Personal Finance When it comes to discuss salary, your current salary is irrelevant. |
- When it comes to discuss salary, your current salary is irrelevant.
- I'm deeply ashamed over how much money I've wasted in my life. I look at my debt and feel like a failure. How did you get over it?
- Happy IRA contribution day!
- Dress rental company (US) wants to charge me $1500 for a lost dress, but I have an email confirming they received the dress and a receipt from UPS saying I returned it. What to do?
- Some tips if you are saving for a home in 2019
- Salary: Do you understand Compa-ratio and how it affects you? Do you want to? Then step inside.
- My father is in bad health and suggested we add my name to his car title and house deed in order to avoid probate taxes. Is this legal and is there anything I should be worried about before doing so?
- Is it a good time in my life to buy a house?
- Where to hold money when saving for a house
- Paying off girlfriend's school debt, need advice on how I should go about it
- Is it worth to start investing
- Forgot to file marriage license, what is our status
- Buy the cheapest car your ego can live with
- Can someone see if I filled out my W-4 Correctly?
- Spirit Airlines "Insurance Policy"
- How do you account in your budget for using money you set aside previously?
- Budgeting for 2019, financial security seems like a pipe dream, suggestions for optimization?
- New year. No job. Looking for motivation or advice
- Selling my house, closing date has past due to roof issues- is what they are asking acceptable?
- Haven't filed taxes in ~5 years, need advice on catching up.
- Wife sells clothes as a side job and doesn't think she will owe taxes on them, but I think she will.
- Married! ...now what?
- My dad made some bad financial mistakes and needed my help in purchasing a home; how can I get out of it?
- What to do with savings?
| When it comes to discuss salary, your current salary is irrelevant. Posted: 01 Jan 2019 11:26 AM PST Recently I was in contact with several headhunters via LinkedIn. I could not spend time energy doing all the calls and interviews, so I asked (nicely) the headhunters about the salary range and benefits. Some never got back to me. Some asked me about my current salary and my expectation. I simply said no, my current salary is irrelevant. This is something that was commonly advised, but I don't think everyone understand how important it is. In most of the cases, the company already has a budget for the new position, and also in most of the cases, they want to pay as little as possible ( unless you are crazily good and they are really desperate to get you). If they can pay you less and still make you happy (because it's already 30% higher than your current salary), why would they pay you more (even if they totally can)? ( Such employers exist, but they are not the majority). Same goes as expected salary. You are worth what you bring to your new employer. You might be heavily underpaid with your current employer, but that has nothing to do with the negotiations. For me, it is always salary and benefits upfront. If it is a match then I will proceed further, otherwise, "Thanks, but may be next time". That saves both sides time and effort. They already know a fair amount of my information from my LinkedIn profile, therefore, what to expect from me, why can't I know what I can expect from them. In the end I got back a few ranges, which I politely said I will not proceed further, and only continued with 2 headhunters that provide a number I am comfortable with (even though it contains the infamous phrase"up to", at least I know what I can expect). Am waiting for an offer, but that is a different story. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2019 02:10 PM PST I used to be very good at budgeting but entered a spiral that contributed to building up almost $70k in debt. $50k in unnecessary student loans (I had a liveable stipend) and $20k in credit cards. I'm just starting to work on paying it down but I feel despondent over my past history and I don't think I will ever stop beating myself up over how much I spent. It is also going to take a long time and in the meantime I have no savings. Have you ever been in this situation and been able to move on and forgive yourself? Or found some way to come to peace with your past habits? I lie awake at night hating myself for what I've done to my finances and my life. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2019 07:32 AM PST |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2019 06:29 PM PST I rented a dress way back in August and not long after, was surprised to find charges to my credit card for late fees and replacing a lost dress. So far, they've already charged me $700, and plan on charging me about $800 more. I tried calling the rental company and received terrible customer service, saying that they have to charge me since they never received the dress. I've also tried emailing them, with screenshots from their own emails saying they've received the dress, but I was asked to call the same customer service number I've already tried. I've also been going back and forth with Chase, disputing their (many) charges several times already. Each time, I get the same result, saying that the charges are valid. I've sent Chase my receipt from UPS, but to be honest, I don't even know if the representatives in charge of the case are getting my photos. I'm getting really frustrated, since I've been dealing with this since August now, and below are the options I'm seeing:
