More Ideas Every Day

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

I’ve had four new ideas in the past few days. I guess they are new ideas; maybe they are just being recycled. Anyway, idea 1 is that I should get my real estate license. I looked into this several years ago, probably before we bought our first investment property in 2010, and it didn’t go anywhere. Now, the more we talk about selling our house, and the more frustrated I am trying to work with an agent, the better this idea sounds. We do know a lot of active real estate agents; they all want to help us. But with the ease of access to listings through public sites, I really only need them so I can get inside to see the properties. I’m perfectly capable of drafting an offer myself, and have done so. I generally find places I want to look at, drive by, and then let the agent know. If I get my license, I can cut out the middle-man. I can also make a little extra cash. I’ll only need to take 8 days of class, instead of 12, because my law license exempts me from 4 days of real estate law. Then I’ll need to pass a test. I can finish the classes in the first week of June, if I start next week. It will be just over $800 for tuition. The last step is to get sponsored by a broker; since we know so many agents, I’m hopeful this won’t be too hard. So what am I waiting for?!

My next great idea, idea 2, was to try to get the HELOC increased on the Condo. We closed on the current HELOC through a big bank while we still lived there. I called that bank over the weekend and they confirmed that they don’t lend on “investment properties.” Today, I emailed the small bank that helped us with the HELOC on our current home; they could lend, but they have a few more restrictions because it isn’t our primary residence. Basically, if we go with their offer, we’ll increase the HELOC by about $30,000 and the interest rate will go down. As I told our contact, this probably would have been good to ask about back when we were working on the other loan. Better late than never.

Speaking of the Condo, Mr. PFL and I cycled back to the roommates conversation again yesterday. When the current lease is up at the end of October, we could move back to the Condo, get roommates, and sell our current house. I’ve been looking at the Condo as solely an investment property, and hadn’t considered this possibility, but it makes so much sense! The Condo has continuously had three tenants at all times; it is 3-bed, 3-bath, with each bed/bath on a separate floor, making it an ideal roommate situation. The third floor bedroom is a double-sized bedroom as well. And, while it might reduce our net monthly income, we now have the cash available to buy another investment property, so we shouldn’t need to rely as much on the Condo’s cashflow.

Finally, great idea 4, comes courtesy of my obsessive internet searches about coffee farming in Hawaii. I stumbled across a blog about a couple from Chicago that basically did what we’ve been thinking about - moved to a farm on the Big Island. The blogger talked about what her interns, the WWOOFers, did each day. What’s a WWOOFer? According to WWOOF Hawaii, “World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is a unique educational organic farming and cultural exchange program that allows participants to gain practical and sustainable agriculture experience, while meeting and forming relationships with people from around the world.” Cool. But how does this apply to us? Well, basically, in exchange for room and some amount of meals, WWOOFers work a certain number of hours a week at the host farm (anywhere from 15-40, depending on the farm needs and the parties’ agreement). So, we could go to Hawaii, have a place to live, get fed, work on a farm, and learn a ton, all before making a huge financial commitment? Sounds too good to be true, right? But what a great first step, with limitless possibilities.

Downsizing is a Family Affair

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

I’m tentatively scheduled to see a cute little (under 1,000 square feet) house this afternoon in one of our new preferred neighborhoods. Mr. PFL’s brother and his family are imminently placing their home on the market and also looking to downsize and move to a better school district. They have our three nephews now, so 1,000 square feet isn’t going to work for them, but they are looking to minimize the absolute amount of space they need. Mr. PFL’s other brother has one kid left in high school and then plans on extreme downsizing so they have more freedom to travel. Mr. PFL’s parents went through their downsizing process in the Summer of 2011 when they decided to move to Florida permanently; we all ended up with a lot more stuff as a result of that first downsize, most of which will get passed along again.

The whole process is a bit overwhelming. My mother-in-law (MIL) said she has no regrets about what they gave away and what they kept. They did end up buying some new furniture while settling into their permanent Florida home, but, overall, they are making due with much less. They knew where they were moving to, so I think that helped a lot with planning what to keep.

Every time I’ve moved, I’ve always needed to buy something. I’m sure that will happen again, even if it is just blinds for the windows. What I want to avoid, though, is buying something because I prematurely gave something away. I hope I can find our new house soon so we can start taking action.

Is My Car an Asset?

