VA Loans

Buying rental property: Sometimes getting rich means taking it slowly

I have two second cousins who serve in the military — both brave young men I am proud to call my family. We don’t always talk much, though. The age gap can be a roadblock and those boys are always traveling around, serving overseas and living on bases in order to fulfill their military duties and finish school.

Still, social media makes it easier than it used to be, and emails are a quick and painless way to stay in touch. So I wasn’t surprised to receive an email from my cousin, Michael, asking for advice on his future financial goals.

So, what’s the deal? As part of his military compensation, Michael will soon start receiving $2,124 per month for housing and wanted ideas on how to parlay that money into long-term wealth.

Retirement travel and frugal living

Retirement travel is in. Out is the era of spending unending retirement days on a golf course in plaid pants and interminable games of bridge with the blue-rinse set.

The new generation of retirees is looking for more adventure, with more activity … and lower costs. Few strategies deliver like the recreational vehicle (RV) retirement lifestyle.</

Calaveras County, California VA Home Loan Information

Table of Contents What is the VA Loan Limit? How to Apply for a VA Home Loan? What is the Median Home Price? What are the VA Appraisal Fees? Do I need Flood Insurance? How do I learn about Property Taxes? What is the Population? What are the major cities? About Calaveras County Veteran Information […]

The post Calaveras County, California VA Home Loan Information appeared first on VA Home Loan Centers.

Will canning your food save you money?

When I was a child, we lived on a farm that had a grape arbor loaded with Concord grapes. Each September, my mom would can jars upon jars of grape juice, and I have fond memories of evenings around the kitchen table as our family ate popcorn and drank that delicious stuff (which doesn’t taste like anything I’ve ever purchased from a store).

Well, apparently, nostalgia set in this year, and I ordered 1.5 bushels of Concord grapes. (And if you’re wondering how much that is, it felt like a whole vineyard.) The grapes came earlier than I expected, so I texted my husband that morning: “The grapes are here and they’re RIPE. We need to can the juice tonight.”

He texted back: “Sounds grape.” Yes, he really did.

Are home security systems worth the money?

The small, rectangular ceramic flower pots I kept in the two window sills of my bathroom had never budged an inch in the 14 years I owned the home, but one day I saw that one was close to falling out onto the counter below. I wondered if a small earthquake had caused it to move as I pushed it back in place. About a week later, I came home to find that the pot had actually fallen completely off the little ledge and onto the counter. This time I stopped to understand why, and I discovered that the small window was separated from the sill. I went outside. From there I could tell that the window had been pried from the house and someone had left a hacksaw on the ground. Evidently, I surprised whoever was trying to make their way into my home.

That day marked the end of my being blissfully unaware of the fact that there were people who were willing to commit crimes in my neighborhood. At the time, I was a single mom with a nine-year-old, and I felt a profound sense of terror. I locked the side gate and alerted my neighbors. The police couldn’t lift any fingerprints, so nothing ever came of the incident except how it affected me. It wasn’t long before I was interviewing home security companies.

I loved the system I chose. I could open the garage door and unlock the house from my key fob as I arrived home; I could even turn on the lights remotely or program them to come on automatically. If there was an intruder, a piercing alarm sounded and the security company would immediately notify police or the fire department if it was the smoke alarm.

How to dispute credit card charges

According to a 2013 Nilson report, credit and debit card fraud were the cause of over $11.2 billion in losses in 2012. And if you think that sounds bad, just wait; it’s expected to get much worse.

As USA Today reported last year, hackers and scammers have turned stealing credit card numbers into an art form. By focusing on major retailers such as P.F. Chang’s, Target, and Home Depot, they can score thousands of credit card numbers in one fell swoop — numbers that are then packaged and resold for a profit.

And stolen credit card numbers aren’t as cheap as one might think; they often pull in big profits. According to Neal O’Farrell, founder of the non-profit Identity Theft Council, stolen numbers are often sold for $120.