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Pros and cons of financing car, house at same time

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, February 9, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-56478p1.html" target=blank>Happy family image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

Q: My wife and I plan to look for and hopefully purchase a house this spring. We have been preapproved for a decent amount (approximately $400,000). Although we are looking now, current inventory is lacking and we feel after the new realty season in our area (traditionally the week following Super Bowl Sunday) we should be able to find something we like and can afford. We are determined to find a house that we can easily live in for at least a decade.

In the meantime, we currently have two automobiles that eventually need to be replaced. We plan to replace them with newer used cars. My 1997 Mustang needs $1,200 worth of repairs to make it safe to drive. It would be a game of Russian roulette to continue navigating Chicago winters (read: snow) with my current set of tires. (I actually ended up putting in $400 in other repairs the other day.)  more...

Home upgrades that match your lifestyle

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, February 7, 2012.
Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.tauntonstore.com/staying-put-duo-dickinson-071337.html?source=W001UPS" target=blank>The Taunton Press</a>.

The other day, I said the phrase "doggie bag" and my teenage son looked at me like I was nuts. He had no idea what I meant! These days, in restaurants, we're offered a box to take our food home in.

But when I was a kid, waitstaff would proffer a doggie bag, the implication being that the leftovers would make for a special treat of a meal for your family's four-legged friends.  more...

3 reasons people want to buy homes Premium Content

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, February 6, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-81251p1.html" target=blank>Toy houses image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

Last week, I ran into a few friends I hadn't seen for awhile. One was all atwitter about a home she was in the process of buying, which caused another to wax reminiscent of her own homebuying odyssey a couple of years back. The latter blurted out, "I love my house, but I have to be honest: I wish I'd never bought it. Too much of a commitment."

Mind you, this came from a woman with a husband, two kids and a highly visible executive role at a large company. When I pointed out what seemed to me to be her inconsistent logic regarding her approaches to long-term commitments, she elaborated: "Because of the house, I can't just pack up and move when I want to anymore. I can't just strap my kids on and take them with me wherever I go."  more...

4 steps to buying a house in 2012

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, February 2, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-100760p1.html" target=blank>Father and son image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

Q: I am on a mission to buy a home. I've wanted to own a home my entire life, and thought I would miss the opportunity to buy while the market was down, because I had no real savings when the market crashed. I think I'm ready, though, and prices still seem low. What should I be doing now to make this happen in 2012?

A: Let me count the ways -- I mean, the things -- you can and should be doing now if you want to buy this year. The recession has done lots of favors for buyers-to-be, including dropping prices and interest rates to bargain levels. But it has also created a lending and housing market climate in which loans are tough to get, tensions about buying into a down market run high, and transactions are harder and longer to close than they have ever been.  more...

5 tools and 12 weeks to prosperity

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Wednesday, February 1, 2012.
<a href=" http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781585428977,00.html?The_Prosperous_Heart_Julia_Cameron#">Cover image</a> via Tarcher/Penguin.

I read a lot of books -- over 200 just in the last three years. I bring up that number by way of pointing out the scope and significance of this statement: one of my top 10 favorite books of my entire lifetime is "The Artist's Way."

It might sound artsy-you-know-whatsy, but since its 1992 publication this masterwork has served over 3 million artists and others who need to be -- or simply want to be -- creative, with its powerful tools and insights for getting and staying unblocked.  more...

3 ways homebuyers kill their own real estate deals  Premium Content

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, January 31, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-444220p1.html">House dominoes image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

I recently bought a couple of spa treatment packages for a friend's birthday (as much as a gift to myself as to her, to be sure). The package included a pedicure and a massage for the price of the massage, but had a bizarro restriction that required I pick the gift cards up at least one day prior to spa day.

The problem: The spa was across a bridge from my town. Despite my very best calculations, I hit unexpected traffic and it took me an hour's drive just to pick them up.  more...

3 considerations before abandoning underwater home

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, January 26, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-153007p1.html">Underwater home image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

Q: At the top of the market, I owned three properties: my first home (in a marginal neighborhood, now about 100 percent upside down), my own residence (a big fixer in a great neighborhood), and a triplex I bought as an investment (an OK neighborhood, needed some work, fully rented, but now upside down by about 30 percent).

When the market turned, I had a couple of bad tenants in my first home and the triplex that set me way back financially, and I was unable to borrow the money I needed to fix the house I lived in. I did a short sale on the fixer and got temporary loan mods on the other two, and moved back into my first home.  more...

4 do's and don'ts for managing your money

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, January 24, 2012.
Image courtesy of <a href="http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780399537219,00.html?The_Smartest_Money_Book_You%27ll_Ever_Read_Daniel_R._Solin#" target=blank>Penguin Group USA</a>.

Today's post-recession, pro-consumer, anti-bank zeitgeist reflects a dramatic sea change in the world of personal finance advice. Gone are the days when the cable TV pundits whose eyes bulge as they holler hysterics about what, when and whether to buy, sell or hold are taken seriously as anything but entertainment.

All the rules of thumb (e.g., owning a home is good) have been revised and nuanced (e.g., owning a home is good if X, Y and Z, but renting makes more sense if A, B and C).  more...

5 signs you're real estate-obsessed

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, January 23, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-702400p1.html">No. 5 image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

I recently had an instant message chat with a friend about one of her eventful -- and entertaining -- adventures in Internet dating. She suspected her date had been a classmate of mine in school, but I didn't recognize his name, so as we chatted I did some Internet investigating.

At one point during her hilarious retelling of the evening's events, my search results prompted me to interject, "Uh, did you Google this guy before your date?"  more...

When it makes sense to keep an underwater home

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, January 19, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-540784p1.html" target=blank>Underwater house</a> via Shutterstock.com.

Q: At the top of the market, I owned three properties: my first home (in a marginal neighborhood, now about 100 percent upside down), my own residence (a big fixer in a great neighborhood), and a triplex I bought as an investment (an OK neighborhood, needed some work, fully rented, but now upside-down by about 30 percent).

When the market turned, I had a couple of bad tenants in my first home and the triplex that set me way back financially, and I was unable to borrow the money I needed to fix the house I lived in. I did a short sale on the fixer, got temporary loan mods on the other two, and moved back into my first home.  more...

442 tips to keep your house in tip-top shape

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, January 17, 2012.
Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.workman.com/products/9781579654337/" target=blank>Workman Publishing Co.</a>

Nearly every mother will attest that at some point in her parenting career, often while still pregnant, every worst-case scenario that could ever possibly happen to her progeny (or progeny-to-be) has run through her mind.

Laid-back moms take a deep breath and dismiss such fears as fanciful.  more...

5 faces of real estate dealmaking: from 'Drama Queen' to 'No-gotiator'

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, January 16, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-73503p1.html">Chess game image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

I was one of those kids who was mortally embarrassed by my parents. (I later realized that their fashion choices were not bizarre -- they were just '70s chic held over a tad bit too long.) My mother seemed always to gravitate to the yellow 'sale' signs on top of retail racks -- which seemed horrifying back then.

And my Dad? Horror of horrors, he tried to negotiate everything -- and I mean every single thing. He would actually bargain for things like TVs and computers at stores like Sears, and I would grow hot with embarrassment, detouring into what we'd now call the "tween" section, hoping no one would know we were related.  more...

Protect deposit when making a contingent-sale offer

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, January 12, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-56679p1.html" target=blank>Piggy bank image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

Q: As a buyer, if I make a deal to buy a house contingent on the sale of my house, but my house doesn't sell, do I get my deposit back?

A: Rarely do I get the chance to give a short, yet accurate, answer to a real estate question, so thanks for the chance! And that short answer is yes.  more...

If you made your purchase contract contingent on the sale of your home, and you are unable to sell your home, you have the right to back out of the sale and recoup your deposit.

3 strategies to reap stock market profits

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, January 10, 2012.
Image courtesy of <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/laughingatwallstreet/ChrisCamillo" target="_blank">St. Martin's Press</a>.

I'm constantly fascinated by how widely approaches to Facebook seems to differ, from my own personal vantage point.

My entrepreneurial friends mostly use it to broadcast their business goings-on; my church friends to publicize upcoming events and pics from the annual cookout; and just about everyone I know published photos of their kids, dogs or loot this holiday season. Some people mostly post "meme"-y images; others post inspirational quotes; and still others lurk, only commenting when I post my own monthly canine pics.  more...

Stuff underwater homeowners say

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, January 9, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-278908p1.html" target=blank>Financial crisis collage image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

Whether you consider yourself a more or less avid pop-culture observer, chances are good that by now you've seen at least one of the videos, Twitter accounts or articles chronicling the phenomenon we'll just call "Stuff Girls Say" (hereafter "SGS," with "Stuff" being my G-rated substitution for another word you can probably guess at).

The original Twitter account contained nothing but a couple of comedy writers' rapid-fire blurbs of silly things young women say.  more...

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