!

Ok, let's back up and review...

June 14
We put in an offer of $300k on a short sale house that is listed at $395k (down from $550k)

June 24
The sellers accept but the bank says no and counters us at $375k

June 28
We offer a counter to their counter of $305k plus $1k in sellers closing costs

July 28
The bank says OK to our offer!!

OMG! I am happy but freaked out at the same time. Never in a million years did we (nor our realtor) think that the bank would actually agree to our lowball offer! So, we are officially in contract now and expect to close in 60 days. We can back out for any reason so we'll have to wait and see what will be found during the inspection process. Wish us luck!

Back in April, someone told me that I could propagate African Violets! Who would've thunk it!!

So, I cut one healthy leaf off of a plant that hubby had bought me a couple of years ago, stuck it in some dirt, and voila! Fast forward 4 months and look at what I have now...



That big leaf in the top left is the original one that I had cut off and look at all the babies that have sprouted... love! I hope that once it gets big enough that it will bloom beautiful flowers just like its momma plant does. I've now just done 2 more cuttings today so here's to hoping that these will be just as successful! I love free plants!

Ok, so we suggested going up to $305k on our counter to the bank's counter. Our realtor suggested that we do $305k and include offering to pay the seller's closing costs up to a max of $1,500. He said for some reason, this bank is hung up on not forcing the sellers to have to pay anything at closing. I think I'll tweak it to be just $1,000 and not $1,500 just because. Here we go with round 2!

We received a counter to our offer on that short sale house. The list price was $395k. We offered $300k due to the extremely poor condition of the house. The bank has countered at $375k. The bank's listing agent is so frustrated because she tried to get them to accept our offer since it was the best one that they had received in 5 years. At least they didn't shut us down completely like they did with the people who offered less than $300k before us. So, now what do we do? Our max that we would pay is $310k in all honesty and it doesn't look like the bank wants to go down that low at all. Guess we'll go back with $310k and just walk away if they don't take it, but I so want this house!! Ugh!

Just got this email from our realtor about the offer we put in on that short sale house.

"I met with the listing agent for the house this morning and she brought me up to date on her conversations with the lender. She's pretty confident that they aren't going to accept your offer (we already figured that) but she's trying to get them to come back with something reasonable. They evidently have two Broker Price Opinions saying the house is worth $100k more than what we offered. She is telling them that it isn't, and the fact that your offer is the highest one of the only two offers they've had in 5 years is proof. She's hoping to have a counter offer in the next week or so. One thing to keep in mind, whatever they come back with, they are going to want you to pay the seller's closing costs. She said they are hung up on not allowing the seller to pay them. Not uncommon with short sale deals."

It's amazing to me how a bank sitting halfway across the country would want to be stubborn about this. On paper, the house may be worth what they say, but in reality, it isn't because of the condition it is in. It's only going to be worth what someone is willing to pay for it and apparently, our offer is the highest of the two the agent has ever received over the course of the 5 years for this property.

I am heading to the San Jose, CA area within the next couple of weeks with my parents. We are going to see some family members that we have not seen in over 30 years! This is my first trip out to CA so I'm uber excited to go. Best thing is that I have to pay zippo for the trip. My parents covered my flight costs since I'm going as a favor to them (they need a chaperone when they travel as they don't understand airports at all). We'll be staying with family so that covers lodging. I'll just spend a bit for souvenirs to bring back to the fam.

I am also hoping to have a nice small and simple vacation to the beach at the end of July. My in-laws wanted us to go with them but honestly, the chaos of vacationing with that whole side of the family is just not mine or DH's cup of tea. They are so "not us" when it comes to how to vacation, you know what I mean? We are simple and realistic, but they want all the bells and whistles (like only staying where the kitchen has granite countertops!) So, bless DH for telling his mom that we just can't go with all 11 of them again this year. I look forward to just DH and me taking our girls ourselves to stay in some modest hotel and enjoying simple family time without the roo-rah of fancy (and stupid) details.

