For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he may have enough to finish it; lest perhaps, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all those seeing begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Luke 14:28-30

Earlier this week I wrote a post about how important it is to plan ahead, to save for the things you need to buy, and how much more satisfaction you’ll get when you do that. Today’s verse speaks to the importance of counting the costs of the things we buy, and planning ahead for those costs.

The verse says, “which of you intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost..”.   We could easily change that verse to apply to today saying something like, “which of you, intending to buy a car, does not sit down first and count the cost”?

So many people just approach their finances passively, allowing things to happen to them.  Instead of planning ahead, saving up for a car and being ready when the time comes to buy a new one, instead they drive their old car until it completely dies, and then when the time comes they buy an expensive brand new car (more than they can afford), financed at a high rate of interest.    They didn’t count the cost, and now they’ll paythe price.

B e active with your finances, count the costs, plan ahead, and you’ll be much better off when the time comes to buy the things you need.

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Personal Finance Bible Verse Of The Day: Count The Cost And Plan Ahead

My wife and I have been out of debt except for our mortgage for a couple of years now. I can still remember paying off that last debt, my student loan, and how good it felt. It was like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, and we were now free. I can’t even imagine how good people feel who have finally paid off every debt, including their mortgage. You must become weightless, and float off into the sky! Free like a bird!

Since we’ve been debt free we’ve also been following some other good principles of personal finance like following a budget, spending less than we earn and making do with what we have instead of spending to buy new.

One of the big changes that we’ve made is that now we’ve started not making any big purchases without first saving up the cash for those purchases. If we can’t pay cash, we don’t buy it.

Saving Up For Big And Small Purchases

Saving up enough cash to buy some things this is no big deal.  When we decided that it was time to upgrade our old 5+ year old computer that we had been nursing along for the last few years, we needed to scrape together a few hundred dollars in order to buy a new one.  We set our savings goal (about $300) and reached that goal in one month.   We did our research and found a nice refurbished Dell computer for $300.  The computer was much faster and less frustrating to use than our old one.  Done deal, and we paid cash.  We declined to finance our $300 purchase using Dell’s “easy monthly payments”.  The computer just runs so much nicer knowing that it’s paid for!

Some things require a bit more discipline in order to save for them.  For example, we paid cash for my new car that I purchased last October.   The car we bought was a nice 2  year old used car (we’ll probably never buy a new car, even with all the rebates and tax credits available today).  The car was just under $10,000, so saving up for this purchase took a bit longer.

A while back when we knew we would need a new car within a couple of years, we started saving for that purchase.  Using a plan similar to Dave Ramsey’s “Drive Free Cars And Retire Rich” plan, we set a goal for  new car within 3-4 years, and started saving towards that goal.  Instead of making a car payment (since we didn’t have one on our old car either) we just started paying ourselves a monthly car payment, and over a couple of years we had saved up enough money to buy a nice used car.

My car ended up dying before it’s time last October, so we didn’t quite reach our complete savings goal, but in the end we found an extremely nice used car for the amount that we had saved.  The car had under 30,000 miles,  and cost us less than $10,000.    We probably would have spent more, but now I’m glad we didn’t because I absolutely love my car now!

The best part is, my car is paid for.  The car is a beauty, and when people ask me how much my monthly car payments are on my nice new car, I tell them, “What payments?  We paid cash for this car!” .  We get some quizzical looks, because paying cash for a car (or other big purchases) just isn’t normal these days.  Taking on debt of all kinds IS normal.

I’ll tell you what, I may not be normal, but I don’t care to be.  And my paid for car?  It drives so much nicer without a monthly payment.

Have you ever tried paying cash for the things you buy, instead of financing them?  Did it change how you viewed that purchase, and did you get more enjoyment out of it? Do you find that you spend less when you pay cash – since the purchase is that much more real?

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Saving Up And Paying Cash For The Things You Buy Makes The Purchase More Enjoyable!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Cash For Clunkers program that was expected to be passed. Now, a couple of weeks later the program has passed and is signed into law, and people will soon be able to take advantage of it.

