Losing Money In Real Estate A True Story

Posted: April 5th, 2022 by Admin

Submitted by: Steve Gillman

What if you were able to buy a decent two bedroom home for about $30,000, fix it up a little and put it on the market for $80,000? Do you think you could make some money that way? This is the story of a man who lost it all that way, followed by a few lessons to be learned from his sad tale.

The story takes place in 2002, in a mountain town in Montana, where the last of the good jobs had left town twenty-two years earlier when the copper smelter closed. It is a beautiful town, but the resulting economic decline caused a population decline of more than 30%, down to about 7,000 or 8,000 people. My wife and I bought a great little house there for $17,500, so home prices had obviously tumbled along with the population.

A neighbor, at eighty-years-old, decided to become a real estate investor. He bought the house next to us for around $30,000, and borrowed more from the bank to fix the place up. Given the price of our own home and the fact that this other house wasn’t nearly as nice, I wondered if he had overpaid. He seemed sure that he had a good deal, though and could make some money.

As the weeks went by, he did get the place looking better. He put in an incredible fireplace, and new carpeting. The electricians worked on the old wiring on and off for a long time, always finding something else that needed to be done, and then taking their time doing it. The old guy was paying by the hour, with no contract, of course. The heating system needed replacing, at which point our neighbor mentioned, “I didn’t know the house had so many problems.” At some point his enthusiasm started to fail.

His bank account started to fail too. Eventually he admitted to me that he had over $65,000 into the place, but still seemed certain he could sell the home for $80,000. I politely nodded. It was too late to say anything anyhow. He didn’t even have money to fix up the rusty iron fence around the house. In fact, from the outside, the appearance had hardly changed at all, since all his money went into the interior.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HWcViTXdYc[/youtube]

The sign went up, though I am not sure why the real estate agent wanted such a listing. Perhaps it was with the hope that he would maintain the listing when the bank took the house and dropped the price. In the end, that is exactly what happened. “I gave the house back to the bank,” the old guy told me one day.

A Few Real Estate Lessons

I like this story because my old neighbor did so many things wrong. This makes it a great teaching story. Often real estate success consists as much in avoiding common mistakes as knowing intricate techniques. Here, then are some of the mistakes he made.

1. He had no plan. He had only a vague idea about what he would do and how much the home would sell for.

2. He had no idea of how to value a house. If he had compared the home to recent sales (like our $17,500 purchase next door) he would have realized that the most he would get for the home was probably around $30,000, if that.

3. He had no concept of his market. This was a two bedroom starter home. Buyers for these homes are not looking for a fancy fireplace.

4. He had no contracts or firm quotes from contractors. He let them find as much as they wanted to do and charge him by the hour.

5. He didn’t get an inspection. Had he gotten the home inspected, he might have had some idea of how many problems it had, and how much it would take to correct them.

6. He didn’t understand the concept of return on investment. Even if buyers liked the fireplace and other features he put into the home, these features probably increased the value less than what they cost.

7. He didn’t have enough money or financing lined up. This was a fortunate mistake, perhaps. Since the project was doomed to fail, it may have been good that he ran out of money.

Why not learn from the mistakes of others? As a side note, we selectively put $1,900 into our home there for a total investment (with purchase price and closing costs) of $19,800, and sold it for $28,000 four months after we bought it. We might have been lucky, but we also avoided some common real estate investing mistakes.

About the Author: Copyright Steve Gillman. For a Free Real Estate Investing Course, visit:

HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

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Home destroyed by fire in Geneva, Florida

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Home destroyed by fire in Geneva, Florida

Posted: April 4th, 2022 by Admin

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A mobile home in Seminole County, Florida burned down last night, leaving a man and his dog homeless. The cause of the blaze was determined as accidental.

Firefighters were alerted to a fire in a wooded area of Geneva at around 11 pm local time (0400 UTC) last night. By the time they reached the scene the house had already been destroyed and a brush fire had been started. It took them about two hours to extinguish the fire which engulfed the house and it took about 40 minutes to contain the brush fire. To combat the brush fire the Seminole fire department had to bring out equipment normally used to combat forest fires.

Firefighters were still on the scene up to eight hours later to ensure that the fire did not reignite. The man and his dog escaped from the house, however the man did sustain minor injuries. The Red Cross will assist the man with food, shelter and clothing for a few days.

A State Fire Marshal office investigator revealed that the fire was accidental and was caused by an unattended grill which ignited the house and subsequently the woods.

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Australian unemployment at lowest level in 30 years

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Australian unemployment at lowest level in 30 years

Posted: April 4th, 2022 by Admin

Friday, June 9, 2006

Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced Australia’s unemployment rate for May 2006 on Thursday. The rate had dropped to 4.9 percent, the first time since 1976 that unemployment in Australia had been below five percent.

