There are three-four things I used to look forward to in November. Two holidays where I had the day off of work, my dad's birthday and black Friday.
Under the government contract I work for, I don't get Veteran's Day as a Federal holiday? Who screwed up that one? Not me. The building was closed and I had to either work at home or mark off one of my vacation days to get paid. I chose the later.
Thanksgiving was so weird this year. It was the first year in which my son was the one working in the day and I was working at night. And because of that, our schedules weren't synced up and when I got up the next day after working until midnight, I was hungry for breakfast at 10AM. So I made ham and eggs. And then I started cooking the Thanksgiving meal soon after so it was done at around 2PM. Neither I nor my son was hungry at that time, so I packed it up to be placed in the refrigerator. We grazed on Thanksgiving foodstuffs for about 4 days until it was all gone.
I had to work on black Friday and I wasn't really in the shopping mood. If there is actually a shopping mood. Whatever that's supposed to feel like. But still, I know that it is gift giving season so I need to buy something for someone.
At work, we organized two potlucks...one at Halloween and another right before Thanksgiving. The first one I ate some Vietnamese food and it did a number on my guts so I was running to the restroom for nearly half of the shift. I don't know if it was because it was greasy food, or just ingredients that my guys just don't digest any more or the fact that it sat out for hours before we ate. Maybe it was a combination of the three, but anyways, I felt horrible after that, so when Thanksgiving time rolled around and them the team were asking was it O.K. with me to have a potluck again, I was like yeah, it's OK, but it's too much food for me right before Thanksgiving, so you guys go ahead and I'll just eat my dinner (whatever I brought that day. I've been eating fruit for dinner because that's what I can tolerate.... like banana or orange or peach. Apples anymore are too fibrous.)
I had a somewhat strange conversation with my manager on Thursday. You see, each day I'm getting feedback to relay to the team and I'm supposed to be tracking all of it on a spreadsheet so we agreed on Thursday, but then she told me with the volume of work going through the team the number of problems is expected. But it just makes me feel bad that we are having any at all and I told her it felt like, "What now?" and a stab in the heart when she does it. Because maybe I expect more of myself and the team. But anyway, she asked me if I had any questions, and I said we get all these emails asking for help finding stuff and I don't know where to go or even start to look so I feel like the "dots are not connecting". And then she tells me that the first shift supervisors she leans on hard which is kinda baffling to me because the manager has been there for over 10 years and the supervisor has been there for just 5. So what is really going on here and how is it that a clerk turned supervisor gets all these knowledge and not the manager? Blah Blah Blah work, right? Anyway, I'm supposed to have yet another scheduled training session with the first shift supervisor for a week this time to see if I can get the dots that I'm missing. But now I'm thinking that if I'm missing this training, that they didn't follow through with the last training plan, that maybe I should be putting the trainer on notice instead. Otherwise, my relationship with the first shift supervisor might deteriorate.
And now it's December. So I went on Facebook this weekend, the first weekend of December to find out that The Alley is closing. And it's not an unexpected closing, because the pattern of what was happening with the store, but it's sad. The two generation family that ran it once, is retiring, so it's going away. The last store is in Indio or Palms Springs. And it made me thought of the fact that when I went to their store when the closest one to me as in Rancho Cucamonga, I picked up a business card while I was making a purchase. And I had that business card in a pile of other business cards in one of the desk drawers where I have my computer stationed. So I pulled out the pile of cards and went through them because it was OK that I threw away the card to The Alley because that was a store that was going out of business. I actually threw a bunch of them away until I came to one from Peer Development.
