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Another Offer Turned Down

Stike Two. Well, we were turned down again. We had put an offer on another home in Redondo Beach late last week and found out yesterday that the owners had accepted another offer.

Apparently the home in Redondo Beach went for $30,000 more than the asking price. To make matters even worse, the people who put the offer on the home waived the appraisal clause. What this means is that if the bank lending the people the money for the home appraise the home at a lower amount, the buyers are willing to make up the difference in the form or more upfront money.

]]> Now don't get me wrong, I really want to buy a home in Redondo Beach, I mean we really like the South Bay. I refuse, however, to pay more than a house is worth. Southern California housing prices are already beyond belief. Can anybody really tell me that a 2,400 square foot townhouse in Redondo Beach is worth $850,000? I highly doubt it.

Well, just wanted to vent some frustration. We will continue to look and I guess if we put in enough offers, one will eventually be accepted.

Real Estate Offer - Redondo Beach Update

We put an offer on a really nice home in Redondo Beach last week and an odd thing happened while we were waiting for an answer. To put it simply, our real estate agent disappeared. For anyone who hasn't put an offer on a home before, let me tell you this is a bad thing, especially in a hot real estate market like Redondo Beach.

We had put an offer on a home on a Thursday and were supposed to receive a response by Saturday afternoon. We didn't really think we had much of a chance because we only offered full price, which seems to be an insult in Southern California. Any way, Saturday passed with no word from our agent and by Sunday afternoon we started to become upset.

]]> We left numerous messages with our real estate agent to no avail. The thing that made us nervous was the fact that he had a $25,500 check for escrow in the event our offer was accepted. We finally called the sellers agent and asked if our agent had submitted the offer on the house in Redondo Beach. We were releaved when she said that our agent did indeed submit the offer, however, she quickly stated that the home had already gone into escrow. Boy were we ticked. The selling agent said she had left a message with our agent on Friday morning stating they had a better offer but he never called her back.

It turns out our trusty agent was on vacation with his family. Obviously, this in itself is fine. Everyone is entitled to vacation. He told us, however, that his phone didn't pick up a signal in the mountains and this is why he didn't call us. Fair enough. the question I have to ask is if he knew he was leaving, why didn't he have somebody else in his Redondo Beach office look after our offer? The answer is simple, it didn't occur to him. Today is Monday and we have submitted another offer on a different home in Redondo Beach. Needless to say we are using a different real estate agent who is more trustworthy and who specializes in Redondo Beach properties. Our Southern California real estate quest continues.

Laser Eye Surgery $499

Laser Eye Surgery $499 - A Good Idea?

I've had problems with my right eye since birth. I suffer from both a cataract and astigmatism in this eye. Lately, I have been considering laser eye surgery and have seen a number of deals. The question I am asking myself is $499 laser eye surgery seems kind of cheap and is there a risk involved with a cheaper service? I've read a lot of reports stating that when LASIK (Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) centers offer laser eye surgery for $499 to $999 per eye, they are usually cutting corners.

]]> Some of the problems with discounted laser eye surgery are inaccurate eye measurements, lack of standard eye sterilization techniques, inferior equipment and worst of all, an inexperienced surgeon. The reports also state that you should be skeptical of any LASIK surgery that costs less than $1,600 per eye.

I actually saw a good comparison on a reputable laser eye surgery site. It states that your eye is connected to your brain and most sane people would not go out and look for a discount brain surgeon. This makes perfect sense, why would you want to put your eye sight at risk in order to save a few thousand dollars. If there is one sense you don't want to mess with it is your sight. I don't think anybody would forgive themselves if they became blind due cheap LASIK surgery.

The nice thing about writing this entry is I have now convinced myself that laser eye surgery $499 is not for me. I will spend more to make sure i don't put my sight at risk.

Interest only Loan

Home Loan Options in California

Now that I have submitted my offer and am playing the waiting game, I need to think about how I am going to finance the home. I have been pre-qualified for the amount I need to purchase the home but haven't decided on a lender or the type of financing.

To be honest with you, I don't have a lot of options when it comes to the type of loan. Due to the ridiculous prices in Southern California and the fact that I don't have a small fortune for the downpayment, I need to go with an interest only loan. This goes against everything I have been taught but I don't have a choice if I want to buy a home.

