Over the last two years we’ve become frequent fliers at your hospitals. Our daughter has an undiagnosed Leukodystrophy and, as such, reacts abnormally to or has a difficult time fighting off the variety of ailments that beset her. She is tube fed, immobile, and unable to speak. A week ago we were on a family vacation in Idaho and she became very sick. She began vomiting frequently and couldn’t retain the smallest amounts of liquid. Her skin felt hot and she appeared extremely lethargic. We took her to the IHC emergency room in Burley, ID to get her the help she needed.

Three times while in the emergency room we recounted the events that had occurred leading up to our arrival and the history of our daughter’s Leukodystrophy. Eventually tests were ran which showed low glucose levels and an extraordinarily high heart rate–both symptoms of dehydration. She was given fluids and glucose to a point where she seemed to be responding well enough for us to cut our vacation short and make our way back home. They directed that if there were any problems in the meantime to be sure to take her to the nearest emergency room.

The trip back home is approximately four hours. During the trip home she moaned in a way that seemed to express pain but we figured it may be a result of the trauma she had endured over the past day. When we got home, she was acting very similar to how she was before we took her to the hospital earlier. She was very unresponsive and resisted opening her eyes or making any movement. When we tried giving her a few drops of water in her mouth using a wet sponge she immediately vomited. Again her heart rate was elevated and her skin felt hot. It was obvious something was wrong and she needed liquids fast. We rushed to the IHC emergency room in American Fork, UT about five minutes away.

The lobby was empty and it did not appear as though many, if any, patients were being attended to within the ER. I showed the secretary our unresponsive daughter and requested that fluids be provided quickly and that we already knew she was dealing with dehydration. Again we were asked to explain the events that had occurred–not only since our trip to the IHC hospital earlier in the day but also the events previous and the circumstances surrounding her Leukodystrophy. We were asked to explain the same to the nurse who took her vitals, weight, etc. Ten minutes had passed and no liquids had been requested.

We were brought back to the emergency room where a different nurse cheerfully chatted with our newborn son who we had brought in the car seat, asked what his name was, and when he was born. By all means, she had a heart of gold and I would love to bring in my photo albums so she could get acquainted with my family tree, but my daughter continued declining and, as though I should have to point out, we’re in the emergency room! Again, we were asked to recount the history of events and details of her Leukostrophy. We made sure this nurse, too, was aware our daughter needed liquids ASAP.

Twenty minutes into our hospital visit the doctor came in. Again we were asked to recount the history of events and details of our daughter’s Leukostrophy. A half hour had passed since we entered the emergency room and no fluids were to be seen. On the flip side, I was able to partake in the reminiscing of recent class reunion hilarity that ensued at the nurse’s station while my daughter continued on the decline. Nay, not only that, but I was able to graciously provide my credit card to pay for care we had not yet received, look for insurance cards that turned out to already be in the system, and for the fourth time answer such urgent and diagnostic questions as “And who’s your employer?”

I pitched a fit. I made a scene. I’m sincerely not one to get upset easily or desire to make any sort of disturbance especially in a place of healing. But that day I did everything in my power to ensure your employees knew we were in an emergency room and there was an emergency to be treated. The doctor’s response: “Your child isn’t going to die if we don’t give her fluids right away.” Is that so? Were those your findings the last time you treated an undiagnosed Leukodystrophy patient suffering from severe dehydration the previous doctors thought they had under control? Why are we in the emergency room at all then? Who cares if her energy is sapped to render her unable to avoid aspirating her own vomit? Who cares if her system continues shutting down or her body starts eating away the little muscle she has. Send us home with a bottle of water or maybe I can call in my extended family and we can all kick back and talk about who our employers are! Hell’s bells–I’d venture at least 95% of the people going into the emergency room wouldn’t die if we sat on our hands for a while. Let’s all go have a coffee break, shall we?