Mr Howard said 56,000 full time jobs were created in May with 38,000 of those taken up by women. He said it was a symbol of how well his government was managing the economy. “The result is a wonderful symbol of the success of the Government’s economic policies.” said Mr Howard.

According to the government 1.8 million jobs have been created since it took office in March 1996.

The number of people actively seeking work also increased, a sign Mr Howard said that people are “confident of finding work.”

At an interview in Sydney, Mr Howard told reporters that he believed the unemployment rate would be driven down further when the benefits of his Workchoices industrial relations reforms begin to show. “I believe, as some of the effects of the workplace relations changes work their way through, then the unemployment rate, particularly in small business, will go down even further,” he said.

Mr Howard denied that Workchoices had any affect on the figures for May saying that it was too early to tell. “I am not going to make that claim. It’s only May’s figures and the changes only came in March. I think it is too early to make that claim” Mr Howard told reporters.

Following the announcement, Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey said that the rise in the number of jobs could not have happened without the government’s industrial relations reforms. “We wouldn’t have achieved these outcomes, particularly in employer hiring, without the changes we’ve made,”

“When employers have confidence in their hiring arrangements as the Workchoices gives them, they’re going to go out and hire more people” said Mr Tuckey.

Stephen Smith, workplace spokesperson for the opposition attacked Mr Tuckey’s claims, stating that all the government’s new industrial relations legislation has achieved is reduced wages. “The suggestion that somehow we’ve got these employment and unemployment figures as a result of 30 days of John Howard slashing wages is a complete nonsense,” he said.

“It’s great that we’ve got a 30-year low in unemployment but that’s a result of 15 years of continuous economic growth and a resources boom.” said Mr Smith.

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North Korea fires balistic missile from submarine

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North Korea fires balistic missile from submarine

Posted: April 4th, 2022 by Admin

Thursday, August 25, 2016

North Korea test fired a ballistic missile from a submarine yesterday, which landed in the Sea of Japan after traveling approximately 500 km (about 300 miles), according to officials of South Korea and the US.

The missile was fired from a submarine off North Korea’s east coast near Sinpo, officials said, and was reportedly North Korea’s first successful launch after missiles only traveled a small distance in previous tests. The South Korean military accused the North Korean government of using the test to increase military tension during the annual South Korean–US joint military drills, which involve 80,000 South Korean and US troops. North Korea has threatened a preemptive nuclear strike saying the drills were practice for an invasion.

This came on the same day as a meeting between the leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea where, according to Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, they “urge[d] North Korea to exercise self-restraint regarding its provocative action, and to observe the UN Security Council’s resolutions”. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the test’s intrusion into Japan’s air defense identification zone “a grave threat to our country’s security.”

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Curled Or Crooked Toes

Posted: April 3rd, 2022 by Admin

Curled or Crooked Toes by LifootcareDo your toes curl under? Do they look crooked in your shoes?Hammertoes, claw toes or mallet toes are toes that appear bent towards the floor. They look like they are curled underneath your feet and can look weird or unsightly. These toe problems usually occur in your lesser digits (toes 2 through 4) and can cause you pain, discomfort and you may even notice thickening of skin (a corn or a callus) forming on the top of your toes. It is not uncommon to have redness and swelling as well.What causes hammertoes?Hammertoes are usually caused by a muscle imbalance and over time this imbalance changes the structure of the foot which causes the toe(s) to bend. This condition can even be genetic! Additionally, hammertoes can be caused by wearing too-tight shoes that cause toes to curl under.Luckily, there are treatment options available to you to help take care of your hammertoes:- Change your shoe gear! You can prevent worsening of hammertoes by avoiding tight or constricting shoes.- If there is a corn or callus on the top of your toes, you can prevent irritation by protecting it from pressure and friction caused by shoes. You can use pads or shields to do so. We have them in the office, ask us about them!- Your muscle and tendon imbalance can be helped with the use of custom orthotics. Custom orthotics can help to reduce the amount of pressure applied to the parts of your feet to reduce the contracture and symptoms of painful hammertoes. Talk to us about custom orthotics and whether or not they can improve your condition.- Have you tried all of the above and are still experiencing pain and discomfort? You may be a surgical candidate. However, a thorough consultation is needed in order to determine if you are a candidate.Please schedule an appointment today to discuss what can be done about your toes! We have an office located in Manhasset (516) 869-3300 and Huntington (631) 427-3678 serving the Long Island community! We look forward to meeting you! Do your toes curl under? Do they look crooked in your shoes?Hammertoes, claw toes or mallet toes are toes that appear bent towards the floor. They look like they are curled underneath your feet and can look weird or unsightly. These toe problems usually occur in your lesser digits (toes 2 through 4) and can cause you pain, discomfort and you may even notice thickening of skin (a corn or a callus) forming on the top of your toes. It is not uncommon to have redness and swelling as well.What causes hammertoes?Hammertoes are usually caused by a muscle imbalance and over time this imbalance changes the structure of the foot which causes the toe(s) to bend. This condition can even be genetic! Additionally, hammertoes can be caused by wearing too-tight shoes that cause toes to curl under.Luckily, there are treatment options available to you to help take care of your hammertoes:- Change your shoe gear! You can prevent worsening of hammertoes by avoiding tight or constricting shoes.- If there is a corn or callus on the top of your toes, you can prevent irritation by protecting it from pressure and friction caused by shoes. You can use pads or shields to do so. We have them in the office, ask us about them!- Your muscle and tendon imbalance can be helped with the use of custom orthotics. Custom orthotics can help to reduce the amount of pressure applied to the parts of your feet to reduce the contracture and symptoms of painful hammertoes. Talk to us about custom orthotics and whether or not they can improve your condition.- Have you tried all of the above and are still experiencing pain and discomfort? You may be a surgical candidate. However, a thorough consultation is needed in order to determine if you are a candidate.Please schedule an appointment today to discuss what can be done about your toes! We have an office located in Manhasset (516) 869-3300 and Huntington (631) 427-3678 serving the Long Island community! We look forward to meeting you! For more information on foot problems, please contact Advanced Podiatry in Huntington, Manhasset, or Roslyn,NY today! Or visit http://www.lifootcare.com/ podiatrist manhassetArticle Source: eArticlesOnline.com

