See how our friend Meroudjie has relied on social networking sites to get personal relief after the earthquakes in Haiti and to provide relief for friends, family, and strangers still suffering on the island:
ALSO — If you’re in the DFW Area and have items to donate for the relief effort in Haiti, drop them off at the University of Dallas this weekend, Jan 30-31!
So, Sarah has always been very opinionated, especially since she learned how to express her opinions verbally. She has been anti-butter and anti-cheese since she could say, “No.” If you make her a pancake, she almost immediately says, “No butter,” and when you offer her a bite of your quesadilla, she responds, “I don’t like cheese.” These expressions are always accompanied by a furrowing of the brow and crinkled lips to completely convey her disgust at the idea of consuming such filth.
Well, tonight, we were eating one of Sarah’s all-time favorite foods: noodles. In fact, they were the best variety for her: “twirly-whirlies,” which basically means long noodles that can be twirled around the fork. Of course, since she’s 2 1/2, she is physically incapable of making her own twirly-whirlies, so this favorite dish of hers is now a least favorite of Mommy’s. (I actually try to eat long noodles when she’s asleep or out with Daddy so I can actually enjoy eating a bowl full instead of having to pause between bites to make sure she’s getting her fill of twirly-whirlies.) Anyway, she had some plain noodles in her bowl, and I had some with butter and garlic seasoning in mine. This was actually pretty unusual because I almost always use olive oil, but tonight, I guess I was feeling a little bit dangerous 
Of course, as we were eating, Sarah requested to have some of mine. She and her father both deeply believe that everything tastes better when it comes from my plate. So, I twirled some around my fork and stuck it in her gaping mouth. She chewed and enjoyed for awhile, some of the noodles still hanging out of her mouth, her little hands holding them up to make sure they wouldn’t fall and to assist their journey through the lips. Suddenly, I decided to announce, “My noodles have butter on them.” The look on her face was priceless as her hands quickly removed the remaining pasta from her mouth and dumped it in my bowl, while she simultaneously recited her token, “I don’t like butter.” Then, after she sat there and thought about it for a few seconds, she admitted, “I like your noodles. They have butter on them? I like butter now.” It took awhile for all of these statements to escape, but after they did, she asked for more of my noodles and asked me to get the butter on the rest of the noodles in her bowl, too!!
I was so excited, I decided to push the envelope and asked,” What about cheese? Do you like cheese now, too?” She held up her hand, squeezed her thumb and pointer together, and said, “A little bit,” as she shrugged her shoulders. My visions of eating mac ‘n cheese with my daughter quickly vanished, however, when I asked her if she would take a bite of a quesadilla if I made one. She immediately said, “I don’t like cheese.” 
It’s been a challenging year for us financially, so although we had a feeling this would be the Best Christmas Ever (b/c I still believe that every Christmas is the best Christmas ever), we knew there’d be slim pickings under the tree. I wasn’t sure how much money I’d be able to spend, but I still wanted to make this a special Christmas for my husband. Thankfully, since before Thanksgiving, he had been telling me how much he hoped Sarah could learn the “Hippopotamus song” for Christmas. I had no clue what he was talking about, but I tried my darndest to make it happen.
First, I searched the libraries and a few stores for CDs that had the “Hippopotamus song” on them–I didn’t have an actual title, so this is what I had to go on. Then, my good friend Melissa, informed me that she had a CD of the song (which she herself finds annoying) and told me the very simple title, “I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas.” And, then, of course, came my Google search which led to the other favorite megasite–YOUTUBE! Thank you to everyone else out there who made animated shorts and filmed their own daughters singing this sometimes annoying but also adorable medley. Sarah enjoyed watching it, and then I learned it as we watched videos and slowly brainwashed her over the weeks leading up to Christmas.
We were never able to catch her singing it oh-so-enthusiastically of her own volition–I know all you other parents know how that goes. But we were able to bribe her to sing it for the camera with a promise of 2 gummi bears at the end! Here is the finished product:
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!
P.S. It was the Best Christmas Ever!
So, over the past week, I’ve had at least 4 ideas to blog about, and now I can’t think of any of them. Christopher has been working like a dog (and of course, sleeping like a log for a few short hours each night) since Tuesday. He’s been so busy, that he’s even had his business line forwarded to my cell phone – UGH!
Now keep in mind–since I’ve had children, I have gotten pretty lax about making any sort of rush to answer my phone when it rings. Now don’t get me wrong, I still get excited that someone wants to talk to me, but I’m either in an inconvenient position, have way too much background noise, or really need to be focused on protecting the lives of my kiddos. So, I’ve pretty much realized that anyone I really want to talk to will be programmed into my phone or leave me a message–and I’ll call him/her back as soon as I can actually focus on what he/she has to say.
