Want answers to some real estate questions? Here’s the latest edition of Readers Ask. One reader asks: I have a long list of repairs and upgrades which my house needs, and I would like to find an impartial source for ballpark price estimates. What do you recommend? Those estimates will vary, depending on what part…
You’re home alone and you walk into a dark room. What do you do? You flip a light switch. Duh. But what if an electrician moved the location of that switch this morning? Would you reach for the new location? Nope. Not yet. You’ll reflexively reach for the old location until you break that habit — despite the fact that…
During my two-year round-the-world trip, Will and I spent hundreds of nights camping in Australia. We camped nonstop for about 7 months, or 210 consecutive nights. When we told friends that we were camping, they remarked, “Think of all the money you saved by not staying at a hotel!” Or not. We never would have…
People eat at restaurants for many reasons: It’s convenient. The food is delicious. We crave social interaction. We want a new environment. We like novelty. We can’t read nutritional labels – out of sight, out of mind. I used to dine out frequently. A few years ago, I resolved to cut back. But I can’t snap my fingers…
Let’s see a show of hands: how many of you actually make a budget? (Silence. Crickets chirping.) Yeah, I thought so. One of the most overplayed pieces of financial advice is “make a budget.” There are a small handful of nerds who jive with this idea. You dig data. You love crunching numbers. Good for…
A cornerstone of the Afford Anything philosophy is that every choice you make is a trade-off, and that applies equally to your time and your money. So what do you do about outsourcing? On one hand, the more you outsource, the more you trade money for the most valuable possession on earth: time. That itself…
A few months ago, I found a great deal on Groupon: two tickets to a murder-mystery dinner theater for $50, including both dinner and the show. I asked Will if he thought we should get it. “We’re trying to save money,” he reminded me. It was true. In fact, the previous day we had just…
Want to know more about world travel and tenants? Welcome to the latest installment of Readers Ask. Today I want to share two questions that AA readers posed last week.
Four months ago I declared that we’re renovating a 3-bed, 2-bath rental unit. You can see the “before” photos here. For the past 120+ days, contractors have torn out load-bearing walls, reinforced the foundation, fought water damage, ripped out floors, torn away drywall and filled several 30-yard dumpsters to the brim. Now we’re rounding the…
One of my rentals is back on the market. Last time, it took me three months to find a tenant. That’s because I made a crucial error which cost me $2,700 in lost revenue. You see, if I needed to rent a home, I’d check Craigslist. It’s the only place I’d search. I wouldn’t squint…