Are You Joe Millionaire in the Making?

Just some info. on the making of the Millionaire next door :)

Are You Joe Millionaire in the Making?

Free diapers, hair goop

Free after rebate diapers and hair goop at Walgreens this week. I've actually been pretty impressed with the diapers. (Haven't tried them at night, but still . . .) Check out their easy saver catalog in the store for details.

Allergy Freebie -- Book "Casey's Allergies" - from Claritin

Freebie from Claritin -- book, "Casey's Allergies".

CLARITIN

Toddler allergies Kirsten, Kari, and the new "b" word

For those looking for stuff on properties (and Kirsten Kemp), finances (and Kari Byron -- there's a weird link), and allergies, look around. I promise they're here. :) Even check the archives on the right. :)

If you've been a faithful reader of mine you've noticed some of my comments that my ads are all allergies all the time. One post changed all that. I mentioned the b word. You know, the diary that some people write and publish for a world wide audience. Matter of fact, you're reading one right now. One mention of the b work and now my ads are all b all the time. How about a little of everything? A few on allergies, a few on finances, a few on properties, maybe even a couple on b?

Infant toddler excema eczema and itching

I've noticed that some of you end up here looking for ideas about excema. I haven't been writing too much lately, since Candela seems to be cured . . .at least for the time being (yay enzymes!). However, I have a link below that might help. These guys are hard core about allergies and have a nice thread on excema. (I know I'm sending you to a peanut allergy site . . .that's for 2 reasons 1) Folks dealing with peanut allergies tend to be very passionate about the subject. 2) Lots of people with peanut allergies have other allergies too.) Oh, the fine folks at Google have also deemed it appropriate to fill my blog with allergy related content (regardless of what I'm writing about), so feel free to check that out too. :)

Excema itching

Your debt: $145,000

. . .and that doesn't include your mortgage or credit cards. The rules are going to have to change . . .esp. on healthcare!

Experts Warn Debt May Threaten Economy

Kari Byron and Mythbusters rejects -- Part II

Part II of financial myths that will never make it into Mythbusters. (Just not enough explosions . . . .even if the housing bubble bursts.) This stuff is probably a bit more practical for most of us though :). If you'll only interested in Kari, here: educating eric: Kari Byron posts

Myth II continued: Time is money. Have any of you ever heard that if Bill Gates stopped to pick up a quarter he'd be losing money since the time to pick up the quarter is worth sooo much more than a quarter? That's not true. Why? Because Bill doesn't loose anything by picking up the quarter. The idea at work here is something called opportunity cost. Only if Bill had to choose between picking up the quarter OR picking up a $20 bill is Bill missing out on something. His company and investments will do just fine without him while he picks up the quarter so he's not losing anything. So, what does this have to do with the price of eggs? Most of us have downtime that could make a small amount of money. However, since the amount is so small, we see it as "a waste of time". For example, right now I'm writing this blog entry that might, if I'm really lucky, cause me to make $.50 in revenue. Now, normally I "bill out" at $25 a hour. So, I'm wasting time and losing money, right? No. Why? 1) Right now there's nothing I could be doing that would make me $25 an hour. 2) I have some hope that this experience will make me a better writer and I'll therefore be more profitable in the future. 3) People need to know this in general, so it's part charity. (Okay, not really :)) I see this a lot with coupons. "They're not worth the time." Well, do you ever watch TV? If so, you could cut out coupons while you're doing that. No opportunity cost at all. Now, you still might decide not to cut coupons, but it's not because it's not worth the time.

Part III coming soon . . .

Money, investing, retirement and a NICE ARTICLE

Okay, basically I was reading this article and thought "wow this has a lot of good info." So . . . It's not just the article BTW, the links are good too. (I had barely heard of an I-bond . . .)

Where to Park Cash

Kari Byron and Mythbusters rejects -- part I

Here are some of the financial myths I've been encountering more and more often lately. They'll never make it on to Mythbusters I'm afraid -- no explosions :) But, for most of us in everyday life they'll be a bit more practical :) For those of you looking for more on Kari go to educating eric There's a Kari link on the bottom in the middle.

Myth 1 -- A penny saved is a penny earned. Not true. A penny saved is probably more like 1.3 pennies earned depending on your tax rate. Yep. By the time you pay taxes and FICA every dollar you can manage to save is like a $1.30 you don't have to earn.