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

There is no right answer to the question: is my car an asset? The internet debates this topic endlessly. Personally, Mr. PFL and I haven’t included our vehicles in our net worth calculations. If we ever have car loans again, I imagine we will add in the car as an asset until the loan is paid off, and then probably remove it. Thankfully, any potential value in our cars is such a small percentage of our overall net worth that it doesn’t really make a difference at this point.

With all of that said, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the brand new 2003 Toyota Corolla I purchased, with help from my dad, on Memorial Day Weekend 2002. The 2003 model was totally revamped from the old 90’s style Corollas. I was adamant that I buy the Toyota Corolla. At that time, Toyota was a very reliable car manufacturer; the Corollas were safe and fuel efficient; I was living more than 800 miles from my parents; and I had driven a string of beaters up to that point (1981 Chevy Impala, 1985 Ford Conversion Van, 1994(?) Ford Taurus, 1989(?) Mazda 626) and they weren’t reliable at all.

The purchase price of my new Corolla was in the neighborhood of $15,000; my dad made a small down payment and I financed $14,000. I made monthly car payments until June 2007 (I honestly don’t remember what my car payment was, but I remember it was less than $300/month, and probably about $270). There have been, of course, some issues along the way. Overall, though, this has been a great car.

The guys at the oil change place, which have been providing high mileage oil for about 100,000 miles, have told me for years that my car could hit 200,000 miles. Just last night, I cracked a milestone, and snapped a picture of it while stopped at a red light:

Don’t worry about that check-engine light; it has been on continuously since about 100,000 miles. Some sensor doesn’t work. A rough estimate from Kelley Blue Book, calling it “fair” condition (I do have a cracked windshield, am missing hubcaps, and have some dents/scratches, on top of that sensor issue, squeaking brakes and an interior that shows its age) puts the value somewhere between $2,000-$3,000. Not bad for a non-asset.

I hope this car continues to last. I can’t imagine having a car payment again (it has been almost 8 years for me, after all). I’d guess that we’d just pay for a car the next time we need one, but it all depends. I cannot imagine we’d choose a car that would require us to make an average monthly car payment, especially after learning that new cars are averaging a $471 monthly car payment and used cars are averaging a $355 monthly car payment.

I hope my Corolla will hold out long enough for my next car to be driver-less. Or a Tesla* becomes more affordable. Or maybe we live somewhere that a vehicle isn’t needed for anything. That’d probably be best.

*Mr. PFL owns shares of Tesla.

Cable Fail

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

I’m so happy to be writing this post from home, via the internet!

After being proud on Monday that we were done with cable, things took a turn yesterday (Tuesday). It all started when I returned the cable box just before lunch. As I’m handing it off, the representative confirmed that I have the faster internet AND the basic cable package - say what?! How many times did I say on Monday that I only wanted internet and wanted to cancel cable? I confirmed the price with the representative (what I was quoted, around $55/month). Okay. Guess we still have some cable. He then sent me home with a little digital box to help with the cable going to the TV and also a new modem that can accept the faster internet speed (the old modem can only handle up to 15 Mb). There’d be a guy out between 1 and 3 to change some stuff outside, but he wouldn’t need to come in.

I brought some lunch home, and Mr. PFL called to find out why we still had cable. He didn’t change anything.

Just before 3, the guy was outside working on stuff. Before 5:30, Mr. PFL had hooked up the new, faster, modem (which required another call to the cable company to verify set-up and decommission the old modem).

By 7:30, the internet stopped working.

Mr. PFL tried everything he could think of to get the modem working again. It was definitely a modem issue. It wouldn’t reboot. There was no IP address. When we plugged the old modem in, just for a test, he could see it. Due to being decommissioned, it wouldn’t connect all the way through.

At 7:56, I realized we didn’t have a DVR anymore. TV just became real-time again, with commercials. We took a break to watch The Flash in HD through our new little digital box. (Great show, btw.)

Ok. Break over. Internet still didn’t work. I initiated yet another call with the cable company at 9:06. This lady was trying to help us, but I blew up her script when I told her I couldn’t switch the ends of the ethernet cable between the computer and the modem because they are on different floors (this clearly wasn’t the problem since the other modem worked). She, allegedly, was working on the problem in two ways: 1) trying to fix the new modem and 2) trying to get the old modem back online. She never did figure out what was wrong with the new modem, even after giving us wifi passwords to try (which wouldn’t connect, because THE MODEM DOESN’T WORK!).

After more than an hour of being on the phone, she confirmed that the old modem worked just fine, but she couldn’t reactivate it (even though it worked) because we had increased our internet speed. She confirmed that we’d have the internet within 24 hours. That’s when I finally lost it. I asked to reduce our internet speed then; I’d need to speak with sales or retention to do that. Say what?!