I’ve been getting emails and comments surrounding the program, asking for more details. I decided to put together a quick FAQ covering some of the most common questions surrounding the program.

FAQ About Cash For Clunkers

Q: Is the billed signed into law yet?

A: Yes the bill has been signed into law.  The program is now the responsibility of the NHTSA and they will be implementing the system with car dealers. The program’s official website is: http://cars.gov. Dealers will be responsible for signing up for the program, and participating dealers will eventually be listed on the government website.

Q: When will the program be available?

A: Your new car must be bought or leased between Late July (when the program is rolled out) and Nov. 1 to qualify.

Q: Can the car you purchase with the trade in voucher be a used vehicle?

A: The purchased vehicles must be new (2008, 2009, 2010 models) and cost no more than $45,000.   You cannot trade in a clunker for a motorcycle. If you’re looking for a used car, check out this site.

Q: Can I lease a car through the program,  or do I have to purchase the new car?

A: Yes you can lease, however, the CARS Act requires that any lease under the program be for a period of at least five years.

Q: How do I find the combined EPA mileage estimates on my old clunker to make sure it qualifies for the program?

A: Go to http://www.fueleconomy.gov and click on the model year of your vehicle, the make, and then the model. Under the words “ESTIMATED NEW EPA MPG” in the red banner, there is a red number with the word “COMBINED” under it. That is the new combined city/highway fuel economy for your vehicle. You may then enter the make, model, and model year of a new vehicle you may want to buy and see its combined MPG for comparison.

Q: Are there restrictions on the year of my trade-in?

A: The car can not be more than 25 years old, and it must meet the MPG requirements.

Q: Will all dealers be participating in the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS)?

A: Most new cars dealers in the US will participate. They will have to register with the CARS program, but registration details have not been released yet by the NHTSA.  Registered dealers will be eventually listed on cars.gov, but it’s a good guess that most new car dealers will want to be a part of it.

Q: What do I need to bring when I decide I want to do the Cash For Clunkers trade?

A:  You should bring documentation showing the current owner of the vehicle, preferrably the title, and documents showing that the vehicle has been “continuously insured by the same owner for a period of no less than 1 year prior to the trade-in.”   The final rule will specify what types of documentation would be acceptable  to prove ownership and the fact that the vehicle has been insured for the past year.

Q: Will I have to pay taxes on the voucher?

A: No.  The CARS Act expressly provides that the credit is not income for the consumer, so the consumer will not have to pay taxes on the credit.  The credit will be considered as income for the dealer.

Q: Are higher income folks excluded from the program?  Is there an income limit that leaves out some vehicle owners?

A: No.  Anyone can take part in the program since it is designed to help new car dealers, and to help the environment.

Q: I bought a new car in February 2009.  Can the voucher apply to my past purchase – will it be retroactive?

A: No. Cars bought before the official start date (see above) won’t qualify for the credit retroactively.

Q: If my car is worth more than $4,500, should I take advantage of  the Cash for Clunkers credit?

A: The program would not give you any benefit if you are able to trade in or sell your car or truck for more than the $4,500 credit.   You’re probably better off not applying for the voucher.

Q: Is the CARS credit in addition to any  incentives that dealers are offering toward a new car purchase, or would this credit supplant those credits?

A: The CARS credit is separate from any manufacturer buyer incentives. For example, if your new car dealer is offering $3,000 off the list price of a car and you qualified for a $4,500 CARS credit from your trade-in, then the total reduction off the MSRP would be $7,500. You should always shop for the best deals before buying a car.

Q: Can I trade in more than one vehicle under the program?  Could I trade in two old cars and get a $9,000 credit?

A: The current wording of the bill indicates that only one CARS credit can be applied to a new car purchase.

Q: How do I know the amount of my credit?  Will I qualify for a $3,500 or a $4,500 CARS credit?

A:  The credit you get is determined by your current trade-in car’s current combined MPG, the new car’s combined MPG, and then the improvement you will get in MPG through getting the new car.  Here’s a graphic showing how to determine what your credit will be.

Q: Can I go to the junkyard and buy an old car and use it for a trade or trade in my parents old car?

