If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll remember that I used to have panic attacks about this blog. (I mean, really serious anxiety attacks where I almost deleted the whole thing in the middle of the night because I was freaking out.)
I was thinking about this because yesterday Joey (the only person who reads my blog and knows me in real life) sent me a message saying, “Everyone who reads your blog would never believe how shy you are in person!”
That made me realize, wow, I have gotten really comfortable talking to you guys. In fact, I have gotten really comfortable talking to you about the worst parts of myself!
So, I hope the blog is enjoyable for you, because it has been incredibly helpful to me.
(As an aside, some people have asked how I could have been a stripper if I am so shy. The issue is that I get paralyzed with shyness when I have to talk about myself. I didn’t have to do that when I was stripping.)
Meeting with my real estate agent
Ann said the updates on my house looked great. But, regrettably, she didn’t have comparable sales to start talking about a list price. (She asked if she could use the time to have her interior designer stage my house, so they spent two hours doing that instead.)
She did say that a house down the street recently sold for $400K, but I can’t believe that would be comparable to my house. From my research, I am thinking I would list at about $299K. She will be here Friday afternoon to go over recent sales, so I should know the list price then!
In the meantime, I updated my spreadsheet on house sale numbers.
Credit Card Debt: Believe it or not, my credit card debt has dropped a little bit. (It was about $50K when I created the spreadsheet last fall, but down to about $44,500 when I started writing about it in October. It is about $43,000 now.)
RV Down Payment: I’ve decided to sell my car for my down payment, so that $10K has been removed as an expense.
Original Post: If you want a chart to explain each of the headings, you can see the original post.
| Sale Price | Less Selling Fees | Cash Net after Mtg pay off | CC Debt | RV Down | CC Paid | CC Remains | Gain/Loss on House purchase/upgrades |
| $319,000 | $296,670 | $57,670 | $43,000 | 0 | $57,670 | -$14,670 | $12,670 |
| $309,000 | $287,370 | $48,370 | $43,000 | 0 | $48,370 | -$5,370 | $3,370 |
| $305,000 | $283,650 | $44,650 | $43,000 | 0 | $44,650 | -$1,650 | $350 |
| $299,000 | $278,070 | $39,070 | $43,000 | 0 | $39,070 | $3,930 | $5,930 |
| $289,000 | $268,770 | $29,770 | $43,000 | 0 | $29,770 | $13,230 | $15,230 |
| $279,000 | $259,470 | $20,470 | $43,000 | 0 | $20,470 | $22,530 | $24,530 |
| $269,000 | $250,170 | $11,170 | $43,000 | 0 | $11,170 | $31,830 | $33,830 |
With a sale price of $299K, I would have about $4,000 credit card debt remaining. Thinking in smaller numbers helps curtail my desire to spend $500 at a time, so I am going to see how much of that $4,000 I can get paid down between now and the sale.
Hope you are doing well!
Jennifer
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Countup: 44 days of sobriety!
Countdown: 114 days until I move into my RV!
12 days until Auto Mechancs!
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18 Comments
Glad you didn’t delete! You have, in the past, mentioned being shy….I can see how dancing would be like being in Theater…on a stage. Acting the part.
Re: CC debt.I have a few financial advisor people (actually doing well these days…hehheh) who advise AGAINST using most or much of your free cash flow to pay off a CC…IF the CC %rate is low. Many will drop the %rate if you close the account and still make payments.
Also…another idea…Depending on the Bank, many CC Companies are “settling” for a LOT less if you tell them your circumstances have changed, that you’ll no longer be able to make reg payments, and will they take less as a lump payoff. (Hmmm? Maybe do it AFTER you get the RV.heh!)
Just thoughts. XOXO LD
I’m glad to hear that we no longer give you panic attacks!
You will find that your writings will come naturally to you if you focus on what you are writing rather than who will be reading it. Never let your “audience” intimidate you. We love what you are doing so keep the posts coming!
Well the house is now staged and Ms. Real Estate agent “approves” of the updates. This is one step closer! I’m very surprised that she didn’t have comparable sales ready for you to review (don’t get me started on real estate agents!). By Friday afternoon you will have a better idea of what to set your listing price to anyway. The real estate game…isn’t it FUN?! Ugh. Best wishes on getting this all done and behind you!
