November 20, 2008

Cutting Expenses

Posted to Brad Sears

For the past several months it seems as though most people’s emotions have become a wild roller coaster ride worrying about their jobs, families, nation, freedoms, right to bear arms and the list goes on and on. There are occasionally reports of good news but it is swiftly swallowed up by a sea of despair and gloom. Things seem very uncertain which has made me take a good look at my life and financial portfolio to get better prepared for things to come.

There are a lot of little things my wife and I have decided to do. It started by us looking at our list of expenses and together deciding what luxuries we could do without. A lot of them are very minor things like only having one city garbage can instead of two. We save about $13.50 a month which is not a whole lot of money, but is almost the minimum payment on a credit card which by adding that to our current payment can knock the repayment time in half. Another thing that I am doing is saving about $60.00 a month on dry cleaning by washing, drying, starching and ironing my own work clothes. A few other ideas are canceling our home phone since we all have cell phones, taking the minimum package for cable, preparing meal menus to minimize wasted food and eating out… None of these save a lot of money, but it really adds up and we are able to put that money towards paying off our home, cars or credit cards. Our first major financial goal is to become completely debt free and we are having a lot of fun challenging ourselves to reach this goal. We’re now saving an average of $300 a month and if we had started this when we were married 12 years ago we’d have saved $43,000 plus all the interest that has accrued on that debt.

I read recently that “A paid-off mortgage and large savings account has replaced the BMW and large home as the status symbol of choice.”

Deciding to drop some of these expenses seemed hard to live without, but in reality was very easy. Working together with Liz and watching our expense column decrease has really brought us closer to one another and has been a lot of fun. Now the doom and gloom news isn’t nearly as depressing knowing we are working together to reach our financial goals.

Posted By: Brad Sears


Bookmark or Share



November 13, 2008

Tax Credit for First-time Home Buyers

Posted to Brad Sears

Taking advantage of the 'Tax Credit' signed by President Bush can be an excellent incentive to get into your first home by July 1, 2009.

Tax payers who are single and earn less than $75,000 a year and married couples who combined earn less than $150,000 are eligible for this tax credit. The loan amount of this program is 10% of the homes purchase price with a maximum of $7,500. You need to remember that this is not a full credit and a portion needs to be repaid each year for 15 years. This is a great way to pay off high interest loans because it is essentially interest free. Please note that if you sell your home within 15 years, the remaining balance will need to be paid off at closing. If there isn't enough money to pay it off, the rest is forgiven. For more information on this bill, visit http://www.utahhousingfacts.com/NAC30.htm

This tax credit has many benefits that can and will help those who use it wisely. On the other hand if not used to improve your situation can put you further into meaningless debt.

Posted By: Brad Sears


Bookmark or Share



November 11, 2008

Staging Rental Properties Effectively

Posted to Brad Sears

Throughout the past several years of managing rental properties for myself and for others, I have come to realize there are several key ways to properly stage a rental property to promote the best renting experience:

  1. Curb appeal - renters don’t want to rent a dump. Clean the outside of the home of all garbage and clutter. Mow, water and edge the lawn, plant some flowers, clean the windows and touch up any paint chipping around the house.
  2. Pleasant smell - make sure that when someone first walks in it doesn’t stink. Bad odors are a turn-off! If your home stinks, hire a good carpet cleaning company to deodorize the carpets and buy some deodorizing plug ins.
  3. Modernize the kitchen - replace old-fashioned cupboard and drawer handles, paint or stain old cabinets, and if you have outdated or chipped counter tops, there are companies that can repaint them to look really nice and it’s a lot cheaper than replacing them.
  4. Bathrooms - scrape and remove old moldy caulk from shower, sinks, toilet and re-caulk with new. Make them sparkly clean and be sure to clean the moldings and mirror.

Ensuring that these stipulations are met each time prior to a potential renter going through the house and assuming you have priced the rent payment competitively, will make you well on your way to a marketable rental property.

Posted By: Brad Sears


Bookmark or Share