Well, being on call for “business” was okay at first. I was making those mad dashes to get to the phone before it stopped ringing, and figuring out how to explain they weren’t reaching Christopher without sounding like a complete spaz. But yesterday I realized that I really HATE being “on call” all the time. It’s stressful! If I didn’t have a toddler and newborn with me pretty much all the time, it might only be considered sporadically annoying. However, since I already have 2 full-time masters of distraction, a third one (which is incapable of giving me hugs and coos of happiness) is terribly unwelcome. By late Saturday afternoon, I was highly irritable. By evening, I burst into tears of frustration 3 times in one half hour.
But all was well in the end. Instead of attempting to put the children to bed at 8 o’clock, and then being angry when they continued to whine and/or cry for another hour (at least), I gave up the fantasy of getting some rest at home and instead trotted them over to their godfather’s. He and his girlfriend were decorating their newly chopped Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, so attention from them would give me the much needed break from motherhood. To sweeten the evening, Christopher finished work early and surprised everyone by meeting us over there! So we all had a joyous ending to an uncharacteristically stressful week.
Now, if I can only make it to bed now without stopping to “just do ______”! I need my rest before the hustle and bustle starts up again tomorrow!
To most human beings, chocolate hamburgers would sound disgusting. Thinking about them actually makes me sick to my stomach. To a toddler, however, chocolate anything sounds pretty good. Especially if you don’t really understand that chocolate is a specific flavor, but instead use “chocolate” as an adjective to describe anything that you think tastes yummy. This is how Sarah (almost 2 1/2) understands the concept of chocolate. If she’s eating a pink starburst and you ask her what it tastes like, she’ll say, “chocolate,” because it tastes darn good.
Well, on Friday evening, I was cooking hamburgers and potato wedges. Now, Sarah has never liked hamburgers or potatoes. Unfortunately, she inherited my “picky eater” gene – we are both able to determine whether or not we like something simply by hearing what it’s called or seeing what it looks like. We’ve been able to get past the anti-potato phase by calling the potato wedges french fries. Even though I’ve explained to her that french fries are made from potatoes, she still finds them acceptable and appetizing. So, she was looking forward to french fries, but she did not want to have anything to do with the hamburgers and kept trying to persuade me to let her have noodles instead. I figured we were in for an unpleasant meal at the dinner table because I was putting hamburger on her plate and that was at. She would either have to eat it or go to bed hungry.
One, or both, of our guardian angels must have decided to intercede that night. As I took the hamburgers out of the broiler, Sarah happened to glance at them. I don’t know why, but for some reason she exclaimed, “Oh! You’re making chocolate hamburgers?” with a squeal of delight. Realizing this was a Godsend, I immediately capitalized on her remark and said, “Yes. I can’t believe I forgot to tell you that they were chocolate hamburgers. Don’t they look yummy?” To which Sarah replied, “Oh, I like chocolate hamburgers.”
Not only did we forego the struggle of her eating the hamburger I put on her plate, but she asked for more! She ate twice as much hamburger as I wanted her to, and didn’t even ask for any noodles! Success! She ate all of her dinner and got to have some Iced Hot Chocolate as well.
I wonder if she’d go for chocolate mashed potatoes. . .
So, I haven’t added to my blog in what–almost 6 weeks now? That’s ridiculous. I’ve thought about writing several times, but I always think, “I don’t have time to write something good.” Well, I’ve realized that if I stick with trying to do everything perfectly, I don’t get anything done. Hence, the disaster that is our house. When I want to get something done, I tend to have a little script in my head as far as how to do it “the right way”. Then, I won’t start on the task until I have time to do it “the right way.” Well, since I now have 2 demanding children (one who is highly addicted to breastmilk and looks like a 5-month old instead of a 2-month old b/c of this somewhat healthy addiction), I rarely get around to doing anything besides taking Sarah and her dolls to go potty or breastfeeding the very large newborn. How long are they actually considered newborns anyway?
Last week, I thought I would actually have time to write a complete article while Sarah watched Cinderella. Well, I got about 450 words written before my time was up. It took me 6 days to find the “focused” time I needed to finish my article. It’s about how real estate investors can use what’s called a Double-Close Loan to get 100% financing for properties they want to rehab. It’s a pretty cool alternative to using hard money for these investments. Please read more about it here: http://cli.gs/s9zLhV — it’s my first post on Squidoo. Let’s see how that works out.
Anyway, I hope to be blogging more frequently now that I’ve gotten over myself. Of course, if this is terrible stuff and I need to take the time to really think things out before writing, please let me know, but be gentle.
Thanks for reading.
My babies snuggling
Well, Baby Pucci is now 5 weeks old and weighs 12 pounds; he ate like a maniac all weekend. It’s unfortunate because I just bought a giant box of diapers from Costco, but now I’m afraid to open it for fear that he’ll grow out of them too quickly. I think there are 216 diapers in the box–guess I should keep track of how many he goes through in a single day and then calculate how long he has to gain 3 pounds. I have a gut feeling that I should just exchange them for the next size up.
I’m still tired most of the time, but that’s to be expected for any mother with children in the house. Overall, we are adjusting well. Sarah hasn’t made any more requests for me to take Pucci “back to the store.” She gets very excited when he’s awake and likes to give him snuggles. In addition, she is becoming even more of a Daddy’s girl. Christopher has enjoyed all of the extra affection she has been giving him this past week, and he loves it when she wakes him up in the morning and says, “I want Cheerios, Daddy–pleeeease.”
Daddy's Girl
My goal this week is to start getting on some sort of schedule. So far, my ideal routine begins with waking up at 6:30 so I can get myself ready before Sarah stirs around 7. Then, we can eat breakfast together and I can get Sarah and Pucci dressed to go for a walk in the morning. I’m ready to start doing some light exercise to get rid of the remains of baby belly. Having lived in Texas my whole life, I’m confident that this little “cold” front will be over soon enough, so it won’t be too chilly to take the kiddos out for a walk every morning. That is the extent of my routine planning at this point.
So far, I’m waking up before Sarah, but usually around 7, not 6:30. That snooze button is just too tempting! Also, Pucci has a sensor that tells him when I’m ready to get up, and he automatically wants to feed at that time instead of letting me get ready first. We did make it out for a walk around the neighborhood yesterday morning, though. It was quite nice. At one point, Sarah was running along the sidewalk, then tripped, fell, and started to cry. At that precise moment, a Chihuahua puppy trotted over to her and she was miraculously healed! The puppy followed us for quite a while before we took it to one of the neighboring houses where an elderly couple agreed to help track down the owners.
Hopefully, it won’t rain all day and we can make it out for another walk. Who knows what we’ll find in our neighborhood next time. If our neighborhood is anything like the neighborhood on Sesame Street, we could run into interesting people like Martina Navratilova, Barbara Walters, and Ralph Nader!
Baby Pucci - one month old
Comparison: Baby Sarah - one month old
If hard money is so costly, and must be paid back so quickly, WHY should I consider using it? (Cont.)
CREDIT: Hard money lenders can make exceptions when your credit score is not in the sacred circle. They can also work with you if income documentation is a problem–if you’re self-employed, or maybe have a commission-based income. When you don’t have those w-2s, it can be very difficult to get approved by a bank.
LEVERAGE (my favorite): Again, due to regulations, banks can only lend in relation to the COST of your investment, perhaps 80% of your purchase price and possibly the cost of rehab as well. Hard money lenders, on the other hand, generally lend in relation to the ARV, or After-Repair Value, usually up to 70% of the ARV.
-For example, let’s say you buy a property for $50K and it needs $20K in repairs. The bank could only write your mortgage for up to $56K (80% of the total cost of $70K). After you make the repairs, the house is appraised for $120K. In this same scenario, you would communicate to the hard money lender how you plan to rehab the property, and he would then have an appraisal done based on your plans. He could then lend you up to $84K (70% of the ARV of $120K), meaning you would not need any money out-of-pocket to get the house ready to rent or resell. You could even have money left for your first few payments on the loan!
WHEN should I use hard money rather than traditional financing?
Short answer: If you can use traditional financing to get the deal done in a timely manner, then you should probably use traditional financing simply because it is so much cheaper.
Longer answer: The numbers have to make sense before you can use a hard money loan. When you calculate the resale value (if you’re flipping) or the cash flow (if you’re renting), make sure you take into account the much higher monetary cost of hard money. If your profits aren’t there because of the higher interest rate and/or points, then the lender probably won’t lend you the money anyway. He wants to know that you will be successful with your investment so he can get paid.
WHERE do I find hard money lenders?
I think the standard answer for finding anything these days is to “Google it.” This is a good starting point, but you should also try asking your local REIA (Real Estate Investor Association) or other investor groups for recommendations. Real estate agents who primarily work with investors should also be able to suggest some sources for you.
So, will hard money help build your real estate investing business? Maybe, maybe not. Hopefully, it can help you get closer to achieving your goals. If not, at least your nod of understanding will be sincere next time you hear about how someone used hard money to get the deal done.
For additional information about obtaining hard money, please visit the HARD MONEY BUSINESS SOLUTIONS blog.
How can utilizing hard money loans help build your real estate investment business? You’ve probably heard other people refer to “using hard money,” and you know it’s a different kind of loan, but you may not know much more than that. I shall now attempt to clear up some confusion in this 2-part article (my first multi-part post!) Let’s get started. . .
WHAT is hard money?
Hard money is basically a private loan, as opposed to a mortgage from a bank. The private lenders who create hard money loans keep these loans as assets, as opposed to banks who create a loan and then sell it to another entity (such as FannieMae or FreddieMac). So, since they’re not trying to hand the loan off to someone else, private lenders have a lot more freedom when it comes to who they’ll lend to, how much they’ll lend, and what they’ll lend for.
HOW is a hard money loan different from a mortgage?
Shorter Term: Hard money is generally short-term (less than 5 years). When using hard money to invest in single-family properties, your term will generally be anywhere from 60 days up to 1 year.
Higher Interest rate: Annualized interest rates on hard money right now are ranging anywhere from 11% up to 24%, with the average rate being around 12-15%.
More Points Up Front: You could pay anywhere from 3-12 points on a hard money loan, with the average being around 5-6 points.
If hard money is so costly, and must be paid back so quickly, WHY should I consider using it?
SPEED: Banks are SLOW; Private lenders are MUCH FASTER. If you need to move quickly to close on a property, hard money lenders can get the job done, sometimes in as little as 2 days. They are subject to fewer regulations, and since they retain the loan, they have fewer people to please. If you are buying REOs, or bank-foreclosed properties, then you need to be able to close quickly before your property gets handed to the next buyer on the list.
CHALLENGING PROPERTIES: If you’re targeting properties that need more than a coat of paint and some new carpet, you may have trouble convincing a bank to finance the purchase. Hard money lenders are much more likely to finance a project that needs tens of thousands in repairs for foundation problems, roofs, HVAC systems, etc. Of course, you should be able to demonstrate that you can turn the nightmare property around–don’t attempt this type of investment on your first deal. As you build a relationship with your lender, his confidence in your projects will increase, thus improving the speed with which you can get money and the types of projects that will get funded.
**Read PART II to learn 2 more reasons to consider using hard money, WHEN to use it, and WHERE to get it.
Christopher Bruce Friedl III (whom we are still calling “Baby Pucci”) finally decided to grace us with his presence 2 1/2 weeks ago, on the morning of September 6th, 2009. When he finally emerged, Christopher (my husband) exclaimed, “It’s a little boy!” He was then extremely confused when our midwife said, “No, Dad, you’re wrong.” After Christopher studied the baby further, with a perplexed look on his face, Heather clarified her statement with, “It’s a BIG boy!” And she was certainly right; Baby Christopher weighed in at 9 lbs. 6 oz., 21 inches long, and with a huge chest measuring 13 3/4 inches around. Thank goodness he didn’t wait any longer before coming out–who knows how much more he would have grown in just a couple of days! He outgrew all of the newborn diapers within 2 weeks!
As I’m sure you can tell by my lack of posting, I’ve had some difficulty adjusting to having a newborn in the house. Everything I’ve read about this postpartum period makes it a point to emphasize that the first six weeks is a time of recovery. I try to keep that in mind when I get frustrated about my productivity levels, which often seem negative. Fortunately, the baby has been very good–still in that stage where he sleeps 16-18 hours per day. He does, however, have a very unique feeding schedule going on now. I call him my little binge eater; he goes through these cycles in which he’ll eat every hour for 3-5 hours, and then he’ll sleep for 4-6 hours before eating again. It’s really strange, and I can’t decide if I like it or not. Last night, it worked out really well because he slept most of the night until about 5 am, giving me a pretty good stretch of uninterrupted sleep. On other nights, however, he’ll wake me constantly from say, 2 am-6 am, leaving me a zombie for the day.
The zombie state wouldn’t be much of a problem if I didn’t also have to tend to Sarah all day. Jealousy has set in, so she wants Mommy for EVERYTHING. Last week, she even suggested that I take Baby Pucci “back to the store” for two days in a row. She definitely loves the baby, but she’s bored with him since he can’t play with her yet. She still gets excited whenever he’s awake, gives him lots of kisses, and then realizes he’s still a baby who can’t really do anything and persists with her ongoing record of, “Mommy hold you.”
I must brag on my wonderful husband–he’s been an awesome partner and father during this tough transition. He even did all of the housework for the first couple of weeks, even though he vowed he’d never do dishes when we moved into this dishwasher-less house.
I’m looking forward to being able to lift more than 10 lbs., going for walks in the neighborhood with the kiddos, and regularly updating my blog. It’s definitely time for me to reconnect with the outside world, so be ready to hear from me again!