Only twelve days until auto mechanics class?! Do you have all of your tools yet?
http://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?catref=jfa1781
Hey Jen. Congratulations on sharing in your AA group and here. Monsters grow in the dark so sharing shines a light and shrinks (no pun intended) the monsters. It’s normal to substitute one addiction for another, so maybe the trick is to choose a ‘positive’ obsession. An idea comes to mind: get out your digital camera and focus on selling things on Craigslist to raise cash to pay down the CCs. I bet some of your shoes would fetch a fortune
You’ll be surprised at the ‘rush’ you get with each successful transaction as you build your nest egg. Couple of hints: lots of pictures sell the items, and email replies through CL reduce spammers and keep you safe. Act on your intention to build earnings and nd reduce debt!
It’s so important to get an accurate understanding of the value of your house. Don’t let your realtor get away without providing the essential info you need: comparable sales, listing vs. sold prices on actual sales, comparable current listings, avg time on market in your area etc. You may also ask your realtor to take you to see some of the comparable current listings in person. Knowledge is power. I’d really like to see you get CMAs (comparable market analysis) from 3 different realtors before you sign a listing agreement so you are empowered to make intelligent decisions and have realistic expectations. Nearly all realtors routinely do free CMAs without obligation. You’ll be surprised by what you’ll learn from 3 differnt ‘interviews’. Due diligence is called for since this is one of the most important financial transaction of your life.
One last thought. Check out the tax implications of selling your house and buying your new home. Do you expect to have capital gains on the sale of your house (basically meaning you sell it for more than you paid after the cost of improvements since you bought it)? If so, you can reduce/eliminate the capital gains tax by rolling the gains over into the purchase of your new home (RVs qualify). Offhand I just can’t remember whether you have to buy the new home ‘after’ you sell the old one, or whether the new one has to cost more than the gains. There will also be significant implications on your income taxes next year because your interest deduction on your home, which typically reduces your income tax a great deal, will likely be much smaller from your RV home than from your sticks and bricks house (unless you buy an RV similar in price). A little tax info up front will also empower you.
I have a suggestion. Don’t sell your car until AFTER your trip to the Arctic. After all, it’s only a few months. It won’t fall in value much over the summer, and a paid off dependable car will be very useful if you decide that your RV was only a summer romance.
It could happen. You haven’t actually tried it yet, and like many things it is not quite as pretty in close up as it is at a distance. Many people like it for a while, but only for a while. In your case, I think the lack of closet space may be an issue.
)
Just sayin’. You may want to give yourself some slack here. You can always sell it when you get back. Or have your husband do it if you fall in love with the midnight sun and decide not to come back.
Bob
I read the original spreadsheet [love me some spreadsheets] but I noticed something I don’t understand on this one -
If your home sells for 299,000 [the line you highlighted] and your fees [I am assuming outstanding mortgage and commissions] are 278,070 your net is not 39,070 it would be 20,930, right?
Some of the math on the other lines looks funky too – did you leave out a column? Or am I missing something?
Thanks again for not deleting your blog – it is a great read and so honest. I love it.
Good luck.
Sorry – I came back – because I wanted to address something said about financial advisors and CC.
The advice financial advisors give is not to pay off your MORTGAGE [not your credit cards] if you have a decent interest rate, so as not to put all your eggs in one basket [the home]in case the market tanks. Your home is considered an investment. Financial advisors will tell you to keep paying on CC and get them paid off as soon as possible – starting with the smaller balance ones first and moving up…or the ones with the higher interest rate.
And since Jennifer’s ability to pay off her debt is going to improve [making less of a payment on an RV as opposed to a mortgage while still making the same salary from her S corp] she wouldn’t be able to claim hardship and get a lower lump sum payment. She is going to have less responsibility with the same salary.
It isn’t really fair IMO to ask the credit card companies to take a lesser, lump sum payment if the ability to pay is there – heck it isn’t fair to ask them to take less anyway even if you hit hard times, you can still work something out – people agree to the use of the cards, buy the stuff, use it and ought to pay for it.
I haven’t got my tools yet! I have to have them by the end of the first month, so decided to take the advice here and talk to my instructor about what I really have to have for my needs. You guys probably saved me a lot on that one….
I love the idea of compulsively selling things! I already looked up an upscale consignment shop! This is going to help me with my pay off $4,000 goal. As part of my business, I ended up with huge amounts of *really* expensive high fashion crap. I would buy it 70% off, but still pay $200 an item, etc. Ugh. Grotesque, but now I realize I can get some cash for that stuff!!
I understand holding on to my car (also my husband’s preference), but I am so desperate to get my cc debt to zero so want that $10K. I figured I can just finance another 5 year old economy car in the fall if I decided to sell the RV. Otherwise, RV has to function as my car, which I know will suck a bit. I might end up with a scooter as well.