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“Woofstock” dog festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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“Woofstock” dog festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Posted: April 3rd, 2022 by Admin

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

North America’s largest outdoor dog festival came back to Toronto last weekend for its fifth year. It ran from the 9th of June to the 10th of June at Toronto’s historical St. Lawrence Market. A Wikinews reporter was there on Sunday to report on some of the events that happened on the last day.

The “Woofstock” dog festival attracted as many as 140,000 people with their dogs. The festival had tons of accessories, sold under tents, to buy for dogs; food, toys, designer clothes, and more. About 400 vendors and exhibitors were there to promote their products, which also gave private dog companies or groups a chance to show their new products. The local SPCA and some animal rescues were under tents answering questions from visitors. While walking, all visitors could see the CN Tower and other very tall buildings.

One of the local TV stations, Citytv, was there. They hosted a live event at the show which was broadcast on TV. People came up on the stage and asked questions regarding their dogs and the host and co-host answered them.

A man, who called himself the “Chalk Master”, drew two pictures on pavement with chalk. He did it for free but donations were welcome. One was a picture of a girl’s head beside a dog’s head, and another with a wolf.

“Hello Humans. I’ve been invited here to provide your eyeball(s), with some pretty colours. I don’t get paid as I work this weekend strictly for tips… so, if you like what you see please make a DONATION. If you don’t like it simply reach into the pocket of the person next to you and give me their money. CHALK MASTER.”

A contest called “Canada’s top dog” had its own tent with a professional photographer taking pictures of dogs behind a white screen; the winning photo is to be published on the cover of “Puppy and dog basics” magazine.

Large “Gourmet” dog bones were also served from a cart and table.

Next year’s festival is expected to be bigger and better with even more attractions.

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Building collapses, leaving four dead in Hong Kong

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Building collapses, leaving four dead in Hong Kong

Posted: April 3rd, 2022 by Admin

Monday, February 1, 2010

A decades-old building collapsed along Ma Tau Wai Road in Hong Kong at about 1:30pm on Friday, local time. That building was located at 45J, Ma Tau Wai Road in Hung Hom. A shop on its ground floor was undergoing renovations when the building collapsed. The street was full of dust afterwards. Firefighters arrived at the scene to search survivors and they asked residents in the buildings nearby to evacuate the area. Those buildings included 45G and 45H.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang called for an investigation into the cause of the building collapse. He aimed at preventing similar incidents. The government required all old buildings with similar structures to undergo inspection, according to Secretary for Development Carrie Lam.

The government has confirmed that four people were dead in the incident. Rescue efforts ended on Saturday morning when the government confirmed that no one was missing. Lam visited the scene on Saturday afternoon and sought advice from the police and Buildings Department. The police has started its investigation into the incident. Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung said that the government would do its best to meet the victims’ needs.

The collapsed building was more than 50 years old. The government had inspected its five-storey structure before the incident and had ordered repairs. After the tragedy, the government announced that it would inspect buildings older than 50 years in one month. The government has restricted access to buildings at 45G and 45H as they were in danger.

