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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.