I'm leaning on just doing option #2 but I don't know if the rental company can then just charge me some other way. I do not plan on using their services ever again, so I'm not even sure how they'd go about that. Any thoughts/suggestions would be highly appreciated. EDIT: My math was wrong, it was $550 charged so far and $800 to go. [link] [comments]  |
| Some tips if you are saving for a home in 2019 Posted: 01 Jan 2019 05:48 PM PST If you are planning to save for a home this year I thought I'd share a little advice: First it is a good idea to talk to a mortgage guy and go through the preapproval process before budgeting. Have them run some hypothetical numbers for you so you know roughly what you need to save for down payment and closing costs and what payments will look like. Note here that it may make sense to put less down to buy a home sooner/ keep some savings on hand for an emergency fund. Everyone hates PMI but if you buy a home today and pay 5% interest rate and next year they are at 6% your effective rate with mortgage insurance will likely be below the 1% rate difference. And it comes off when you get to 20% equity. I'm not saying 6% in 2020. I do see many folks wait longer to buy a home than they should because they think they need to put 20% down. If the payment is comfortable with PMI and you love the house buy the house with less down. And if it is going to take x amount of time to get 20% down you should be able to pay the mortgage down in a similar amount of time and get the PMI removed. Everyone's situation is different and if the PMI pushes the payment too high for your budget obviously don't do this but PMI is just effectively a higher interest rate for putting less than 20% down. It isn't some terrible evil thing that must be avoided at all costs. You also want to plan for moving expenses, the cost of an inspection, and any projects you plan to do to the new home. And if you are working with a good mortgage guy/gal and your credit is below 760 ask him/her if he/she has any advice to improve the credit score while you save. Having even a slightly higher score can make a surprising difference on your mortgage payment. Happy New Year! [link] [comments]  |
| Salary: Do you understand Compa-ratio and how it affects you? Do you want to? Then step inside. Posted: 01 Jan 2019 03:38 PM PST Reference: I was an auditor at one point. The below is my personal assessment of Compa-ratio "for the 80%". You will likely see and hear different information than the below at some point, because Compa-ratio is used and implemented differently based on the needs or assumptions of each organization. If you're on the lower level of salary you may never have heard of this tool. But it's almost a sure bet that you're subject to it. In order for you to have any leverage as you move to different jobs, it's critical you at least understand what this is and what effect it has on you. In simple terms: Compa-ratio is a ratio (from 0.0 to 1.0) of pay in a range for a given position, based on the market value of that position as determined by the company. When I say "market value", it's literally like a store. What's the most common "price" you'd expect to pay if you had to replace that person? Much of this comes from the public sector, who is required to publish their salaries. Some of it is assumptive. Some of it is a "nod-nod-wink-wink" between companies (read up on the Apple/Google salary collusion: https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-tech-jobs-settlement-20150903-story.html). Some of it is based on cost-of-living, which is state by state. This "price" will change by state, because of course, it's easier to find certain types of jobs than others based on the state, because many states have concentrations of a given type (Detroit was heavily concentrated with auto workers, for example, but Seattle is/was not). In situations where a position is saturated (i.e. fast food workers) and there's no shortage, the price is obviously lower. This is why for certain jobs it actually makes better sense to consider relocating to a different state where the demand is high but the talent pool is low. In my current field, this is the case; I can easily find work in my field paying what I want in states like North Dakota, Idaho, Nevada, etc., but nearly impossible in states like Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas. It's not that the jobs aren't there, they just don't pay what they should, due to saturation of the talent pool. In California, I once had a company offer 2.5x what I would normally make (basically, more than you'd pay some CEOs!), if I was willing to relocate vs. working remote. I refused, because I hate California and their terrible tax system. But I digress. So let's use a real-world example. And I'm going to focus on annual (i.e. not hourly) pay, as it's easier to understand the numbers, but it applies regardless. Say you're fresh out of college, no work history, but you got your bachelor's and you're ready to work in a state where minimum wage is about $9/hour. You find a cashier job at the local department store and you apply. They offer you $23k/year (just over $11/hour). Freeze that moment. What they offered you is not the highest they could offer you. In actuality, it's closer to the lowest they can justify paying you, based on what you bring to the table. If someone else who had experience working at department stores applied, they'd likely get a higher offer. If someone who had no degree and no experience applied, they'd likely get lower. Why? The intent of Compa-ratio, at least in some companies, is to try to use data to accomplish four main objectives.