Myth 2 -- Time is money. I suppose in the context of corporations this is true (to a certain extent). However, most of us do not and cannot earn money 100% of the time. Therefore, much of our time is "money-less" (I won't say "free" because that has a different connotation.) I think this myth really needs to be debunked because people often use it as an excuse to behave quite unreasonably. Here are some examples:

1) My sister recently had a deck added to her house. She got three different bids for the same deck using the same materials. The bids varied by over $4000 (over 100%). Now, it probably did take an extra hour, hour and a half, to get the extra bids . . .

2) I've told many people that they really should have a savings account with ING. Why? It's easy, it's secure, it's FDIC insured, it pays 3.3%, and if somebody invites you to join you get $25. Now, the application does take 5-10 minutes, but if you do it once you can refer your whole family at $25 each + $10 referral each. Not bad for an hour's work but I'd say about 20% of people I tell follow through. Why? They don't trust me or ING? I don't think so, they just don't take the time . . . BTW, if you want this offer send me an e-mail to ingref@ralarson.com, and I'll send a referral.

Well, a certain toddler of mine is no longer sleeping, so I'll continue this soon . . .

Staging a house with furniture

I guess if you've ever looked into flipping a house or even selling one you've probably realized the importance of staging. However, the . . . .I won't say stupidity . . .mostly because that would be mean . . .the irrationality expressed in the following Craig's List post really got my attention:

2 Brand New Queen size Mattress sets still in Plastic wrap. Bought for use in Model Home, Never Used. Will sell for $375 each set. Cash only accepted.

So, the point of a model house is to show people what the house will look like with furniture and decorations. Okay. I get that. But, 1) Why would you buy new mattresses? New linens? I could see that, but new mattresses? 2) Why would you buy ones that apparently are expensive? (I think my Queen set was just over $200 and I wouldn't try to sell it for that, used . . .) On "Sell this House" (A&E) spraypainted boxes seem to work for furniture . . .I just don't get it. . .

Online Bettors Find a New Love: Real Estate

The "futures" betting markets still like real estate. Very weird except that they get a lot of other things right . . .

Online Bettors Find a New Love: Real Estate - New York Times

Freedom Ship - The World's Biggest Ship, Newest Tax Haven?

Here's real estate I bet you never considered . . . .I'm not even 100% sure it's real . . .but it's supposed to launch in 2006.
Freedom Ship

Something for Kari Byron fans

Here are some cute pictures for you Kari Byron fans out there. My husband is really the one (of the two of us) that posts about Kari, but yahoo, msn, and Google seem to have us a bit confused lately, so . . .Google gave him some interesting shark related content too. . . .looks like fun. Eric has 10 or so posts on Kari if you look around a bit. Start with the post below, then go to "home" on the left side of the page.
educating eric: Kari Byron, vegetarians, and sharks?

Kirsten Kemp -- before real estate

Eric's Kirsten Kemp posts are getting harder to find (as are mine I guess . . .If you hunt around you'll find 4 or 5 about Property Latter and flipping. . .you might have to check the archives for August), so here are a few links to Eric's Kirsten stuff:

Here's Kirsten on Saved By the Bell. Wow. I'll leave it at that :)
educating eric: Kirsten Kemp, Hollywood star!

Here's how you can see her on Saved By the Bell . . .and why you would want to do that . . .
educating eric: Set your VCRs for Kirsten Kemp!

So, You Want to Be a Landlord -- newer spin on real estate

The very brief, really doesn't tell you much at all, guide to why being a landlord isn't all that great :)

So, You Want to Be a Landlord

New fuel for Kirsten Kemp and other flippers?

Looks like foreclosures will soon be on the rise. I guess that means opportunity for the careful flipper. An interesting side note on this article: Are higher prices forcing more creative financing or is the over-availability of financing fueling the higher prices? Or both? BTW, if you're looking for more on Kirsten (esp. her early, funny, career) check out Eric's blog. (There's a link on the right -- educating Eric.)

Desperate house buyers increase foreclosure risk

Money for your old textbooks?

I think the prices that half.com brings in are usually better but here you're all done in one transaction and you don't have to wait for eons like on half. Lots of books aren't worth anything, so it's not a panacea, but if you've got books you don't want or need it beats the trash!

eBookDrop.com!

Don't Get Crushed by Your Home -- or your flip

An article discussing the scary scary thing that negative amortization is. I'm scared for those financing their homes like this for really any reason. I'm also scared that people are doing this to their primary home in order to finance rental property or a flip. . . . I know I'm conservative, but . . .

Don't Get Crushed by Your Home

Institutionalized medical malpractice?

