Happy Birthday to Me!!

On Friday I turned 27 and enjoyed a beautiful day in Atlantic City, breakfast, the movie "For Colored Girls", and a shopping spree complements of my husband. I also took Friday and today (Monday) off of work. Today I am focused on all the things that I want to do this year as well as cleaning the house and getting quotes on certain repairs that are needed before we can rent the house out.

I'm still thinking about different goals I want for this year but as soon as I figure them out you will be the first to know.

How was your weekend? Anything exciting happen?

Investing in a Housekeeper

We have taken the plunge and we are not looking back. As a graduation gift I asked Boobee if he could have a housekeeper come and clean the house before I got back. The last thing I wanted to do after being engrossed in books and case studies for the whole summer was to come back to a dirty house that I would have to clean. Being the great fiance that he is, it was done and I came home to a clean, pleasantly smelling house, which made me very happy.

I posted a status on Facebook about having someone come clean the house and several of my colleagues and married friends also hire housekeepers to clean their house. Many of them have said it is the key to a happy married life, and I totally believe them.

The total cost for them to clean the house was $50.00 which is not bad at all. I asked Boobee if we could splurge and get them 2x a month or once every two weeks just to tidy up, clean the the bathrooms and sweep, mop and vacuum.

I am beginning to take the mindset that it's okay to pay for some things if it saves you time and gives you a certain peace of mind. I work so hard during the day and between the two jobs I work 7 days a week. The last thing I want to do is come home to a dirty house that needs to be cleaned.

In a couple of weeks the housekeeper, maid, cleaner, or whatever you want to call it will be back to clean our house. In fact, every two weeks she will be back. One less thing I have to worry about during our honeymoon stage.

$100 a month is a small price to pay for a clean house and a few extra hours of rest.

Do you utilize a housekeeper? Why or why not?

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Sometimes Good Things Happen

Today I received a bill from the gas company that said the gas bill for the month would be $99.00. I can dig it. SmallbudgetBigStyle told me about budget billing last year and I have been on the plan ever since. The bill fluctuated based on usage and was usually $124.00 or $165.00 (I believe that was in the winter).

Based on my usage for the year it seems that they adjusted my budget billing and my monthly payment will now be $99.00 a month.

We also were able to lower are cable/internet/ phone bill to roughly $175.00 a month. That was from almost $250.0 a month... eek!

I am grateful. This just shows that good things do happen!!

What financial blessings have you received this week?

First, the tree

Remember the tree in the back of my house that was on the list of repairs?

Well, I had someone come a give me an estimate on it and its going to cost $425 for it to be cut down.

I think $425 is a really fair price. Last year when I had received an estimate a company was going to charge me $500. My, how a year changes things!

I'm going to call them tomorrow afternoon and set up an appointment and hopefully get it cut down next weekend. I hope next weekend we can do the tree, toilet in the half bathroom, and maybe fix the ceiling fan in the master bedroom.

That should make for a fun weekend!!!


YBP

House Repairs Galore!

We have a few minor projects that need to be done on our house. We had planned to move and rent it out this fall but I believe that we will have to wait until next fall.

Here are a few of the projects that need to be done

• half bath toilet replaced
• roof fixed for a couple of minor leaks
• tree in the back of the house cut down
• filling some holes with cement around the sides of the house ( more on this later)
  
• a few rooms painted
  
• back of house pointed
• weedy scrub in the front of the house replaced with an Azazel bush
• new grass and landscaping for the front of the house

Our refrigerator is also on its last leg so that will need to be replaced soon.

I figure we will start at the top of the list and work our way down. We should have it all finished by next August, right???

This is why all homeowners need a emergency fund or an emergency fund and a house fund!

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

A funny thing happened

A few days ago I got a letter from my mortgage company that my escrow payment had gone down by $6.00 and now my new monthly payment was going to be $1298.

If anyone has the reason why it did this please let me know!! I am assuming it has something to do with PMI insurance going down, but that is just a guess.

I was so excited about a decrease of $6.00 that I didn't look at the rest of the letter.

Come to find out a surplus check for $382.02 was attached to letter.

I only found that out after I was about rip the letter up and throw it in the garbage. Thankfully I didn't and now the emergency fund gets a nice little bump in it.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Sometimes a girl has got to do...

what a girl has got to do!

That is exactly what I did on Monday when I went to the Apple Store in King of Prussia Mall and dropped almost $2000 on a 27 inch Apple desktop computer and printer. I put the joker on a credit card too!

Oh well! It will be paid off by April 1.

My Dell laptop that was my home computer was slowly dying. It recently caught a virus and wouldn't even turn on. I hated being in my home office and did most of my work and internet surfing on my work laptop while lying in bed.