So in the example I gave, assuming the fair market value for that exact role in the state is $22k/year, the actual pay range for that position might be something like $19k - $27k. Everyone with the same role then has a different salary within this range. SO if you accepted $23k/year, you'd be at a .5 Compa-ratio - the middle rate between the two. In the company's mind, this opens you up to multiple (usually small) raises until you got to the 27k, which means less of a glass ceiling than if they offered you, say, $25k. To you, it feels low, and it should - because it's designed to be low to begin with, but provide raise potential over time as you prove you're worth the money. Now, if you're in the middle of a Compa-ratio, you might get raises of 5% or so for a few years before it starts to go down, because you've got room to grow. If you're at the upper end of the Compa-ratio, you might get raises of 2% or so, because you're just too close to the max to pay more. Lower end, you might get "huge" raises. The company's goal is to keep you away from the 1.0 Compa-ratio, because they know that once you hit that, they no longer can justify paying you more, and you have a risk of leaving, unless your role is re-priced. TO avoid this, smart companies will usually re-assess the ranges every year to make sure they're not underpricing a given role and keep your momentum towards 1.0 without actually letting you reach it. How does minimum wage play into this? Sort of like musical chairs, actually. A lower minimum wage results in a lower base salary for ranges, which (in theory) results in businesses being able to create more ranges within a set of lower-skilled labor roles. When the minimum wage goes up, these ranges usually aren't bumped up, they're eliminated completely along with the roles where people were paid at the lower end of the spectrum. Any position that's currently paying less than $30k, should be considered at risk to get cut at some point if more states start adopting $15/hour minimum wages or the Feds do. Think math: if I have 50 positions with pay ranges of $20k - $40k with 40 of those people making at least $30k, and minimum wage goes from $9/hour to $15/hour, not only do you need to get everyone over the $31-$32k/year threshold so you meet the minimum, you also have to bump everyone else due to the median having changed and the potential to get too close to the highest part of the range (which creates a risk of not being able to give any more raises, thus increasing the risk they leave). So the cost isn't just getting those underpaid good, but also increasing everyone so it's fair, including part-time workers. It can add up quick - and it's mostly because of how Compa-ratio works. It was never built to handle significant increases in minimum wage in a short time, but rather a graduated, steady increase that's reassessed annually. The businesses' default response is to increase the price of their product (assuming they're a for-profit) and/or cut lower level, "non-essential" roles. You've likely heard people tell you to negotiate your salary. If you're in position to do so, then I agree. The hard part is to make sure you have enough leverage to negotiate when you're up against Compa-ratio. Fresh out of college, you probably don't unless it's a position in such demand that the company will flex a bit - and they won't tell you that straightaway. You'd just have to know based on the industry or learning track that there aren't many other people available that can do what you know how to do. Ultimately though, you may need to settle for a middle or lower Compa-ratio without realizing you're at that point. Don't be afraid to ask at the point of the interview with HR if they use Compa-ratio and where the offer sits in the range. If you consider it low, ask for more, but be reasonable based on your experience. Know also that HR usually has a bit of pull to approve an increase to an offer by a small percent - usually up to 5% or so of the original offer, as long as it's still within the Compa-ratio range. So in the example above, you might be able to get them to go up to $24k without too much heartburn. Long term - and this isn't easy - you have to train yourself to settle for less than you think you should be paid until your worth is increased, so you can get more leverage to negotiate for more. At some point, with enough experience in a strong field, you'll be able to literally ask for a specific salary and know you'll get it. It may put you super high on Compa-ratio and limit raise potential, but if you use that as a stepping stone for promotions, you may end up in a higher range that puts raise potential back on the table. Or, be willing to potentially uproot and move to another state where they specifically need what you