Thinking about buying a house?

I don't know how many people read what I put up here, but if any of you are considering buying a house, I wish to pass on some knowledge that would have helped me out.

The first is your credit score. There are some things you can do to help your score over time, but it will take time to improve it. Basically, hold on to your oldest credit card, at least pay minimum due, and always pay on time. Oh, ya, check your credit report through annualcreditreport -- not the imitators.

Following along with your credit score, is your mortgage application. It would help on your mortgage application if you can keep from using your credit cards in the months before you apply. The mortgage people are going to look at your current balances, and assume that is debt you are going to pay off at the min payment -- regardless if you have a rock solid history of paying off your credit card completely every month -- which is really good thing to do! So, keeping your card balances to absolute minimums reduces the value of the 'liabilities' column when the bank calculates your net worth. -- Handy trick, but not necessary to get a loan.

How did I learn this?!?!? Well, this is going to be a shamless plug for a book I'm reading by Suze Orman called Young, Fabulous, and Broke. It is a good book that gives a basic explaination of the financial world as it pertains to young people in college or starting their careers. And, it is entertaining to read! If you never watched Suze Orman's show on tv, you should do it at least once. She has no reservations telling people you are doing a dumb thing. But she doesn't just say that, she has really good facts and math to backup her statements.

The second tip is take what the bank, realtor, etc. says about tax deductible mortgage interest, and flush it! You should look at the 1040 yourself and read where mortgage interest is deducted. It is in the itemized deduction section; therefore you must itemize all your deductions to take advantage of it. Therefore, if your mortgage interest for the entire year is, say, $8000 (and you had no other itemized deductions) you would be a dumbass to use your $8000 in itemized deductions because the standard deduction you could use instead is $10000. All I'm saying is to look at that itemized deduction worksheet - know which lines pertain to you, calculate your mortgage interest for the year, and then decide if it in your best interest to use the mortgage interest as a deduction.

And about itemized deductions.... I've been glancing it over and it seems there is provision in charitable contributions that you can deduct $.14 per mile for transportation to do volunteer work. There also seems to be a health expense section that includes insurance premiums. And a section to deduct state income tax - you Texans could do a sales tax deduction. That makes sense, why have uncle sam tax the money you paid as tax? They'd be taxing your taxes!

I know, reading tax forms and instructions is not fun. Especially if you only might need to know the information. At least read Suze Orman's book, it is entertaining at least, if you don't get any tips from it.

Ooooo Corvette ZR1

Sometimes I'll draft a post, and the forget about it. This one that I forgot about, so it is kinda old.

Has anyone seen this car? This is an awesome car... the OSU Dean of Arts & Sciences agrees with me! - by the way....

If our economy finds some way to run cars on ears of corn, moonshine, or hydrogen - I hope there is still gasoline available at a reasonable price for hobby cars, antique cars, etc. I really like to work on old cars, and if there is no gas to put in them... they'll lose that grunty exhaust charm. You know, the rumble.... Sure, there will be conversion kits to make your '57 chevy burn hydrogen, but the muffled wine of an electric engine is not the same as the ROAR from a gas burning, poison gas belching, tire burning muscle car!!

I really want to get this car! I gotta find a way to afford it. One way would be to put my Dad as the primary driver for insurance :). Corvettes hold their value, so I don't think I could pick up a used one on the cheap. '80s corvettes may be entering my price range, but they are 20+ years old!! I would have to rebuild it, most likely, and I don't do heavy work on cars. One hand, with something old like that, it may be possible for me to do the work. On the other had, it is a Corvette, and they didn't make half a million, so finding parts could be really difficult. Other cars, like a '67-'69 Camaro, have nearly EVERY part available from someone since they are popular cars to restore. Maybe I should get one of those... a 40+ year old car!!! They are very stylish.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/autos/0712/gallery.corvette_zr1/index.html

Power Toys

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Has anyone seen this? I there are some neat applications that Microsoft offers for free!! It is for Windows XP!! One puts a window preview in the alt-tab function, like Vista. Another provides four desktops, like Linux. Another installs a graphing calculator!!

Check it out!

Brilliant Idea

I had a brilliant idea to combat my hardware imcompatibilities...

Virtual Machine

It only costs $189 to get the VMware Workstations -- no thanks, I'd rather by new hardware.

I tried microsoft's virtual pc. It is free. But I cannot figure out how to share usb devices.... So back to square one!!

New computer...yay...

I got new computer. I got a really good deal. I used a $400 off coupon from HP and got an ATX machine. I really like my new computer, but I am getting frustrated trying to get it to work with my XP peripherals. Vista is a lot different, and I haven't found it to be backwards compatible. But I really needed a new computer after 7 years. Most people probably don't have cars that long!

My newest game (before I bought this computer) won't run because it has a virtual driver of some sort it installs as part of its copy protection features. The company that made the software doesn't make a patch.... go figure.

The most frustrating thing is trying to get my vista to print on my laserjet 1012. It doesn't. HP doesn't make drivers for vista. Now, it is not like vista came out last month... it came out like two years ago!! Shame on you HP.

I turned off the annoying thing that second guesses everything you want to do. It is sooo annoying.

I got a new game today. It is called assassin's creed. It has a weird plot, without going into its details, you are a 12th century assassin bound to follow the assassin's code of honor (creed) as you carry out your missions. I think it is going to be an interesting game because there is more than one way to complete the mission, and you can go anywhere, do anything. Reminds me of another game that I like, that has that same flexibility in achieving objectives.

I got this real dog of a game called Star Trek Legacy. I am a star trek fan, so I'll buy about any star trek game.... that is EXACTLY what the software company was thinking when they slapped this POS together. The thing is so buggy it is frustrating. Their story line is really lame, too. I did patch it, by the way. And every single mission requires you to battle.... it gets boring.

It will take a lot time (and new software), but eventually I hope to get vista up and going. What am I going to do with my old PC??? Let me know if you have any ideas.