After finally getting her hooked up to fluids and reviewing some of her tests she took an ambulance ride to the IHC Primary Chidren’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. We repeated the routine. Two more times we described the events. Two more times we gave the history of her Leukodystrophy. Two more times I answered who my employer was and a handful-dozen other questions I had answered several times previously that same day. Our daughter was hospitalized for three days following to be treated and recover from what appeared to be an intestinal virus.

I realize this may be entirely ignored or we may be discredited as over-dramatic parents. Or, on the other hand, you might consider the improvements that could be made, a higher standard that could be achieved, or that patients might be able to arrive at your hospitals with the expectation of timely treatment and professional service.

Sincerely,

Aaron Hardy

Hi, we currently own a home and are looking to purchase a larger one for our growing family. Should we buy now or wait until the bad housing market is over?

When it comes to buying and selling homes, “bad” is a relative word. If you’re trying to sell your home and you’re underwater in your mortgage (owe more than the home is worth) then, yeah, it’s a bad market. But mortgage financing aside–if we’re strictly talking house prices–it’s very possible you have a good housing market and a great time to buy!

When buying and selling a house in a fluctuating market, it’s important to understand the idea of price compression. The concept is very simple and is illustrated below:

For both houses, you’ll see the price before the housing market crash on the left and the price during the housing market crash on the right. Notice that both houses drop 20% or, in other words, they “compress” at the same rate. Although in reality they don’t always compress at exactly the same rate, they’re usually similar enough to be used as a general rule. They dropped by the same percentage but different dollar amounts because of how much the houses were originally worth.

With this in mind, if you currently own the small house and are looking to purchase the large house, you could in essence say you’re losing $20,000 but are simultaneously saving $60,000. It’s a great time to “trade up”! On the other hand, if you’re looking to “trade down” then the opposite is true: you’re losing $60,000 but saving $20,000. If you’re not looking at trading at all but instead are going from renting to owning, it’s a relatively good time to buy. If you’re going from owning to renting, it’s a relatively bad time. This all assumes, of course, that you believe we’re near the bottom of the housing dip and don’t have farther to go. Good luck!

Being the frugal fella you are, you have spare cash each month and you need to decide what to do with it. You probably have several options: pay down the mortgage, pay down student loans, invest in a retirement account, pay off credit card debt (credit card debt? but you’re a frugal fella, right?), or put it under a mattress. Whether you’re earning interest or paying interest, these can still be compared to find the most qualified suitor for your cash. Let’s take a look at some numbers, however accurate they may be, for each of these sinkholes:

• Pay down the mortgage: 5% (mortgage interest rate)
• Pay down student loans: 4% (student loan interest rate)
• Invest in a retirement account: 9% (rate of return)
• Pay off credit card debt: 12% (credit card interest rate)
• Put it under a mattress: 0% (rate of return)

Now, if you subscribe to the idea that you should put your extra cash in the one with the highest rate, this would lead you to believe you should pay down the credit card. Most people would stop there.

But let’s look at PMI. First things first: lenders are required by law to remove PMI once the balance of the mortgage reaches 78% of the original value of the property (given your payments are current). Technically they are able to remove PMI prior to 78% but that’s another story and we’ll play conservatively. Let’s say we purchased our home for $200,000 and so far we’ve paid the mortgage down to $165,000. 78% of $200,000 is $156,000 so we’re $9,000 from being free of PMI. We pay $100/month for PMI and our mortgage interest rate is 5%.

We may or may not have a full $9,000 to pay down our mortgage but, regardless, assuming so will more easily allow us to determine if this is where we should sink our cash. If we had the full $9,000, what would be the cost of putting it under our mattress versus paying down the mortgage? 5% of $9,000 is $450. This is the amount of annual interest we would save if we paid down the mortgage. Another way to look at it: this is the amount we would pay on annual mortgage interest if we stashed the $9,000 under our mattress instead. Now add PMI. PMI in our example is $100/month so over a year this tallies up to $1,200! Now let’s add the interest and the PMI together and we arrive at $1,650. This is the true opportunity cost/gain for the $9,000 with regard to the mortgage.