I acquired that business card from a guy I dated briefly in 2005? His life was in flux after a divorce, I remember mine was in flux, but don't remember the event other than I thought it was around the same time when my dad died. I googled his name from time to time thinking he died because the excuse he gave me to get out of our relationship was that his lung cancer metastasized and he was selling his house and moving after a nasty divorce, blah blah blah his drama. But I remember years later he calls up at home and I said I thought you were dead, and he asks me about a 3-some out of the blue says his receptionist is a fat slob and doesn't look as good as me. What? Yeah, that's men in a nutshell right there. Women want substance and to be taken care of and to get a feeling of security and men want good looks and somewhere in the process time, aging and the lack of motivation and energy fucks that all up. And at that time I told him to lose my number and never call me again. So yeah, I find his business card and I googled his name and low and behold he didn't die (so was his cancer story all a lie?). It seems he may have burned his bridge in the commercial restaurant remodeling biz, as well as mine, and moved on to people's homes and did a crap ass job of that because there are these reports online that people want to sue him for the lack of quality in the jobs that were performed. I had to laugh because he never did any of the work himself. He had a group of Mexicans working for him for cash probably, I don't know for sure. They painted his home before it was sold and rented back to him. Years later, I remember seeing that someone was shot dead at the same address he used to live at. And I'm thinking that place had bad karma - juju. It just always felt cold and never homey. Maybe that was just the bad energy left over from his divorce in the house. So do I want to track this guy down? No, not in the least seeing all the stuff written about him after I gave him up for dead but isn't it interesting to see the wormhole you can go down just by one doing inquiry on the internet from finding an old business card.
You know the good thing about December, besides Christmas and New Years Day? December 21st or there abouts is the Winter Equinox. The day with the shortest daylight. It only gets brighter longer from there, baby. It's the upswing for spring and summer. And that day is almost exciting to me as Christmas. 19 dark days and counting.
Showing posts with label housing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label housing. Show all posts
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Saturday, December 2, 2017
A great article about foreclosure and how it effected one family in Southern California...
A great article about foreclosure and how it effected one family in Southern California...
The Never Ending Foreclosure
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Things that aren't here anymore
PBS is a wonderful thing. Recently, they have been showing a two show series called, "Things that aren't here anymore" as well as "More things that aren't here anymore" chronicling businesses and landmarks that are long gone in around the general Los Angeles area.
Sometimes, when I find an address on a U.S. Census or other genealogy record, I'll look it up on Google Maps. Which got me to thinking, "What would people see if they look up the places where I lived?" in the future.
Well, when it comes to the addresses where I grew up, they're not going to see much. The first three houses I lived in for any significant amount of time were razed.
7410 Tokay was a 5 and a half acre rancho with a one bedroom house at the front of the property with no neighbors to the north, none across the street and one to the south - The Beers, who also had a farm when I lived there. After my dad sold to a contractor, the property was developed into a subdivision.
The years my mother decided to rent a room from other people, I really don't consider those places to have been my homes. The places we lived on Redwood and on Grammercy Place in Riverside were not ours and felt very temporary to me.
8412 Alder was, I believe, the original house to the double lot. The garage was converted to the living room by the time I l lived there. A workshop and an additional home at the back of the lot were as old as the house I lived in. This house was razed (which I'm glad it was because it and the attached cellar were haunted.)
14966 1/2 Randall was a home behind another home accessible by a driveway to the left of the main house. After a fire years after I moved away, the house was razed.
The last house I lived in before moving to Orange County 22 years ago still exists, but instead of the backyard looking out onto a field, that field is now an elementary school.
The one thing I wanted so much for my son, that my mother could not seem to provide for me and my brother, was a stable home life as we moved every 3-4 years when growing up. If home is where the heart is, mine is where I bought my own and no one can take away the feelings homeownership has brought me.
Which is probably why I get a cold feeling when thinking about where I grew up and even going to my high school reunion. It's been 30 years since my high school graduation and I don't see the need to look back and reminisce.
Sometimes, when I find an address on a U.S. Census or other genealogy record, I'll look it up on Google Maps. Which got me to thinking, "What would people see if they look up the places where I lived?" in the future.
Well, when it comes to the addresses where I grew up, they're not going to see much. The first three houses I lived in for any significant amount of time were razed.