A:  Probably not.   The NHTSA says you need to bring to the dealer documentation establishing the identity of the person who currently owns the vehicle (the title of the vehicle), and documentary proof that the vehicle “has been continuously insured consistent with the applicable State law and registered to the same owner for a period of not less than 1 year immediately prior to the trade-in.” There is some debate as to whether this means someone – like your parents could trade-in their continuously insured clunker for you, and then you can use the voucher. I wouldn’t count on it though.  Stay tuned for clarification on this question.

Q: What happens to my trade-in?

A: The car will be sent to the salvage yard. Some parts may be kept but the engine and drive-train will be crushed.

Conclusion

Those are a few of the more popular questions about the program that I’ve heard, and I hope that this helps to answer them.  If you have more questions about whether you are eligible or not, please check out our previous post on the Cash for Clunkers program.   Going through with it, and buying a new car?  Don’t forget to claim the new car sales tax deduction!  For more details check out my post looking at  common questions about the new car sales tax deduction.

Have other questions about the program that you’d like answered?  Need clarification on one of the points above?  Let us know in the comments and we’ll do our best to find an answer (or one of your fellow commenters can answer!).

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Common Questions About The Cash For Clunkers Program Answered: Gas Guzzler Rebate FAQ

A few weeks ago a new carnival launched with the idea of bringing a few of the best articles written in the personal finance blogosphere to the forefront every week. That carnival is the Best of Money Carnival, brought to us by freemoneyfinance.com. I love the idea of a smaller carnival – that highlights the best posts of the week, instead of everything written that week.   It makes for great reading, but you don’t need an entire day to read everything!

So without further ado, here are my picks for the top 10 best articles of the week!  I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!

Top 10 Best Money Articles Of The Week

• 10 – Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam presents How to Plan a Cheap Family Vacation… without being “cheap” posted at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam: Jen gives us a close up look at how to plan a “no-spend” vacation. Very touching look (with lots of photos) at how an extended family can spend time together while on vacation, but not spend a ton of money!
• 9 - Travis presents Money Tips from the Most High posted at Christian Money Mountain: Travis talks about some of the common sense money tips you can find in the bible , things like preparing for hard times, seeking counsel and advice, and being generous.  Even if you’re not a Christian, the bible still has some good money tips!
• 8 -The Happy Rock presents Cell Phones Contracts Are Debt, You Just Don’t Realize It posted at The Happy Rock: You may not have thought about how some of your optional monthly bills are actually debt. The Happy Rock looks at why we need to consider these plans, like cell phone contracts, as debt.
• 7 – Benjamin presents Purchasing My Brand New Motorcycle Was Dumb posted at Trees Full of Money: Ben talks about how buying a motorcycle was the last straw that made him realize he had a problem with debt. Great story!
• 6 – Abigail Perry presents Spending: Frustration and Irrational Guilt posted at i pick up pennies: Abigail takes a look at spending while you’re in debt, discusses whether having “mad money” during debt reduction is a good idea, and discusses the guilt associated with spending during debt reduction. A good look at the mindset many people have while trying to reduce their debt.
• 5 – Jim presents What is the Average Credit Score? posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity: Jim takes a look at some data from Credit Karma about the average credit scores nationwide, and by state. Interesting.
• 4 – Jeff Rose presents How To Do a Background Check on Your Financial Advisor posted at GoodFinancialCents.com: Jeff takes us through the steps you need to take in order to check up on your financial advisor. You don’t want to hire the next Madoff do you?
• 3 – MoneyNing presents How to Be a Millionaire posted at Money Ning: David gives some funny tongue in cheek advice about how to become a millionaire, and then proceeds to give his real advice.  I enjoyed reading this one.  Great writing!
• 2 – Baker presents Negotiation Tips For Beginners – A Real Life Example Of How I Saved $150 With Just A Few Questions posted at Man Vs. Debt: Baker gives us an in depth look at negotiating, and how sometimes all you need to do to get a lower price is ask!   Great post, with lots of good actionable negotiating tips.