Also, the fact that I don't want to pay PMI means that I need a piggyback loan or HELOC which will also be interest only. Now within the interest only loans, I need to decide if I want a 5 or 7 year arm and if I want to pay points. Each point costs 1% of the loan so I am looking at 1 point costing $6,800. I also need to determine if I want the second mortgage tied to prime or fixed. If I choose a fixed loan, the rate increases by a point to 7.5%. This is probably the best option because it only increases my payment by $200 a month and gives me the peace-of-mind that my payments won't increase everytime the Federal Reserve decides to increase short term rates.

]]> I am going to take a long hard look at the 5 year arm vs. the 7 year arm tomorrow and whether or not I want to pay down the rate with a point so stay tuned...

Redondo Beach Offer

Well after 2 months of looking we are finally pulling the trigger. My wife and I found a 2,600 square foot home in Redondo Beach within our budget. We are putting an offer in this afternoon and then we will play the waiting game. I already told my wife not to get too excited because I know there will be multiple offers on the house and I refuse to get into a bidding war over a piece of property. Granted it is the nicest house we have seen in Redondo Beach (and trust me we have seen everything on the market) but my philosophy is that if we don't get this one we will get another one. After all, we aren't in a hurry to move away from Santa Monica, but I would like to stop throwing money away (paying rent).

]]> The one thing we have going for us is that it appears that the Redondo Beach housing market has slowed down a bit. I think a month or two ago this house wouldn't have lasted a day on the market. Don't get me wrong, I'm still offering full price on the house, but my agent said he didn't think we would have to go higher than the asking price. This is funny because I think it is common in almost every other state to bid less than the asking price and then have the sellers counter your offer. In the South Bay, however, if you really want a house, you need to offer full price to even be in the game.

I am going to see the house in Redondo Beach one last time this morning before the offer is submitted, just to make sure this is what we really want to do, but at this point I think I'm going just to see if there are any glaring defects I didn't see the first time around.

After that, the offer goes in and the waiting game begins. More to come.....

Relocation Companies in UK

Relocation, Moving or Removal Company?

A friend of mine recently moved to London and had been looking for relocation companies in UK. He told me he was having a hard time finding a reliable moving company to move his stuff. After he told me this I immediately thought that England has the same issues as the US when it comes to moving companies. After doing a little bit of research, however, I think I may have found my friends main problem; it seems that in the England, moving companies are actually called removal companies.

]]> Now as an American, this doesn't seem to make too much sense but if you really think about it, you are not only moving your belongings, but you are also removing them from your current residence and moving them to your new home. So whether you are from the US and call it a moving company, or British and call it a removal company, it is safe to say they serve the same purpose.

Regardless of the name, you always need to be careful when hiring a relocation service or moving service. Normally, if you are being moved because of a job, the company that hired you will take care of the relocation. If, however, you are relocating or moving yourself, it is always a good idea to get a few different estimates and check the Better Business Bureau to make sure you are not going with a moving company that has a lot of complaints.

Moving is a very stressful process, especially if you are moving to or from a foreign country. The last thing you want to worry about is if your relocation company is going to show up with all your stuff. I have personally relocated 3 times, of which once was internationally, and the process never gets easier. I've had two very good experiences and one really bad experience with relocation companies. The best advice I can give is make sure you are very involved in the entire process and keep a watchful eye when your belongings are being boxed up, loaded, unloaded and unpacked. As for my friend looking for relocation companies in UK, I'm going to tell him to try removal companies or removal UK.

Green Card Lotary - A Good Idea?

In one of my previous blogs titles Green Card Lottery, I described the basics behind the diversity lottery. Each year, 50,000 foreigners are granted legal entry into the United States as a result of this government sponsored event. There are 2 basic requirements that one needs to meet in order to enter the Green Card Lottery. First, the applicant must come from a country that has not sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the past 5 years. Second, the applicant has to have the equivalent of a high school education or meet certain training requirements.

]]> The requirements seem simple enough. The real question is should the U.S. continue with this program in light of how the world has changed over the past few years. I'm not necessarily talking about terrorism because I would hope that sufficient screening and background verification is performed prior to granting permanent resident status to any foreigner. What I'm getting it is isn't the United States diverse enough right now? The Green Card Lotary is officially called the diversity lottery and is meant to guarantee that the U.S. remains diverse. Fundamentally this sounds like a good idea, I mean the U.S. is a melting pot and was built by a dynamic group of people. I think you would be hard pressed to go to any large city and not find a large mixture of ethnic and cultural groups. I don't know this for a fact but I would bet that the United States is the most ethnically diverse country in the world. Assuming this is true, why then do we find it necessary to have a green card lotary? Do we really need to make an already diverse country more diverse? Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad idea if we were better at controlling illegal immigration. When you add up both the legal and illegal immigrants, there are most likely hundreds of thousands of people coming to the United States to live each year. I think this within itself helps make the United States diverse and I believe that if the Green Card Lotary were to disappear tomorrow, the U.S. would still be as diverse as ever.