Mr. PFL took over. He laid down the ultimatum: give me internet or cancel everything right now. She said she’d be right back.

After being on hold for more than ten minutes, we ventured downstairs to watch some TV. It was after 10:30 by this point. Finally, around 10:50 p.m., she came back and told us the internet was working. We both confirmed. I asked her if our bill would change since we now have the slower speed and she emphatically confirmed, “Absolutely Not!”

I hung up.

With wifi access!

Cutting the Cord

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

We have agreed: no more cable! So, I’m trying to cancel it.

10:30 a.m. - I logged into my account. Lots of options to upgrade, but no obvious choice to cancel.

10:32 a.m. - Started a chat, asking to cancel cable, but keep internet.

10:37 a.m. - Agent finally assigned to chat.

10:38 a.m. - Agent is glad I contacted them. I asked twice to cancel cable, but keep internet.

10:40 a.m. - Agent sent link; I must call.

10:41 a.m. - Call initiated.

10:44 a.m. - Got through the automated system; talking to customer service agent.

10:48 a.m. - After some discussion (I don’t know the PIN and the account is under Mr. PFL’s name), she finally agreed to help me after verifying the last payment amount and is now transferring me on, again.

10:50 a.m. - Now speaking to another customer service agent.

10:53 a.m. - I’ve convinced her we don’t want cable; we are discussing internet options.

10:54 a.m. - She’s searching for best internet option.

10:56 a.m. - Get own modem… and save $8/month.

10:59 a.m. - $55.74 for internet only. 30 Mb instead of 15 Mb for one year, non-contractual.

11:01 a.m. - Done. Just need to return the cable box and remote.

BTW: This new bill saves us $100/month, and even more if we buy our own modem. Last payment was $155.51.

2014 Tax Returns

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

I managed to get our 2014 federal and state returns done last week. I then had a couple bad dreams about them, thinking I left something out. I still need to print and mail in the city return and the partnership return for our real estate LLC. And then pay estimated federal and city taxes. Also, I need to contribute $1,500 more to my SEP-IRA for 2014; a couple of my clients paid their bills via credit card last week, so I should have that done by Tuesday.

Our federal return ended up being a mere 17 pages this year. Our state return has been awesome the last two years since Ohio began providing tax incentives for small businesses. The city counts more income than the federal government when figuring taxes and doesn’t really care about deductions.

2015 taxes should be similar, but after that, all bets are off!

Visualizing a Plan

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Now that I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and this winter is finally turning into spring, I’m having an easier time visualizing what next year will look like. I also just set up a family trip for President’s Day Weekend in February 2016. So, this is what I’m thinking:

1) Find another rental property that we would also like to live in. Buy it. Renovate it. Lease it to ourselves and move in. Stay permanent residents of Ohio. Sell our current house.

2) Buy land in Hawaii to start our coffee farm. Plan to go to Hawaii for the first time after our family trip next February. This would also be a great time for Mr. PFL to get done working after securing his yearly bonus. Go to Hawaii and get the farm started up.

3) Come back stateside, maybe, after a couple months. Travel/visit. Plan to be back in Hawaii around August for the coffee cherry harvest, which lasts through December, usually. Plan to travel/visit during the Spring and Summer. Repeat cycle indefinitely.

First, though, I’m going to get the taxes done today and hopefully get the final rental unit leased out.

Fools?

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Are we complete fools to think we can live on $30,000 a year indefinitely? End post. Just kidding. April Fools. But really, how much is enough?

It is hard to imagine a world with no mortgage, no utility bills, no saving for retirement and very little taxes. It is also hard for most people to imagine a world without a car payment (I, however, haven’t had a car payment since 2007 and Mr. PFL hasn’t since 2011). With our current incomes, we save for retirement and pay taxes (income and property on our current house) more than an average household’s yearly salary - I’m talking in the neighborhood of $75,000 a year. We spend just over $18,000 a year on principal and interest on our current mortgage. This is nearly $100,000 worth of money, every year, that we either don’t see or don’t use for discretionary purposes.

We would be fools to believe we can live on $30,000 a year if we needed to pay rent or a mortgage somewhere, unless we went to a very inexpensive foreign country. But if our housing was paid-for, $30,000 starts to seem like a lot of money. And pretty close to what we’ve actually been spending as “discretionary” income over the years. I think. Or am I a fool?