And coming in at #1 – Powerful Ways to Improve Your Life

• 1 – Matt of DebtFreeAdventure.com presents Powerful Ways to Improve Your Life over at fivecentnickel.com: Matt gives us some great ways that we can improve both our finances, and our lives in general. Focus on your passions, stop wasting time on things that don’t matter, and love your neighbor.  Love it!  This week’s must read.  Great article!

Thanks to everyone that submitted their articles for consideration!  There was lots of good reading, but I could only choose 10!

If you would like to submit an article to the next Best of Money Carnival, check out the details on how to submit a post.  Make sure you read the rules thoroughly or you won’t qualify.

Don’t forget to check out the carnival next week as it’s being hosted by an up and coming blogger My Life ROI.

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Best of Money Carnival #6

Happy 4th of July everyone!  I hope you have a happy and safe holiday.  God bless America!

The 4th Of July Story

From Wikipedia:

During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.  After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

Adams’ prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.

One of the most enduring myths about Independence Day is that Congress signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.  The myth had become so firmly established that, decades after the event and nearing the end of their lives, even the elderly Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had come to believe that they and the other delegates had signed the Declaration on the fourth. Most delegates actually signed the Declaration on August 2, 1776. In a remarkable series of coincidences, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two founding fathers of the United States and the only two men who signed the Declaration of Independence to become president, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the United States’ 50th anniversary.

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Happy 4th Of July!

Craig is a Christian missionary, writer, and speaker. Ten years of ministry experience has provided valuable insight for helping Christians deal with their personal finances from a Biblical perspective. His blog www.moneyhelpforchristians.com provides daily personal finance advice from a Christian perspective. You can subscribe by RSS feed here.

It’s a term we have heard of often – net worth. The calculation is relatively simple – add up what you own and subtract what you owe. Voila! You have your net worth. If that calculation seems complicated, most basic budgeting programs show your net worth every time you open your budgeting software.

The goal of many individuals is to increase their net worth over a lifetime.  There is, however, a common misunderstanding regarding net worth. Many think net worth is visible to the neighbor.

Here is our misinformed formula:

The bigger the house + the newer the cars + the larger the salary = a larger net worth.

Instead the following is typically more accurate:

The bigger the house + the newer the cars + the larger the salary = a greater burden of debt.

Here is the actual formula for increasing your net worth:

Salary – Expenses (bills, shopping, insurance, payments …) = $1 < (a dollar or more)

In other words net worth is built only by having something left over at the end of every month.

One cannot increase their net worth by:

• Earning more money
• Buying another vacation home
• Purchasing a shiny new vehicle

Net worth is increased by doing one thing – living on less than you make. If you are not saving anything today, you are not increasing your net worth.

But, even this is only a small, small part of what it means to build your net worth. Look at the term more closely.

net = sum, complete, total, entire

worth = value, importance, significance, merit, meaning.

Net worth could be said in the following ways: the sum of your value, your entire significance, your complete meaning.  We fool ourselves if we think our worth, net worth, can be calculated with a pen, paper, or calculator. We prepare ourselves for a lifetime of disappointment if we think our worth is determined by what we own.  Our worth is found in our relationship to Jesus Christ.

Our most significant assets are husbands, wives, children, church, and friends.  Our most important investments are those with eternal implications.  Our gains truly increase only when we give.

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36, NIV)

Your worth can never be calculated by a number on a bank statement. Your value can never be attained by adding some numbers. Your significance is not found in what you have, but to whom you belong.

So get out there and build your net worth.   But, be sure you define net worth by something broader than money.

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Net Worth: How Should It Be Defined?

For a while now we’ve been talking about the Obama administration’s Making Homes Affordable Refinance and Loan Modification program.   We looked at who was eligible for the program, and what you needed to do in order to push through your own refinance or loan modification.   According to the administration the plan was going to be able to help anywhere from 7 to 9 million people to get into a more affordable loan, all while not increasing costs through added PMI or other costs.

The reality of what has happened so far is much different.  According to the Treasury Department earlier this week, so far only 20,000 loans have been refinanced.   That’s a far cry from the millions of supposedly eligible homeowners who were forecast to be able to refinance.  So what’s holding things up?