7410 Tokay was a 5 and a half acre rancho with a one bedroom house at the front of the property with no neighbors to the north, none across the street and one to the south - The Beers, who also had a farm when I lived there. After my dad sold to a contractor, the property was developed into a subdivision.
The years my mother decided to rent a room from other people, I really don't consider those places to have been my homes. The places we lived on Redwood and on Grammercy Place in Riverside were not ours and felt very temporary to me.
8412 Alder was, I believe, the original house to the double lot. The garage was converted to the living room by the time I l lived there. A workshop and an additional home at the back of the lot were as old as the house I lived in. This house was razed (which I'm glad it was because it and the attached cellar were haunted.)
14966 1/2 Randall was a home behind another home accessible by a driveway to the left of the main house. After a fire years after I moved away, the house was razed.
The last house I lived in before moving to Orange County 22 years ago still exists, but instead of the backyard looking out onto a field, that field is now an elementary school.
The one thing I wanted so much for my son, that my mother could not seem to provide for me and my brother, was a stable home life as we moved every 3-4 years when growing up. If home is where the heart is, mine is where I bought my own and no one can take away the feelings homeownership has brought me.
Which is probably why I get a cold feeling when thinking about where I grew up and even going to my high school reunion. It's been 30 years since my high school graduation and I don't see the need to look back and reminisce.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
More Financial Links:
http://moneyning.com/mortgage/how-to-recast-your-mortgage/
Recast. Maybe you've heard this rarely used financial term before and didn't know what it was. Well, what a recast basically is is a principle reduction plus a re-amortization of the remaining balance on your loan. The above link which takes you the MoneyNing blog by David Ning explains it all.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-practical-moves-avoid-problem-080054368.html
Good advice on how to gain control over your finances.
Recast. Maybe you've heard this rarely used financial term before and didn't know what it was. Well, what a recast basically is is a principle reduction plus a re-amortization of the remaining balance on your loan. The above link which takes you the MoneyNing blog by David Ning explains it all.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-practical-moves-avoid-problem-080054368.html
Good advice on how to gain control over your finances.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
A Retirement Wake-up Call
I woke up really early this morning, my body anticipating the time change this weekend and to the noise of the TV being on to that Ed Slott infomercial about saving your retirement. I've seen it before. I'm sure I'll watch it again. But something struck me. 2012 went by so fast and I probably have about 20 more working years before I retire.
FACT: The three things you cannot live without are food, shelter and clothing. People will give you clothes and share their food with you as these things are relatively cheap but you have to maintain a roof over your head or eventually you'll die of exposure to the elements.
FACT: The single most expensive financial decision one will ever make is to buy a house.
I went to lunch the other day with my cheapskate lunch date (who is in retail loan sales) and somehow the conversation always turns to money. Previously, I discussed with him my need to refinance my home because I currently have a Hybrid 5 year Fixed/6 month Libor Note that's been adjusting for awhile now. Since LIBOR rates are tied to the European economy and it followed the U.S. economy decline with the credit crunch and the housing market crisis, my Note rate dropped from the initial rate and has stayed low... but the economy is improving. Jobs are coming back to the finance market because even I've had opportunities to interview recently for what I do which is highly specialized and I'm not looking for a new job now. And with an improved economy, interest rates will start to creep up higher. And the interest rate I'm paying today for my home loan is close to market rate and I don't want to put myself into a situation where I have a high interest rate and may not be able to refinance in the future. I also know that my loan is owned by Fannie Mae and HARP Loans, that are easier to qualify for with a high LTV and that require no appraisal, are going away next year.
After getting back to work, he sent me this email:
"Your goal this week or next is to contact HR in order to open a 401(k) because retiring poor sucks. I have to turn down seniors all the time (for cash-out refi home loans) and it makes me sad."
