Come Visit Me Over at My New Digs!

This blog is continuing over at budgetsarethenewblack.com! Please change your bookmarks, google reader, or just make a mental note in that smart noggin of yours. I truly hope I do not lose any of you! I puffy heart my followers. My commenters even more. You know who you are. Mwah.

Stay Tuned for Further Changes!

You're going to be seeing some changes with this blog in the near future. I decided to purchase my own domain for "Budgets are the New Black" and try to take this blog up to the new level... Wish me luck!

If you'd like to wish me more than luck, please follow me to the new URL (fancy acronym for web address) which is up and running! but still under construction. I sincerely hope to see you all there. I'm not able to take my "followers" widget with me *sniff* so please let me know who you are in the comments on the new site. You'll also need to update your google readers, bookmarks, etc, with the new web address.

One more thing... If you have any suggestions, constructive criticism, pithy commentary, etc, on how I can make this a better site, I would greatly appreciate you sharing your thoughts with me in the comments below. What have you liked about this blog? What could you care less about? What has kept you coming back (assuming anyone has)?

I am open to anything that would enable me to relate our personal financial journey with the readers who decide to join us as we continue to learn and grow and roll with the punches. Thank you all so much for reading.

One Little Girl Takes One Little Musical Theater Class

It's fortunate for me that a child's attention span is easily distracted. Olivia has begged me off and on to take another "acting class" -- ever since I put her in a local class called Story Book Dramas, where a bunch of munchkins read a story together in the old basement of a theater and then acted it among the support posts.

I considered enrolling her in a Fall course, but ultimately decided it needed to wait until we finish our (first) debt snowball...

Olivia didn't really notice -- when she would bring it up I would tell her I would look into it, which I did. When she brought it up again I simply told her, "Not yet", which she accepted so readily it almost made me feel guilty. Then an opportunity came up at her dance studio...

This is her third year taking dance at the same studio, but it was the first year her instructor thought she was ready for the "theater" performance: they don't have many practices and she has to be sure the younger ones are able to read the script. It's a simple performance with the families all crowding into the old studio, trying to keep their feet tucked in and out of the way.

But the kids didn't care. They got to sing and dance and act out a Christmas story in front of an audience, no matter how small. Olivia was in her element...

(Seriously, watch: it's very short and the cuteness is irresistible. Just pay no mind to the quality, video and otherwise.)





Olivia's enthusiasm was evident on- and off-stage -- she'd come to me at home with script in-hand and exclaim, "I need to practice!"

Obviously, more classes like these will need to be kept in mind for future budgeting considerations...

One Musical Theater Class (five practices and one performance): $65

$$ GOOD READS $$

The Happy Housewife: Your Military Benefits: The Commissary and Exchange

$5 Dinners: Sunday Night Meetings

Wisebread: The Debt Trap: Factors That Have Led Us To Our Debt

Thomas J. Stanley, PhD: The Low Profile Millionaire Next Door

Get Rich Slowly: Sweating the Big Stuff

Snowball Status

November's Progress

• Debt #1 Original Balance: $2260.17
• Paid Off
  

• Debt #2 Original Balance: $6493.00
• Paid Off
  

• Debt #3 Previous Balance: $6,607.12
• paid $1000.00
• Current Balance: $4,907.12

Original non-mortgage Debt: $19,375.72

Current Grand Total: $4,907.12

***

Obviously our tenants moving out of our rental house in Vegas is going to put a damper on our debt eradication. We can cash flow two mortgages... But it ain't pretty.Looking at December's budget, I'm really not sure yet what progress, if any, we will make toward our snowball this month.

I know hindsight is 20/20. Do we really need to pour salt in the wound?

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

I really expected this day to come, but I was earnestly hoped that it would at least wait until we finished paying off our first debt snowball.

I'm goal-oriented, people. I really want to tick that box. Do you add things to your to-do list after you've done them just so you can cross them off? Then you understand.

And yes, I said "first" snowball. Baby steps, Dave.

Our tenants moved out of the house we own in Vegas. December is the worst possible time of year to find new tenants. Vegas is the worst possible place to own a home...

Merry Christmas!

Let's review, shall we?