have to offer, and are willing to pay better for it. In closing, my observation is that Compa-ratios miss something huge: value. What's the value of this person to my organization and how can I maximize that value? Not value as compared to fair market value. Value based on the individual's results. In a value-based system, the range wouldn't be directly tied to any one role, only the starting pay. The maximum potential pay would then be a median of the organizational pay; which means that as people deliver value to the organization, they earn raises. As they earn raises, the median increases. As the median increases, the maximum potential increases. The percentage of raise is then adjusted based on the value the individual brought, which is directly tied to results delivered as assessed - thus encouraging people to show up every day and work as hard as they can. But that's just me. Hopefully this is of some help. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2019 09:22 AM PST I'll start by saying that I will be talking to an estate attorney and will not be taking any advice herein as fact. I'm just asking to get some general information and understand my options and precautions to take. With that out of the way, my limited research indicates there are four options:
In case it matters, my father is divorced and I am the only child in the will. Also, the value of the estate including the house is under $1M USD. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it a good time in my life to buy a house? Posted: 01 Jan 2019 10:40 AM PST I hope somebody answers me. lol I'm 29. Stable job at a hospital. Earning approx. $47,000 annually. I have good credit and only have car loan about to be paid off in 2019 and small credit card balance. I found a cute house for sale in my small town in Ga, USA. It's at $45,000. I'm currently renting a house I don't really like at $450 monthly. In my heart I feel like I should go to the bank and ask them if I can buy this house, but in the back of my head I'm thinking maybe I just want this house bc I don't like the house I'm renting. What should I do? I feel so conflicted. [link] [comments]  |
| Where to hold money when saving for a house Posted: 01 Jan 2019 05:36 PM PST I'm saving for a house. I am now holding $30k in my banks savings account and I plan on buying a house early 2020 after saving another $20k for a down payment. I liquidated all of my non 401k stocks last October because I was worried the market would go down and my money would be tied up. What is the best low risk investment for a one year duration so my $30k doesn't get eaten up by inflation. [link] [comments]  |
| Paying off girlfriend's school debt, need advice on how I should go about it Posted: 01 Jan 2019 01:49 PM PST My girlfriend and I have been dating for about a year and some change now, and we are both one semester away from getting our bachelor's degrees. The problem is, she owes $2500 from last semester, and our school won't allow her to register for the next one until it's paid off. She doesn't have the means to pay for it herself, she has no scholarships or financial aid anymore since it's her 5th year, her family members can't (or won't) help her, and she can't get a loan from the bank since she has no credit. I've been fortunate enough to have received enough money from scholarships and financial aid that I've been able to put away around $17,000 over the past 3.5 years, so I can cover this for her, I'm just not sure how to go about it. Since $2500 is still a LOT of money to me, I'm not sure whether I should just give her the money with no expectations of seeing it again, have her pay me back over time, or go as far as to have something in writing legally binding her to paying me back (should we ever break up). I guess, in a way, this is both a financial and a relationship question, because I want to figure out the best way to do this without it taking a major toll on our relationship OR my finances. TL;DR: Should I pay off my girlfriend's $2500 in school debt without expecting it back, or should I loan her the money? [link] [comments]  |
| Is it worth to start investing Posted: 01 Jan 2019 09:57 AM PST I am a 16 year old in the U.S making some money, its alot to me obviously but currently i have about 1.4k in my bank account. Should i be learning how to invest and start or is it just not worth it with such a low ammount? [link] [comments]  |
| Forgot to file marriage license, what is our status Posted: 01 Jan 2019 01:26 PM PST Recently got married to the love of my life, my partner and I forgot all about the marriage certificate until it had expired. Do we file separately and one of us claim our daughter or do we still file as married? [link] [comments]  |