I had a 401(k) before I was laid-off from my mortgage job (the company closed) and because it lost half it's value and I didn't know when I was going to get my next job, I liquidated it the moment I could. Almost right after my severance pay ran out, in February 2008, I was hired as a contractor to Fannie Mae for a year and a half driving 150 miles round trip for work each day to manage the default vault at 1800 Tapo Canyon (if your're in the industry, you know that address holds one of the highest number of mortgage loans on the west coast) of loans moving from Countrywide's safekeeping into my custody. I supervised the vault's growth to hold 325,000 files (who knows how large it is today). The stock market tanked in October. HBO produced an excellent movie called "Too Big to Fail" which is a portrayal of what happened in October 2008. I was sitting in the belly of the beast and the beast was required to be bought by B of A and the behest of the U.S. federal government due to B of A exercising a large repurchase of poor performing loans.
FACT: You only have about 45-50 years to save before you retire.
When you're in your 20's and busy establishing your career, home and family, you're probably not thinking a whole hell of a lot about your retirement. My cheapskate lunch date is actually the same age I am, mid-40's, and as he's also a Realtor, he's put his money to work more than I have in the past so I have to give him some respect for the financial position he's in now as compared to mine own.
My parents, when they retired, didn't really plan for it. Both had to work after retirement because they didn't have homes to sell and live off of the proceeds or even homes that generated a net income from rent. They had no savings accounts, just checking accounts. Both had meager life insurance payouts. I was able to settle my father's estate, but my mothers???
She lived off of credit cards until the day she died. As I cleared out her apartment, I found many newly bought items and at the time, couldn't figure out how she could afford it. That is until I found a brown box in the back of her closet full of unpaid credit card bills which turned into charge offs. She couldn't afford it. She consulted with a family friend, a lawyer, that told her not to pay them after she was 75 and had triple by-pass heart surgery.
I took back to the store those items I could find receipts for and threw the contents of her apartment in storage because it was right before Christmas when she passed. I paid the final utility bills with the cash on hand and that refund money and also ignored those credit card bills. Because of the lack of her financial and retirement planning, I had to pay out of my own pocket for her cremation, her headstone, her funeral and the transfer of her ashes to New York where they were buried with her parents, my grandparent, as she wanted. It took me a year and a half to get rid of that storage unit, finally donating the majority of the contents to Goodwill after giving away some things to friends and I paid for that storage unit, too. I can imagine my story of not being able to settle my mother's estate multiplied by the number new retirees and the debt river that's coming.
So in essence, if the vast majority of people now have the lack of retirement planning, execution and savings like my parents had, you and I will be paying for it all the way through the period the baby boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) goes into retirement (2011 to 2029) and subsequently passes away passing their unpaid debt onto the large financial institutions who will pass it on to the consumer in the form of higher fees and interest rates. That consumer is you and me.
Ed Slott says the biggest retirement killer are:
1. taxes
Tax free safety zone (life insurance and annuity)
Payouts from Life Insurance are tax free.
Roth IRA's conversions. You can get an annuity inside your Roth IRA.
2. risk
You cannot rely on the stock market for a secure retirement future. Think about an annuity. It guaranties your retirement income for life.
3. saving money
Sometimes you have to spend money now to save money later. Buy life insurance. Seek out qualified financial planners.
4. uncertainty
No one will ever care about your retirement money more than you.
5. inactivity
Doing nothing will be costly because prices rise and taxes increase. Do something now when you can. If you want a secure financial future, you have to do something about it.
I emailed HR about establishing a new 401(k) blind-copying my friend and then I called and was qualified for a HARP loan all in the same day.
Lets see where I am this time, next year...
FACT: The three things you cannot live without are food, shelter and clothing. People will give you clothes and share their food with you as these things are relatively cheap but you have to maintain a roof over your head or eventually you'll die of exposure to the elements.
FACT: The single most expensive financial decision one will ever make is to buy a house.
