Buying a House? How to Best Handle the Entire Home Buying Process

Just found your dream house and are ready to become a home owner? Let’s see how you can make the entire home buying process easier: Don’t Let “First Time Buyer Jitters” Get You Down. If you have found the house that you want, now go for it! Don’t be afraid to make an offer. If you have done your homework and know that you are ready to buy, go ahead. It is very normal to get nervous the first time you buy a home but don’t let the “jitters” take over and keep you from buying a home that will appreciate through the years and give you and your family much pride and happiness. The Appraisal Appraising is somewhere between a science and an art. You can have several different appraisals and receive several different values. The real value of the house is what a buyer is willing to pay for it. In most cases, the buyer is paying for the appraisal, but you usually do not get to pick the appraiser who will do it. The bank usually has a list of approved appraisers and they will contact the one they like to use. Just remember, no matter how much they say the house is worth, it has to be the right one for you. Termite Inspections You have to have a “wood-destroying organism” report completed on the house. Do not accept a report that is more than 30 days old. This inspection will tell you if there is evidence of active infestation, previous infestation, damage from previous infestation, wood-destroying fungi, and/or damage from wood-destroying fungi. Make sure that you have a clause in your contract that requires the “wood-destroying organism” report to be clean or the seller will make the necessary treatment or repairs. Generally, the seller will […]

How to Boost Your Productivity by Using the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro technique is a productivity strategy I started using few years ago, after struggling to get more stuff done for my web design projects (and clients). When you have a nice project to work on, it’s easy to just ‘dive in‘, but sometimes tedious and yet necessary work can really be a pain. And you keep on avoiding it, while making no progress at all. I took some time off from this technique after a while (laziness would be the culprit) and I have to say that my productivity dwindled immediately. Few months ago I decided to try get back on the wagon and was able to do more productive work and get more stuff done in less time (if you followed my stories and read the course, you already know I work for 2 hours/day on average – which is very little for someone who has a web design business and also tries to run some blogs, a course etc.) For years people thought that the more hours  they worked, the better their results. Which, we already know, is not the case. Being tied to your desk for hours not only causes imminent health problems, but you are NOT being productive. Just take a regular day at the ‘office‘ and try to list the stuff you really do and all the procrastination breaks you’re taking. How many of your important tasks really get done? You’ll be shocked to understand there are (many) days when getting anything done is a huge challenge. You’ll try do some work, but will become easily distracted, tired in few hours etc. By switching to the Pomodoro technique I was amazed to see how much stuff I do get done on a daily basis. With no additional help or more working hours. And it stopped feeling daunting […]

TRENDING NOW

Blogging: Why Does My Blog Receive too Few Comments?
Personal finance book: The Millionaire Next Door
Blogging: Should you pay for comments?
Blogging: Top organizing tips for bloggers