I'm really beginnning to wonder if government/insurance/whoever sets the recommendations are almost doing more harm than good. Doctors have to do what's "recommended" (to "keep clean" and avoid liability), even if it's rediculous. I took Candela to the doctor today for a well baby check. The doctor mentioned that I should get her peanut allergy tested. (Which I probably won't do considering I know she's allergic and having an expensive number proving that doesn't change the treatment.) However, he insisted that I get her lead levels checked again, even though they were fine the first time and she has NO risk factors for being exposed to lead! Why? Because the recommendations say you should have two lead tests before age 2. . . .evidently the recommendations don't say anything about peanut allergies . . . BTW, the lab tech told me she'd NEVER seen a lead test come back to high and my doctor said he had seen one -- dad worked in a battery recycling facility. I've had similar situations where doctors insist on doing a pap smear, but don't even recommend a cholesterol check. New flash, everything in my history says I need the cholesterol check a lot more than I need a pap smear. However, the "recommendations", and therefore what insurance covers . . .

Properties, sit-coms, and Kirsten Kemp

Looks like Google has blessed me with some google juice on Kirsten Kemp, so feel free to dig a bit for my Property Ladder/flipping posts -- there are probably 10 or so. I think they're pretty obvious, just look around. Or click here for my recent stuff. If you want more (some pics, some stuff on her earlier acting career, etc.) check out my husband's blog. The link is on the right. "Educating Eric". Google has also blessed me with lots of property ads, so hopefully those will help some of you with your flipping ambitions. (Sorry to those who are here for allergies, but if you click on the titles of my allergy posts they will come up with their own screen and their own (usually allergy) ads.) Thanks for looking :)

Allergy sensitivity doubles since 1970s

Allergies are on the rise. 8.6% have an immuno-response to peanuts. Yikes! That's a lot higher than people who are considered allergic, still scary though. As for dust mites, also 1 in 3 have an immuno-response to those!

USATODAY.com - Allergy sensitivity doubles since 1970s

I think Candela knew she was allergic to peanut butter

Believe it or not I'm actually watching my sleeping toddler. Live, with nightshot. It's really quite compelling. Better than a lot of what's on TV, but I digress. . . Anyway, I swear Candela knew she was allergic to peanut butter long before I did. When she was 21 months I offered her some peanut butter and she would have nothing to do with it. It wasn't until she pushed it away that she got some on her hands and I saw the hives develop. I don't think it's normal for a toddler to not like peanut butter . . .But, how could she have possibly known? Anyway, tonight she didn't want to eat dinner. It was something a little bit new, but similar to another dish she really likes. Eventually she tried some (of her own will, I'm not into forcing her to eat, but I did encourage it -- "it's yummy"). Anyway, she ate some and seemed happy and when on with the evening. 2 hours later she vomited quite a bit and seemed really scared. I don't think she had a breathing reaction, but something was definitely not right. Now, it's possible that the reason she didn't want to eat is that she wasn't feeling well, but part of me wonders if she's sensative to something in this dinner and she knew . . . Anyway, mommy's little girl was awfully tired, so we put her to bed with the video camera (and therefore us) watching her. Why do I have a feeling it's going to be a long night?

Kirsten Kemp made money on 70% of her property flips

Older article about the premier of Property Ladder. It think it's telling that the host and advisor of the show who's been flipping property for 7 of the hottest years on record made money only 70% of the time . . .

Advice for buying and reselling for a profit. - Oct. 14, 2004

Google Print -- search full text books!

I hope my brother is reading this because he is going to love it! This Google beta project lets you seach entire books! Lots of them!

Google Print

Things Kirsten Kemp almost taught me on Property Ladder part II

2) I think flipper fortune favors the high-end (therefore high risk) flip. Esp. if you're financing your flip with traditional method, closing costs will wipe out your profits unless you've got a nice margin, which leads to

3) What are the "fees" they talk about on Property Ladder? Well, first you have realtor fees which will eat of 3% of the sale if you sell it yourself and upwards of 7% if you have somebody sell it for you. Those percentages are of the sale, not the profits! (So complete idiot guy who "made" $46,000 flipping the $700,000 condo probably gave $21,000 of that to a realtor -- and he sold it himself.) I suppose some people will get really lucky and be able to aviod paying realtors completely, but statisically speaking they won't get as high a price . . . and then there's

4) TAXES! Ummm . . .I'm not a tax expect, but I'm pretty sure most flips would qualify as short term capital gains. In this new era of "we're happy about capital gains", life is easier than before (in this area), but you better count on at least 15% of your profits going to uncle sam . . ..which leads to . . .