Thanks for checking my numbers! Getting that across my phone (as I was yapping cc pay off plans with my husband) sent me into a panic to check my numbers. Fortunately, the error is in my *headings*,which I didn’t update. ‘Net’ should read ‘cash net’ — meaning the cash I will get at closing. I owe about $237K on the house, so if I get $278K cash at closing, I will have about $40K cash left after the mortgage is paid off.)
The spreadsheet is not very intuitively readable as it was originally a personal exercise. It is not organized very well for presenting the info.
Whew! Seriously, my heart rate just went through the roof! Ha ha.
I do know about the discounted lump sum option, but I can’t do it for several reasons. Most notably, is that my company lives and dies by my credit worthiness (believe it or not!). I have a perfect payment history, but scores have sunk to very low 700s with high debt. Doing the discounted lump sum is a huge hit on your credit score and I need good credit to grow the company. (Or to even function, actually.) In short, trying to save $10K on cc debt could bring my income to zero.
What I have done is “freeze” accounts in good standing. Bank of America is frozen at 1.9%, but if I use it it would jump to their new rate of 16%. I had another one frozen with about $5K, but paid that one off and closed it last fall.
I will close the other Bank of America when it is paid off, but just cannot figure out what to do with the American Express. I need good credit, and I am pretty sure having no credit lines actually hurts your score, so I don’t know what to do on that one.
I updated the headings on the spreadsheet to clarify a bit.
SkippyMom: “It isn’t really fair IMO to ask the credit card companies to take a lesser, lump sum payment if the ability to pay is there – heck it isn’t fair to ask them to take less anyway even if you hit hard times”
Rant on.
What??
I have trouble with this concept of being “fair” to credit card companies. These jokers will and do pull every dirty trick in the book to trip up and skin their customers, including arbitrary fees, sudden trap changes in payment dates, and usurious rate changes at the drop of a hat.
“Fair” is not in their vocabulary. They are vicious. Everything is lined up in their favor. And they use your hard earned money to bribe the legislature to keep it that way. You don’t have a contract with them. They have a contract on you.
Screw them. They are like the nastiest sort of dope dealers. They push out freebies to get kids hooked on their stuff at an early age, and do all they can to enslave them for the rest of their lives. I’d rather come to terms with a tapeworm.
But by far the best way to screw them is not to use them. In my case they pay *me* 3-5% on most of my purchases. And I pay in full every month. They hate that. Personally I find it much more satisfying than paying cash.
But it took me years “down in the mines” as a payment prisoner to gradually climb my way out. This is Jennifer’s big chance to get out from under. She likely won’t get another.
Credit card pushing dealers get no sympathy from me. I say trip ‘em up if you can. And kick ‘em if they fall down. That’s what they do to you. They are scum.
Rant off.
Bob, feeling much better.
Kudos to Bob on the CC rant! He’s RIGHT ON the money, telling you exactly how it is!
I do agree with you, Bob. I have been sloppy with credit card debt, but, ironically, obsessively manage them. I used them to build my business so relied heavily on those 0% offers for a few years.
I’ve caught several tricks. One is that you get a really cheap rate, but if you are late it jumps to a really punitive rate. Sounds fair, huh? But THEN they send you a note of what looks like junk mail (I read all mail) and it is a notice that your payment cycle has shortened from 30 to 25 days. So, your auto payment that they encouraged you to enroll in is now a LATE payment! Your interest rate goes to a super high default rate.
Not only that, your other credit cards are allowed to raise their interest rates because you were late on that other card! They really can and DO do that.
Another one is that you can pay a fee to ‘lock in’ a low fixed rate. They will tell you on the phone that they are ‘locked’ but actually are not. They can (and do) arbitrarily raise them – AFTER having added $300 to your balance for the lock in that didn’t lock.
The worst abuses are those targeting low income or poor credit borrowers. One is that they send you a low credit line card that says if you go over the limit, your incur a fee and your rate increases. Sounds fair, huh? What you don’t realize is that your credit card fees are almost equal to the line. You receive a $500 card loaded with $500 debt, use it for a $10 purchase. Oops! Overlimit! $50 penality and interest rate just jumps! I’ve heard of poor families paying thousands on cards they actually never used for ANYTHING!
I could go on and on. They sit around and strategize this stuff.
As Bob said, my only recourse is to just never use them again.
Jennifer: I am not familiar with the concept of “staging” a house, or why you need an interior decorator to do so. Would you care to explain?
As you can see, I’m all ears:
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee8/Cline5822/Funny%20Animals/HairlessRatDogs.jpg
Bob
I thought my house looked great, actually! Others felt differently….