I love seeing pictures on the blogs so here are some pics of the short sale house we just offered on:

Nasty roof:


Wallpaper everywhere:




Master bedroom:



Master bathroom with yucky toile wallpaper:


Nasty back porch:


Yucky garage:


Big but yucky kitchen:


Family room:

I'm doing it folks. In one hour, I'll be heading down to the realtor's office and we are submitting an offer on the potential short sale house! Ack! I'm completely nervous because of 2 things:

1) We haven't sold our current house yet! We'll have two houses and two mortgages. Yes, our house is on the market but no telling how long it will take to actually sell it. We decided that we would offer very low (like $100k lower than asking price) on this short sale and if they accepted, then great -- we'll then adjust our asking price of our current home to rock bottom and that should sell it pronto. If they don't accept the offer, then we'll walk away because of the following reason number 2...

2) This short sale house needs a TON of work done to it. It needs a new roof first and foremost. Then there is so much more to do outside and inside. It will drain our cash reserves to do all the work but we just love the house and its location. If we do get this house, it will be our forever home and we'll have the rest of our lives to make it ours.

Call us crazy or foolish but we've been searching and searching for years. This one keeps coming up on our radar and when the price came down low enough (due to the short sale potential), I just felt like it was meant to be... stay tuned to hear how this all turns out.

DH and I normally charge every penny we spend and then pay off the credit card each month. We have done this for YEARS. Although we have the cash to pay it off each month, we know that this does assist in our needless spending sprees at times...

Last week, we were talking and decided to try all cash for a month to see if it would make any difference. We also wanted to try to cut our unnecessary spending at the same time. It's been a week and there really is a huge difference in mentality. It's so tough to hand over the cash instead of the plastic. But once you make the commitment, it really is not that difficult to just say no to mindless purchases. For example, I took the girls to the mall yesterday. They each had $25 to spend of their own money that they earned from our recent yard sale so we thought we'd go and see what they might want. I found the most perfect summer cardigan sweater that was on sale for $12. I was so tempted to get it, but I ended up putting it down and walking away. I asked myself if the sweater was a necessity and the answer was clearly NO, so it was easy peasy... (not really), but I did it! The girls didn't find anything that was a must have either so we all left the mall with absolutely no needless purchases....... and it felt great! And what's better, I still have my cash in my pocket.

Anyone try to buy a short sale house before?

Ok, I've said it a million times before but this time I really mean it! We found the house of our "dreams"...

Let me give some history first. About 5 years ago, we were moving due to a job relocation. The new job was in the same town as family so we stayed with family as we were looking for a home of our own. As I flipped through real estate magazines and the online MLS, I kept getting drawn back to one particular house. It met a lot of our criteria except for one thing --- price! It was much too expensive for us. I even told my MIL one time that if the price would decrease into our budget range at all, I would buy the house without even looking at the inside of it. The location of the house and the topography of the lot itself sold me on it. Alas, the house price never dropped so we ended up buying the house we currently live in (and are trying to sell).

Fast forward to the present. The house from way back then has been on the market since we first saw it 5 years ago! I love looking through the MLS listings as a hobby so I've noticed it on there all this time --- again, the price never budging. But, lo and behold, what do I see now? The price of the house has dropped over $150k in one sh'bang! It is now subject to a short sale with bank approval. DH and I went out to finally take a peek into our "forever" home. It needs A TON of work... the house had been vacant since that fateful day 5 years ago when I first noticed it for sale. Needless to say, it needs a lot of TLC. It was built in 1981 but looks pitiful now. The roof has to be replaced, the carpets in the bedrooms are hideous, there is wallpaper everywhere, and don't even get me started on the bathrooms! But, now that I've seen the inside of it, I love it even more! I can see the potential in it and think it would be a showstopper once we get done fixing it back up.

So, although the price has come down $150k from the original listing price, DH and I still think it's a bit overpriced for the sad condition it is in. We would be willing to buy it for another $100k off the current asking price. Would anyone out there have any experience dealing and negotiating with potential short sale offers??? I don't want to waste anyone's time if the banks don't even consider lowering the price anymore than what is listed --- but really, this is the one!!

and all our money is leaking through it! Come on, already! Someone send me some savings account super glue!