Now let’s calculate our opportunity cost/gain in the form of a percentage so we can compare it with our other candidates. $1,650 / $9,000 = 18.3%! The option of paying down the mortgage just went from 5% to 18% which is even higher than the massive credit card interest rate of 12%! Run the numbers for your own situation and see what you come up with.

Not So Fast

Before sinking all your extra funds into your mortgage to remove PMI, consider the following:

Pay-off cliff. PMI is somewhat of a different beast from interest. If we paid $1000 on our example mortgage we would immediately save ourselves from paying $50 each year on interest. On the other hand, the $1000 wouldn’t save us from paying the same amount in PMI until we paid all $9,000 that’s needed to get to the 78% PMI removal “cliff”. This causes some interesting effects. For example, the farther you are from the pay-off cliff the lower your opportunity cost/gain will appear for paying down the mortgage. Keep this in mind when paying down the mortgage as paying down $8,999 in our example is going to do you much less good than $9,000. Don’t run and pass out right before you reach the cliff.

Tax deductions. At least through 2011, mortgage interest and private mortgage insurance (PMI) is tax deductible though starts to phase out once your gross income reaches $100,000. Roughly, this means if your tax bracket is 25% then your opportunity cost/gain for the mortgage interest and PMI should be reduced by 25%. In our case, the 18.3% would more accurately be reflected as 13.75%.

Mind over math. Not all people feel you should pay down debts with the highest interest first. Dave Ramsey and other smart people like him believe that paying down debt is as much of an emotional game as it is mathematical. To get the emotional drive from quick, up-front wins, Dave recommends paying down debts with the lowest balance first–not necessary the highest interest.

Liquidity. Home equity is not a very liquid asset. In other words, if you lose your job and your kids are going to starve, it’s difficult to sell the house to feed their faces. Liquidity is itself of value and may be a great reason to store some savings elsewhere.

Vet your options. I’ve kept things pretty simple but life is good at throwing curve-balls. Make sure you understand the benefits of putting your money in each of your options. If your employer is offering a 401(k) match, that’s likely a 50% to 100% immediate return (keep vesting in mind) that should not be turned down. Likewise, there are tax advantages and implications all over the place. Be smart. My main goal of this article is to keep you from sweeping PMI under the rug and instead mathematically incorporating it into your financial decisions.

A pedestal elevates a washer or dryer so you don’t have to bend down as far. Yes, we’re that lazy. And tall. And the wifers has a bad back. And apparently the rest of America is in the same boat because you can purchase them at your nearest appliance store for a mere $200 or more per pedestal. No thanks. Instead, I bought a bunch of wood, screws, and paint from Home Depot and made our own. Homemade they cost around $30 per pedestal.

Here’s a tour:

Here’s the material I used for a single pedestal:

• (1) Top board: 27″ x 27″ x 23/32″ CDX plywood
• (1) Back board: 27″ x 15″ x 23/32″ CDX plywood
• (2) Side boards: 26 9/32″ x 15″ x 23/32″ CDX plywood
• (3) Top supports: 25 18/32″ x 3.5″ x 1.5″ aka two-by-fours
• (6) Side supports: 13 1/2″ x 3.5″ x 1.5″ aka two-by-fours
• 3″ and 2″ wood screws
• 1 liter black paint
• 3″ paintbrush

When I purchased the wood at Home Depot, they also cut the wood for me for free which was a huge score and saved me a bunch of trouble. I also used my electric sander to make sure the legs and supports were all even and get rid of any slivers. To help protect the floor and cushion any shaking, I glued straps of carpet to the bottom of the pedestal legs using Gorilla Glue.

Overall, we’re really pleased with the outcome. They do a great job holding the weight of the washer and dryer, look great, and saved us a bundle of money.