5) The ultimate solution? How do you feel about moving into a new distressed property every two years? Not my idea of fun either, but . . .a) If you live there for 2 years you don't have to pay capital gains taxes. b) You qualify for "owner occupied" financing which is cheaper than flipper financing. c) You get 2 years of market appreciation. d) People don't see it as a "flip house" so their expectations and standards are different. e) You don't have to rent furniture to stage the house, because your furniture is already there. f) "Carry costs" are less important because you're not paying a mortgage or renting somewhere else. So, how do you feel about moving into a pit every two years to work your buns off only to sell it once it starts looking good? If that sounds good to you I bet you could make a lot of money.

Things Kirsten Kemp almost taught me on Property Ladder

Okay, I really like Property Ladder on TLC. I think Kirsten is pretty good too. Here's some of her work Kirsten's work. Now, that she also had guest roles on Head of the Class and Saved by the Bell . . . .I'm not sure how I feel about that :) Anyway, I think there are a few things that Property Ladder really needs to do a bit more discussion on.

1) Picking the right REAL ESTATE. All of these people already have their property before the show starts. Here are some of my (take um or leave um) thoughts: A) Needs to be undervalued. That's a foregone conclusion I think, but . . . B) Needs to be in a area where similar houses can sell for a lot more. (If you buy a condo for $120,000 when the most any condo in the unit has sold for is $150,000 you're still probably getting a good deal, but you're not going to make very much on the flip and you certianly couldn't justify granite countertops and top-of-the-line stainless applicances.) I think most of the time that makes flipping in the suburbs hard. Suburban neighborhoods (at least around here) usually have a bunch of houses that are quite similarly price. Making the inside of one of them extra special nice isn't going to make the price leap over the norm.

Part II coming soon . . . . TAXES, realtors, capital gains, and more!

California real estate going to be okay :)

This may come as a shock, but it looks like the "red alert" Stan Deyo warned us about has faded fast. Good to know California will be okay. It's got to be very hard to know when to advertise stuff like that. Same with terrorism alerts I suppose. Wouldn't the government feel (can a government feel? -- okay, the people in charge :)) really guilty if they finally brought us down to white or tan or whatever the lowest level of alert is only to then have a terrorist attack?

Stan Deyo's Earthquake Warning -- California to Washington

Head this guy on the radio _late_ last night. (I suppose early this morning would be more accurate.) He sounded fairly "down to earth" on the radio -- he seems less so on his website. :) Anyway, he's predicting a big earthquake on the west coast, probably sometime in the next 8 weeks. He bases his prediction on thermal changes in the ocean. I don't put too much stock in what he's saying, but it did make me wonder. What if somebody really did know something that couldn't be known or couldn't be proven. Would anybody listen? Probably not. Even Moses had problems with the Isaelites not listening and they were getting daily manna . . .

Stan Deyo's Earthquake Warning

Granite, New Jersey real estate, and Kari Byron

So, should Kari put Granite countertops in New Jersey real estate? I mean she's even a sculptor and everything. I bet she could put in granite countertops all by herself!

Seems like an unlikely post from a MN girl living in an 80s split level, huh? What this tells you is that the adsense experiment continues. I think it's become a game for Eric. I guess that's better than Splinter Cell or something, but yikes! I guess Granite and New Jersey real estate are popular things . . . I suppose . . . Eric actually did real live research and everything :)
Check this out for adsense experiment number, oh, I dunno 8,253 :) BTW, Eric is not personally enamored with Kari Byron, but something like 95% of the people who go to his blog are . . .

educating eric

Allergy reduced kitty litter?

Here's something new . . .my mom has a friend who seems to be allergic to kitty LITTER itstead of the kitties themselves! Who'd a thunk it? Anyway, here's a freebie for filine pine kitty litter. It might be different enough to avoid the allergy?

Feline pine free after rebate

How to save money on car repairs

I guess I knew some of this, but what he's saying really makes sense. You can even save quite a bit of money bringing your own oil filter to wherever you get your oil changed.

Savingadvice.com

Does Kari Bryon have allergies?

Well, I guess it was going to happen eventually. While Google still doesn't know I exist evidently msn and yahoo have me indexed for having stuff on Kari Byron. I like her and all, but I really don't understand the fasination . . .I suppose being female might have a lot to do with that . . Anyway, since my Google ads are almost all allergies, do you suppose Kari has them? Don't know. . . .maybe her fans do though . . . Here's a link for Eric's stuff if you want it. I have to admit he's not very motivated to get new pictures up though . . .Kari Byron fans are less than ideal as a niche . . .it's almost like they're immune to advertising.

educating eric: Viagra and Cialis aren't needed with Kari Byron

educating eric: Deep Sea Fishing with Kari Byron?