First Class Upgrade

Continental Airlines Elite Upgrade

I was in Boston this past weekend with my family for a good friends wedding. While we were eager to see our friend get married, we absolutely dreaded the thought of flying 2,700 miles with our two kids. When we moved to Los Angeles, our flight from Washington D.C. to L.A. was absolute hell. Our 2 year old cried almost the entire flight and the people sitting near us wanted to kill us. This was a little more than 3 months ago so there was no reason for Samantha to change her behavior in such a short period of time.

We decided to take Continental Airlines from L.A. to Boston with a connection in Cleveland. The reason we chose Continental was because I have Elite status which gives us the slight possibility of being upgraded to first class.

]]> I don't necessarily fly a lot but I used to manage some large affiliate programs, of which, Continental was an affiliate. As a token of their appreciation they extended me Elite status and also gave me access to the President's Club which is their VIP lounge at the airport.

To make a long story short, the flight out was full so no upgrade for my family. Unfortunately, my kids acted exactly as we expected. My younger daughter didn't want to sit still for a minute and kept kicking the chair in front of us. I received a number of angry glares from the guy sitting there. The best is when the people around you tell you that your kids have strong lungs.

A strange thing happened on the flight back, however. We received two upgrades from Boston and Cleveland and one first class upgrade from Cleveland to L.A. Now for those of you familiar with this Continental route, it is virtually impossible to get bumped up to first class from Cleveland to L.A. because this is a very busy route. On this day, however, the frequent flyer gods were favoring us. Not only did we get to annoy the other people who were sitting in first class, but my kids actually behaved better. The seats are more comfortable and there is much more leg-room so my youngest daughter had more room to move. This got me to thinking, if I buy a nicer, bigger car, will they stop screaming while I'm driving? If I buy a bigger, nicer house, will they behave better at dinner? Good questions, unfortunately, no money to test out my theory. For now I'll have to stick to the first class upgrade on Continental Airlines.

The Green Card Lottery

Green Card Lotary

I was just looking for the Permanent Resident Alien Address Update Form for my wife when I came across some interesting info regarding the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program or Green Card Lotary. Apparently, each year the U.S. Government makes 50,000 permanent resident visas available to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. I'm not going to get into whether or not the Green Card Lotary is a good idea, I'm just going to present the facts.

]]> The annual Green Card Lottery program makes permanent residence visas available to people who meet certain requirements. Applicants for Diversity Visas are chosen by a computer-generated random lottery drawing. The Green Cards, however, are distributed among six geographic regions. The most visas go to regions with lower rates of immigration while no green cards are issued to citizens of countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the last five years. Within each geographic region, no single country can receive more than 7% of the available Green Cards for any given year.

For the 2006 Green Card Lotary, the following Countries were not allowed to participate (most of these are no-brainers):

Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

The nice thing about this Green Card Lotary is the fact that it is free. You can apply at the official Diversity Lottery site, however, applications for 2006 are no longer being accepted.

From what I have read there are only 2 real requirements in order to participate in the Green Card Lotary. The first is that you come from a qualifying country and second is that meet either the education or training requirement. For the education requirement the person applying must have either a high school education or its equivalent. If you want to participate in the Green Card Lotary but you cannot meet the education requirment, you can apply using the training requirement. This calls for the person to have at least two years of work experience within an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience in order to perform the job (this is a little confusing if you ask me). The U.S. Department of Labor's O*Net database is used to determine qualifying work experience.

Game 6 Pistons - Spurs

It's Do or Die for the Pistons

Wow what a game! After a heartbreaking loss in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA championship, the Detroit Pistons were able to go into San Antonio and win a game. The amazing thing is that the Pistons had not won a game in San Antonio in almost ten years and the Spurs had only lost a few games at home all year.

The San Antonio Spurs didn't do themselves any favors by scheduling the victory parade for this coming Thursday. This was definitely locker room material and gave the Detroit Pistons some extra incentive to win.

]]> The score was close the entire game with both teams going up by a few points throughout the first three quarters. The Detroit Pistons were in front for the majority of the final quarter going up by as many as 7 points with a few minutes left. San Antonio made a small run but Detroit was too much and wound up winning by 9 points. Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton had huge games for the Pistons. Rasheed played the last 5 minutes with 5 fouls and he turned out to be the difference in the game.

