Who Knew?!

Thank you so much for sharing. I always delighted to learn new things from your posts.

Regarding the HomeFront. If you are shopping for a new Home (from a Builder), then you’ll need to factor in additional costs for things like Window Coverings, Light Fixtures (or Upgrading to Pot Lights), Interior Painting, Landscaping, and a Fence, for example.
So, you’re wondering, how much could that really add up to? Well, let’s say you like a lot of natural light, and buy a home with a lot of windows – you’ll need to budget for a lot of window coverings. In the meantime you could buy beautiful sheets of transparent tissue paper (with designs) and tape them to your main floor Living Room or Dining Room windows for privacy. That lasted me for a few years. In the Bedrooms you can always hang Bed Sheets. Or go to Bouclair Home and buy ready-made Drapes. Horizontal Wooden Blinds are always a great solution, too. Also check at IKEA.

However, you may be planning to buy a Re-Sale Home.

The golden rule for Real Estate investment has always been to recognize the importance of “Location, Location, Location”. I also strongly encourage everyone to plan for having Rental Income from your principal residence from the get to. For example, my pensioner friend who lives at Dufferin & Steeles now rents her finished basement apartment to a tenant with a car (employed full-time) for $800. a month. Now that she is widowed she is also considering renting out 2 vacant Bedrooms ($400. each/month) to female students, since her house is located just a single bus ride away from York University. I’m located close to a high school and have recently learned from our community newspaper that foreign students will pay $700+/month Room & Board. Check with the School board/s as to their Live-Study programs, for which you would first need to be screened to be eligible. You can use your Rental Income to pay down your outstanding Mortgage Balance faster, or put it towards the Operating Expenses of a Home: Property Taxes (probably $3,000.+/year, and always increasing), Natural Gas (Heating), Hydro (Electricity) + Water, Cable Television, and Telephone bills.

DO NOT buy a home with ELECTRICAL HEATING – it can be prohibitively expensive, depending of course on the fluctuating cost of Electricity.

Or as I once said to a younger colleague who was asking for advice, “Why have a life, when you could have a mortgage.” Just joking – I thought it was time for some levity. I’m a big proponent of home ownership, especially if you need to live somewhere anyway. However, if the price of fuel wasn’t so high I myself would seriously consider a Mobile Home (like a boat on wheels). My friend was shocked to learn that his elderly mother’s house in Cleveland, OH is worth just $34,500. Is that too far for you to commute?

As for Banks, Mortgage Brokers, Insurance Agents and a Lawyer.

BANKS – Is it important for you to avoid dealing with a Bank who is open for business on your Sabbath? What will we do when all of the Banks choose to open their retail locations on Sundays to keep up with their competition? Convenience seems to have become the priority of our 24/7 society. I myself must confess to using online Banking on some Sundays to pay my bills. But, now that I think of it, don’t ALL Banks make available 24/7 online Banking? Should we support them at all, or keep our money under our mattresses?

MORTGAGE – A Variable-Interest Rate Mortgage has always proven to be the best over the long haul. And most Mortgages are typically in place for several years.

MORTGAGE BROKERS – I’ve never dealt with one, but you could get a referral from your Real Estate agent.

INSURANCE AGENTS –
1) PROPERTY INSURANCE – Very important to make sure that your Policy includes a Rider for “SEWER BACK-UP” coverage! We experienced a Flash Flood in our new suburban home due to a sudden, heavy rainstorm in August 2005, and the basement filled with water. Several years ago, when I lived downtown, I went to the basement to do laundry, and was greeted by excrement floating everywhere – yes, the Sewer backed up, as more commonly occurs in older city homes.

2) MORTGAGE INSURANCE and/or LIFE INSURANCE (Term Insurance product)
It’s very important that Spouses provide coverage (to each other) at least until the Mortgage is paid off, and the children have finished their education. Be very judicious in evaluating the certainty of a Bank’s Mortgage Insurance product pay-out, as compared to a privately-held Life Insurance Policy. I know of a case where a Bank did not pay-out upon a Death, because it was deemed that the Life Insured had a pre-existing health condition. I myself have a bias that a Wife should be the Owner of the Life Insurance Policy of her Husband’s Life Insured. I would be happy to elaborate on that sometime, if you would like to inquire.

LAWYER
I like our Lawyer, especially when he quotes Scripture.

And a closing prayer for you:

“Dear Lord, please carry me through this process, lest I become devoured by the minutiae of life!”

Anonymous 🙂

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