Allergies and guilt

I recently discovered Candela has a peanut allergy in addition to her dairy allergy that I *think* she's outgrown. Mom really wants me to take her to a doctor that specializes in alternative treatments. (Let's face it, traditional medicine can save her life with an epipen, but doesn't provide much hope for actually curing an allergy.) I think one of the reasons I'm resistant to taking her is that I know everything has to be my fault. Moreover, I'm very unsure of my ability to make whatever changes he may suggest. If the problem is environmental it's my fault because I control her environment. If the problem is genetic . . .then I guess I'm only 50% responsible. I'm terrified he's going to say something like: "If only you had avoided peanuts while you were nursing" or "you fed her what? You know that has X in it don't you." I guess I know knowledge is power . . .but it has a big emotional component too.

Playing the banking game - fees, services, & interest

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that few people that I actually know read my blog, so since I'm hidden in cyberspace I figure I can hit a few topics that aren't easily discussed among friends. So, on the subject of money . . .Here are the bank and/or credit related fees I pay and what they pay me (to the best of my recollection. I think I'm doing okay, but if you've got a better deal somewhere let me know :)

Checking -- TCF. No minimum balance. Unlimited checks. Online banking and bill pay. Free atms everywhere we typically go. Debit card that we never use. I buy my checks through Current and have spent about $10 on checks in the last 10 years. I've also paid one returned check fee for a rent check that bounced - $25. (Renters paid it, but I still went to accepting cash only.) Finallly a change of address fee of $6 that I probably should have fought, but after just moving who wants to fight for $6. Interest is horribly low, like .25%

Saving -- Accounts with Emmigrant Direct and ING. I like ING better (easier, better interface, and has $25 sign-up bonus), but right now Emmigrant is paying a higher interest rate. ING = 3.15% and Emmigrant = 3.5%

Heloc -- We took out a home equity line of credit on house #1 to pay down payment on house #2. The line is at prime, there were no closing costs, and interest was 2.99% for the first 3 months. I still think prime is okay for a flexible loan, but this one is almost paid off because in today's market I still don't like paying 6.25% for money. Oh, also had to open a checking account to qualify for prime. No fees, but sits there open.

Credit Cards -- We use two: National City Performance Visa and Discover. National City card pays 4% cash back on gas and 1% cash back on everything. I know there are cards that pay out more, but this one pays in $5 increments and simply credits the cash to your bill. I've also found customer service to be excellent. I don't know about the interest rate since we pay it off every month. Discover is pretty much only used at Sam's Club. It has some cash back, but it's pretty minimal. I've had it for about 5 years and I just got to the point where I can redeem my $20 cash back balance. I also play some credit card games with opening new accounts, getting bonuses for credit protect, etc. Though I haven't been burned by these games yet I do think they're a risky game.

Happy air conditioning!

Well, after dad took a pressure reading of our conditioning unit it stated working again. Hmmm . . . that wasn't suppose to fix it, but I'll take any free fix I can get! :) Dad also cleaned out 20 or years of dryer lint from the condenser (yep the dryer "outlet" and the air conditioner are very close to each other). Hopefully it will keep working! Even if it doesn't I'm thankful it's working today considering the heat index is suppose to be upwards of 103! So, now if my blog is sticky it's my fault :) Thanks to a few hours of research I think when the time comes I'll be able to replace it for about $900, which is about half of what I planned on. I guess the new energy bill that just passed also has provisions for tax credits for home improvements that increase energy efficiency, so next year should be better than now. :)

. . . .I really wanted peanut butter crunch at Cub today though . . . I didn't buy it but I am going to have to figure out if I can ever have peanuts or if Candela is just too sensative. I suppose time will tell. . . .

Medical billing malpractice

Wow. I'm really getting to the point where I think doctors should have to tell their fees up front. Eric thought he might have had strep, so he went to the clinic to get a throat culture. He NEVER saw a doctor. He never consulted a doctor. When he made the appointment they said there were no doctors available, but they could fit him in for a lab appointment. I think a natural assumption would be that he would be charged for a throat culture, but not a doctor's appointment. WRONG! The bill comes back as $42 for the throat culture and $46 for a doctor's visit. Well, this is obviously a billing error right? WRONG! The person I talked to insisted that this was the absolutely correct way to bill, but she'd send it to coding just to make sure . . .gee, I wonder how that will turn out. How can they possibly think that a less than 5 min. appointment for an incredibly common and cheap test should cost $88? I think medical costs would be a lot more under control if people knew the costs up front and could shop around! We insist on that for everything else . . . BTW, we do have insurance but it doesn't pay anything until the $200 deductable is reached. However, I don't think insurance companies should have to pay for doctor's appointments that never happened either!