Now its on to game 7 which I believe they said is the first game 7 in the NBA in 7 years and only the second game 7 in the last 17 years. Interesting note: The home team had won each of the first 4 games before the Spurs were able to break serve in Game 5.

Stay tuned for an exciting Game 7 between the Spurs and the Pistons. We'll see which team puts on the 2005 NBA Championship Hat.

Pistons Spurs Game 5

Will the Home Team Prevail Again?

Game five of the 2005 NBA Championship between the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs is underway. The two teams took Saturday off in order to have the showdown on Fathers Day. It will be interesting to see if the Spurs can be the first team in this series to win on the road.

San Antonio started strong and got off to a 4-0 lead but the Pistons scored 8 stright points to grab a 8-4. Detroit streched the lead to 7 points with 6 minutes left so the Spurs were forced to take a time out. Greg Popovich made some adjustments and with 4:28 left in the first quarter the Pistons lead is down to 4 points.

]]> Oh the joy of Tivo, my wife insisted that I give my daughters a bath so I've been gone for 30 minutes but haven't missed a second of the game. I've actually had tivo for 5 years but have never really liked recording sports. I just feel that sports can only be watched live (if possible). Any way back to the game.

It's now the second quarter and the Pistons lead by 4 points with 11:18 left. You can tell the Spurs are a little uptight by the fact that Tim Duncan just received a technical foul. Another interesting tidbit is that Ben Wallace is 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Why is this intersting, simply because the guy shoots 48% from the line.

Well there is 8:29 left in the second quarter and the momentum has shifted. The San Antonio Spurs are now winning by 4 points. Actually, the lead is not at 9 point with 6:28 left, the Pistons can't buy a basket. Detroit has now gone on a 6 - 0 run and only trails by 3 points. The Spurs have called a timeout to kill the Pistons momentum. Let's see if it worked. Duncan just took an awful shot that resulted in an airball but the Pistons were called for an offensive foul so the score remains 38-35. Ben Wallace has come back down to earth after shooting an airball from the free throw line. Well, the first half just ended and we are all tied up at 42. Finally a game that will actually have an exciting second half. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to watch it live. Time to go back upstairs and read the kids a story.

Redondo Beach Real Estate

Today we decided to venture south in our endless search to find some real estate we can call our own. We actually viewed six homes in North Redondo Beach which is part of the South Bay. The homes we looked at were actually right on the border of Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach. I would much prefer to live in either Manhattan or Hermosa Beach but unfortunately these areas are a little too rich for my blood.

]]> Out of the six homes we saw, we actually liked three of them. The one we liked the most is brand new but it is out of our price range (well they are all pretty much out of our price range). It is a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath townhome selling for $967,000. The other two we liked are going for $849,900 and $849,000. They are actually within a block of each other and have the same floorplans. The big difference is that one has Brazilian hardwood floors and the other has wall-to-wall carpeting.

My wife really liked the one that had the hardwood floors and I think I am going to talk with my lender on Monday to see what type of loans are available. I also liked the house a lot, my only concern is the commute to and from work. I think I'm looking at a 45 minute ride both ways which really isn't that bad considering there are people who spend over 3 hours a day in their car in Los Angeles. At this point is a wait and see scenario. I don't want to overextend myself from a financial standpoint so our decision will be based on what my lender tells me next week. More to come....

Balding No Big Deal

Spray on Hair, What a Concept?

I have to admit that I am balding. I started losing my hair on top around 7 years ago. I'm fully aware that there are numerous treatments available, from laser hair replacement to Rogaine. I think these are good options for a lot of men and women who are losing their hair but I have never given them much thought. I guess my thinking is that I'm married with kids so I'm not really trying to impress anyone.

]]> Lately, however, I've been noticing my hair loss a little more. That bald spot seems to be getting bigger and bigger each time I look. I still don't think that I'm at a point where I would actually be willing to spend the money on laser hair replacement and I definitely would never ever consider a hair peace, but I am starting to notice my problem a little bit more.