Problems With The Program: Why Haven’t More People Refinanced

There are quite a few reasons that people speculate the program hasn’t been more successful that it could have been.

• With mortgage rates in the low 6’s in recent years, for many people refinancing to the mid 5’s just doesn’t seem worth it after paying for points and high closing costs many banks are offering.
• According to many sources, including commenters on this blog, the program has been slow to ramp up.  Borrowers have complained that banks are not approving their applications.  People at the banks often don’t seem to have any idea what the program entails. Homeowners are getting the run around, and are being given refinance offers that aren’t really much of a deal.
• Many homeowners have seen dramatic drops in their home’s value in recent months/years, which means they don’t have the required 105% LTV ratio needed to benefit from the refinance program.  (This week’s changes to the program should help address this).

Changes To The Program: 125% LTV Loans Now Available

The Obama administration eased eligibility rules on July 1st  for the Home Affordable Refinance Program, lifting the maximum loan-to-value ratio to 125 percent from 105 percent.  So that means the eligibility requirements for the program are now as follows:

• Loans originated on or before January 1, 2009.
• Your loan is is owned/backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
• You are current on your mortgage payments, no 30 day deliquencies in the past 12 months.
• You have income to support the new mortgage payments.
• Your first mortgage will not exceed 125% of the current market value of the property.

The new requirement of no more than a 125% mortgage to home market value ratio should allow quite a few more people the chance to apply for a refinance under the HARP program.

If your loan is owned by Freddie Mac and you are refinancing through your current servicer, the expanded LTV ratios are available now.  If you are refinancing through another Freddie Mac lender, the expanded ratios will  become available October 1st.

If your loan is owned by Fannie Mae you must use your current loan servicer to refinance your mortgage, but you must wait until September 1, 2009 before you can take advantage of the expanded LTV program (You must wait if your LTV is more than 105%).

A Step In The Right Direction?

Administration officials are confident that the new program requirements should help a lot of people, and the changes are crucial in helping continue the recovery.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the move was “a crucial step in our broader efforts to get America’s housing market and economy on the path to recovery.”

I’m not as confident as they are that this will really help to improve things (given the program’s track record so far), but I really hope that they’re right.

Want to find out more details about the program?  Check out the government’s website at http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/, and read our articles that we’ve previously written on the topic:

• Do I Qualify For The Making Home Affordable Program?
• My Experience With the HARP program
• FAQ – Modification Program
• FAQ – Refinance Program
• Making Home Affordable Loan Mod Program And Second Mortgage Modifications

Do you think that the expanded loan to value ratio will allow more homeowners to take advantage of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (Will it help you?)?  Will problems with the program being  implemented by banks continue to plague HARP?  What’s your take on the program? We’re interested on hearing your personal experience!

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Making Home Affordable Refinance Program Eases Eligibility To Allow For Higher Maximum Loan-To-Value Ratio

A couple of years ago we were in the middle of selling our house right at top of the real estate bubble.  Homes were routinely going for asking price, and some houses were even getting multiple offers above asking price. At the time the thinking was that the market would continue going up, and it was better to buy now than in a couple of years when prices had skyrocketed. Looking back, that thinking seems a bit foolish now, but at the time it seemed reasonable.   We ended up selling our townhouse for the asking price, and we made a nice profit.  The problem is, we also ended up buying a house for more than it was worth.  Hindsight is 20/20, right?

Now that the market has been dropping for a while things are extremely tough for homesellers.   Because of the rash of low or no down payment mortgages that happened a few years ago, a lot of homeowners are finding themselves underwater in their mortgages, they owe more than the house is now worth.

The real estate Web site Zillow.com reported that 21.8% of all U.S. homes, representing more than 20 million residences, were in a “negative equity” or “underwater” position after prices dropped more than 14% nationally in the year ended March 31.

With so many homeowners being underwater, a huge number of them are just deciding to walk away from their homes, and the mortgages.  The result?  A ton of foreclosures.   According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, there were 2 million properties in foreclosure in 2008.  That number could climb to almost  2.5 million this year. With such a huge number of foreclosure properties available, and due to the tough economic times, getting your house to sell is harder than ever.  Here are a few tips to help you sell a bit faster.

