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Wednesday, September 30th
Posted on September 30th, 2009 No comments
Fed will need to boost rates quickly - Yahoo Finance
Week-to-week mortgage applications down - Market Watch
Three bills you didn’t know were negotiable - CNN Money
Fannie Mae mortgage defaults climb to record in July - Bloomberg
Foreclosure blight: the cleanup crawls along - CNN Money
Bipartisan push to stop real estate fraud - AP
Countrywide destroys tapes that include public officials - WSJ
Four indicted in alleged mortgage scheme - Boston Business Journal
Former NH prosecuter admits mortgage fraud - Boston Herald
Fed moves ahead on credit card protection plan (would prevent high rate increases) - AP
S&P lawyer Abrams says ratings bill would deter competition - Bloomberg
Time running out for first time home buyers to get tax credit - WILX News
YOUTUBE credit card rant gets results - CNN Money
Anger at overdraft fees gets hotter, bigger and louder - USA Today
Is the worst really over for home prices? - MSN Money
Bank fees rise to record numbers in 2009 - PR Newswire
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How can I get a great realtor?
Posted on September 29th, 2009 No commentsRodney,
I am one of the many that has procrastinated with the first time home buyer’s tax credit. Now I need a realtor to find me the house of my dreams and I don’t have very long. What is the best way to find a great realtor? Ihave owned a house before, but it was 12 years ago. I’m a little rusty :) - Thanks! Clark
Hey Clark,
I would suggest to talk with friends and family. Ask if they had a good experience with their realtor when purchasing their home. They will be able to give you the scoop as to who they will use again and who treated them fairly. Also, when you contact the potential new realtors, ask them questions that you would like to know. Be sure to specify exactly what you are looking for at the beginning that way you are not wasting yours or your realtor’s time. Happy house hunting.
Rodney
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From Rodney’s Facebook
Posted on September 29th, 2009 No commentsQuestion: The phone rings, it’s the police, your child has stolen your best friend’s credit card and racked up $500 in charges. Who do you talk to first, and what do you say?
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Tuesday, September 29th
Posted on September 29th, 2009 No commentsDelinquencies Rise Further In Freddie’s Shrinking Portfolio - WSJ
Despite price boost, Fannie Mae’s stock ‘probably worthless’ - Boston Herald
The mortgage hotseat - selling stadium seating with a mortgage approach - WSJ
Treasury to start new mortgage bond purchase program - Reuters
California mortgage fraud suspect returns from Spain - AP
First time home buyer’s credit set to expire - Fox 28
With credit tight, borrowers turn to peers - Calgary Herald
A real credit thaw or just a test? - WSJ
The secret to a great job? A great resume - CNN Money
The day the DOW almost died - CNN Money
Dollar’s days of dominance may end - Washington Times
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From Rodney’s Facebook
Posted on September 25th, 2009 No commentsQuestion: Your teenager thinks it’s time they had their own car and YOU should buy it for them. Do you think a purchase like that is your responsibility? Did your parents buy YOUR first car? I’d also like to know what kind it was!
Our parents didn’t buy any of us a car. They wouldn’t even co-sign loans. My parents helped my older sisters with a little bit of money AS A LOAN, but I never got the offer because they had been slow/no pay. In 1986 I bought a 1978 Honda Accord hatchback “Hondamatic” with a 22% interest loan. Paid for my own share of the insurance through my parents’ policy, but covered my own gas and maintenance.
I had to pay half the payment and insurance….it was a Omni like 1985ish model. My 16 year old daughter was given a car by her Dad with ZERO financial responsbility 9 months ago…and it has 2 million dents & dings-the interior is a wreck….you wouldn’t believe how it looks…I think its a privledge to be 16 with a car and they need to have a financial stake in it!
I got my parents hand-me-downs. When it came time for me to have a car, I got mom’s old one and she got the new one. When mom/dad needed a new car, they sold/traded mine, handed the old one down, and got a new one. This taught me that no kid needs a new car. As an adult, I value buying a car highly and I have paid my car payments religiously.On the other hand, my dad also gave me a credit card with no restrictions until I graduated college. Credit card debt is the only debt I’ve had that has affected me negatively. I’ve missed payments due to unemployment (rent, car and car insurance always got paid even if I had to borrow money.) Don’t know if there is a real connection but it’s interesting. Today the only cc debt I have is on my business card. All personal cards are paid in full each month (making progress!)
Heck no!!! I paid $800 for a used Cutlas Supreme with a front window that came down on its own, while I took it through the car wash the night I got it!!!
I spent $1200 on my first car… a 1972 Chevy Luv pickup that I was TOLD had 68,000 miles on it. I started digging in the glove compartment and found the odometer statement that had 98,000 miles on it! AND its headlights went out the first night I had it!
I have had a job since I was 15 and I bought my first car and it was an 83′ Buick Regal. It was a boat of a car, but it was a automobile.
Parents bought me a 94 Ford Probe GT.
My parents did purchase my first car for $1,000 cash and I had to pay them back for half of it. It was a 1981 Pontiac Phoenix! My husband plans to buy old clunkers for our daughters then teach the girls how to fix them- a little sweat equity…
I bought my first car when I was 15 with my own money from my electrical wiring business. It was a 1948 Anglia (English Ford) I got my own insurance from Farm Bureau through the Missouri assigned risk pool. I used the car for pleasure and in my business.All five of our kids bought their own cars. I think we helped some of them by putting them on our insurance policy and paying for the insurance. I think a young person should have a car when HE OR SHE can afford it.