| Buy the cheapest car your ego can live with Posted: 31 Dec 2018 11:35 PM PST One of my New Year's resolutions is to buy my first car - I have $50k saved and a steady full time job so I have a far few options. Uncertain as to whether I should go for a cheap car and upgrade in a few years or just buy a really sweet expensive one and keep it for ages, I went to the fount of wisdom in my life - my dad - for his advice. He gave me the quote above, and I found it really resonated with me - I hope it does with some of you too! Edit: all things being equal. Thank you to those who have pointed out that you can get a bomb for $2000 [link] [comments]  |
| Can someone see if I filled out my W-4 Correctly? Posted: 01 Jan 2019 06:04 PM PST So I am currently Single, 22 years old, going to be a full time student in the summer until spring of next year, no kids, not the head of the household Line A Enter "1" for yourself.... 1 (i'm confused about this cause the older W-4 said if you aren't considered dependent to put 1 but this one just says yourself) Line B B Enter "1" if you will file as married filing jointly: 0 Line C Enter "1" if you will file as head of household: 0 D Enter "1" if: { • You're single, or married filing separately, and have only one job; or • or • Your wages from a second job or your spouse's wages (or the total of E Child tax credit. See Pub. 972, Child Tax Credit, for more information. 0 (i put 0 cause i don't have kids) F Credit for other dependents: 0 (no kids) G Other credits. 0 H= 2 So would I just take 2 allowances? Very confused on all of this [link] [comments]  |
| Spirit Airlines "Insurance Policy" Posted: 01 Jan 2019 08:24 AM PST I booked a flight on Spirit Airlines with their "Insurance Policy" and our flight has been delayed 10+ hours. It also just so happens that the insurance company is closed for the holidays. Spirit is saying they can only refund our tickets, even though the insurance policy says they will refund up to $500 per insured, which is enough to get us home on a flight on a different airline. Not sure if anyone else has run into this before, but if anyone has any advice that would be appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| How do you account in your budget for using money you set aside previously? Posted: 01 Jan 2019 08:41 AM PST Let me set an example - let's say every month I set aside $100 for car repair, so there is a line in my budget for this. When I get the money, I fill it in to show that It has been set aside for this line item. Then, later in the month, I need to do a $75 repair on the car. How do I fit that in the budget? If I add it in as a new item, such as "expenses" the budget would show that I spent $175 when I actually only spent $100 [link] [comments]  |
| Budgeting for 2019, financial security seems like a pipe dream, suggestions for optimization? Posted: 01 Jan 2019 06:07 PM PST Hi all, I am hoping you can give me suggestions for optimizing my budget (ie where I can save money). I am 30 years old, and I live pay check to pay check, I have no real savings to speak off, it;s scary , if something were to happen where I'd need to provide $5000, I would be screwed. My net income after taxes, health insurance and a 5% contribution to a 403 (b) account is ~ $2850.00. My expenses are listed below: Rent $1,146.00 Electric/Water/Sewage $150.00 Internet $45.00 Cell Phone $30.00 Car Insurance $100.00 Gas $60.00 Groceries $200.00 Household Items $50.00 Personal (grooming, etc) $50.00 Recreation(eating out/hobbies) $50.00 Miscellaneous $40.00 Planet Fitness $10.70 Netflix $11.89 Microsoft $6.99 St. Judes $15.00 Student Loan $260.00 Credit Card $125.00 Car Note $200.00 Emergency Fund $250.00 Sludge Fund $50.00 This totals to about 2850. As far as debts go: I have 400 left on the Credit Card, $ 1150 left on student loans, and 1860.48 left on my car note. I should be done with these debts at various time points this year. What do I do with this 'extra' money, should I add it to my emergency fund or increase contributions to my 403(b). My sludge fund is at $180, My current emergency fund is $2360, and 403 (b) at 6590.00. What are my options for cutting down cost, my rent is rather pricey and I have looked but there are not many options. I have a 2bd/2 bath, so for a few months last year, I rented the second room for extra income. (I would be willing to do that again, but I'd rather not have a permanent roommate). I looked into renting a 1BD, but it was only about a 100$ difference and with moving costs it didn't seem practical. My credit score is 774, and I have a personal loan not included here (that I took out to help a family member, which they have been paying every month, balance is ~4500). At this rate, it seems like I will never be able to buy a home, or take a vacation, I feel financially defeated. I appreciate you feedback/comments on how I can save money/achieve financial security? Thank you [link] [comments]  |