Last weekend I cleaned my office, moved my bookshelves around and on Monday we set up the computer. It's really starting to look like a workspace and I have spent oodles of time in their this week.

My roof is also leaking. It needs to be fixed. The job is going to come up to around $750, which is not bad... I think. We are going to cash flow it, and get it done soon.

There are a lot of other things going on which include a possibility of a career change. More on that later.

Until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Mortgage expenses are only a sliver of my budget

My part of the mortgage is only $300.00. Every two weeks when I get paid I automatically have $160.00 transferred to our mortgage joint account, my love puts his 300 in and we put part of the tenants rent money in, its simple, and I don't have to worry about the mortgage being paid. On the 16th of the month the mortgage company takes the whole mortgage payment out. Simple and Easy!!! The other household bills that I am responsible for are the Gas Bill ( set up a monthly budget plan of $160.00) and the water and sewer bill which averages $55.00 a month.

My frigging car note and insurance plus gas is just about the same amount per month as my mortgage and other home expenses. Once I pay this joker off I probably will never take out another car loan unless I'm making $100,000 a year, which hopefully will be in the next five years. If my car dies, I will go to an auction and buy myself another one for cash!

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Lawn Care

The weather was so beautiful today in Philadelphia. People were out and about, and many were people working on their lawns.. except me. The reason why is because I didn't have any lawn and garden tools. But I am am already for tomorrow and whatever other nice days we have this week. Today I went to Home Depot and bought a lawn mower, weed wacker, and a indoor plant. My house is at the top of the block and my curb appeal just looks raggedy. To make matters worse I have this plant ( that looks like a weed to me) that is growing right in front of my sunroom windows. Tomorrow my guy is going to mow and trim the edges of the lawn and I am going to try to tackle the weed in order to plant an nice bed of flowers. Curb appeal is important, I also think I might but some flowers in a planter next to the tenants entrance.


until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

I'm not upside down on my mortgage

One of my favorite bloggers Budgets are Sexy just found out that he is upside down on his mortgage. This prompted me to see if I was also upside down on my mortgage. I doubted that I would have any equity but I just didn't want to be upside down.

So how did I check how much my house was worth? I too signed up for Zillow.com after seeing that J at Budgets are Sexy did the same and found out the value of his house.

After verifying that I was the owner I found out the Zestimate for my home was $ $177,500. Right now the current principal balance of my home (found on the latest mortgage statement) is $177, 348.

I guess those extra principal payments helped a little bit (LOL).

No equity but thankfully not upside down!


until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Thinking about buying another investment property

I bought my house at the end of July, right in the middle of the mortgage mess. Am I happy with it? Yes! If you remember, I bought an attached single family home with a basement apartment. I rent out the basement apartment for $700.00 a month and live in the house with my significant other. My mortgage which includes an escrow for taxes and insurance is $1304.00 a month. My SO and I split the other half of the mortgage payment which comes out to $302.00 a person. That is less then what I paid for rent when I had an apartment with roommates! I love my house but I am considering moving at the end of the year or sometime in the next year.

I bought this house as an investment and would like to buy another investment while prices are so low. The best thing for me to do would be to rent out the house as well as the basement apartment. I believe I could get between $1000-1200 for the house plus between $600-700 for the apartment.

I could continue to live in this house and buy a second investment property but I want to take advantage of these very low interest rates and the best way for me to take advantage of them is as a owner occupant buyer. As an owner occupant I can put down 10-15% and still take advantage of the low interest rates.

Right now I am looking for a duplex or triplex in an area of Philadelphia where there are university students ( because I will always have a renter).

Again, I am just looking and keeping abreast on whats happening in the financial world. My plans can change.

until next time think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Tax Breaks for Homeowners

Kiplinger.com has this great article on tax breaks for homeowners. Two of these apply to me so I will be taking advantage of them.

• $7500 tax credit for homeowners- its actually a interest free loan for people who bought their first home
• Deduction of 100% of the Premium of PMI payments ( if income is under $50,000).

Check out the article for more. It's almost 8:00 and two of my favorite money shows comes on back to back- The Dave Ramsey Show and On the Money with Carmen Wong Ulrich.

Until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Homebuying the Old Fashioned Way

MSN money has a great article profiling 3 different people who took out 30 year fixed mortgages with 20% down. It really looks like this is the way things will be from now on. How will this affect us? If the average cost of a home is $200,000 be prepared to put up $40,000.

Wow!!! I don't know anyone that bought a house within the last 5 years that put down 20%. I guess its time for all of us to start really saving, and start
buying houses the old fashioned way.

As for me, I plan on buying a small investment property with 20% down within the next year, and than another multifamily ( owner occupant) with an FHA loan, and save save save to put down 20% for what will eventually be my dream home.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Getting Ready for Winter

I live in the northeast so it starts getting colder in the earlier fall, thus I feel the need to prepare for winter early. I have made a list of things that need to be done before the end of October to ensure that my house and car are ready for the winter.