• We bought the house in Vegas when we moved there in 2001, right after 9/11.
• We paid $120,500.
• In 2004, it was appraised at $240,000. $120,000 appreciation in three years.
  
• We PCS'd ("moved") in 2004 from Vegas to Italy. We didn't sell. (Here's me banging my head on a brick wall.)
  
• The house has had no fewer than five tenants since then.
• We could not sell it today for what we bought it for.
• Can you say, "Oooch"?

Dave Ramsey's Endorsed Local Providers
I have to give a shout-out to Dave Ramsey's ELP Program. When I got the call today from our property manager in Vegas that our tenant was breaking his lease, I immediately went to Dave's website and filled in the online ELP form for realtors in Vegas. The Hubs and I had already talked about how, the next time our tenants bailed, we should check into unloading the place to see if we could at least break even on the sale vs. what we owe.

The short answer: we can't. And we bought before the housing bubble.

Two things impressed me about the three ELPs from Dave's referral list:

1. the quick turnaround
2. their advice not to sell even though it means they won't be getting a dime from us. (At least not right now.)

24-hour Turnaround? More like 24 Seconds
No sooner had I submitted the ELP form online at daveramsey.com than the phone rang. While I was talking to that realtor, another call came through. I didn't pick up, but I could tell by the area code it was another Vegas realtor. After I finished the first call I checked my email and saw what I assumed to be a message from the realtor whose call I missed. But no, this was an email from the first realtor, who had already advised me to hold off on selling. But wait, what's this? Another email, presumably from the second realtor who tried to call, because a short time later I received another call from the third and final realtor from the ELP list.

Phew.

All three agreed that if we are not in dire financial straits, now is not a good time to sell. All three took the time to discuss the market, even after concluding that we won't be doing business with them right now.

The Current State of Affairs in the Vegas Housing Market...
The thing is, the Vegas market is flooded with foreclosed homes and properties listed for short sales. Another thing is -- banks are slow in releasing these homes for sale. In a strange twist, Vegas property values have plummeted, but at the same time there is a shortage of homes for sale.

In other words, plenty of buyers are waiting to buy homes, but the demand is not driving up the values because it's the banks that are taking their own sweet time in getting foreclosed homes on the market. In the case of short sales, banks are taking forever to close. In the meantime, homes are sitting empty, and the sale price of foreclosures and short sales are the driving comparables.

If you don't need to sell, now is not the time to sell. Certainly not in Vegas.

A Snapshot of Comparable Homes
To give you an idea of the "comps" for our house -- a cute (read "small") 2 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom, 2-car garage single home...

Only two similar homes in the area are currently for sale, both are short sales. One is listed at $65,000. The other is $80,000.

Hel-lo???

The last sale price for a comparable home was $109,000...

At best, the market is unpredictable.
At worst, you're practically giving your house away. A short sale is a last resort before foreclosure, after all. Although all three realtors were musing that the two homes currently listed as short sales were priced exceptionally low...

That does not bode well for the immediate future market value of our property. We will be looking to rent out the house, again.

Anyone interested? We'll cut you a great deal!
Just based on my one-day experience with Dave Ramsey's ELP's, I know when the time does come to sell, we'll be doing it with one of them. It's been a very long time since I've experienced that high standard of service and transparent business integrity. And certainly when the time comes to sell our house here in Ohio, I'll be checking out the ELP's for this area as well.

How Much Does It Cost for a Little Boy to Turn Five?

...of course there was cake.

And presents...

Pretty simple birthday, really. Grandma and grandpa were visiting for Thanksgiving, so we celebrated with them, too. We kept it quiet and small. (No extra ankle biters running around, anyway.)

Simple, but not free.

The Breakdown:

• Cake mix + frosting ~ $1.50 (with coupons) (baked by big brother, of course)
  
• Transformers ~ $52
• Emily the electric engine (actually purchased last year) ~ $42
• Total ~ $95.50

Does that seem like a lot? It kind of does to me. I went full-out retail shopping this time, for the transformers, which I knew he would love. (He slept with them that night.) No, he hasn't seen the movies. I don't think he's even seen the cartoon. (I'm assuming there is one?) But manipulating those pieces is right up his alley, and I actually didn't want to get something that would be too easy for him -- turns out, they're not exactly easy for his parents, either. (ahem)