| New year. No job. Looking for motivation or advice Posted: 01 Jan 2019 07:24 PM PST Happy new year ya'll I had a special surprise waiting for me at work the afternoon of the 31st. After another long day of hard work at a fairly new job (I had only been there two months) I was summoned in to my bosses office for a meeting. Excited to leave for the night I jokingly said to my bosses "You guys ready to do some drinking tonight?" to which they responded "well... not so much, we don't have the money to keep you on anymore. We haven't paid ourselves in months and your salary isn't sensible for us going forward. We can't afford you. Today was your last day." I sat there shocked and responded "I clearly wasn't the problem was I? I did my job every day and put in 10-15 extra hours of work a week to make sure everything was going well...." they responded "Your side of the business hasn't generated enough revenue to justify your being here anymore...." To give a little back story: I am 24. I've been a Service Manager for the last year or so at two different automotive repair shops. The first was a general auto repair facility (shop A), the second and most recent was a transmission repair shop (Shop B). My sales ranged from 17.5k a week on average at shop A and 14k a week at shop B. Shop A closed down in October after being sold to a competitor by the owners. The new owner cleaned house aside from my fellow service writer and I. The new owners of shop A weren't going to honor my vacation time, benefits etc. so I declined their offer of employment and then went to work for Shop B. Shop B wanted me to expand their services from just transmission repairs to... everything. Shop B agreed to match my salary at $1000/week. I brought to them my list of customers from shop A, several thousands of dollars of equipment for next to nothing, and all of my knowledge of General Automotive, tips on what vendors offer the best partnerships, who has what parts cheapest + best quality, my notes on sales techniques taught to me by the thousands of dollars worth of sales classes I invested in. All of the fleet accounts that trusted me, and more importantly my personal sales strategies notes divided into specific customer personalities that I developed. I basically made a guide of how to deal with all of the various personalities and frequent questions we receive based on what had been most successful for me in the past. Shop B now has all of that.... Half of the lifts at their shop are filled with vehicles that I brought in from my old shop and here I sit in my bosses tiny office being told I wasn't generating enough revenue.... I asked "How am I being let go for general automotive sales being low when we only just started and have had no advertising outside of my phone calls to my people and word of mouth? I've still sold my worth in transmission repairs so how on Earth am I a problem for you financially?" They responded "it's nothing personal it's just business. We haven't been able to pay ourselves.... blah blah blah" they went on for a minute. I complained that my mechanics weren't efficient enough with repairs given their efficiency rating of 30%. Meaning they are about 1/3 as fast at completing repairs as they should be. I had been complaining about this for weeks. Offering names of people I had worked with previously, putting notes and numbers on their desks of mechanics calling asking for work. I still sat there and couldn't get a quality answer out of them for why they were laying me off. So I went off on them explaining how I wasn't at fault for their poor money management and if I had known their company was in shambles I wouldn't have agreed to work with them. Now I'm sitting here with no job, a pending loan payment on the 15th of about $300 dollars, roughly $400 in expenses in between then, and rent on the 1st at $1350. In all I think I pay about $2300 in expenses a month. I've also got $600 dollars owed on a credit card because of my idiotic choices this past holiday season. I'm wondering what steps people have taken when thrusted into this position before? What had you done to get out of it? Things I've already done: • Filed for unemployment • Tweaked my resume • Planned out a route for shops I'd like to stop by to drop off my resume • Cancelled my fun expenses (Netflix, hulu, spotify, gamefly, internet, etc.) • Calmy accepted the challenge of finding new work unexpectedly • Called my parents and cried a little What should I do next and how can I tackle this demon of debt without being fucked? Side notes: I have a 790 FICO credit score and about $500 in my bank right now.... Thanks for reading, reddit. Much love, happy new year!
