The "what's On Your Mind?" Thread -2020

Status
Not open for further replies.

WillowMarie

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Messages
1,958
Purraise
5,916
You can look into foreclosed properties-usually they get foreclosed due to owing taxes and or bank note payment..also mobile homes are another good alternative-but those loans are 9 to 10 percent. homes are around 4.5%. It sucks that banks rape me with the mobile home loan-because it doesn't have a basement-they think it's not worth the 4.5% loan..I refinanced and went from 9.5 to 8.25 but I also been making double payments. It's a 20 year term-I am down to 10 years and hope to pay in 3 years. The interest sucks but the cost of regular homes here are 250 to 350k which is 2000 a month. my mortgage is cheaper now that I refinanced-it dropped my payment 300 a month. apartments rent for starting at 1200 for 2 bedrooms and you have to share with other house members. I will never live in an apartment if I can help it. but I live in the northeast new england and prices are sky high-Boston folks move up here and snap up cheap property and commute. My town is known as a bedroom community=almost 90% of the people living here commute 30 to 90 minutes to work.

Southern states are much cheaper. NC has a good work outlook as well as SC and last I heard Kentucky/Tennessee. I still plan on moving south in 5 to 10 years when I am ready to retire...but for now I still have a good job so will stay here..when the job goes away-probably pack up and move south..I can get a regular house for like 150k and taxes are like 500 a year vs 6000 a year here. even in the park my taxes are 1800 now-they shot up 75% thanks to appraisals last year-everyone in my town is complaining. I feel bad for the elderly who owned their home for 40+ years and now they pay 12k a year for property tax alone. It's such a ripoff!!!
With the work force able to work from home more than ever-it's easier to move around the country than say 20 years ago-we were forced to move where the jobs are at.

In the end-we all got to live somewhere-so why not own something you can fix up how you want? You can paint it any color and not deal with housemates who may work different hours and be noisy when you are trying to go to bed...I don't miss the slamming of doors at 1am when I need to get up for work at 4:30am!
That is a crazy difference between mobile and "regular" homes! I've been looking here where I'm going to school at houses and there are some around 100,000-200,000, some slightly lower, that look nice. Luckily, property taxes seem pretty low around here, and places I've looked at are between $25-200/month. I'm actually in NC right now, and would love to stay here! Especially because the town is so small here and many of the houses are more in nature/secluded than in a formal subdivision. Good to know about those 4 states being cheaper.

Good to know about the foreclusures, too. I always thought they would be run down and not taken care of.

The noise is my main worry of renting, too, along with finding another place accepting of 3 cats (back in IL when I apartment shopped many places did not accept non declawed cats and I will never declaw). Luckily, my one semester in the dorm and summer housing were pretty quiet, but quiet is so important for me to relax and recharge. That'd drive me nuts having lots of noise in the middle of the night! Especially when my bedtime is 9 pm every night, I imagine most people stay up later and would make noise until 11-12 pm.

Well I had a dog, and I took 3 of the 6 household cats. So finding a place to rent would have been difficult and probably end up costing more after pet rent was added.

I'm also not compatible with roommates. I would have rather lived in a box than with unrelated roommates, lol.
Those are both my worries, too! My current landlady was fine with me adopting the kittens, and I paid a small additional one-time pet fee of $100, but I worry about finding another rental and how much it would cost if they accepted all 3 cats, but wanted additional fees. Especially because I'd want to rent a house again, like my tiny house I'm in now, and not sure if I could find a rental like the one I'm in at such an affordable price.

Plus, when I had roommates for my provided work housing last summer, I ended up having to keep Isabelle in the tiny bedroom. It was more because of some petty bullcrap where a roommate decided to bring their dog and I asked our manager if it was approved because no one asked me about it and I knew I had to get my cat approved by all housemates before my boss could give me an answer if my cat could come with. I think they felt butthurt because they got chewed out by the manager for bringing the dog and retaliated by saying that my cat bothered them and they didn't want cat hair on their stuff. (She hardly sheds at all, LoL, I also offered to vacuum their bedroom for them if they wanted when I moved in, and was always the one to vacuum the common area every week). But yeah, no roommates again, haha.