Exhibit A

As a boy scout I remember being taught principles of emergency preparedness. One of the principles stated that, when in an emergency, never say “Someone call 9-1-1!” Instead, point to a specific person and say, “You–call 9-1-1!”

The principle was simple and the difference small, but the effect of assigning specific responsibility could be a matter of life and death.

At my church I’ve been charged with the role of keeping membership records up to date. This includes updating the computer system when members move in or out of the church unit, receive or are released from callings, are baptized, are ordained to priesthood offices, etc. In order to get this information into the computer system, I first must receive or track down the required information. This is also the most difficult part of what I do.

When I was called to the position, very few, if any, processes existed for this exchange of information. Soon enough, I began to discover that several baptisms went unrecorded. The list of callings soon became outdated. The reason? A lack of processes and responsibility.

Who was responsible for delivering the information to me? Or was I responsible for asking someone else? If I should ask someone else, who should I ask? Who else needs to know?

When asking the advice of a superior, I received the following instruction. Forgive me if you’re not acquainted with LDS lingo.

(1) The clerk should give you the information.
(2) Or one of the bishopric.
(3) Or you could ask the president or secretary of the organization.
(4) Or you could write it down if it’s announced.

And that’s also the problem. Nobody knew who was supposed to do what and everyone thought everyone else was doing it. More avenues of communication can, and in this case did, actually decrease the effectiveness of communication. Just like telling everyone to call 9-1-1 in an emergency, a lack of declared responsibility resulted in no responsibility and what should have occurred didn’t occur at all.

Since then, we’ve begun a process where a certain form flows from one entity to another until it reaches my box. This is very effective in helping people know where the buck is–who currently is responsible for taking the next action. If everyone does his/her part, the paper should end up in my box and I make the appropriate updates. Unfortunately, this only covers a portion of the information that needs to be entered into the system, but it’s a good start.

Exhibit B

At work, we use programming frameworks to help out with our application development. After having worked at the company for six months, I noticed the framework we were using had been patched and plugged one too many times. In my “spare” time, I re-wrote the framework to give us a clean start. Although I had been charged with providing direction on that specific framework, I wasn’t ever declared the keeper of frameworks. Even so, other employees began asking why we weren’t using X framework or why we weren’t using Y standard.

Hmm…interesting question. The direct answer was probably that the company as a whole never decided otherwise. But maybe the question was deeper than that. Maybe the questioner wanted to know my personal thoughts on X framework. Thoughts I have and thoughts I can share. Or maybe the questioner wanted to know if we could use X framework? I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind making that decision, but I wasn’t really given the authority and frankly I didn’t want to steal authority from someone who had or thought they had such authority.

Fortunately, the company had some structural reorganization where a co-worker was officially assigned the responsibility of managing frameworks and standards. The immediate benefits are:

(1) Employees now know who they can lobby for change in frameworks and standards.
(2) The keeper of frameworks and standards knows he/she holds the responsibility and is empowered to effect change.
(3) The concerns and needs regarding frameworks and standards can be represented in appropriate meetings.
(4) The keeper of frameworks and standards can hopefully be recognized for service rendered.

Exhibit C

A few years ago I was an intern at ExxonMobil as a software engineer. Prior to the internship, I was used to start-ups and small businesses where I had a huge amount of control over most aspects of my work. If I ever needed an application on my computer, I installed it. No questions asked.

At ExxonMobil, I quickly discovered this wasn’t going to be the case. We quite literally had one person to set up authentication, one to set up computer hardware, one to set up the operating system, one to set up specific software, one to handle networking, one to handle support requests, and so on. On top of that, employees would have to funnel required forms through management to get approval for most any action.

My responsibility was to create a business application in ASP.NET. Incidentally, it was to implement yet another permissions-based process. To develop the application effectively, I needed Visual Studio on my machine. The paperwork had already started its journey before I arrived for the internship. By the end of the internship four months later, there was still no sign of Visual Studio on my machine. For four months I remote desktopped into a computer residing on another floor of the building that happened to have Visual Studio. Installing Firefox or the Firebug plugin to debug the application? There’s a form for that too.

