This is the second installment of Property Pitfalls, a series where I discuss some of the hazards out there waiting to ensnare unsuspecting homeowners. Today’s topic: Security system contracts from the big name national companies. Crime is all over the headlines, and if that wasn’t enough of an encouragement to install a security system for [...]
My wife and I just purchased a new home in November, and the experience is reminding me of the many pitfalls that are out there to take advantage of homebuyers. With that in mind, this is the first in a series of posts about the raw deals to watch out for in buying a home. [...]
Here in Texas there are only two certainties in life: death and property taxes (and probably mosquitos). Property taxes out here are ridiculous (for my home, I pay a rate of about 2.5% of the taxable value of the property every year), so there is a lot of incentive to protest your assessment. I did [...]
If you made responsible financial decisions over the last several years and were hoping there may be something in Obama’s mortgage bailout for you, keeping hoping. As far as I can see there is nothing for my family in the bailout (even after my wife’s layoff earlier this week), and you’ll likely come to the [...]
Considering all of the losses and pain that has been caused by lax lending standards in the mortgage industry, you would think that lenders would have learned their lesson and tightened up credit standards. Of course that would require common sense, which unfortunately is in short supply these days. The latest questionable practice is referred [...]
Put this one in the category of good luck. It is March again, and here in Texas that means the grass (and weeds) are growing again. Since we moved into our house in 2005, we have always used the same lawn service which charged us the dirt cheap rate of $20 to cut, edge, and [...]
Unless you have been living in a cave, you are probably aware of the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate cuts. While it doesn’t have a direct effect on mortgage rates, recent weeks have seen some of the lowest fixed interest rates on mortgages in years. When rates are this low, there isn’t much of a [...]
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, you are probably very aware by now of the issues around mortgage lending. If not, go take a look at your brokerage account and try to come up with another explanation the balance number is so much lower than it was before. As [...]
I posted last week about some rat bastard(s) breaking into my home and stealing some of my stuff. A few developments since my previous post: We figured out that the burglar(s) also took a framed family picture that was in our entertainment center along with the electronics. The only thing we can figure is that [...]
Another wrinkle in my home saga – some bastard broke into my friggin’ house! Broad daylight just before noon on July 4th somebody apparently pulled a vehicle up the driveway, kicked in the backdoor, and grabbed whatever they could. They took all the electronics from my entertainment center except the old Super Nintendo and the [...]