What state do you live in? I'm in texas and the property tax can get really crazy here. Dallas and north dallas property taxes are basically robbery. A lot of houses will be 800-1000+ in property taxes which is just insane to me. But other adjacent cities, not as much. Owning a house has its pros of course but I don't think anyone enjoys the upkeep lol. My coworker is in her 20s and she bought a house not too long ago and she really hates the maintenance part. It's expensive unless you're pretty handy.
I'm currently in North Carolina for school, and my mom's house is back in Illinois with the crazy property tax (never want to go back to Illinois though! Too gloomy, expensive, and too many people, haha). That amount is crazy insane for property tax!

I was just talking to someone who seemed discouraged on me wanting to buy a house and raved about renting (which I find funny because I'm pretty sure they own, but also have multiple rental properties they run, like apartments!) and how it takes work to get maintenance instead of picking up the phone to call the land person. Well, I will like having more control over repairs and what can be done with the house.

I'd also learn how to DIY some things, which should save money. I'm super frugal like that, and there are so many articles and youtube videos to help a person with this nowadays. The freedom for me will be worth learning to do things or taking the time/money to get repairs done. But yea, everyone has there own opinion on whether time and money for maintenance when owning is worth it or not.
 

maggiedemi

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
17,104
Purraise
44,385
I need several teeth extracted,
Which teeth are you getting extracted? Are you going to get implants or a bridge to fill them in? I would love to get implants, but they are too expensive.
 

Katie M

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jun 1, 2017
Messages
5,061
Purraise
19,484
Location
Kingwood, WV
Which teeth are you getting extracted? Are you going to get implants or a bridge to fill them in? I would love to get implants, but they are too expensive.
Two in the very back, one on each side, both upper, and one lower front. I'm definitely going to replace the lower one, and one in back. The other one is "non-functional", because the tooth below it is already gone, so there's no point in replacing it.
 

sweet jane flash

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jul 21, 2019
Messages
988
Purraise
2,567
That is a crazy difference between mobile and "regular" homes! I've been looking here where I'm going to school at houses and there are some around 100,000-200,000, some slightly lower, that look nice. Luckily, property taxes seem pretty low around here, and places I've looked at are between $25-200/month. I'm actually in NC right now, and would love to stay here! Especially because the town is so small here and many of the houses are more in nature/secluded than in a formal subdivision. Good to know about those 4 states being cheaper.

Good to know about the foreclusures, too. I always thought they would be run down and not taken care of.

The noise is my main worry of renting, too, along with finding another place accepting of 3 cats (back in IL when I apartment shopped many places did not accept non declawed cats and I will never declaw). Luckily, my one semester in the dorm and summer housing were pretty quiet, but quiet is so important for me to relax and recharge. That'd drive me nuts having lots of noise in the middle of the night! Especially when my bedtime is 9 pm every night, I imagine most people stay up later and would make noise until 11-12 pm.



Those are both my worries, too! My current landlady was fine with me adopting the kittens, and I paid a small additional one-time pet fee of $100, but I worry about finding another rental and how much it would cost if they accepted all 3 cats, but wanted additional fees. Especially because I'd want to rent a house again, like my tiny house I'm in now, and not sure if I could find a rental like the one I'm in at such an affordable price.

Plus, when I had roommates for my provided work housing last summer, I ended up having to keep Isabelle in the tiny bedroom. It was more because of some petty bullcrap where a roommate decided to bring their dog and I asked our manager if it was approved because no one asked me about it and I knew I had to get my cat approved by all housemates before my boss could give me an answer if my cat could come with. I think they felt butthurt because they got chewed out by the manager for bringing the dog and retaliated by saying that my cat bothered them and they didn't want cat hair on their stuff. (She hardly sheds at all, LoL, I also offered to vacuum their bedroom for them if they wanted when I moved in, and was always the one to vacuum the common area every week). But yeah, no roommates again, haha.




I'm currently in North Carolina for school, and my mom's house is back in Illinois with the crazy property tax (never want to go back to Illinois though! Too gloomy, expensive, and too many people, haha). That amount is crazy insane for property tax!

I was just talking to someone who seemed discouraged on me wanting to buy a house and raved about renting (which I find funny because I'm pretty sure they own, but also have multiple rental properties they run, like apartments!) and how it takes work to get maintenance instead of picking up the phone to call the land person. Well, I will like having more control over repairs and what can be done with the house.