There was a form for everything. To be fair, a lot of this “bureaucracy” was probably created in an effort to decrease legal risk and avoid yet another Enron scandal. Even so, the processes really hampered productivity and in the end influenced my decision not to join the company full-time.

Exhibit D

Several years back I worked for a company developing user interfaces for in-cab taxi internet and the company’s website. I worked directly under two co-founders who, to my knowledge, had the same level of decision-making power.

After developing a portion of the interface, I would show it to co-founder A who would request a change. I’d make the change, then show it to co-founder B who would then request a change in the opposite direction. I’d make the change, then show it to co-founder A who would request the opposite of what co-founder B requested. It wasn’t my intent to go back and forth between the two co-founders; it just so happened that one co-founder would be around when the other wasn’t. Rather than sitting around for the co-founder who made the request, I wanted to get quick approval so I could move onto the next task. This resulted in huge amounts of time going back and forth between opposing demands.

To some extent, this has happened at every job I’ve held. It’s almost inevitable, but the occasions should be few. In this case, it wasn’t a huge personal detriment because I was being paid hourly, but the company unnecessarily lost money and nobody likes being unproductive.

Find out who makes the decisions early on and which decisions they make. If the client doesn’t know, help them find out. If you as the consultant have been given decision-making authority, know which decisions that responsibility covers. And remember–even if someone has been delegated decision-making responsibility, they still almost always have a boss that can override their decision. A VP is still subordinate to the CEO. The CEO is still subordinate to the board of directors. The board of directors is still subordinate to the shareholders. The shareholders are still, in effect, subordinate to the customers. Even if someone has been delegated responsibility, the chances are you’ll still find someone “higher-up” that disagrees. Know who makes the decisions and be nimble.

Have experiences of your own? Care to share?

Effective immediately, I’m extending an invitation to all Quiznos franchisees to contact me for employment as a Quiznos Cup Dancer. But here are my demands:

• I must wear the Quiznos cup (illustrated here).
• I must pay you, Quiznos, the hourly wage you would normally pay a Quiznos Cup Dancer.
• I must wear it for a single hour, after which I may and will terminate my employment.
• I must commit my full efforts to provide the best Quiznos Cup Dance you have ever personally witnessed.

Contact me. I’m waiting. Little Caesars franchisees need not apply.

Let me illustrate. Picture in your mind a man in his mid-thirties sitting on a couch watching the boob tube while licking his fingers clean of Cheeto residue. What if he said he didn’t have time? Would you agree? Seriously, go ahead and answer.

What if I then said the man had just finished working a sixteen hour shift? He hardly has the energy to cook so he opts for the convenience of Cheetos. While he eats his Cheetos he decided to turn on the T.V. for a few minutes to catch up on what’s going on around the world by watching the nightly news. Now does he “have time?”

Now take the VP of a Fortune 500 accounting firm in mid-April. Does he “have time?” His time is so valuable, he makes more as a Christmas bonus than his assistant makes in a decade. Surely he doesn’t have time. Oh, but wait. Just an hour ago his wife called to inform him his daughter had been kidnapped while walking home from school. How about now?

You get my point. I’m providing some fairly exaggerated examples, but even seemingly black-and-white examples can draw some very different opinions when it comes to “having time.” The truth is, the phrase “I don’t have time” can mean widely different things to different people in different circumstances. While some may simply use the phrase as a facade to a deeper meaning of “I don’t care” or “I don’t want to,” I’ve found it’s more often used as a means of saying, “It’s low enough on my priority list that I won’t get around to it.” And this is where the misunderstanding comes in.