I’m torn on this one… It’s all in their attitude I guess.1. If the child is a brat and feels like they are OWED a car, then they can take their spoiled butt to town and buy it themself.
2. On the other hand, if they are good kid, well behaved, well mannered….then yes, it’s your job to purchase things for them as they grow up.
I mean really!! Our kids didn’t ask to be BORN. There’s just some things that a parent has help them buy. Or else DON’T HAVE KIDS!!!
We purchased our son his first truck 2001 Chev. when he turned 16….and co-signed with him when he wanted to buy a new one… his second truck (F150- 2007) to help him get credit established. He’s a good kid, but… I think he would have learned more responsibility and the value of a dollar if he would have helped pay for the first one. My daddy took me to the bank to borrow money on my first one…but he paid most of the payments. He did that to help me get credit established as well.
My mother did purchase my first care for me back in 1993. I got a 1988 Buick Reata with the touch screen.. It was sweet at the time, but later a mechanical nightmare! I spent my time playing tennis and studying.. I did get summer jobs but mostly just for extra spending money..Chad, I disagree. I think the parents are obligated for necessities, but I don’t think a car is a necessity. I started working when I was fifteen and walked or rode my 10-speed three miles back and forth to my job. Then I got brave enough for the bus. I bussed to subsequent jobs, but when I scored a job 40 miles away (borrowed my roommate’s car for the interviews), THAT’S when it was a necessity. But by then I was 22 and working full-time, so no parental involvement.
Yes it was a 1988 Ford Mustang GT (graduated in ‘88)…but then I got a scholarship to college so they had the extra money! I won’t buy new for my kids unless they do the same.Karleen, I’ll meet you half way on this debate…Maybe a car is a bad example! I just hate to see parents make their kids buy all their own clothes, cars, pay their own way thru schooling… etc….I mean, MY GOD, it’s YOUR kid, YOUR responsibility. They didn’t ask to be born.On the other hand, in some families a 16 year old having a car is a “Necessity”. Sixteen is the age that a lot of mandatory activities are going on!! And with Two parents juggling work while the 16 year old has to get to the game…or practice…or pick up dinner…or go to church…or go to work…etc. Now’a days, 3 cars is a necessity!
I loved it when my niece posted how her first car was a tank, where the windows would not roll down and the AC did not work. It was not until I was about 21 when doctors finally told me I could see well enough to drive, and 28 when I fnally got my license. I wonder what it would have looked like to have gotten around more freely at a younger age, but it does not have to be a brand new car, and it would be wise to have some ground rules. Some responsiblity for the youth. What a concept
my parents bought all my cars, but this momma is going to have her kids work and help pay
My parents said they would buy me a new car when I graduated high school. @ 16 I got my mothers 1972 volkswagon convertible(ragtop)Sky blue. No A\C but a great heater. In the winter I would drive my friends around with the top down the heater cranked. I could fit 7 of my girlfriends. we were skinny! I paid 4 my own gas. I think it was $5.00 a tank. 18 my parents bought me a brand new Honda Prelude (silver)put down the down payment, and paid Insurance the 1st year! before I drove it off the lot I noticed no antenna.The salesman said we didn’t order a radio.
Need less to say I negotiated an antenna.back in the day when you didn’t get radios from the dealership.My mom thought I liked that car because of the name! I had that car for 10 years, had a built in gauge that would change colors
for the oil to be changed and the tires rotated!!I loved that car and took great care of it!!!Above all else I think you have to be raising kids from the start to understand they will have to work in life and to value the thing they get one way or the other. I’ve seen too many people spoil their kids and then say, “Okay, out you go!” and they’ve never even held a summer job! No knowledge of responsibility, no development of work ethic. Totally unprepared. I think that’s what also helps get them into financial trouble. They aren’t endowed with any skills from an early (enough) age.
My father was in the car business and they provided some sort of car for all of my brothers and sisters at 16 ( Maybe $500.00). I got a plymouth Arrow, not much to get excited about, however, as long as I was in sports and got good grades, they paid for insurance and gas. I still worked nights part time to generate my own scratch…
1979 Delta 88. It overheated if I went more than 25 miles. The headliner hung down so I had to hold it up with my left hand so it didn’t crush my big venus flytrap bangs (it was 1987 you know - HUGE hair). I figured out how to hold a drink, a cigarette, and the headliner, all while steering with my knees and changing the radio station. I paid $500 of my own money, earned by doing data entry for the guy next door that sold it to me. Then….he stopped making the payments and the bank took it back. Ah, the lessons learned were countless. But Mom & Dad didn’t pay for it.My parents bought my first car…a dodge dart swinger for $500–it did the job:-) I was extremely eager after that to get a job and buy my own. It took me 2 years but I did just that…a 1985 Camero, it was used but it was 1986 at the time
I think it is important for teenagers to earn their own money and make their own sacrifices towards owning a car which is privilege, not a right of passage. I walked to work for 6 months to a job I could not stand until I saved $1000 and bought my first car - 1980 Ford Mustang. It was mine and I had earned it and the day after I got it I found a new job that I liked better and quit the one that had paved the way for me to get there.
I share that story with both my girls…one who is 16 and one who is 8. The 16 year old has privileges to drive our spare car to and from school only, but it is not “her” car and she has to keep her grade point average high enough or she loses the privilege.Leave a reply