I went to lunch the other day with my cheapskate lunch date (who is in retail loan sales) and somehow the conversation always turns to money. Previously, I discussed with him my need to refinance my home because I currently have a Hybrid 5 year Fixed/6 month Libor Note that's been adjusting for awhile now. Since LIBOR rates are tied to the European economy and it followed the U.S. economy decline with the credit crunch and the housing market crisis, my Note rate dropped from the initial rate and has stayed low... but the economy is improving. Jobs are coming back to the finance market because even I've had opportunities to interview recently for what I do which is highly specialized and I'm not looking for a new job now. And with an improved economy, interest rates will start to creep up higher. And the interest rate I'm paying today for my home loan is close to market rate and I don't want to put myself into a situation where I have a high interest rate and may not be able to refinance in the future. I also know that my loan is owned by Fannie Mae and HARP Loans, that are easier to qualify for with a high LTV and that require no appraisal, are going away next year.
After getting back to work, he sent me this email:
"Your goal this week or next is to contact HR in order to open a 401(k) because retiring poor sucks. I have to turn down seniors all the time (for cash-out refi home loans) and it makes me sad."
I had a 401(k) before I was laid-off from my mortgage job (the company closed) and because it lost half it's value and I didn't know when I was going to get my next job, I liquidated it the moment I could. Almost right after my severance pay ran out, in February 2008, I was hired as a contractor to Fannie Mae for a year and a half driving 150 miles round trip for work each day to manage the default vault at 1800 Tapo Canyon (if your're in the industry, you know that address holds one of the highest number of mortgage loans on the west coast) of loans moving from Countrywide's safekeeping into my custody. I supervised the vault's growth to hold 325,000 files (who knows how large it is today). The stock market tanked in October. HBO produced an excellent movie called "Too Big to Fail" which is a portrayal of what happened in October 2008. I was sitting in the belly of the beast and the beast was required to be bought by B of A and the behest of the U.S. federal government due to B of A exercising a large repurchase of poor performing loans.
FACT: You only have about 45-50 years to save before you retire.
When you're in your 20's and busy establishing your career, home and family, you're probably not thinking a whole hell of a lot about your retirement. My cheapskate lunch date is actually the same age I am, mid-40's, and as he's also a Realtor, he's put his money to work more than I have in the past so I have to give him some respect for the financial position he's in now as compared to mine own.
My parents, when they retired, didn't really plan for it. Both had to work after retirement because they didn't have homes to sell and live off of the proceeds or even homes that generated a net income from rent. They had no savings accounts, just checking accounts. Both had meager life insurance payouts. I was able to settle my father's estate, but my mothers???
She lived off of credit cards until the day she died. As I cleared out her apartment, I found many newly bought items and at the time, couldn't figure out how she could afford it. That is until I found a brown box in the back of her closet full of unpaid credit card bills which turned into charge offs. She couldn't afford it. She consulted with a family friend, a lawyer, that told her not to pay them after she was 75 and had triple by-pass heart surgery.
I took back to the store those items I could find receipts for and threw the contents of her apartment in storage because it was right before Christmas when she passed. I paid the final utility bills with the cash on hand and that refund money and also ignored those credit card bills. Because of the lack of her financial and retirement planning, I had to pay out of my own pocket for her cremation, her headstone, her funeral and the transfer of her ashes to New York where they were buried with her parents, my grandparent, as she wanted. It took me a year and a half to get rid of that storage unit, finally donating the majority of the contents to Goodwill after giving away some things to friends and I paid for that storage unit, too. I can imagine my story of not being able to settle my mother's estate multiplied by the number new retirees and the debt river that's coming.
So in essence, if the vast majority of people now have the lack of retirement planning, execution and savings like my parents had, you and I will be paying for it all the way through the period the baby boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) goes into retirement (2011 to 2029) and subsequently passes away passing their unpaid debt onto the large financial institutions who will pass it on to the consumer in the form of higher fees and interest rates. That consumer is you and me.
Ed Slott says the biggest retirement killer are:
1. taxes
Tax free safety zone (life insurance and annuity)
Payouts from Life Insurance are tax free.
Roth IRA's conversions. You can get an annuity inside your Roth IRA.
2. risk
You cannot rely on the stock market for a secure retirement future. Think about an annuity. It guaranties your retirement income for life.
