All Forum Posts by: Jacob Edmond

I'm sure this has been discussed in some fashion almost ad-nauseum on here, but I wanted to see what people think about using either new card offers with 0% interest for the usual 15-24 months, or balance transfers with the same type of terms.

I am currently remodelling my home, and I usually have at least 2 or more 0% balance transfer offers for 15+ months on several of my credit cards, and always am getting new offers from my banks or in the mail for new ones. I know this isn't something I want to repeat often, but I can't seem to find a good reason not to finance my remodel this way. It's cheaper than any loan I can get, and it allows me to keep as much cash free for the time being as well. I don't plan to use more than 30% of my available limits, as I'm probably only going to spend about $15k on this project.

My credit is currently in the mid 700s , and I track it weekly, so I know I will take a slight hit while the balances are on the cards, but I will pay them off before I need any other type of financing for another house.

Just wondering if anyone else would do this, even though tk a lot of people credit cards are almost taboo these days.

 They have recently made a resurgence and sink manufactures have begun making new sinks that look like a farm sink but really just have the front and top and they sit in the cabinet, instead of on top of a shorter one. Saying they are 'standard' is a gross exaggeration still. Maybe in you area they are, but it is still a part of a style. They have become very popular in mid class home remodels from what I have seen, and I have had to use them more and more in commercial projects as well.

Welcome! If you haven't yet, I would definitely check out the BP podcast, tons of great information.

I am interested in why an agent would want to get into wholesaling. I guess the difference is finding a buyer for your property, vs. Finding a property for your buyer?

 I can only hope laminate goes away, but I don't see it as a choice of style so much as a choice of cost. It still blows my mind that people will put laminate counters on top of wood cabinets.

 I think we can safely say anything seen often on HGTV will be out of style before long.

My wife and I have been using Google sheets for over 5 years now. We have a workbook for each year and and sheet for each month that tracks the daily balance and all of our income, and all of our bills. Early on this was the only way we could know when our 'low point' or 'right spot' would occur to the day each month. 

Here is a sample workbook that is based on our budget that we still use: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pk9zi3cpw_...

It is very easy for us to access anywhere, both my wife and I can edit or update it. It is something we have developed over the course of the last 5 years, and are still constantly making changes. The basic idea is we know at all times what our primary checking balance should be for the whole month and at least a couple of months ahead. We a lot a food budget and a gas budget that are pretty fluid and loose, but I have that setup as a sub-budget within each month essentially, and as we use it up, we enter the line items in those areas to the right, and they show up in the ledger to the left on the date they are entered and the remaining portion of those sub-budgets shows up on the ledger at the end of the month so that our future month ledgers are still accurate based on what we project to spend.

Play around with it, enter some number and dates to see how it works. There are some formulas, so the ledger updates automatically for any item that you put a date in for. This has been our recipe for success so far. This is the first time I have shared a real sample of our spreadsheet, so I welcome feedback.

I'm remodelling my 1965 home that has the oh so popular wood wall paneling instead of sheet rock interior walls. I have seen plenty of hones with beautiful hardwood floors that were covered with carpeting as well. While I'm remodelling, I try to stay away from anything that is 'in' or newly popular that I think will eventually be unpopular again.

What do you all see that is ultra popular now thay will eventually be seen as just awful?

I think farm style sinks will be one that are big right now and will stick out as a dead giveaway that your kitchen was remodeled in the 2010's.

You don't have to take the depreciation on your taxes in the mean time though I you think you might sell within the 5 years. I'm renting out our first house currently. Only lived in it just over a year, so I k ow if I want to sell it I will have to either move back in, or try to 1031 it into something else.

I know my rental house in Dorchester county will be going up this year. When we lived in the house it was about $900 and the estimate for 6% has it jumping to $2700. That is the norm from everyone I have talked to. They say it goes from 4% to 6% which is misleading. Because that doesn't sound like much but losing the homestead exemption is what really kills you. 

I knew going into renting my house thay the taxes would go way up and figured that into my budget. I got lucky that they didn't prorate it the first year, but left it at the 4% even though I rented it out starting in may.

My county assessor had a spreadsheet that I downloaded to estimate the difference.

 Yes, or what many may known as a Fein tool. I just bought one, a Rockwell Sonic rafter brand that was on sale at lowes. It really comes in handy more and more as I have been demoing in my house.