Home Improvement Loans Are A Scam

[00:00:04] You're listening to Casual Talk Radio, where common sense is still the norm.

[00:00:09] Whether you're a new or a long-time listener, we appreciate you joining us today.

[00:00:14] Visit us at CasualTalkRadio.net. And now, here's your host, Lyster.

[00:00:20] Good evening. Good evening. Casual Talk Radio.net, my name is Lyster. I am your host.

[00:00:25] We are recording from the new place. And I don't have all of my usual hardware.

[00:00:30] I'm also recording on a different computer. I have the microphone, but this is not the usual backing hardware that supports it.

[00:00:37] So I don't know how this sounds and hopefully it sounds okay.

[00:00:40] It is temporary until I can get the work done on the home.

[00:00:44] As I'll go ahead and sway into that. So as I mentioned, I bought the home that was done.

[00:00:52] On the 28th we closed on schedule. I got the keys. I've been working sweat equity.

[00:00:57] Start to finish day by day having to drive up here. Get everything fixed. I still have a lot to do.

[00:01:03] Flooring is scheduled to get replaced because the flooring here is terrible.

[00:01:08] Paint is on deck to get replaced once the electrician's done.

[00:01:12] Electrician's on deck two weeks out. I've also got a plumber scheduled to come and do an assessment because the plumbing is absolutely terrible.

[00:01:19] Just to put framework on this for those that are interested, this ties into the whole home purchasing thing.

[00:01:26] So this home was built in the 50s, late 50s.

[00:01:30] And if you know some of the thought process back then, there were things people thought were okay.

[00:01:37] You know that we learn later are not okay.

[00:01:40] And the assumption is that you would have fixed or replaced a lot of these lingering things.

[00:01:46] That was not done. So the plumbing is galvanized pipes.

[00:01:51] If you don't know, galvanized pipes was a popular deal way back before we knew any better.

[00:01:57] They tend to erode from the inside out. So they get all this crud in and they cut off water flow, water pressure.

[00:02:05] But also they release rust and possibly lead into your water.

[00:02:09] Now the city also potentially has galvanized pipes but they've been replaced. I've confirmed those have been replaced to copper.

[00:02:17] So the only left galvanized pipes left are inside the home itself.

[00:02:22] Well, the problem is that these are a pain to replace potentially and so they tend to be extremely expensive.

[00:02:30] I'm struggling to understand how anybody could have lived in this home for about the past say 15 years.

[00:02:37] Because with the galvanized pipes, rust coming out, I saw the utility sink down to the basement.

[00:02:43] Rust was coming, rust will come out for the first five seconds.

[00:02:46] So I know it's there and in the bathrooms there's two of them. They barely run any water.

[00:02:52] I don't see rust but no water hardly ever runs.

[00:02:55] So it's not in a spot that I would be considered safely habitable let's say.

[00:03:01] So until that's done I'm commuting back and forth from my old place to my house

[00:03:06] until I can get at least the plumbing and the electrical sorted.

[00:03:10] The plumbing being the more urgent of the two.

[00:03:13] The electrician, that's really more about the outlets. None of the outlets were updated.

[00:03:18] So if you remember from like the 70s and the 80s we used to have outlets that were not grounded.

[00:03:24] So they're two prong instead of three prong, three prong being grounded.

[00:03:28] None of those, there are some that are that they replaced like one off, like one per room.

[00:03:34] They didn't do the full scope which makes no sense.

[00:03:36] So I got to fix that. The light switches are the old style.

[00:03:39] Some of the plates are ghetto, jury rig together.

[00:03:42] Some of the switches are like the 1960s style inside so they don't have the three post deal.

[00:03:50] It's weird. It's weird.

[00:03:52] I have to then once I get the plumbing sorted, get whole home filtration to clean up the city's nonsense.

[00:04:00] Then they were trying to sell me on drinking water.

[00:04:03] I plan to do the fridge that has a water dispenser.

[00:04:06] I have to run a new water line for that because there's not one now.

[00:04:10] They left a TV and the TV is from like I can tell from the age.

[00:04:16] It's got to be 2005, 2006ish sometime around when LCD started to get hot and heavy.