We have a 2006 Toyota Rav4.
---------> Spent $1300 last week to get the rear wheel bearings replaced, rear brake pads and rotors filed down and turned, and an oil change

---------> Took the car in today because all the check engine kind of lights were on...Was just told that we need to have the ECM (the car's computer) replaced and that will be another $1200!!! Haven't told DH yet -- he's going to freak out.


We have a 2003 Toyota Sienna.
---------> This poor van has been neglected for so long in regards to routine maintenance. The tires are so bald (we don't drive it except within town to run errands so we've been putting it off). The dealer is having a tire sale next week so we've scheduled an appointment to have 4 new tires put on and for a well overdue oil change done. Estimated cost will be around $350.

Has anyone been adding all this up? If not, that's ok, cause I've already done it for you and it's a whopping $2850 in a few weeks time for stupid car maintenance issues. Aacckkk!!!

Some of you have asked so here is the scoop...

House #1
Purchased in 1997
Ranch style, (no basement or upstairs)
approx 1000 sq ft
Small but corner lot in a tight subdivision

House #2
Purchased in 2001
Ranch style, (no basement or upstairs)
approx 1600 sq ft
Large (to us) 1/3 acre lot in a nice subdivision, backed up to farmland so was nice and private

House #3 CURRENT HOUSE
Purchased in 2006
3 story house, main living space on first floor, all bedrooms are upstairs, finished full basement
approx 2600 sq ft
.67 acre lot

So, our current house #3 might look to be a great step up for us, right? Well, not quite...

House #1 was our starter home when we just got married. It was a great little house but we got tired of the really, really tight subdivision. All the houses were so close together --- no privacy at all. So, we sold it and moved across town to House #2. This house was the smallest in the neighborhood. Most of the other houses were 2 story homes that looked really big compared to our house. But, we loved the flat lot of our house, the floorplan really worked for us, and it was a really good fit for our growing family.

Then, we moved 4 hours away, from the flat lands to the mountains, for a new job opportunity. We realized quickly that housing prices in the mountains were quite higher than they were in the big city that we came from. Also, the houses here were mainly multi-level homes since they were built alongside hill banks. We had only 2 main criteria when looking for this home: 1) I wanted a garage with main level access. I didn't want to haul groceries from a basement entry garage up stairs to the kitchen. I'd say 75% of homes here all have their garage in the basement. 2) I wanted a large lot with trees. Having lived in the city, we didn't have a lot of natural wooded areas. I thought that was what I wanted. So, we bought House #3 because these 2 main criteria were met and now 5 years later, we just hate the house. We had never lived in a multi-level home before so we didn't realize how much we would hate having to go up and down stairs all the time. We had never lived on a wooded lot before so we didn't realize how much we would hate having to pick up fallen limbs all the time. Ugh, ugh, and ugh. I guess it's one of those situations where the grass really isn't greener on the other side... all along we thought those bigger 2 story houses in our neighborhoods were so nice and roomy. Blah! We so miss our little ranch style homes!!!

So, a summary of all the things we hate about our current house:

1) Stairs, stairs, and more stairs!
2) All the trees! It gets windy here alot and those fallen branches are a pain to deal with
3) Hillsides! No flat place for the kids to play
4) Open floor plan of living space! Our 'great room' consists of the living room, kitchen, and dining spaces... all in one big open area. Now, I know this is all the rage in today's real estate market, but now that we actually live in this kind of living space, we just don't like it. It's really noisy!!
5) No air conditioning! As a mountain home, it is not common to have A/C here... or so one would think! The houses here just aren't built with A/C as standard. It gets pretty hot for just about one month out of the year but gosh, that one month nearly kills us each year!

So, those are the top 5 reasons why we hate our house. All these reasons were things that we just didn't realize would bother us until we actually bought the house and started living in it. We learn what we like and dislike from each home we live in and we certainly know what to look for in our House #4... we just need to sell this one first!