3. saving money
Sometimes you have to spend money now to save money later. Buy life insurance. Seek out qualified financial planners.
4. uncertainty
No one will ever care about your retirement money more than you.
5. inactivity
Doing nothing will be costly because prices rise and taxes increase. Do something now when you can. If you want a secure financial future, you have to do something about it.
I emailed HR about establishing a new 401(k) blind-copying my friend and then I called and was qualified for a HARP loan all in the same day.
Lets see where I am this time, next year...
Friday, July 22, 2011
Yahoo! News Story - Fitch: Greek deal to put country in default - Yahoo! News
This is bad news to Greece, good news for those with LIBOR notes in the US. It will take longer for the European economy to recover, therefore that particular interest rate will stay low.
Fitch: Greek deal to put country in default - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/fitch-greek-deal-put-country-default-104608996.html
============================================================
Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Yahoo! News Story - Instant view: Existing home sales drop, cancellations up - Yahoo! News
Instant view: Existing home sales drop, cancellations up - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/instant-view-june-existing-home-sales-drop-141013545.html
============================================================
Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/
http://news.yahoo.com/instant-view-june-existing-home-sales-drop-141013545.html
============================================================
Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/
Saturday, May 14, 2011
...but I work in LA
LA Times Article May 4, 2011
Stupid DA. Sue the company collecting the rent payments! But you don't know that is because it's not a part of the public record. Rental agreements are private between the renter and the rentee. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the known slumlord realtors in LA are the same ones renting these REO's out.
Stupid DA. Sue the company collecting the rent payments! But you don't know that is because it's not a part of the public record. Rental agreements are private between the renter and the rentee. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the known slumlord realtors in LA are the same ones renting these REO's out.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Elsinore
I went to Elsinore on Sunday and visited my son's grandmother for a bit on the way to my mom's house. She just bought an REO home for $149K cash. It's 10 years old, a 4 bedroom, three bath, 2 car garage with a pool and fire pit in the backyard and RV parking on the side on a cultisac. All of the corners are bull nosed. All of the moulding is double stacked. It's got vaulted ceilings in most of the main rooms. All she had to do was paint and lay new carpet to move in.
It's nice, except for the kitchen which needs help. There is no large pantry you'd think a large house like that would have. It's only got a two door one like I have in my tiny condo built in the early 60's. She agrees, the lack of kitchen storage is frustrating. And she's a cook - she should know. It needs an additional pantry or island or something else in the way of storage.
It was empty for two years, so most of the landscaping is gone. My son was helping with that. She is planning on zero-scaping the front so there will be minimal maintenance needed. It's the same thing I'd like to do on my back patio.
It's nice, except for the kitchen which needs help. There is no large pantry you'd think a large house like that would have. It's only got a two door one like I have in my tiny condo built in the early 60's. She agrees, the lack of kitchen storage is frustrating. And she's a cook - she should know. It needs an additional pantry or island or something else in the way of storage.
It was empty for two years, so most of the landscaping is gone. My son was helping with that. She is planning on zero-scaping the front so there will be minimal maintenance needed. It's the same thing I'd like to do on my back patio.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
To Err is Human, Bernanke?
Someone goofed and I think it was the reporter.
“The declines in home prices have contributed to the rising tide of foreclosures.”
Whoops.
Not a true statement. The way this sentence is constructed suggests that because home prices are falling, people are loosing their homes. People don't loose their home because prices are low. Low prices should create an uptick in the housing market. People loose their homes because they are not able to pay their mortgage payment in full and in a timely manner.
It should have said,
"The rising tide of foreclosures have contributed to the declines in home prices."
When foreclosures occur, these properties are priced lower because:
1) The lender is really only looking to recoup their losses plus the market rate value of the home.
2) The more cheap housing is placed and stays unsold on the market, the more property valuations will be pulled lower for the entire market, region, state, your hometown, your neighborhood, and your street.
See Article: Little foreclosure relief seen from housing bill
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