[00:04:23] But they were really bulk and heavy and plasma was kind of on the way out.

[00:04:27] So I may be off of my years but the size of it correlates to when.

[00:04:32] Plasma was right on the way out and LCD started to take off and get larger than 42.

[00:04:38] And they were just heavy as all get out.

[00:04:40] That's what they left here, the sellers, which I wish they hadn't left.

[00:04:43] There was a the mount, the wall mount is heavier than the TV because it had to be because of the size of the TV and the holding it up.

[00:04:52] So I just got that pulled down.

[00:04:54] It's got register the old school baseboard register style for the duct work.

[00:05:00] The register is the vent for those that aren't familiar because you're in a modern home.

[00:05:05] Your vents might be up on the upper part of the wall facing outward in the older homes prior to I'd say prior to the 90s ish.

[00:05:15] They're in most cases in the bottom.

[00:05:18] I know that some houses in the 80s had they were smart enough to put the duct work on top if it had a furnace.

[00:05:26] But for AC specifically the older homes, so you're talking 40s, 50s, 60s would have it on the bottom and it's either on the floor straight near the wall or it's on the baseboard and it points upward.

[00:05:39] Mine has the baseboard.

[00:05:40] They're the old style.

[00:05:42] I think they're like they're not aluminum.

[00:05:45] I don't know if they're iron or something else baseboard side to rip those out, replace them with some more modern variants of those.

[00:05:53] Then I need to get the HVAC replaced because it basically doesn't work.

[00:05:57] I have a quote for that.

[00:05:59] We're getting close to summer.

[00:06:01] I don't find this place to be sustaining if I don't have any air conditioning in the summer.

[00:06:07] So there's a lot on deck, which is the reason why I've shifted schedule because I need to be able to deal with some of this nonsense as I get to the point where I'm settled.

[00:06:18] And then once I've got the office built out here, I'll be back on my regular cadence and I haven't decided if I'm going to go full scope or not.

[00:06:25] So that's my personal chaos that's going on right now on the industry.

[00:06:30] Then widespread.

[00:06:32] I happen to notice that apparently there's some sort of enlightenment.

[00:06:38] I don't know why it took an enlightenment, but there's some sort of enlightenment happening around housing and availability of housing and the cost of housing and the cost of doing what we need to do as individuals and taking care of families and school quality and everything that the current president should have been focused on when he moved into office instead of listening to the greater Tumbers of the world.

[00:07:01] So now that they're retro looking at these things now, apparently, so I'm told apparently they're looking to make it easier to get away from the older, you know, home HVAC systems and furnace systems and lighting and everything that's for energy efficiency credits and rebates for solar.

[00:07:23] Everything designed to create less of an impact on the climate, but also less energy consumption.

[00:07:31] I'm fine with those.

[00:07:33] The idea of hybrid water heaters and so on.

[00:07:36] I'm fine with all these things.

[00:07:38] What I don't like is that they tie it to tax credits, which forces you to pay upfront and then claim it on the taxes later.

[00:07:47] What I would rather they do, which I think they could do if they really wanted to is to simply say that they'll issue an instant credit at the point of sale and they'll offer to pay half of whatever the quote comes at minus labor.

[00:08:01] So let's say that the parts so for example on the electrical, I'm doing a breaker panel upgrade.

[00:08:07] The breaker alone is panel five grand to get it all done.

[00:08:11] Let's say, okay, government, we're going to pay, you know, we'll pay $2,000.

[00:08:16] Towards that upgrade because we see that it's going to lessen the load electrical load on the system because it has smarter technology towards not consuming as much energy.

[00:08:25] We see that you have a plug in hybrid, so you're consuming less of the fuel.

[00:08:31] Your car doesn't take a lot when it's plugged in.

[00:08:34] So we'll offset the cost for you to have a an EV charger and will pay half of that install the parts to install it that at the point of sale.

[00:08:44] Rather than having to like having to claim it after the fact is you having to prove that you did these things.

[00:08:52] You might say, well, people defraud the system if we don't do that.

[00:08:56] I'm not a fan of a system where we instinctively distrust people who are trying to do the right thing.

