Retirement Planning - Lessons Learned

[ultrarunner]

Or they are counting on it working out somehow…

More often then not various programs coveting housing, medical, utilities, food, etc…

 

[goeduck]

One single over the top sale near me in Washington profoundly affected all nearby property owners… at least until the property went into foreclosure 3 years later…

The event was quite a wake up call whereas California neighbors paying higher prices carry zero impact on area owners property tax wise…

Yes, that is an issue. Someone gets a crazy high price and everyone else's property taxes increase.

Soooo,,,,,, what happened after foreclosure?

 

[goeduck]

I don't really know how they calculate it, but this field is farmed, and the taxes are quite low for farm land here in Ohio. Most of the expense in our property taxes is due to our house and barn.

Good for you. We pay through the nose on property taxes out here. 5 digits left of the decimal.

 

[Frankenkubota]

My wife wrote out a check for $50 for her sister in law's birthday last week. The next day we got a check for $50 from her mom for our anniversary. I told my wife that we've been recirculating that same $50 around the family for about 10 years now. Let's throw everyone's game off and send $55 next time.

i did that 20 years ago and got the stink eye from everyone.

20-30 years ago gift cards became all the rage. Personally, i'd rather get a gift card than a sweater but not the point.

One Christmas we were all sitting around opening gifts and it was one card after another. If the one you gave wasn't as much as someone else's, kinda made you feel cheap.

Couple days later i made the formal announcement, no more gifts to me or from me unless they are hand made....period! My son was old enough to understand and he got it.

My brother is a big mucky muck in the accounting industry and so i suggested that he just post everything on a spread sheet and net it out.

 

[two_bit_score]

My wife would be glad to hear that. We paid full asking price for a field adjacent to our property with no negotiating. Part of my wife's rationalization was that, if we pay more, it will help the value of our property.

The real reason was that she couldn't bear to attempt to negotiate money away from the little old lady who was moving off the property after her husband passed away.

I recently bought a city lot without any negotiation on price. It was below the market value in my opinion, had not been exposed to the market, ie not 'listed' with a RE, was in close proximity to other property I own, I could afford to pay cash and close quickly.

I did pay less than the Central Appraisal District value and I will reduce my property tax liability by close to half by selling a building on it 'to be moved'.

Do you think the CAD values in your area are at market value? Many here are not. Most are above market, especially on lower valued properties. Mainly because people do not protest values on lower valued properties so they can get away with 'appraisal creep'. I have actually had people say their property "went up in value" because their CAD valuation increased.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have appealed many times and never lost but it does get old plus now there is a $50 filing fee and it can take two for the hearing and another 6 months to actually receive refund for overpayment... meanwhile you must pay as billed...

 

[DieselBound]

Zimbabwe.

I've been following the adventures of Noraly, a blond Dutch lady and a professional geologist who is touring the world by motorcycle. Indonesia to Europe. Patagonia to Bolivia where she got quarantined in the Covid shutdown. This year South Africa, Namibia, and this month Zimbabwe. (Essentially up the west coast of southern Africa, then crossing the wildlife tourist reserves now, toward Mozambique on the east coast). Her descriptions of the culture and natural features everywhere are fascinating.

A few days ago the comment 'They still use US dollars everywhere'. She had to go to a second ATM in Harare (Zim capital) because the first one said dollars are rationed and that bank never receives enough. She showed a local Zim dollar. Lots of zeroes on it. That poor country has suffered the same fate as Venezuela, from incredibly rich to dirt-poor in one generation, as crooked government stole everything.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEIs9nkveW9WmYtsOcJBwTg

The crooked govt is the US govt. Waging economic war on Venezuela, which has included stealing it's money and gold in addition to undermining it's oil trading, has done exactly what the US has wanted to do, and is good at, starving regular people (in order to force them to accept being occupied by trans-national corporations).

The USD is the world's reserve currency. It's quite the racket. Backed by "Good Faith." Ha, ha, ha... Forces everyone else to buy USD in order to transact: skimming via transactions. But this game is about up as many countries are opting to trade outside the USD: and its no wonder that they're also countries that are deemed "enemies". Oil is the biggest trade in the world and every day now more and more of it is being traded outside the USD: key trade is Russia, China and Iran; Europe will, eventually, have no other recourse than to shift as well [Nordstream II is just a hint of the future for them, well, for those that aren't stupid enough to stay hitched to the US/NATO suicide mission]. As this increases it pushes current USD-only oil traders toward non-USD trade: US's head-chopping friends in Saudi Arabia are going to be shifting in order to continue to buy off security for their kingdom (US will continue to sell weapons because it needs the money, but eventually the kingdom will be looking elsewhere- likely Russia as it's weapons systems are better and cheaper. As soon as the tipping point comes, which it will (ALL FIAT CURRENCIES DIE), the US will face blow-back- boomerang, inflation.

 

[goeduck]

Average Retirement Savings: How Do You Compare?

Curious how much the average person has saved for retirement? We break it down by age and provide the typical shortcoming.

smartasset.com

If this is correct, people aren't preparing for retirement

You can say that again. Wow!

 

[goeduck]

The automated email I get from my real estate agent filtered for investment opportunities had 5 new listings and 2 reduced in price. Good to see the reductions. The agent called the other day and I told her I am sitting on the fence watching at this point.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have noticed price reductions the past few weeks but homes are still selling briskly… especially using the price low to drum up traffic and accept offers which can be eye popping over asking.

Starting too high can backfire.

A well prepped 1500 square feet vintage 1955 home had the road blocked with so many showings… no exaggeration all week and is now marked sold last night. List price $899k…

I’m very curious what the final number is…

The owner of 25 years recently retired and cashing out and capturing the income tax break…

He was paying 6k property tax… imagine the new buyer could be in the 16k property tax neighborhood?

Lesson learned is Real Estate can be the cornerstone to a sound retirement...

East Oakland CA Link should anyone be interested...

11118 Kerrigan Dr, Oakland, CA 94605 | realtor.com®

View 40 photos for 11118 Kerrigan Dr, Oakland, CA 94605, a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,482 Sq. Ft. single family home built in 1955 that was last sold on 10/08/2021.

www.realtor.com