Hello all,
Checking in. Husband & I are putting in an offer on a SFH today. We plan to buy it, fix it and sell it. If we get it, I'll post the numbers.

I'm not WICKED excited about it because the neighborhood has me a little cautious. It's on a very busy road, and the quieter neighborhood roads around it are a little run down. So taking that into account our re-sale value would be lower than normal.

But I think the house will compensate for the neighborhood shortcomings. It is a 3000 sq ft craftsman bungalow (HUGE for a bungalow), 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths on a double sized lot. You just don't see that anywhere in the city.

Its a For Sale by Owner where the owner grew up in the house. His parents converted it from a side by side duplex to a SFH. That is why it's so huge.

And awesome for us- the owner has a "For Sale by Owner" sign in a place behind some bushes that is really hard to see from the road. And it is a busy road where people are going about 30 mph. So if you blink you miss the house. The house is nowhere on the internet. My realtor happened to see the sign while searching for an MLS listed property a few blocks down the road. She immediately thought of us and I think we really lucked out.

Real Estate in our price range has been moving overnight. We tried to bid on 3 houses so far to find that another full price offer came in before we could offer. We actually put in a full price offer sight unseen one time the day it came on the market. We got the house! But it was so termite infested the floor had crashed in and an exterior wall..had a lot of sunlight coming through. So we backed out of the contract the next day.

Anyways, this property has been listed for sale for a little while and we are the first to offer on it. I'm pretty sure no one knows it exists.

So we'll see. But we are excited. I'll let you know!

2 entries in one day! I feel like I need to give an update (reality check) to the sidebar goals I set in the 2014 new year euphoria.

1. Stick to a monthly budget- I HAVE STUCK TO IT. But I am THINKING of deviating. My credit cards have been creeping. I set a tight budget thinking husband would get disability (he has not) and thinking I could live very frugally while getting my life under control. Instead- husband has been spending WAY more than he normally does- and baby keeps being ready for more crap! We got her an excersaucer and a few weeks later a high chair- and so the credit cards are hitting- scary land. I'm THINKING of stopping putting money towards savings and just increasing our monthly spending budget. Reality check- we spend more than our monthly budget allows. ...Still pondering that. I HATE BREAKING A GOAL. I HATE CREDIT CARD DEBT. So we'll see.

2. I am adding $900 a month to our monthly income! But spending $200/month in gas to get to/from the job. $200/month dilligently goes to saving for the baby- the remaining amount- gets spent. Is not going to horseback riding. But I ride horses at my job...so...thats kind of still meeting the goal..ish?

3.I am horseback riding! Not in the competitive atmosphere I prefer. But I am tral riding and in the industry!

4. I'm not buying a horse. My plan to own a horse in 2015 is to not get one. This job has been a reality check- too expensive.

5. I HAVE been adding $100/month to the mortgage!

6. I have been saving for a future car purchase- that is on track.

7.I have been saving in the emergency fund. Thinking of raiding it to pay off the credit cards. Still pondering that one.

8. I hit my goal weight! Awesome!

9. I have not been saying No. He's kind of stopped running things by me and just does it- giving me no opportunity to say No. Sounds worse than it is- his purchases are a few hundred dollars- not enough to have a real discussion over- but then they have been adding up. Ugh. I need to work on this one.

Ok- writing this out. I'm doing way better than I thought! I have been staying on track, even though unexpected stuff has come up that could have derailed me. This gives me motivation to really refocus.

Hello everyone,
Not a whole lot to report but I wanted to check in and say hello. The real estate market is still pretty hot n heavy here, we have tried to offer on a few properties but they have all been taken before we could submit a contract.

The baby is now 6 months old and doing really well. She recently mastered sitting up unassisted. Its much easier posing her for pictures without having to also hold her!

The weather is hot, hot, hot here. We only had a few days of spring before it skyrocketed into the mid eighties.

We have a rental unit going vacant June 1st, but luckily an old tenant from years ago called because he is moving back into the area in June. I was able to rent him his old apartment! That was easy.

I have been on a cleaning spritz the last few days. The downstairs is SPARKLING! Our cleaning lady canceled the last session and I have not rescheduled. I can clean better than her- the problem was making it a priority with my job and the baby. With no cleaning lady it rose to the top of my priority list and I'm loving walking into a clean house. I'm tackling the upstairs tomorrow.

Oh yeah. My Dyson vacume cleaner broke down today. I was running it and it started smelling burned. Husband looked at it and said it's trashed. It's 9 years old- it had a good run. So...$300 for a new one- this is unexpected and I don't have money set aside for it. But its a HIGH PRIORITY item for me so I'll be charging it and trying to divert funds to it over the next few weeks.

And in more fun news- Babies mother day picture!