A house is not only your refuge from the world, it’s also an investment. The recent ups and downs in the housing market notwithstanding, in general your home is going to increase in value. This is especially true if you find ways to improve on the property while you’re there. Unfortunately, some homes need a [...]
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Utah is an earthquake prone zone. In fact, my house is pretty much sitting smack dab on the Wasatch Fault. Perhaps it’s not the brightest place to build a home, but given the multiple hurricanes that threaten Florida’s Gold Coast every year, I figure no matter where you live, you’re choosing one natural disaster or [...]
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Too many people think investing is only for the über wealthy and those with sophisticated strategies. But everyone should profit from the power of compounding interest — and conversely avoid the debilitating effect of paying compounded interest. If you’ve always lived paycheck to paycheck, step back and take a few easy steps to prepare for [...]
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Just got a “congratulatory” letter from Washington Federal. In part, it says: It’s hard to believe the construction phase of your new home should be rapidly approaching the finishing stages. Key words: should be. In other words, since we’ve given you more than ample time to finish building your freaking house, if you’re not ready [...]
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The first home we ever bought, in Boca Raton, Florida, started out as a lease agreement from the owners. We paid a regular monthly rent and a portion was credited to our down payment should we decide to exercise the option to buy the home after one year, which we did. Since that first, three-bedroom [...]
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Affordable housing is so important in this economy. Giving your family a place to live is one of the most crucial expenditures — and also one of the biggest drains on family finances. This afternoon I found that good friends of ours are looking at a foreclosed home right across the street from our new [...]
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We’ve all heard about the state of real estate in these trouble economic times. Foreclosures are everywhere. Yesterday I read that now lots of people who can afford to pay their mortgages are walking away from them — allowing the banks to foreclose — because the values have gone down and they’d rather take the [...]
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You’d love to own a home — and you can afford the payments — but going the traditional route isn’t working out. Or maybe you’d just like to avoid the expense and hassle of dealing with banks and lending institutions in the incredibly difficult credit market. One way to purchase a home unconventionally, is to [...]
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In 1991, we moved thousands of miles away to Boca Raton, Florida. We had two little kids and — after years of college — were flat broke. Our first home was a three-bedroom townhouse in a development called Cypress Lakes. It was a huge step up from college apartment digs. But still we longed for [...]
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You’ve probably heard about some of the Housing Stimulus that has been created in recent months. The proper role of government in such efforts is worthy of discussion. But in this post I’d like to outline the specifics of the tax credits so you can figure out if they apply to you.
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Breathe. Breathe. This is the third time we’ve built a home and the fourth home we’ve purchased. Never in my life has it been such an episode. This morning we finally closed on the course of construction loan, but not before feeling utterly beat up and screwed over and smacked around. First, we went through the [...]
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Your mortgage is likely the largest debt you will ever incur. And it seems impossible to tackle. With a new mortgage looming in the next week, we are more aware of this than ever. I will be 75 before it’s paid off the “natural” way. And Sam, well, he’ll be even older. We’d like to [...]
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Before we can dig the hole, we’ve got to secure a construction loan. No matter how good our credit is, no matter how big our down payment, no matter how secure our income, this step has always just been nerve-wracking to me. It keeps me up and night and gives me ulcers. Mostly, I suppose, [...]
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The city of Lindon requires—among a billion other things—a model energy code compliance report to prove, I suppose, that your model energy code is complaint with whatever Lindon officials have deemed necessary to comply with in regards to the energy code. So, obviously, I have no idea what the heck this is or why we [...]
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On Monday we met with the first builder to come up with a bid for us. To say the least, it was disappointing. The total came in at $804,266. And that’s after we bought the lot for $248,000. Seriously. We’ve built a million dollar home. And this is not it! This house is the downsize [...]
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In 2003, we built our dream home and intended to stay there until we died. As time went on, however, we realized that the dream home was not in the dream location. (You know what they say about real estate!) So, in 2006, we decided to put our home on the market and move to [...]
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Pix2Brix is the new home building site with pixel advertising that has a massive twist. We are turning pixels (Pix) into brick and mortar (Brix) to build a mortgage-free home for our children to grow up in. Get ready to join the adventure! Subscribe to our RSS feed to watch the latest developments.
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After trying the credit report that gives no scores, I’ve turned to the commercial world of credit report offerings. I’ve narrowed the myriad free credit score offerings to three. Each one offers a slightly different twist and they all have fine print you must read carefully, or you’ll be on the hook for ongoing payouts.
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One of the most stressful parts of home building can be the financing. When you buy an existing home or a home through a large-scale builder, there are few unknowns. In those cases, financing can be just a matter of researching interest rates, filling out an application, gathering a few documents, and waiting for the [...]
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