[link] [comments]  |
| Selling my house, closing date has past due to roof issues- is what they are asking acceptable? Posted: 01 Jan 2019 12:30 PM PST TL;DR: Selling my house and stand to get about 100k profit/downpayment back, but the buyer financing is being very difficult, and won't let us close until the roof is replaced. It is raining a lot, and we were supposed to have it replaced every week for the last month, but it keeps getting pushed back with no end in sight because of the rain. Should I risk 9k in escrow to close now, or wait until the roof is done, paying roughly $50/day that closing is delayed and not living in the house. How can I ensure that I will get the escrow money back upon completion of the roof? If you want more info, here's the backstory: So I am selling my house in an area that was affected by hurricanes this year, but the only damage was some minor shingle loss to the roof. It is important to note that this is a duplex with HOA and all exterior repair costs (roof) shared equally between the two owners. I went into closing on around Thanksgiving and the original closing date was Dec 21. The buyer was fully aware at that time that the roof was tarped (as a precaution) and roofers were scheduled and paid already to come do a full replacement of the roof the first week of January. It was delayed because everyone in the tri-state area needs a new roof, and that's just where we fell in line after weeks of just trying to get a roofer on the phone and to come for an estimate. So, everything seemed fine and dandy until the buyer came back on about December 10 to say that they are getting a VA loan and the mortgagee demands the following conditions to grant the mortgage for the house: 1) Patch roof to get it to close on the 21st (which my realtor and I feel is a ridiculous waste of even the smallest amount of money, because the roof *should* be replaced within a month of that happening) Now, I feel these are all ridiculous demands considering that a) the buyer knew from the get-go that the roof was scheduled and paid for to be replaced first week of January, so I am baffled as to why they didn't plan for this contingency with their finances. b) trying to get the roofer in earlier is nigh on impossible as there was you know, a hurricane, and they are over extended as it is dealing with people who have actual problems. c) the "120%" of a new roof to be put in escrow until completion should at most be 60% because if for some reason the roofer fails to complete the job, my neighbor will be pitching in the other 50% of the cost, as per our HOA by-laws, and he has always proven to be extremely responsible in that regard, and d) I HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR THE ROOF!!! As has my neighbor. The Roofer already has been paid 100%, and we submitted receipts to the buyer of this, as well as the fact that because of the hurricane, insurance has covered most of the cost anyway (we sent a copy of that check to them as well). My realtor has failed to explain to me why the mortgage company is demanding this and I am not sure he even understands the way my HOA works here either- because he has refused to even try to discuss the issue with the buyer or mortgage company, so I don't even know if the mortgagee is aware that the roof is paid for. ... needed to vent a little there.. Now this has been going on for weeks, as we first tried to get the roofer to do the work sooner, and that continued to fall through due to materials not showing up on time, holidays, and the fact that it has rained every day except christmas and today (new years), and the roofer ain't gonna work on the holidays *sigh*. It is expected to rain until at least saturday, so they won't even touch the roof until they have two full days of sun forecast. So here's my dilemma: My realtor has failed to explain the exact risks I would be taking by putting up the money in escrow, which is really why I'm writing this post. Has anyone had a similar experience? What are the potential consequences of fronting them more money? I am seriously considering it at this point because I am basically losing at least $50/day on this mortgage interest alone each day the closing is extended, not to mention the additional taxes, insurance, utilities costs, etc that add up each month. Now we are looking at closing almost 3 weeks after the original date and I can't even promise that because I am literally at the mercy of this roofer. I am starting to need the money from the house (or at least to stop spending on a place I'm not living in), and if I really will get the escrow 9k back on completion of the roof, I'd rather just close asap. In closing I will get a check for about 100k between the profit and large down payment. I am at least making a decent profit even after all of the commissions, repairs, etc. But I don't know what kind of power they have over that money once I put it in escrow- what assurances do I have that I will get it back? Is this just a 'if the roofer doesn't show up' collateral, or is it a 'this roof isn't up to our standards, and you need to pay for a different contractor'? If the roofer simply doesn't complete the job, I'm already out the original money I paid him already (about 2k after the insurance check and my neighbor's portion)... so then if he doesn't show up, we'll be dealing with getting that back in small