To some, if the people who “don’t have time” are doing anything other than actively working, whether it be hammering nails, typing reports, or digging trenches, they have time. But just as our bodies cannot survive without sleep or food, some find they likewise cannot survive without taking a few deep breaths of fresh outside air, exercising, reading their children to sleep, or even working on some side projects. Their mental/spiritual/physical/emotional health can literally depend on it at times. At other times they’re merely personal preferences. And yet other times they can be influenced by pressure from third parties. These priorities are different for each person and each person ultimately sets his/her own. When priorities for two different people don’t match up, some can be offended, feel disillusioned, or find themselves having to justify their claim.

I’m not trying to declare any one perspective of the phrase “I don’t have time” as more accurate than the others. Au contraire. I simply believe the phrase “I don’t have time” is subjective and should be treated as such. In the end, having time = having priority and priority is individual.

Understand the lingo.
In real estate, if you don’t understand the lingo, you risk locking yourself into something you didn’t really understand.  In today’s society, most people would call this “being taken advantage of”.  I call it being irresponsible and unprepared.

Here’s my list of lingo items I feel each home buyer should know and understand.  Each are linked to their respective Wikipedia articles, though you can find numerous resources online through any search engine like Google that I would recommend checking out.

• Mortgage Broker
• Mortgage Banker
• Realtor/Real Estate Broker (vs. not using a realtor)
• Foreclosure
• Short-sale
• PMI
• FHA vs. conventional loans
• Piggyback loan
• Mortgage points
• Origination fee
  
• Good faith estimate
• Assessment vs. appraisal
• Inspection
• Balloon payment
• Title insurance
• Property insurance
• HOA
• CC&R

If you know what those mean and how to act upon them, I’d say you’re ahead of the game and well-prepared.

Determine if you need a realtor.
I’m not going to go through all the reasons you should or should not have a realtor; I just want to bring up the idea that it may not be in your best interest to have a realtor, especially if you already know the area and are willing to put forth the effort to research the local real estate markets, understand legalities, and schedule the inspection, appraisal, etc.  Usually when you purchase a house, your realtor gets paid by the seller.  While you may initially think there’s no down-side to having a buyer’s realtor agent, do realize that some sellers will offer some fairly deep discounts if you come without an agent.  Most agents will require you to sign paperwork stating essentially that you will not go house-hunting without them.  Understandably, they don’t want to be cut out of the deal after they have put forth effort to help you.  Remember it’s easy to get a realtor, but difficult to get rid of one.

Determine how much you can afford.
Crack open Excel and crunch numbers.  In our case, I had just recently changed jobs, we were weeks away from having our first child, and weeks away from my wife quitting her job to be a stay-at-home mom.  And I’m supposed to know how much we can spend each month on a house?   It’s not easy, but you have to do your best.  Write down all your expenses that you can think of including outstanding debt payments, saving for retirement, saving for your children’s college fund (if you choose), and saving for an emergency fund.  Subtract all these expenses from your net income (how much you take home each month).  Don’t assume that this is how much  you can then spend on your house.  Give yourself a healthy padding for unexpected expenses, change in jobs, etc.  Ask yourself some questions: What would happen if our car broke down and needed to be replaced?  What would happen if I suddenly broke my back and needed a couple months off work?  What would happen if I lost my job?  If you can answer these questions and still feel comfortable with your estimates, you’re on your way.

Consider a short-sale or foreclosure.
Since you’re likely currently renting, you may have flexibility in your contract.  If so, hunker down and go for a short-sale or foreclosure.  They take time and patience but can be immensely worth it.  There are plenty of options out there currently and ripe for the pickins.

Go house hunting.
Research the area in which you’d like to buy the house.  Use online websites such as City-Data.com, Homefair, and Zillow to learn more about potential buying areas.

Create a wishlist of everything you would like in a house.  Sit down and make your MoSCoW lists (must, should, could, won’t haves).  If you’re using a realtor, review these with him/her.  It’s the realtor’s job to take this list and find houses that match.  If they don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll waste a lot of time.  Be upfront with them on what you do/don’t like about the houses you see.  Take photos and notes of all the houses; you’ll have a hard time remembering them if you don’t.

Be patient but realistic when trying to find the perfect house.  There are always new houses available for sale to choose from, but it’s likely you’ll never find your perfect house.  When you find a match, don’t be afraid to pull the trigger, especially if it’s a short-sale.  Laws may vary by location, but usually you can submit offers on as many short-sales as you’d like.  Even if one is accepted, you can still turn it down.  With houses that are not short-sales however, you are under contract if your offer is accepted and cannot back out under most circumstances without a penalty.

In our case, we looked at approximately 15 houses in person and ended up buying the second house.  We looked at many, many more online to drill down to the ones we actually wanted to visit.

Make the banker/broker work for your money, especially if you have good credit.
Do not just go to one broker and call him your broker.  Go to several and ask a lot of questions.  Send their good faith estimates (ask for digital copies) to each other and have them try to beat the others.  Never feel bad for asking questions and doing things on your own terms.  In the end, you’re the one stuck with your mortgage and it’s likely you’ll never talk to your broker or realtor again after you sign your life away.

Don’t feel pressure to go with a realtor family member or friend.  Unless you really trust him/her, I’d actually suggest against it.  The safety of having someone you know doing your work can easily be offset by higher interest rates (honesty and friendship do not always mean least expensive) or bad feelings if a mistake is made or expectations aren’t met.

Get an inspection.
An inspection may be a few hundred dollars, but they can save you thousands.  Even if the inspection doesn’t turn up a faulty foundation or a roof that needs to be replaced, it can still highlight items that may be safety hazards or can be used for bargaining with the seller.

Lock in your interest rate.
Despite some popular beliefs, you’ll very likely have no idea whether mortgage interest rates will go up or down.  You could wait and hope they go down (called floating the rate).  Or you can take what’s currently available and ensure you get that rate (called locking the rate).  By locking the rate, you’re guaranteed you will get the interest rate you locked if you complete the home purchase within a given period of time (usually 30 days).   This ensures the interest rates don’t jump way up out of your budget range right before you sign the closing documents.  If such were the case, you could end up losing a house you really like and paying a fat penalty for backing out.  On the other hand, if you don’t lock or wait to lock you might get a lower rate.  You weigh the risks involved and make your decision.  There’s no clear-cut answer on whether the rates will go up or down and you’ll drive yourself crazy trying to foresee the future.  Unless you’re up for a risky ride, be safe and lock your interest rate as soon as possible.

Read everything.
Recently a news story portrayed a woman who speculated in the housing market by purchasing a handful of condos in Florida with hopes that their values would soon rise as they had done in the past.  She said she didn’t read the paperwork because so many of her friends were doing the same thing and they were all making big money.  After the mortgage crisis, she reported she had lost a lot of money in her real estate purchases and was treated unfairly because she didn’t know what she was getting into.

Wrong.  If you don’t read the paperwork, you have nobody to blame but yourself. If you don’t understand it, find someone who does or sign it knowing that you are the one opting out of understanding it.

Enjoy the ride.
While buying a house may be stressful, it should also be fun.  It’s not every day you can throw down a John Hancock on something worth thousands of thousands of dollars.  It’s now your house and you can do almost anything you want with it.  Don’t like a wall?  Knock it down.  Don’t like the color?  Paint it.  It’s great to own a house as long as it’s financially smart.  Figure out what’s financially smart and go have fun.

I’m not that tall! I understand the concept of Economies of Scale, but I know three things don’t add up:

1. I’ve perused or shopped at most major retail stores and have never personally seen nor purchased a pair of jeans with a length greater than 34 inches.
2. I would be willing to pay at least 20% more for a good pair of jeans greater than 34 inches in length.
3. I know I’m not the only man in this valley taller than 6′ 4″.

For the love, can someone flip me a freakin’ fetchin’ bone here? Does anyone other than Google know where I can find, try on, and purchase jeans with > 34″ length and ~34 waist?