[00:09:02] If this whole climate thing is truly the priority, I think there has to be a medical modicum of trust on both sides.

[00:09:10] We trust the government to use our taxpayer dollars in a way that benefits us on the back end and they inherently trust that this is what we're doing.

[00:09:19] See, the receipt of purchase is all you really need to prove that something's good.

[00:09:24] And if it's done by the business that's selling the parts, what's the real problem?

[00:09:29] As opposed to this current way that we're doing it.

[00:09:33] As a result, it's very well possible that there are some sort of credits that I can request to offset the expenses of what I'm doing now.

[00:09:41] But I'm not going to realize the benefits of those until next year, which I think is a scam.

[00:09:46] Speaking of scam, every vendor who stops by, they're blatantly overpricing what they're doing.

[00:09:52] And I knew this. It's fine. It's part of the game.

[00:09:54] But they're also trying to pitch their loans.

[00:09:57] And I've had this conversation with at least four of them.

[00:10:00] I am ethically opposed to taking out more loans, more debt to do basic upgrades just because the prices of things are outrageous.

[00:10:09] For this quote I got for the HVAC system, he came back with a quote of 10 grand.

[00:10:15] I happen to know that the unit is about 4 grand of this.

[00:10:19] Accounting for labor, I would expect the number roughly about 6 or 7 grand.

[00:10:25] Okay, so I push back on them a little bit.

[00:10:28] And it doesn't mean I have to exactly go with what they quote.

[00:10:32] And I'm actually bidding out.

[00:10:34] So I've got somebody else who's going to look at the existing HVAC unit, see if they can fix it just to hobble it along.

[00:10:41] And if they can hobble it along, it'll buy more time for more bids to come in and I'll just cost them out, which I don't want to do.

[00:10:48] But I'm not going to play this game of super high overpricing.

[00:10:52] And then we got to negotiate down.

[00:10:53] It needs to be the lowest you can do.

[00:10:55] And I understand it's summer, so you're purposely charging high.

[00:10:59] But I'm a smarter buyer as the paint guy perfectly attested to when I told him what I was trying to do.

[00:11:06] He already knew this guy knows what he's doing.

[00:11:09] He's doing it correctly.

[00:11:10] He's doing what I would recommend anyway.

[00:11:12] He doesn't need our consultation because he knows exactly what he wants, which is let's neutralize all the but ugly paint that's here right now.

[00:11:20] That's a holdover from the I'm going to argue the 70s.

[00:11:24] Let's get rid of the but ugly paint.

[00:11:26] Let's neutralize it to white.

[00:11:27] Then let's come back together and figure out what I want in accent walls later.

[00:11:32] But once it's neutralized to white, I can think straight.

[00:11:35] Right now I've got a blend of what looks like a peach something and then something's got a green something and something that a puke yellow green something or other.

[00:11:43] And then the bathrooms of blue and purple.

[00:11:45] It's a nightmare.

[00:11:47] Where am I going with all that?

[00:11:49] This is the reason why I get frustrated dealing with vendors at the same time.

[00:11:55] I'm kind of excited going through it as opposed to the rental route because my lease is up in July.

[00:12:02] The rental route is a scam.

[00:12:04] It's a skip and compared to what I'm dealing with now, I have more power.

[00:12:08] I'm in control.

[00:12:09] They don't dictate to me.

[00:12:10] I dictate to them.

[00:12:11] Here's what I want.

[00:12:12] Here's what we need to do.

[00:12:13] You figure it out.

[00:12:15] Whereas the rental route, it's all a scam.

[00:12:18] The loan route is a scam, but the rental routes even worse.

[00:12:21] They can discriminate against you.

[00:12:23] They're asking for a reference of the duty to do do do.

[00:12:27] So this purchase was not my desire.

[00:12:31] I didn't want to purchase a home and I know it sounds strange.

[00:12:35] I turned a negative into a positive by saying it'll at least be an asset.

[00:12:39] I can leverage it as a place that's my own.

[00:12:44] So I'm not beholden to some idiot product man, property manager, but it was not what I wanted to do.

[00:12:50] I did not want to have to commit to a purchase as opposed to renting for about another year because I'm new to the area.