So here comes the inspiration behind this post. I was at the barber yesterday for my $25 haircut (which is $15 more than I ever had to spend on a haircut before I moved to Santa Monica) when my barber asked me a question. He asked if I wanted him to use some spray on hair on me. I guess I have been living in a shell because I had no clue what he meant. He showed me the can and explained how it works. I came to the conclusion that it is spray paint for your head. I politely declined and proudly said that my bald spot doesn't bother me. Well him being the intelligent barber he is, said "yeh, right". I'm sure he's heard that response thousands of times before. He said, come one try it, you won't regret it. At this point I felt like Mikey and remembered back to my childhood how Mikey actually did like the cereal after he tried it. He explained that it would wash off with my next shower so I said, ok, go ahead. He sprayed it on and pointed the mirror at the top of my head. To my disbelief the bald spot was gone. I thought, wow, thats really cool. It's instant hair in a can.

I paid the barber and thanked him. As I walked out the door he said just make sure you don't touch your head too much because you will get the spray on your hands. I said don't worry and left. The true test was about to happen, would anybody notice the difference. I'll make a long story short by saying that the only person that did notice only did so after I told her what had happened, and that person happened to be my wife. Now I am a cynical person so if a friend of mine sprayed hair on his head I would give him an earful. I work with cynical people and I didn't receive one comment. This makes me assume that nobody even noticed that I had suddenly "grown" hair. Everyone is used to the bald spot so why should they look and see if anything is suddenly different. I mean if my own wife didn't notice then why would I do this again. Even worse, can you imagine spraying this stuff on your head, going out to a bar and picking up a girl, only to have your "hair" stain her pillow.

I guess what I'm getting at is hair in a can is not for me. I can live with my bald spot and the day I can no longer deal with it, I'll spend the money on laser hair replacement or some other treatment. And yes, my shower water turned black.

NBA Home Court Advantage

I'm sitting here watching game four of the NBA championship between the Pistons and the Spurs and I can't believe what I'm seeing. There are about 8 minutes left in the game and the Piston are up by 24 points. At this point the game is all but over. I mean, I know it's the NBA, but 24 nobody loses a 24 point lead with 8 minutes left. San Antonio is still playing their starters (which I think is stupid because of the risk of injury in a game that is out of reach) probably because it is the finals and not just another game. Update --- the lead is down to 20 with 6:56 left.

]]> I think it is amazing how much the home court means in the NBA. If you look at games 1 and 2, the Spurs pretty much blew Detroit out. Games 3 and 4 have had the same result, except, Detroit has been the beneficiary of playing at home. How can it be that the home court advantage means so much to professional athletes. I mean these guys are getting paid millions of dollars to perform at their best level night after night, regardless of where the game is being played. How can the San Antonio Spurs play so well at home and so lousy on the road? The same goes for the Detroit Pistons. Update --- the lead is back up to 24 with 3:20 left and the Pistons have begun to empty their bench.

Game five of the NBA championship is in Detroit so according to this trend, Detroit should win. The bad news for Detroit fans is that if they are going to repeat as NBA champions, they need to win one on the road because games 6 and 7 (if necessary)are in San Antonio. The Pistons proved last year they can win on the road when they need to. They didn't have the advantage last year but it didn't seem to matter. Hopefully for them, they will be able to steal one on the road and repeat as champions although I wouldn't put my order in quite yet for my Pistons championship jersey. Final update --- Detroit Pistons 102, San Antonio Spurs 71.... that my friends is what you call a blow out.

California Housing Bubble

I'm starting to get really worried about the real estate situation in California. Prices are out of control, yet people continue to buy. Many are predicting that the real estate bubble is about to burst, especially in Calfornia. My goal to find a place close to work is pretty much unattainable. Unfortunately, my office is in Santa Monica, which happens to be one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States.

]]> We decided to look in both West L.A. and the South Bay but as in Santa Monica, you don't get much house for your money. It's a sad state of affairs when $700,000 gets you a fixer-upper at best. Even at $700,000 financing is tight. All these no-interest loans and other creative financing is great when the market is hot, but what happens when the California real estate market implodes? What happens when tens of thousands of people owe more on their home then what its worth? I think I know what happens, the bubble bursts, prices decline rapidly and foreclosures go through the roof. The question on everyone's mind is when will this happen and how do I avoid becoming a victim.

Many so called experts are predicting that the California real estate market is close to bursting, but then again, they've been saying this for years. To be honest with you, this whole situation has me very concerned. I make good money and I can't afford a home. The homes I can afford are questionable at best and no where near my office. If I want to buy a home I have no choice but to use "creative financing" which probably means a five-year, interest only loan. Then, to cap it all off, I run the likely risk of owing more on my home then the home is actually worth. All of a sudden, renting doesn't seem like such a bad option. Stay tuned.