I'd also learn how to DIY some things, which should save money. I'm super frugal like that, and there are so many articles and youtube videos to help a person with this nowadays. The freedom for me will be worth learning to do things or taking the time/money to get repairs done. But yea, everyone has there own opinion on whether time and money for maintenance when owning is worth it or not.
Don't let anybody stop you from achieving your dreams.
 

GaryT

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Feb 4, 2019
Messages
1,132
Purraise
4,718
Location
Northeast USA
Being cooped up inside all winter, I need a project so, I bought a Mini-Guitar kit. I am waiting for the grain filler that I ordered to get here today and then I will start rubbing in an oil finish. I love working wood! And I LOVE guitars! I have polished the frets and applied a stain to the body. I also shaped the headstock the way I want it.

Here is a video of what it will become when done.

IMG_3636.JPG
 

WillowMarie

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Messages
1,958
Purraise
5,916
W WillowMarie That's cool! But don't be afraid to use professionals for the serious stuff. Like electrical work!
Thanks, that would probably be when I'd use professionals the most, haha. Or something big breaks, like a water heater. Those seem heavy to move on my own to reinstall. But like fixing a pipe under the sink seems neat to fix on my own.

Don't let anybody stop you from achieving your dreams.
Thank you <3 I love all the positivity here! Having someone be positive can be so helpful for someone to continue along their path. Like, there are so many ways and methods to make your goals happen, why be negative and bring someone down when giving them encouragement could be that little sliver they needed to make it all the way through? I'm going to keep fighting and working towards this goal now that I know it is attainable.

Being cooped up inside all winter, I need a project so, I bought a Mini-Guitar kit. I am waiting for the grain filler that I ordered to get here today and then I will start rubbing in an oil finish. I love working wood! And I LOVE guitars! I have polished the frets and applied a stain to the body. I also shaped the headstock the way I want it.

Here is a video of what it will become when done.

View attachment 318976
Never knew there were mini guitars, it looks so cute! Do they sound any different than the "normal" size ones? Have fun with you project!
 

WillowMarie

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Messages
1,958
Purraise
5,916
Since the power went out right after getting up, I decided to start reading my Personal Finance class textbook and have been getting so excited! My teacher was explaining that to obtain more wealth that investing needs to be done and just working a job won't get you were you want to go. I've always been afraid to lose my hard earned money by investing, and hope to learn a lot from this class and get some tips on managing my 401ks from my previous retail jobs. I haven't customized them, which may help them grow in the future.

Also getting excited about investing in a rental property at some point, as it is a great way to make more passive income. It's really exciting learning about possibilities that are attainable and help set you up for success down the road.
 

CatLover49

All Cats Are Special
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 8, 2018
Messages
2,312
Purraise
3,800
Location
Reidsville NC
I'm wondering if Instacart is going to deliver the food to me so the cats and I don't starve (sleeting) or if they'll pull the same stunt and not show up like last 2 times.
I have used instartcart where I live..but our weather is different alot..Do they usually deliver where you live if its bad weather..maybe thats the reason..just asking
 

Show Me Your Kitties

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2019
Messages
614
Purraise
1,737
Me trying to get to the bathroom and shut the door before Teddy or Finny dart in:
giphy (6).gif


Me sitting on the toilet after I failed and now must pee with an audience:
giphy (4)c.jpg


Teddy or Finny:
to-all-the-boys-ive-loved-before-book-review-pic-03-by-casey-carlisle.gif



BONUS:
Finny after he heard the toilet flush up close for the first time in his life:
giphy (5).gif
 

WillowMarie

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Messages
1,958
Purraise
5,916
Me trying to get to the bathroom and shut the door before Teddy or Finny dart in:
View attachment 318996

Me sitting on the toilet after I failed and now must pee with an audience:
View attachment 318992

Teddy or Finny:
View attachment 318993


BONUS:
Finny after he heard the toilet flush up close for the first time in his life:
View attachment 318994
You don't like company in the bathroom?? I'm in a habit of leaving the door cracked open in case one of the cats decides it is visit me time, haha. Funny gifs!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top