[00:12:58] I wanted to rent a little bit longer, make sure it's where I wanted to be.

[00:13:01] And unfortunately, I was essentially forced to do a purchase because the rental market is trash.

[00:13:06] They can discriminate at their will out here.

[00:13:08] I knew what I was up against.

[00:13:11] So all of these pains I'm dealing with with the vendors is simply a cost of doing business.

[00:13:16] But the positive is I'm in control.

[00:13:18] Nothing move but the money.

[00:13:20] If I choose not to cut a check to you, we're not going forward until you and you better come down off the price if you want to get money out of me.

[00:13:27] I've got money to spend, but I'm not going to break the bank if I don't think it's worth what we're doing.

[00:13:33] So that's what I've been tussling with while watching this fiasco with former President Donald Trump being convicted, found guilty, turned to a felon and some people taking a victory lap and other people dumping a whole bunch of money into his campaign as I suspect it would happen.

[00:13:50] That you're going to see a groundswell of support for him because many of those people see what's happening.

[00:13:56] They see the scam that is they see that the timing of this is a little bit too convenient.

[00:14:01] When all of this stuff happened decades ago and they didn't say anything back then, but then all of a sudden it's a problem and certain of the testimony and evidence was not presented, which could have swayed that jury and nobody knows.

[00:14:14] And so now they're trying to get Supreme Court to chime in and overturn this.

[00:14:18] Meanwhile, what changed?

[00:14:20] Nothing because Trump can still campaign.

[00:14:22] He can still be nominated to be president.

[00:14:24] He can still serve because there's nothing that says a former felon cannot serve.

[00:14:29] He just would be happen to be the first and he's making history every time these things happen.

[00:14:34] He's the first former president to be convicted, fully convicted of a crime.

[00:14:38] He's the first felon that's a presidential nominee if I recall correctly.

[00:14:43] And if he were to be elected, he'd be the first president to have a criminal record like he's just making history.

[00:14:49] You can say the history is not good history.

[00:14:52] Any history is history.

[00:14:53] It is what it is.

[00:14:54] This man will never be forgotten by history, by time.

[00:14:58] Nobody else alive or not can say the same thing.

[00:15:02] Nobody else can hang their hat on the idea that the history books will never forget how much he's achieved.

[00:15:09] He's achieved everything there is to achieve.

[00:15:11] He's done everything there is to do and still keeps doing more.

[00:15:15] Nobody else can have that claim.

[00:15:16] None of them.

[00:15:17] Magic Johnson can't do it.

[00:15:19] Michael Jordan can't do it.

[00:15:20] Larry Bird can't do it.

[00:15:21] Kobe can't do it.

[00:15:22] Nobody.

[00:15:23] Michael Jackson can't do it.

[00:15:24] None of them come close to what this man has been doing and he still keeps going.

[00:15:30] He's still fighting by this point.

[00:15:32] He should be rocking in a chair.

[00:15:33] He's at 77.

[00:15:34] He should be rocking in a chair enjoying his family and he's still fighting, which is why his base is so energized and why they keep supporting him.

[00:15:42] And every time these things happen, which are just ironically timed, it's just energizing them more.

[00:15:48] That's why I said on the past episode.

[00:15:50] I suspect the other side wants him in office because there's too many things that they're doing that they know are just going to energize his base and they're not going to solve anything.

[00:16:01] They're not fixing anything.

[00:16:02] They're not making anything better.

[00:16:04] So we this is going to be an intriguing, very intriguing race.

[00:16:09] You've got Joe Biden who people aren't happy with because he drug his feet.

[00:16:14] He's just now getting around to doing the stuff he should have been doing from day one.

[00:16:18] Focusing on stuff he should have been focused on on day one.

[00:16:21] Talking about how the border actually is out of control.

[00:16:24] He certainly isn't handling the war situation and has not done.

[00:16:27] And it's gotten out of control.

[00:16:28] I just heard on the radio where they were talking about Russia's ramping up bombing of areas.

[00:16:34] And apparently, I didn't know this, but the United States approved use of their weapons to bomb Russia back.

[00:16:41] Well, geez, the whole thing's out.

[00:16:43] And so now you're going to have this side.

[00:16:46] Let's call them MAGA, but that's not fair.

[00:16:48] But you're going to have this side that's going to push to try to get this guy in office to calm it down because he seems to be the only one that can.

[00:16:56] And there are people out there that don't seem to understand that the person who's in office right now is just making stuff worse because the liberal mentality he pushed on for the past three years was not effective.

[00:17:10] All it did was turn people against the United States.

[00:17:13] The other countries look down on us.

[00:17:16] They're trying to move away from our currency.

[00:17:18] They're trying to move away from him, and they're trying to move to control their own borders essentially.

[00:17:23] So nationalist and then the people who are pushing this whole agenda and get an elected this guy saying no, nationalism is bad.

[00:17:32] We need help everybody else screw our own people.

[00:17:34] Let's help everybody else.

[00:17:35] Fentanyl gets out of control.

[00:17:37] Homelessness is out of control.

[00:17:38] The job market screwed up.

[00:17:40] The housing market screwed up.

[00:17:41] Rates are screwed up.

[00:17:42] Economies in the trash.

[00:17:44] And this is what they asked for, right?

[00:17:46] That's what people asked for.

[00:17:48] So as a net effect of what's going on, your deposits don't mean nearly as much as they should.

[00:17:54] Banks are struggling.

[00:17:56] When you have banks that are struggling, you're very close to a bubble.

[00:17:59] And I suspect this is my theory in the automotive industry and in the housing industry, specifically those two.

[00:18:07] I suspect we're close to a bubble.

[00:18:09] I suspect that these two are unsustainable, especially the automotive industry.

[00:18:14] Every car because they rushed SUVs, they ramped the price of stuff to crank up the profits on stuff to try to sell that debt.

[00:18:23] But the problem is that now there's more people that are forced to take out loans for these cars.

[00:18:29] The vast majority of people who buy cars today, they're buying it not on the prime of terms.

[00:18:36] They're buying it in lesser terms.

[00:18:38] The lesser the terms, the greater the risk.

[00:18:41] If they default on those loans, it's bad debt on the books.

[00:18:45] That's bubble.

[00:18:47] On the housing side, I don't see as many people turning their homes into ATM machines, which is why I'm not doing it.

[00:18:55] Because that's bad. It's bad to borrow from your home.

[00:18:59] But that's the sales pitch, right?

[00:19:01] That's literally the sales pitch.

[00:19:03] I was fortunate. My bank did not sell me on that concept.

[00:19:06] But I see the ads. I see them all over the place.

[00:19:08] Everybody wants you to do a loan for stuff.

[00:19:11] Everything.

[00:19:12] All these home improvement loans.

[00:19:14] The landscape type stuff.

[00:19:16] Roofing type stuff.

[00:19:17] The security type stuff.

[00:19:18] They all want you to do loans.

[00:19:20] Do you know why they push loans on everything that's around you?

[00:19:23] They push loans because they get paid up front.

[00:19:26] They just get a check and saddle you with a monthly bill, and they sell you on how easy it is to defer those expenses.

[00:19:33] All you're really doing is kicking the can down the road, especially when it's a monthly situation.

[00:19:38] I had this argument with the Culligan water guy because he tried to lease me the water softener for 48 bucks a month.

[00:19:45] Here's the problem.

[00:19:46] I'm not going to pay 48 bucks a month for the rest of my life on a thing that benefits the house.

[00:19:53] It doesn't make sense.

[00:19:54] I told him, sell me the thing.

[00:19:56] Now, I don't mind doing it where it's a lease to own, right?

[00:20:00] At the end of the whatever, you'll own it.

[00:20:02] There's no credit check.

[00:20:04] Okay, I'll consider this.

[00:20:06] But I'm not going to do where it's just a lease and you're renting it.

[00:20:09] That's literally the term.

[00:20:10] And you don't own this business.

[00:20:12] Because when somebody else buys the home, they're going to have to turn around and do it again.

[00:20:15] That's why it's a scam because Culligan would just keep making eternal money.

[00:20:19] Most people don't stay in their homes past 10, 15 years.

[00:20:23] 10, 15 years, 12 months of payments.

[00:20:26] So over 100 some odd, you're well over the value of this thing.

[00:20:30] And they're selling this and selling this and selling this.

[00:20:33] Same with the window vendor, same with the flooring vendor, same with the wall painting dude, same with the HVAC dude, same with the electrician.

[00:20:41] I know the plumber is going to come in and do that crap.

[00:20:44] And I'm just one that's opposed, I'm morally opposed, to taking out more debt to pay for these improvements.

[00:20:50] Because I also am considering not just the ethics of it, but I'm also considering ROI.

[00:20:55] Most of what I'm doing is going to have a strong ROI.

[00:20:59] But the ROI is not enough to justify doing debt.

[00:21:03] That's the key.

[00:21:04] It's debt.

[00:21:05] It doesn't make sense.

[00:21:07] And consider the damage to your credit.

[00:21:10] Every time you take out a loan, when you request a loan, they're doing the inquiries.

[00:21:15] That's going to drop your credit score.

[00:21:17] These are all different vendors.

[00:21:19] You could theoretically do a home improvement loan, a single home improvement loan.

[00:21:22] They need to know how much money you need.

[00:21:24] That's going to force you to go out and get multiple bids, figure it out.

[00:21:27] Then they have to wait to get paid until your loan is funded.

[00:21:30] That's assuming you get approved.

[00:21:32] And in some cases, you're going through the whole process.

[00:21:34] You're going through closing costs, you're going through all this nonsense.

[00:21:38] Meanwhile, you still have these repairs need to be done and the quotes on the good for 30 days.

[00:21:42] All of this, and I'll call it a rant, that's fine.

[00:21:45] All of this is because the industry has ramped the cost of everything.

[00:21:51] The housing market, I believe, is a bubble because of the ramped cost

[00:21:56] that forces people to take out loans.

[00:21:59] And the more loans you extend upon yourself, the greater your risk vector,

[00:22:04] especially when you have a job market that's fickle and prone to letting you get cut, laid off, fired or otherwise,

[00:22:10] or the company just shuts down.

[00:22:12] I have a person I know on the podcast side.

[00:22:14] He was working for a collections company and I thought he owned it.

[00:22:18] I'm not sure, but I thought he owned it.

[00:22:20] All of a sudden he announces he got fired.

[00:22:23] It's got shut down.

[00:22:24] The whole business got shut down.

[00:22:26] Well, now he's doing podcasting full time.

[00:22:28] I don't do podcasting full time because I work, but I work myself.

[00:22:32] I have owned a business.

[00:22:33] That business is the reason I was able to buy the house.

[00:22:36] I can only imagine if with the money I make, I make a lot of freaking money.

[00:22:42] The average American would not be able to sustain what I just went through

[00:22:47] without saddling themselves with debt.

[00:22:49] I'm talking from the mortgage itself.

[00:22:52] Either they have to do less down payment, which I'll talk about in a second,

[00:22:55] or they have to saddle themselves with debt to improve the home for basic repairs.

[00:23:00] The plumbing is a basic repair thing.

[00:23:02] These are things that the government should ultimately foot the bill for

[00:23:06] because they go to safety, they go to health.

[00:23:09] You mitigate how many people end up in the hospital.

[00:23:12] The more people end up in the hospital, you're just ramping the cost of healthcare.

[00:23:16] And you're meanwhile saddling the homeowner with having to do these things.

[00:23:20] I get why you do it.

[00:23:21] It's because they ultimately own the home.

[00:23:23] But let's be honest, we don't own the land.

[00:23:25] We're going to have to basically pay on the property taxes for our own lives,

[00:23:29] for our whole lives, regardless of whether we own the building.

[00:23:32] Owning the building doesn't mean anything because you're still paying on the land.

[00:23:35] The government doesn't do anything to really help you.

[00:23:38] They'll say, well there's energy credits and all this other stuff,

[00:23:41] but that waits for tax time.

[00:23:43] Meanwhile, tax policy and law keeps changing year over year

[00:23:47] and removing a lot of these credits.

[00:23:49] If we get to a world where Republicans are back in office,

[00:23:53] we're going to start seeing the removal of a lot of these credits.

[00:23:56] That's going to make it harder on homeowners that has been the case.

[00:23:59] At the state level, you do have some protections.

[00:24:02] I'm talking some of these federal credits that I just described.

[00:24:05] They're going to start getting rid of some of these things

[00:24:07] because their goal is to get the budget back under control.

[00:24:10] The perception is that they don't care about the homeowner.

[00:24:14] Okay, you can say yay or nay.

[00:24:16] The point is as a homeowner now, I have to be cognizant.

[00:24:20] That's why I'm trying to get stuff done now.

[00:24:22] I want to be cognizant of what can I justify out of pocket that has no debt

[00:24:27] and I can almost guarantee an ROI if I were to sell this thing in a year.

[00:24:32] That's what I'm targeting.

[00:24:34] Flooring, to me, is critical.

[00:24:36] The flooring is a nightmare.

[00:24:38] It's an absolute nightmare.

[00:24:39] It's walkable.

[00:24:40] It's visibly fine, but it creaks.

[00:24:43] It's got rotted wood underneath it.

[00:24:45] These are possibly termite damage.

[00:24:47] These are things that are going to hit you from a long-term perspective.

[00:24:51] Then the whole piping situation is unacceptable.

[00:24:53] You can't live in that kind of a home.

[00:24:56] The electrical is a fire hazard.

[00:24:58] They had to replace the sump pump, which they took care of.

[00:25:01] They had to replace the foundation, which they took care of.

[00:25:03] The garage needs work.

[00:25:04] All of these things that I'm purposely targeting out of pocket

[00:25:08] are designed to maximize ROI and minimize debt long-term.

[00:25:13] No loans.

[00:25:14] Just get it done.

[00:25:15] Now I can sit back and enjoy the home,

[00:25:18] but also know that I'm in a good spot if I go to sell it.

[00:25:20] Then I could likely turn a profit when I sell the thing.

[00:25:22] That's what I'm considering.

[00:25:24] The loan remaining, because I put so much down,

[00:25:27] the loan remaining by the time I'm done,

[00:25:30] it'll be in equity position, at least 100 grand.

[00:25:33] The average American can't pull that off.

[00:25:36] So since the average American can't pull that off,

[00:25:39] I can pull it off and I'd rather go ahead and get it done,

[00:25:43] possibly consider turning around and selling it,

[00:25:46] and then get into something else that's in a place that I really want to be in.

[00:25:49] I don't really want to be where I'm at.

[00:25:51] There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not where I want to be.

[00:25:54] But I can afford, I bought what I could afford in the short term,

[00:25:57] knowing that I would have to do more money to get it up to snuff

[00:26:01] so that it's presentable,

[00:26:02] so that I can possibly sell it down the road

[00:26:05] confident that it'll be easily more highly valued

[00:26:10] than anything else on the street.

[00:26:11] I'm describing and talking this all through for two reasons.

[00:26:15] One, I want people to understand that maybe considering purchasing a home

[00:26:20] in the near future, and by home I'm talking a full house,

[00:26:23] but purchasing a home in the future, there's a lot more to think about.

[00:26:28] There was more to think about with this

[00:26:30] than there was back when I did this in 2014.

[00:26:33] In 2014 though, I did essentially a program that was a scam from the state.

[00:26:38] I'll say it, it was a scam from the state

[00:26:41] that I only put like 5% down, most of that came from 401K,

[00:26:46] and then the state took care of down payment assistance,

[00:26:48] and that was a terrible, terrible mistake.

[00:26:51] It creates another mortgage, gets you the house,

[00:26:54] but now you've got mortgage insurance, you're forced to do escrow,

[00:26:58] so you get a quote for $1,200 a month,

[00:27:01] and you think, oh, it's pretty cool,

[00:27:03] with the median rent it's like $1,400,

[00:27:05] but because you're doing escrow and all these things,

[00:27:08] and all of a sudden that bill's $2,300, it's a scam.

[00:27:12] So now that I did 20% down, I don't have to worry about escrow,

[00:27:17] I don't have to worry about mortgage insurance,

[00:27:19] and I'm in total control,

[00:27:21] but the state of the house is not acceptable.

