Author Archives: Money Reasons

About Money Reasons

A offbeat personal finance blogger that comes from the tech world.

Checking Out Local Property As An Investment

by

Right now, I’m sitting in a small local bank, waiting to speak to a loan officer?

I need to start making the proper connections, so I thought I’d get pre-approved for a mortgage as a first step by making a connection for my property purchasing plan.  Since I’m not entirely sure what I’m going (I’m still reading up on the process), I thought it would be best to test the waters with a small local bank just to get my feet wet.

I just recently drove through an area that I’m thinking of making a purchase and I thought I would describe it.

It’s a small (less than 4,000 total population) town that based around an resource mining company.  I’m sure most of the population is employed by the few local companies that are mining the earth for their manufactured product.  Driving around, I noticed a high amount of rental properties scattered throughout the small manufacturing town.

Even with a lot of rental properties, I didn’t notice too many “for rent” signs in the town.  I’m thinking that there could be a lot of renters in the area.  Driving around the area I’m thinking of buying, they people all seem like they are nice, happy looking people.

Although the neighborhood I’m looking at seems decent, I did notice that the neighbor across the street has a sign on his garage that says “Drunk Drive”, and there are a lot of plastic chairs and a big fire pit in the yard…  That might mean that perhaps they do more partying that I would like, but who knows.  Most likely, I’ll do a couple of weekend drive-bys to see how bad it really is.

Senate Versus Jamie Dimon

by

I’m on vacation, but I stumbled upon the senate hearing with Jamie Dimon speaking, and I have to say I’m impressed.

While I’m not that impressed with the senate, Jamie Dimon was a superstar.  It’s kind of like seeing a debate contest between a third grader (some of the senators) and a renown public speaker.

I was especially amazed with a senator from Ohio.  This particular senator opened his questioning with a statement that he wanted Jamie Dimon to just answer “Yes or No” to his questions.  My thought is how do you learn anything with “Yes or No” answers.  To me this seemed like a tactic to make the senator look good to his voters.  I on the other hand thought he looked foolish.  The Ohio senator ended by saying that the bank is too big to manager in his opinion.  My thought is what basis does he have to make such a statement?  Other foreign banks have no restrictions, so if our “too big” banks are broken up, how would we compete with smart foreign banks that don’t have such restrictions?

Is it me, or does it seem like we are giving our advantages away to other countries?

I think that Jamie Dimon is one of the best CEO in the United States and we’re very lucky to have him in our country.  I actually came away from the meeting with great respect for the man.  It’s obvious that he’s cares about American and truly wants things to be optimal.

I think one of the most incredible moments in the hearing? was when Jamie Dimon started listed how his company and other banks have made financial transactions cheaper and more liquid.  It seems like nobody thinks of the great things that the banks do, just that they are crooks.  I’m against the gain when I think that people like Jamie Dimon are great americans and help the country prosper!  Where do we think that small startup businesses get their money from to start anyway.

Senate vs Dimon, winner Dimon!

Bests,

MR

Revenge of the Myrtle Beach Family Vacation

by

Today is Tuesday and I have to eat my words in my previous post titled: Myrtle Beach Is Not For Families?

I ended the previous post with a question mark because I wasn’t 100% sure that the area would be bad for families, and to be honestly, these past few days the area has redeemed itself somewhat.

It’s still loud in the following ways:

  1. Biker’s without a muffler!
  2. Those stupid soccer horns that make such a loud sound.
  3. College age kids slamming doors and yelling constantly at night.
  4. Radios in cars cruising the strip that are way to loud
  5. Kids still hitting on each other and acting crazy (kind of look fun really).

But what has change is the day of week!  This change alone has made a dramatic difference in the way that enjoyed for the entire family.  After some basic common sense and talking to others in the area, Friday and Saturday are the days that the local kids (and young men) from the surrounding areas and come to Myrtle Beach to party.  So that means a lot of drinking and yelling, and a lot of trying to meet members of the opposite sex.

I believe that a lot of the rowdiness is from boys/men coming to the hotels hitting on the young girls going on vacation.   I think they realize that there isn’t much that the hotels can do to determine if they are clients or just men from surrounding area.  I can imagine if I were a local, young and not married, I too would be tempted to come down and have some fun.

So far, my family have went put-put golfing, experienced something called “Wonder Works” House (which was very fun), and rode on a huge Ferris Wheel (we went at night, but I think it would have been better in the day).

So after a rough start, the vacations has become much better.  After walking the pier, we notice that there are some definitely some newer resorts/hotels that would have been much nicer.  I think with some more thought and preparation, perhaps it could be a decent family vacation after all (at least if you can come in on Sunday and left mid-day Friday.

We’ll see how the vacation unfolds…

MR

Myrtle Beach Is Not For Families?

by

Friends invited us to go on vacation with them to Myrtle Beach, this is was big mistake so far!

We arrived Saturday night and instantly I regret it.  Perhaps it’s was when we were driving, looking for our hotel and the teenage kids in the car behind us yelled idiot as we turned into the parking lot, or perhaps it’s when the teenagers (different group) at the pool was trying to hook up with the girls in hot tub.  Or perhaps it’s the pointy screws in the chairs that poke us in the legs that we sit (or sat in once) on them.

Needless to say, we aren’t planning on packing any of our cloths back in our suitcases because we’re terrified of bedbugs or other horrible things.

I don’t see it really getting better, I would love to leave for home tonight. I have to admit, I’m afraid to leave the room because I’m afraid that someone will break in and take our laptops.

Perhaps I’m spoiled because of our years of going to Hilton Head Island, and the great times that I had there in the past.  The time spend with family and friends was always great at Hilton Head Island, all the teenagers are usually with parents and everybody is just having a relaxed, family-enjoying time.

What’s that loud sound I hear outside?  Oh, it’s a group of motorcyclist revving their engines just to be loud.  Great!  While I like motorcycles, I don’t like them because they are loud…

If I were single and in my 20s, I might enjoy this place a little more, but since I’m married with kids, this place isn’t fun at all.  Looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of attractions instead of enjoying the hotel and beach…

So if you are a single your person, Myrtle may be enjoyable for you, but if you are a classic atomic family like mine, this might not be the best place for you family…

Now that we’re here and the hotel is paid for, we’ll make the best of it.  Hopefully, I’m wrong and we’ll have a great time.

Cheers,

MR