claims court possibly, AND I would lose some or all of the escrow money and basically pay for the buyer's roof AND my neighbor's roof TWICE. If that happens, I'll also have to deal with getting my neighbor to pay me for his half, which as it is set up, I have very little legal ground to demand that payment from him and he could just ignore me. So it sounds like a huge risk for me, and I have very little information to base my decision on. I am very unhappy with my realtor as well, but I'm worried that if I try to break the contract now I will be responsible for some or all of his commission. Plus, we're SO CLOSE to the end of this thing it seems silly to start over now with someone else. I just want to close, and I can't do anything about it except either wait for it to stop raining and hope the roofer comes through, or front $9k to close now, get my profits/downpayment back, and pray that nothing goes wrong and I get the escrow money back after the roof is finished. Can someone here please explain the possible ramifications of this escrow situation, and if it is wiser to risk the escrow money to get the much larger sum of profit (and cut the expenses of the house), or wait for the roof to be finished and just keep paying for the house. [link] [comments]  |
| Haven't filed taxes in ~5 years, need advice on catching up. Posted: 01 Jan 2019 04:09 PM PST I know, I know. I messed up. I used to do my own taxes every year without fail, forgot to file on time one year and got into a cycle of telling myself I'd catch up later when I got all my paperwork together. In the past five years, I've moved a bunch of times (once out of state and back to my home state) and I'm horrible about saving my banking/pay information. I've switched banks a few times, along with jobs, which makes it hard to dig up old expenses and pay stubs. Basically, I always over-pay on my withholding, so I know that I'm owed money (even with penalties, correct me if I'm wrong) and I don't plan on filing for many/any deductions for the past few years, even moving costs. I just want to know if there are any good resources to pull my old pay info so I can file everything easily in one lump. Can I request pay/tax documents from the IRS that were submitted to them from my employers? Can I use that to get old EINs, etc? [link] [comments]  |
| Wife sells clothes as a side job and doesn't think she will owe taxes on them, but I think she will. Posted: 01 Jan 2019 03:04 PM PST My wife started selling clothes through online services starting a little over a year ago and has had moderate success doing so, selling about $3,000 from what she has told me, or which taxes have not been taken out of. She briefly met with a CPA and my understanding is that he said don't worry about taxes on those sales. My reading of that is not that she wont actually owe but that she shouldn't worry because the taxes will not be that much. When I have used online SE tax calculators (tried a few different ones now) that factor in our combined income with taxes already taken out for our full time jobs it was showing that we would still owe a few hundred dollars because of those sells. Mostly I am just trying to figure this out what is going on since for the past two years our full time employers did not take enough taxes out and we always owed (this was corrected during the past year). [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2019 04:33 PM PST Just got married on 12/24! Other than the obvious stuff (health insurance, car insurance,etc..) is there anything else we should be doing, financially, to benefit ourselves? We also want to start looking to buy a home in the next 6 months. We (34m/31f) have lived together for 4 years already. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2019 05:54 PM PST Hey guys, A few years back my dad had some pretty poor financial ideas. He ended up foreclosing on his home. While he made great money and never stressed about food or anything, he basically screwed up. Fast forward a while. He was moving to another state to be closer to me and his other kids. He helped me financially, and together we got a house in my name. I've paid on utilities with him, and general upkeep of the house, but he has always paid the mortgage. I got another job and decided to move into my own apartment across town with my fiance. Dad has made all the payments and has kept everything in good order. Since I'm not living there anymore we've actually decided to sell so he can purchase a smaller home closer to his grandkids. Here's where I'm stuck. I don't know much about taxes or anything like that. Since the house is in my name currently, I'd prefer not to have HIS next house be in MY name. Once I get the check for the house selling, am I able to just turn it over to him? Is there a process that needs to happen so that I don't get screwed up financially with the IRS? Maybe I'm over thinking it, I just don't want to break any rules. Not sure if this is the proper sub for it, but if you have taken the time to read this, thank you and I hope you have a great new year! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Jan 2019 05:44 PM PST I have nearly $14,000 in savings, can save around $3k a year. What should I do? [link] [comments]  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Personal Finance. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment