We Are Going To HARP Our Rental

 

 

Our remaining mortgage is on our rental home. We are upside down in the mortgage by about $70,000.00 from the original refinance back in 2007. Currently we are about $40.000.00 upside down. I don't know if we will ever see any increase in the value of this house. That being said, we decided to apply for HARP (home affordable refinance program).

 

With the HARP, we will significantly lower the payment, save $24,000.00 over the course of the loan and we only increased the life of the loan by 3 yrs. With the diffence between the monthly payment and what the renter's pay, we will be able to make a few updates on the rental.

 

Yes, I would LOVE to pay the rental mortgage off early. But until the dusts settles from mom's estate AND when I decide to rent mom's house for "real" money, that will have to wait.

 

Tonight we had dinner with my Aunt and Uncle ( my mom's brother) from Wisconsin. My uncle is a retired U.S Federal Marshall and his organization has meetings annually all over the United States. They were so hoping to see mom with this visit. It was going to be a surprise for her. That didn't work out quite like they planned. :-(

I so enjoyed the visit! Can you believe my Uncle is 85 years old? Not me!!

 

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Just When You Think You Are Getting Ahead....

It must be our turn.  This week has had a lot of extra unexpected expenses, and the week is not even over yet.  It started on Monday.  Our renters called and said that the fan was not working on the AC.  So my husband went over there last night after work and had a look at it and figured out it was the blower motor on  that was bad.  So he went to the Supply house and was able to find a replacement and install the new motor. Cost for parts:  $442.00.
 Boo!!


The plus side is that my husband is an AC tech and was able to fix the unit himself.  We probably actually saved another $400.00 in labor because he was able to do it himself.  Now the renters say the dishwasher is acting up and I REALLY need to find the extended warranty for it. I use to be more organized and knew where things were.  Now, not so much.


For my job at the college I have incurred some more unexpected expenses.  Since I go to different hospitals to visit the students, the hospitals require that we have ALL of our shots updated.  This includes MMR, Chicken Pox, Flu shot, and a PPD.  I am almost done getting all my shots and so far I have spent $400.00 getting them updated and documented.  The cheapest I could find is through the local county health department.


That is about it.......for now.  I know that things do happen and we are just going to go with the flow.  What bugs me is that these unplanned expenses are SLOWING down the progress of paying off our Credit Card Debt!  We will just have to be patient and keep plugging along.

Hope you all have a great Thursday!

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Today We Become Landlords

With great apprehension and relief we will be signing the papers to officially rent out our other house.  Of course, I waited til the last minute to work on a lease/rental agreement.  I feel we are fortunate in that the family that will be renting the house have been friends of ours for almost 20 years.  Our kids grew up together and were friends through school, and after graduation.

They are able to provide the first and last month's rent as well as $1000.00 security deposit. It is a difficult transition for me, we had lived in that house for 29 years.  But over the last couple of weeks, it has gotten easier to visit the house and not become emotional.  I just have to remember that we will be making more memories in our NEW home!   

My next task will be to seek out an accountant.  I think I am going to need one.