Tips To Sell Your Home In A Down Market

To make sure your home sells in a down market, there are a few things that you can do.

1. You have to be willing to price it right:  If you’re going to sell your home in a down market, you may have to be willing to make some concessions on price.    In many areas foreclosures have depressed the prices quite a bit.  While you may not be able to cut your price to the level of some of those bank owned homes, you can still do your research as to what comparable homes are selling for, and undercut their prices.  You may not get as much action as the foreclosures, but you will at least get more action than other sellers who aren’t as flexible on price.  Try not to get emotionally stuck on a certain price.
2. Make sure the home has curb appeal:  Even if you can’t compete on price with foreclosures, you can do your best to make sure that the your house at least looks better on the outside than the foreclosure down the block.   Get the home power washed, paint the trim and the doors, put on new exterior lights and/or knockers, and give your plants some sprucing up.   All the hard work should pay off by at least getting that buyer through the door.  (When we sold, this was key for us because there were similar units at the same or lower price. Our unit was just in better shape, had been repainted, etc.)
3. Clear the home of clutter:  When you’re living in the home, it may be ok to have stacks of papers on the coffee table, and tons of personal photos on the walls.   But when you’re selling a home you want the potential buyers to picture themselves living in the house.  Remove personal photos from the walls, and replace them with neutral framed art.  Take everything off the countertops in the kitchen to make it  seem like there is more counter space.  Remove any unnecessary furniture and put it into storage.  If you can remove clothing from the closets and put it into storage to make the closets feel bigger.  Reduce all the extra clutter throughout the house to make it feel bigger, more spacious and buyer friendly!
4. Fix big problems:  If your house has a big problem that will turn a lot of buyers off, fix it!  Shag carpeting in the living room? Consider changing it out with fresh new carpeting.  Non-working water softener?  Pay to have it fixed, or get a new one. ( We actually did this).   Big hole in the wall?  Get some drywall and patch it up.  Ugly peeling linoleum in the kitchen? Put in new flooring.  Anything that can cause instant dislike for your house should be fixed, as long as it isn’t too expensive.
5. Fix smaller problem areas around the house:  Go throughout the house and take notes of all  the small things that need fixing that may be a turnoff to a potential buyer.  Take the time to go around and fix those things one by one.  If you noticed them, the buyer will too! When we sold our house we ended up repainting some trim on the outside of the house, repainting several rooms that had scratches and marks on the wall, and removed some rubber marks on the kitchen linoleum.    It only took us one or two days of hard work, but in the end the house looked much better, and was more inviting to a buyer.
6. Consider staging the house:  When we sold we actually staged the house to make the rooms feel more spacious, give it a less cluttered look and a make people feel more at home.  In the living room we removed several larger pieces of furniture, and replaced them with smaller more luxurious pieces from our parent’s houses – in a different layout.   We took our personal photos down and put up framed art pieces.  We removed all the magnets and photos from the fridge, and put up nice valances on the windows.  Watch a lot of HGTV and try to emulate what the experts do to stage a house!
7. Offer bonuses to agents or buyers: consider offering a bonus to the first agent to bring in a full price offer, or offer to pay closing costs for a buyer (this might be especially attractive for first time buyers).  I’ve even heard of buyers offering to pay a years worth of homeowner’s association fees. Be creative.
8. Use the power of the web and your personal networks to market your house:  Don’t rely on the listing that your agent has put online to sell your house. Use other online venues to help sell your house.  Put an ad on craigslist, use sites like zillow.com or trulia.com, get your own url with the house’s address (4000wooodland.com), promote the house through social media like facebook and twitter, and send out a copy of your listing to people on your email list.  Sometimes word of mouth is one of the best ways to market a house.
9. Get a good agent to help you sell:  Get a good agent to help sell your house, not a friend of a friend – or your aunt Agnes who just got her real estate license. Your house is one of your biggest assets, and this is no time to do someone else a favor.   Call a local real estate office and ask for their top salesperson.  Interview a few agents and ask them to tell you what their marketing plan is for your home.   Use someone who understands the power of the internet, the importance of good wide angle interior photos, and an overall marketing strategy for  your house.
10. When the house is showing, keep the house clean and don’t be there!:  When you are having an open house, or the house is having a showing, make sure that you aren’t there. There’s nothing more annoying than having the home’s owners in a house when you’re trying to look at it.  Also, make sure to keep the house spic and span to make sure that it shows well.  Finally consider baking cookies before a showing, or lighting one of those cinnamon roll candles. It will give the house a pleasant aroma, and people will feel at home.