They mostly just did a ton of redecorating. They bring over vases, lamps, plants, etc. They move all the furniture – even told me to paint my front door red.
They removed a lot of my creepy vintage stuff. (I have a thing for limbless mannequins, vintage black and white televisions, and old Playboys. It all had to go….)
My agent also called me today and told me she bought a piece of furniture, lamps, and curtains for my house. (I don’t have to buy them from her, she said she might keep them for another house later.)
I guess it makes it all look a nice person lives here.
OK..I AGREE with Bob…bottom suckers. My credit is in the upper 700 to 800…and I have dropped cc’s like hot cakes. Never a late payment in my life…I always have a set amount taken out of my bank account monthly. (Equals no late payments)
BUT…I have called and told them NO MORE…”drop the sudden increased rate (happens yearly) or I will refuse to pay, or else”. Worked every time. No credit effect. They are buzzards. I have refused sudden inflated % rates and also negotiated balances to WAY lower if I sent in a final payoff. My credit is still stellar. And I owe NOTHING now.
They are blood suckers. Period. And most were recently given (GIVEN) $$$$$ by you…and ME… to float their own crap…I have no more fear of these suckers. AND do not owe them a dime.Yes..I still have a card..but by force.( Airlines, rental cars, etc…we are damned.}
Screw them, and don’t lose your cash flow to pay them off…period. It is ridiculous. They WILL Take lower payoffs…and you will STILL have that other necessary card in effect….just be firm.AND they WILL lower payment % rates. My last after I closed it was lowered to 6%…whoopee.(They tried 12% and I blew up)
As far as “staging” goes…it really does work. I have a great friend who does it and 75% of her staged props have sold quicker than ones not…..
XOXO
Lady Di,
You did a discounted lump sum pay off and it did not hurt your credit score?
Please, tell me more about how that works! I will be doing payments in full, so had no idea I could do that without shooting myself in the foot.
Jennifer
Bob anyone that uses credit signs up with a TOS – read it or don’t – I don’t care how unfair you think they are…we have managed to buy two homes in 15 years and a few cars without the benefit of ever having credit card debt. We didn’t need the extreme credit history to do so.
Sorry – if a consumer purchases an item on a credit card and they have already agreed to terms of service then they are responsible for it. Problem is no one ever reads the fine print.
Sounds like the subprime mortgage debacle. Everyone whining – They cry:
“Well I didn’t read the paperwork.” MEH.
Everyone is responsible for what they do [buying a house and reading the paperwork? Hello?] – the CC companies didn’t change the rules – they were there to begin with – and they may be getting rich off of everyone who failed to read the TOS – but maybe those people should’ve known what they were getting into.
You play [buying a $150 pair of jeans on credit] you pay.
We have $0 credit card debt for the Christmas season because if we couldn’t pay cash we didn’t buy it. With the exception of our homes and our cars it has always been that way. It would be a good lesson for people to learn.
And people can have an EXCELLENT credit score without a $43,000 balance Jennifer – since now we know why you need credit cards so much – you can carry much smaller balances [$2-5,000] and pay them off every month and keep an 800. I watch my folks do it all the time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/magazine/10FOB-wwln-t.html?hp
Sorry….just saw this. Sorry too if I was “misleading”….
OK…MY “situation” was way different…if your credit debt is attached to a personal business…you can only work out different interest payments. (i.e. “lower”)that I know of…
In MY particular “case” the Co raised the rates (enormously)and “informed” me of this fact via a generic credit letter that I ( I know, dumb me) threw out…I toss these (used to) assuming (yeah, I know “ASSuming) it’s junk. Well, they raised my interest % with NO knowledge on my part, and I had regular monthly bank w/drawals (I HATE paying bills and keeps it “on time”) and (finally) discovered that my huge payments were not so huge due to increased %rate…so I called powers-that-be, and after MANY people-in-charge, I got them to reduce the total by a LOT, and paid the sucker off and never a glitch on my credit score. (BUT, again, very unusual…esp since it was B.O.A.!)
There are still great sources to aid CC payoffs without score-repercussions…just check around.
And, yes, I agree that we all must accept our CC debt and should be no whining..BUT they ARE blood suckers..they will send constant open cards to 18 yr old students, increase people’s debt ceiling, and increase %rates with little warning, and so on…they are NOT innocent. Not by a long shot.
I keep one for emergencies…period. They prob hate me. I pay CASH for everything…almost 2 years now and I LOVE it. IF I can NOT pay for it, I do NOT get it. Works great.
But just me. XOXO