1. Install a programmable thermostat in my house. This is to save energy and ensure that my winter heating bills are as low as possible
2. Buy water heater blankets to cover mine and my tenants water heaters ( so that they don't freeze during the winter months.
3. Install new breaks for the car ( I have an appointment set up for Monday, but I may need to change it).
4. Have new tires put on my car ( does anyone know how much that costs)
5. Get a oil change ( done today 10/4/08)
6. Buy Curtains for the majority of my windows to keep the heat in the house
7. Buy salt, shovels, and a storage trunk for the porch
8. Call PGW about getting on a budget plan

Am I missing anything? What are you doing to get ready for the winter season?

Until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Blessed with a home

I have been meaning to write a post about how much the house was and how much my monthly payment is, and etc but I just haven't had time. Well now I have time and I feel so blessed. I am going to give you the rundown but first I have to let you know that the God that I serve is just so great. He is more than great.. He is actually awesome. Why? because he has blessed me so and I don't even deserve it. The day I first saw this house on the multiple listing service was June 9, which is my little brother's birthday. On June 10 I called the bank that I wanted to work with to see if I could get approved for the loan. I had a feeling it was possible because I had all my credit cards paid in full, student loans being deferred and car loan current and never late. She ran my credit and said no I couldn't be approved. The realtor gave me another guy and he was able to approve me for a 80/20 loan. I was shocked and didn't even know they made those type of loans anymore. The realtor told me to come take a look at the house and when I did I fell in love with it. I had been searching for multi family properties in my area for over 2 years. I did not see one thing that I liked. I thought I would only be able to afford a duplex that was a 2+1 or 2+2 but again my God is awesome

The house

The house was totally renovated with everything brand new. And I am talking about everything!!! The house has 3 bedrooms 1 1/2 baths with a sun room and deck and laundry room. It has a little front yard where I can do some landscaping and is a corner house is a very nice area of the city.

The big selling point: The biggest selling point of the house was that on the street level of the house is a newly renovated 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment that can be rented out any where from $800-$900.

The offer

I started my offer at 175,000. The house was listed for 179900, we went back and forth and agreed on me paying full asking price with $7500 in selling assist. That worked for me. It was less money I had to bring to closing. In total boo and I ended up putting about $6000.00 of our own money for the down payment and closing costs.

The Mortgage

I ended up getting an FHA 30 yr fixed loan at 6.125%. Its through this PHFA (Penn Housing Finance Agency) program. The great thing is that my loan will never be sold to another company, and I make all my payments to PHFA. There is no prepayment penalty and again its a 30 year fixed loan.

Payment

My mortgage payment with taxes and insurance is $1304 a month. That might seem like a lot but with a renter paying $850.00 a month - $100 a month for vacancy and repairs that's 750 from my renters going towards the mortgage leaves me to only pay $554.00 to my mortgage.

Not a bad deal huh? If I don't have tenants I can still swing the mortgage, however I don't want to do that for long.. it will seriously mess up my debt snowball.

So thankful

So here I am 24 years old and owning my first home. In this time where many people can't get approved for mortgages because of the credit crunch I was able to get approved for a loan. There are millions of people that are having their homes taken away due to forclosure, I was able to buy a home with a mortgage of 6.125% It just shows that when you have God on your side nothing is impossible.

As I am writing this the song "Your latter will be greater than you past" by Martha Munizzi came on ITUNES. This song sums up what I believe God is telling me about my life.

THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!!!!

Until Next Time, Think Prosperous Thoughts

YBP

Settlement Day!!!

Today is settlement day and start moving day. Yeahh!! I will update later about the financial impact of my decision to buy this house but first I have to get through the rest of the night at my second job, teach my last day of summer school, go to the bank and get a cashiers check, and sign a bunch of documents at the settlement table. There is a song that says God's favor is more precious than life.... and in my life it most certainly is. I will speak more on that later but just wanted to say that I didn't forget about the blog and I will get back to it as soon as possible.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

All is good on the financial front!!!!

I have been away for a few days but I am back now and in full effect. I have been putting out a lot of money during this home buying process. I received an email from my real estate agent and the settlement date for the house is July 31. The only other thing I have to pay before settlement is a year of homeowners insurance, my broker got me a great quote for around $650.00. I am going to move my car insurance to this same carrier, and I pray for a discount on my coverage.

