Written by Adam Sullivan on July 16, 2011.
There are three statements your like to hear buying Craigslist goods…
‘I’m remodeling’ ‘I’m cleaning out my garage and don’t have room’ And… ‘My wife isn’t home and I can’t remember how much she said to sell it for but I’m sure we’ll figure something out.’
I had been watching for deals on Craigslist for much needed baby supplies for a couple months but hadn’t found anything. I’m not picky… but I’m not particularly interested in your great aunt Myrtle’s crib that is ‘in great shape but missing a few semi-important parts.’
Then, one lucky Thursday morning, I found ‘the one’. It was a crib in the perfect color, great condition, and offered at a reasonable price.
My husband and I went to take a look on Friday and the seller said, ‘I’m remodeling our home and I want to get rid of everything. I’m storing the remodeling supplies in my garage and don’t have room for all this baby stuff. My wife is not here, but I kinda remember how much she
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Written by Adam Sullivan on July 15, 2011.
Here is our update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Previous week’s numbers are in brackets). For the past 7 days:
New listings: 611 (474, 487, 500)
# Sales: 308 (259, 289, 297)
Ratio: 50% (55%, 59%, 59%)
# Price changes: 356 (255, 324, 312)
# Expired/Off Market Listings: 213 (403, 421, 150)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 90 (-188, -223, 53)
Active single family home listings: 3228 (3141, 3086, 3216)
Active condo listings: 1882 (1858, 1832, 1925)
Homes 4-week running average: $387k ($387k, $384k, $387k)
Condos 4-week running average: $232k ($225k, $225k, $229k)
Lots of new listings this week! That is partially explained by the re-listing of expired listings last week, but it is still quite high for this time of year. Seems like buyers have started their summer holidays but sellers are still at work. Sales were higher this week than we have seen for 5 weeks though. T
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Written by Joseph Perry on July 15, 2011.
Amongst the various debt relief options, debt consolidation is one such option that helps you to lower the interest rate on your debt and also consolidate the several debts into a single debt. So, it becomes easier for you to make the payments. However, before you opt for debt consolidation you should become aware of both the pros and cons involved with the consolidation process. Debt consolidation – Pros and cons Debt consolidation does help you in many ways but there are some cons involved too in it. Some of the pros: 1. Lowers interest rate – If you opt for debt consolidation, it lowers the interest rate on your debts. You can either take out a low interest consolidation loan or transfer the balance from other credit cards to a low interest credit card. Or else, you can also take the help of a debt consolidation company who will negotiate with your creditors to lower the interest rate. 2. Low
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Written by Scott Barnes on July 15, 2011.
Theres been this fear in recent years that the U.S. government is a completely mismanaged mess. To some extent, that fear is warranted. After all:
- Our budget deficit is over a trillion dollars. – Our total debt is over $14 trillion dollars. – Our political leaders would rather hold the line than look for real solutions. – Our GDP growth is smaller than hoped for coming out of the recession, at 2%.
we do have some very real problems.
As weve struggled theres been a lot of mention about Chinas economic vitality. Chinas GDP growth has hovered around 10% for many years and sits at 9.1% in the latest data release. There is talk about all of the debt and how the Chinese should be seen as a real threat to surpass the U.S. as the worlds economic leader.
And thats why the following video on Chinese Ghost Towns so intriguing. It was from an Australian news outfit, SBS Dateline. Read more…
Written by Scott Barnes on July 15, 2011.
As the world of technology continues to grow at leaps and bounds, mobile payments for consumers could be the norm before too far down the road.
A recent study from KPMG International notes that 83 percent of some 1,000 executives in differing fields (tech to retail) think mobile payments will be the mainstream before the end of 2014. Of those surveyed, 46 percent thought paying via phone will be the norm within two years.
According to a spokesperson for KPMG, the belief in the company is that ever-increasing smartphone growth and a variety of opportunities will grow mobile payments at a much quicker rate than respondents anticipated.
Given that several technology providers either currently provide or are debuting mobile payments, along with the fact consumer interest is increasing, that 2014 timetable certainly seems doable.
Google recently went public with news they have built an open platform for mobile phones to transmit and obtain payments using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.
The search engine giant has already teamed with the likes of Citi, Mastercard and Sprint, with word coming that most phones will employ NFC technology by 2014. Read more…
Written by Adam Sullivan on July 15, 2011.
When a REALTOR® speaks about a time clause in Edmonton they are most often talking about a clause that is inserted into a buyer’s condition, where the offer is conditional upon the selling of their home. This is not an unusual clause, but its use is completely situational. For example, as a buyer you may lose negotiating position when you still have to sell your home and you include a “sale of buyer’s home” condition. That however is not the point of this article. The main topic is the amount of time that can be inserted into that clause.
For the better part of twenty years the most common amount of time I’ve seen used in this clause is 48 hours. If used with a common “subject to sale of home schedule” this means that the buyer would have 48 hours to remove all of their conditions if the seller accepted another offer from a different buyer.
When a buyer makes an offer, with a subject to sale clause, it may make more sense for them to have as much time as they can get. On
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Written by Adam Sullivan on July 15, 2011.
My husband grinds his teeth in his sleep. If you’ve ever had the ‘joy’ of sharing a bed with a grinder, you know the noise can keep you up just as easily as snoring.
We purchased a $5 mouth guard from Walmart… which worked for about 2 days before it fell apart.
We purchased a custom mouth guard from the dentist at a whopping $350… which works a little, but still keeps me awake since it the sound he makes while wearing it resembles a dog chewing an annoying squeaky toy.
Since my husband is an aggressive teeth grinder, his mouth guard needs replacement every six months. I’m not looking forward to squeezing another $700 annually out of my budget.
I was watching Dr. Oz while getting ready for work a few mornings ago and he was discussing the dangers of teeth grinding and cheap solutions to fix it.
All he had to do was say ‘cheap’ and he had my attention. Since a few of
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Written by Adam Sullivan on July 14, 2011.
Ok, ok, you KNEW I was going to bring up the new TLC show ‘Extreme Couponing’ eventually.
If you’ve seen the show, you know it’s about men and women who spend a good portion of their lives clipping coupons and purchasing crap… *cough*… I mean, purchasing ‘stuff’ and ‘saving huge amounts of money’ while doing it.
I was excited to watch the show somehow thinking it would be informative and help me in my own shopping endeavors.
The only thing the show ‘informed’ me was that these people are nuts and I’ve got a pretty good handle on my sanity comparatively.
This week, I watched the episode with Missy, who spends 35 hours per week couponing. According to her, she saved $60,000 in one year. Um… I DON’T SPEND $60,000 ON GROCERIES IN ONE YEAR!! I spend about 5% of that. Theoretically, I saved $57,000 by not buying junk I didn’t need… and I don’t have to stockpile. Plus, let’s not forget to mention that I spend 40 hours per week working and made real money – not fake ‘saved’ money. The math doesn’t add up for these couponers
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