Selling your house in a down market isn’t an easy task, but you can still do some hard work along the way and make your chances that much better.  In the end your house will show better, and you’ll be able to sell your house that much quicker.

Do you have your own tips for things that can make a home sell faster?  Were there things that you did when selling your house that made it more attractive to buyers?  Let us know about it in the comments!

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10 Tips To Help Sell Your Home Fast In A Down Market

I‘ve been blogging for well over a year now, and in that time I’ve built up a considerable archive of articles. In fact, I’ve now published over 660 articles on this site. We’ve come a long way in the past year, going from a small blog that no one was reading, to the point where we now enjoy tens of thousands of readers every month. I feel truly blessed to have been able to make a small contribution to the blogosphere, and I thank you all for sticking with us.

Today I thought we could take a look at some of our best articles from 1 year go in June 2008. (hat tip to Simple Dollar for this idea)

One Year Ago On Bible Money Matters (June 2008)

• Financial Peace University Week By Week: It was just over a year ago that we started taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.  We were greatly impacted by the class, and you can read about our experience starting here.
• Save Like You’re Paying Off A High Interest Debt:  This post uses an illustration from the Back To The Future movies, how could you not like it?
• Saving Money At The Movies This Summer: Finding things to do during the summer and staying within a budget can be tough.  This post looked at ways you can be entertained at the movies without spending a ton of money.
• Sad News -  Passing Of A Loving Grandmother: My grandmother passed away a year ago this month.  We all miss her greatly, but we’re rejoicing that she’s now in heaven!
• Food Is A Big Expense.  20 Ways To Save On Food: One of our biggest expenditures in our budget is our food budget.  Here are some ways we’ve found to cut down on how much we’re spending.
• 7 Questions That Can Change Your Life:  I’m not sure that these questions changed my life, but looking back it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come from my answers then. 1 year ago this month I was getting my first adsense check from this blog (adsense has increased substantially since then), and we were still in the midst of taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course (since then we’ve taught the class).  Other areas discussed I’ve still got a lot of work to do.
• Lies And Money: What Are You Keeping From Your Spouse?: This article talks about how important communication in marriage is, and how lies about money (or other things) can harm a marriage.
• Automated Tithing: A New Way To Give: This  guest post talked about a new trend in churches, tithing via an automated tithing machine (ATM).  Personally I still prefer the discipline (and worship) of actually writing a check every week.

So those are a few of my better posts from last  year at this time.   I think a lot of the posts are quite good, and it’s challenging me when I read them to make sure I continue writing things up to those standards.  Find other articles from the past year and a half in our Archive, or read some of my favorites on our Best Of  Page.  Some of the older posts don’t have many comments, so chime in with your thoughts now!

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Going Back In Time: This Month Last Year on Bible Money Matters

The past week was a sad one as we saw the passing of several well known celebrities. The week started off with the passing of affable Johnny Carson sidekick and veteran of two wars, Ed McMahon. He was always able to light up the stage with his easy going demeanor, and he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy. The week went on and we also saw the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Farrah and Michael both died too young, with Farrah passing after a hard battle with cancer, and Michael passing after having a heart attack (source unknown?).  How many of us have memories of Michael Jackson’s music from our younger years?

Two of these celebrities have something in common, more than just their celebrity status. Both Michael Jackson and Ed McMahon had been in financial trouble within the past few years. Seems they both had problems understanding one key financial concept that remains constant whether you’re making $20,000 a year or 20 million.   If you want to succeed, you can’t spend more than you make.