On Tuesday my boo and I went to see the site were we are going to have the wedding in a couple years. The place was absolutely beautiful and we decided that this place is definitely going to be the place were we are going to have the wedding. The catering coordinator was extremely nice and very helpful gave us quotes for 4 different days and times. The wedding and reception with all food, drinks, gratuities, and sales tax will cost us between $13000-15000. That gives us about $5000 to spend on other things. We have to put down a $2000.00 deposit within the next 45 days, so we will have to budget for that. We have our guest list (100 people) are ready and I will be using the knot.com to help me with budgeting and planning. I know some pay say its too soon to really start planning but hey C'est moi vie!!! (Its my life)

In other news:

In September I will be starting my debt snowball!!! I can't wait! I have been hearing a lot of negative things about what the economy is going to do and I am doing whatever I need to do to get out of debt asap!!

until next time, think prosperous thoughts!!!

YBP

Mortgage Commitment Letter

My loan processor just emailed my mortgage commitment letter. It looks like DH and I are actually going to be homeowners. Our interest rate is 6.125, which is pretty good. I am so excited. There are still a couple more things that need to be done before closing (which is scheduled for July 31), and I have been working like crazy to make sure there is money for us to decorate and buy furniture without putting things on credit cards. DH has started reading The Total Money Makeover and is really starting to understand why I want us to be debt free.

On a personal note DH isn't really my DH, he is my boyfriend/fiance. We actually live together(shacking up as my parents would say). Were getting married in August of 2010, and by that time we will both be debt free and will be able to pay cash for our summer wedding at the Glen Foerd Mansion.

I will try to post my tentative august budget by the end of the weekend ( I am a planner so i need to get things done early.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

A wonderful weekend that cost money

I was going to do a budget for July but my mortgage person told me not to spend anymore money. She said whatever money I get from paychecks do not use at all. "Just let it sit in my bank account" her words not mine. That is not really a problem, the only bills I have to pay this month are my car insurance and car payment. Everything else is pretty much taken care off.



I have, however, spent some money that I probably could have done without spending this weekend. My parents came down to look at the house that I'm buying. Dad said it was a good investment which is good. However I did take them out to dinner at a little Hibachi grill place in center city. The total bill was around $210.00 I looked at it a nearly fainted. Then I looked at it again, and thought... well there were six of us so that's not that bad. Then DH paid some money to it and my mom paid some money to it and so I only had to put up about 80ish dollars ( I put this on a credit card, the only major credit card I carry with me daily and I always pay off the balance each month)



My other spending this weekend was at a candle, 2 shirts, and a pair of capris all on sale at Old Navy. I spent 40.00 total and put this on my gap card. Lucky for me that is the only thing charged on the card and the payment won't be due until august. I plan to pay the full balance of this in August.

in other news:
I will be cutting any unnecessary expenses in an attempt to live a more frugal lifestyle. I also am going to be doing weekly meal menus so that DH and I can stop eating out. As for right now I will be eliminating my $35.00 a month gym membership, and my prepaid legal membership( my parents are going to be highly upset). Once we move we will be getting a house phone/Internet(29.99 a month) bundle through comcast so our sprint phone bill ( unlimited everything $99.00 per month per phone) will go down to the bare minimum.

Right there is roughly $180.00 in income that is added to the budget!!!

I will continue to look at my past few months of budgeting from PearBudget to see what else I can cut..

oh PearBudget( another thing about to be cut) ..that's $3.00 a month ...i am pretty sure I can find some free money managing tools out there. If anyone knows of any let me know.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Its time for a Money Makeover

..so in the past 24 hours I have dropped roughly $2000.00 in this homebuying process. So far I have put a deposit on the house, paid for the home inspection, and authorized my loan processor to take 500.00 out of my account to get the appraisal all set up, but hey I think of it as an investment..its certainly not money going down the drain...

I have a few posts that are still in draft mode but before Friday you can look forward to posts on how I fixed my credit score, a quick overview of my net worth and current financial information, my goals from now until December 31, 2008, and a a piggy back post from FabulousFinancials.com on what it means to live life on my terms and the quote from The Great Debators- "Do What I have to Do, So I can do what I want to do"

Until then Boston Gal highlighted a great Money Makeover from the San Diego Union Tribune. It highlights Teresa Ventura, a 48 year old recently divorced Library Assistant who wants to retire by 55.

According to the advice of the financial planner the newspaper set her up with she is well on her way to retiring at 55. She makes $50,000 a year and stands to retire with $3,185 a month from her employer sponsored pension and once she turns 66 she will receive $1600 a month from Social Security.

All she needs to do is worry about the $5000 tax bill from her newly purchased home and the $25000 in credit card debt that she has. $5000 tax bill, ha, that's nothing compared to South Jersey. I have coworkers with $8000-$9000 tax bills. Try paying that every year!

My advice to Ms. Ventura- Read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey... oh and retire outside of California.

Here's the link to the article if you would like to read it:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080622-9999-lz1b22makeov.html