[00:27:24] Because I was able to save on those upstream things

[00:27:27] and because I was able to negotiate the price down,

[00:27:29] it freed up money to do these things,

[00:27:32] to increase its value such that not only am I happy here for the short term,

[00:27:37] but I know selling it will be easier in the long term should I choose to.

[00:27:41] This is a journey, it's a journey and it's painful.

[00:27:46] Some of it's sweat equity,

[00:27:47] some of it's me just getting out there and doing what I think I can,

[00:27:51] some of it's hiring a contractor to do some of the stuff

[00:27:54] I actually considered taking on the painting myself

[00:27:57] because I've done it before.

[00:27:59] The only reason I'm contacting somebody else

[00:28:01] is because I've got other things that I've got to focus on, meaning work,

[00:28:05] and I don't really have the time.

[00:28:07] Now, the flooring, I could theoretically do without the flooring

[00:28:10] if I really wanted to,

[00:28:12] but I need to set up my office

[00:28:14] because I need to be comfortable doing the work that I'm doing.

[00:28:17] The thought process behind priority

[00:28:19] and what you do first and second,

[00:28:21] there's still so much to do and then picking your battles.

[00:28:24] It's part of the fun,

[00:28:25] but it's part of the frustration of buying a home,

[00:28:27] and everybody's going to go through it.

[00:28:29] What I had to learn and wrap my head around as I close,

[00:28:34] any time you're buying a house,

[00:28:36] and I'll include condos, town homes, cottage, whatever,

[00:28:39] any time you're doing a purchase,

[00:28:41] I had to set in my mind,

[00:28:43] I'm not going to be happy 100% with what I get,

[00:28:46] and I'm going to have to put money in it,

[00:28:48] so I'm never going to settle for the full price of that house.

[00:28:51] You're going to have to come down at the full price

[00:28:54] because I'm going to need to invest money

[00:28:56] to get it to where it really needs to be.

[00:28:58] I just need something that's good enough,

[00:29:00] I don't want to start from scratch, per se.

[00:29:03] It's got some potential and just needs some care and feeding,

[00:29:06] but I am assuming that they did at least some repairs

[00:29:09] like maintenance to the HVAC,

[00:29:11] and that didn't happen here.

[00:29:12] Fine, I'll end up with brand new stuff.

[00:29:15] It'll essentially be a fresh start.

[00:29:17] I'll be happier with what I got.

[00:29:19] I can envision myself being here at least five years,

[00:29:22] assuming my client doesn't freak out.

[00:29:25] If my client freaks out,

[00:29:27] I would gladly move because I don't want to be here

[00:29:29] where I'm at.

[00:29:30] But if my client's steady state

[00:29:33] and they're happy with the service

[00:29:34] and they don't mind the service that I give,

[00:29:37] I can see myself being here for at least five years

[00:29:39] before I sell it.

[00:29:40] By that time, the home equity is going to be

[00:29:43] at least 200 grand, okay?

[00:29:46] Then I can easily short sell it, potentially,

[00:29:49] or take that home equity line of credit,

[00:29:53] buy something else with that,

[00:29:55] and then go from there.

[00:29:56] I have plans.

[00:29:57] I don't have enough time to realize all of them,

[00:30:02] so I have to pick my battles.

[00:30:04] But I'm always thinking forward,

[00:30:05] and I'm always thinking what's the big picture

[00:30:07] of what it is I'm trying to do.

[00:30:09] When I get back with you guys

[00:30:11] this next Monday's episode,

[00:30:13] my hope is I'll have everything set up

[00:30:15] in terms of my audio and my desktop computer,

[00:30:18] because the internet's already here,

[00:30:20] to where I can give you

[00:30:22] the quality that you expect back.

[00:30:24] I'll be sitting at a desk.

[00:30:26] I'll be sitting on new flooring,

[00:30:28] and I'll be reasonably happy with being here.

[00:30:31] That's my hope.

[00:30:33] That's what I'm shooting for.

[00:30:35] If that doesn't happen,

[00:30:37] I'll still be here every Monday doing recording.

[00:30:39] It just may sound a little bit weird,

[00:30:41] as I work with vendors who,

[00:30:43] hopefully they take my money,

[00:30:45] and we can move this thing forward.