Ed McMahon And Foreclosure

Ed McMahon has been in show business for decades.  We all remember him from the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,  Star Search and all of those Publisher’s Clearing House ads.  Over the years Ed McMahon had earned a fortune through his various endeavors.  By all accounts his financial situation should have been quite secure.  The problem was, Ed wasn’t the greatest with the finances.   One rep described his money problems:

His rep, Howard Bragman, further felt McMahon’s money mess was a result of a confluence of “bad health, bad economy, bad housing market.”

When you look a bit deeper, however, you’ll see that McMahon wasn’t very disciplined in his spending. According to a variety of sources he was generous to a fault, always being overly generous to everyone around him. One friend who helped write two books with McMahon said,

“Being Ed McMahon was an expensive proposition,” he said. A lot of cash “went to tips,” noted Fisher, who recalled walking through hotel lobbies with McMahon as he would hand out money to anyone who helped him.

He also lost a large amount of money helping his 3rd wife to launch a failed clothing line.  Add to that several expensive failed marriages, and within the past year Ed McMahon found himself in over 1.5 million dollars worth of debt.  What did he owe on?

He owed approximately $644,000 in payments on a nearly $5 million mortgage loan.  He also owed American Express almost $750,000 in unpaid bills, along with having an outstanding loan of $135,000 to yet a 3rd company.

Ed McMahon had been facing foreclosure on his home within the past year and had been scrambling to scrape up the money to cover his expenses, even doing a commercial along with MC Hammer for a company called “Cash4Gold” in his last year.

If only Ed had learned earlier the importance of having a solid financial plan, and of spending less than you earn, he might have left a larger financial legacy.

Michael Jackson And His Millions In Debt

Michael Jackson is an even more severe case of someone who didn’t live out the concept of living within a budget.  Despite the fact that he had made hundreds of millions of dollars over his career, Michael died with a mountain of debt, by some estimates at the time of his death he was in debt by over 400 million dollars.  Before he died he was planning on coming out of retirement  in the coming months to help pay for some of those debts, and to struggle to get his life back on track.

During his career Michael sold over 61 million albums, owned rights to the Beatles catalog, and even had  a popular ride at Disney World.  He had made hundreds of millions of dollars, and because of it he was able to live a lavish lifestyle. Even so, he lived a bit too lavishly.   During one of his very public trials, the details of Michael’s finances came out in the public eye.

One forensic accountant testified that the singer had an “ongoing cash crisis” and was spending $20 million to $30 million more per year than he earned.

Jackson was known to go on lavish shopping sprees, spending millions of dollars on antiques, toys and other things.    There are stories of him flipping through high end catalogs and ordering every item on every page.  Or other stories of him spending $150,000 in a few minutes at London’s Harrods store, or $250,000 on antiques in Beverly Hills.  And of course there was the millions he spent on plastic surgery.

At some point Michael took out a 200 million dollar loan against this Beatles catalog rights, in order to continue to finance his lifestyle.

What legacy does he leave for his 3 children?  A mountain of debt, and the possible hopes of being able to dig out of the debt in order to have something left over?

What Do Their Stories Tell Us

What can we learn from Ed McMahon and Michael Jackson’s stories of financial woe?  What could they have done differently?

Personally I think their stories point out how even the most basic of personal finance advice can be excellent advice – at any income.  The advice?  Make sure to spend less than you earn, and save and invest the rest.

Make sure that you have a solid financial plan, and at the very least that you have someone around you helping you to make good decisions about your money.  It sounds to me as if neither of these men had anyone there to help keep them accountable, and that they both just enjoyed spending money on the things they wanted, or the people that surrounded them.  In the end even though their incomes were as large as some small countries, they spent more than they had made.  It lead them to financial ruin.

The last point that this illustrates to me is the futility of trying to spend your way to happiness.  Money has never yet made someone happy. Sure, it can buy you momentary fun, and fleeting happiness, but in the end you can only find true happiness and inner peace through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:7-10

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Spending Less Than You Earn. Sound Advice At Any Income