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Colombia releases detailed report about the FARC

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Colombia releases detailed report about the FARC

Posted: April 3rd, 2022 by Admin

Tuesday, February 1, 2005

Colombia — The Colombian Caracol Radio reported on January 31, 2005 that the government of Colombia released a detailed document which describes how the FARC operates in Colombia and around the world.[1] The report was prepared by the Unidad Administrativa Especial de Información y Análisis Financiero del Ministerio de Hacienda(Special Administrative Unit of the Information and Financial Analysis of the Ministry of the Finance) and describes how the FARC operates and manage their finances. The study was delivered to the Colombian government at the end of the last year.

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Personal Support Worker (Psw) Jobs In 2009 And Beyond

Posted: April 2nd, 2022 by Admin

By Susan Cassel

In 2008 the Government of Ontario took initiative towards the a real problem in the province. With the aging of baby boomers, the province is in need of more personal support workers. To address this the government announced an increase in funding of $107 million over the next three years. This money will be used to increase wages for those currently working in the field and also to help create an additional 2500 positions.

Increased funding and the creation of a few thousand positions. Sounds great, doesn t it? So how do I sign up? Will I require a few years of schooling and a certificate/diploma to gain employment?

As with pretty much an job, qualifications will differ. But to be honest, with the deficit of workers to positions, this is one of the few careers where the job searcher is in the drivers seat.

Many potential employers are trying to combat this deficit of workers by offering on the job paid training. It is possible to bypass entering a school (and taking a course) and gain employment tomorrow if you is able to find an employer that is willing to train new employees. On the job training will take a few weeks. You will have to obtain your CPR, in most cases pass a police check, and learn and adhere to the rules and regulations of the specific workplace.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrBqtFe3guE[/youtube]

Of course I m not trying to keep anyone from pursing an education. While it isn t absolutely necessary there are some tangible benefits to having a certificate or diploma.

Let s begin with the obvious. A personal support worker with a piece of paper will be more attractive to prospective employers, which should realistically translate into one s resume getting put to the top of the pile.

Depending on where you take your course, courses can be completed in as little as eight months and for only around $2000. College courses (non-accelerated) last two years and cost around $7000 but are seen in higher regard by employers.

Secondly a graduate typically begins at a higher wage. They will also have a greater chance at gaining wage increases in the future. I know of some employers that will pay an additional $1.50 an hour for PSW s with a certificate. Over the course of a forty hour week this adds up to $60 and over the course of a year, assuming fifty weeks of work, this adds up to an additional $3000 per year. It doesn t take a mathematician to see that this can quickly add up over the course of a decade or two.

While these are the two main advantages of gaining certification one can also count on an increased credit score (for college completion), networking , alumni advantages which can include conferences, library access, etc.

In life we all have to make trade-offs. Consider your current position when judging whether or not obtaining schooling is for you. Time and money, along with family responsibilities are a few examples of the things you should consider before making a decision.

But frankly the job market is good for those with or without certification. If you re looking for employment in this tough job market that also has strong career potential consider becoming a personal support worker.

About the Author: Are you interested in finding a personal support worker job? Then visit

PSW Jobs

for exclusive employment opportunities. Don’t forget to add our RSS feed and follow our Twitter account for real-time job updates.

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Colorado College Tigers win 41st annual Great Lakes Invitational tournament

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Colorado College Tigers win 41st annual Great Lakes Invitational tournament

Posted: April 2nd, 2022 by Admin

Friday, December 30, 2005

The Colorado College Tigers beat the Spartans of Michigan State University in men’s ice hockey on Friday, for the title of champions of the 41st annual Great Lakes Invitational ice hockey tournament at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

The Tigers, the team chosen to be invited into the tournament and appearing for the first time since 1965 in the tournament, led with a 5-0 lead during the second period, after which Michigan State switched goalies. The Spartans put freshmen Jeff Lerg into net, replacing Dominic Vicari, who was earlier given a penalty for his contact with a member of Colorado’s team in front of the net. Michigan State junior Tyler Howells scored two goals during the second period, and Colorado student Brett Sterling made the Tiger’s final goal for the night.

Colorado College took first place in the invitational, and Michigan State ended in second place, after their previous win over Michigan Tech at a score of 3-2. The Tigers previously beat the University of Michigan on Thursday, at a score of 6-1.

Meanwhile, the University of Michigan beat GLI co-sponsor Michigan Tech University with a score of 5-3 for a third place finish in the invitational earlier in the day.

With 2 minutes remaining in the third period, the University of Michigan went one up over Michigan Tech, breaking the 3-3 tie. Michigan Tech pulled their goalie with one minute remaining to gain a man advantage, but the strategy failed and allowed the University of Michigan to get another goal resulting in the final 5-3 score.

The game secured the third place position in the invitational for University of Michigan, and fourth place for Michigan Tech.

This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.

The final standings in the tournament are:

  1. Colorado College
  2. Michigan State University
  3. University of Michigan
  4. Michigan Tech
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