When the local barter currency is pegged to the Time Standard of Money (how many dollars/hour child labor), Hours earned locally can be intertraded with other timebanks globally! In 1999, I paid for 39/40 nights in Europe with an IOU for a night back in Canada worth 5 Hours.
U.N. Millennium Declaration UNILETS Resolution C6 to governments is for a time-based currency to restructure the global financial architecture.
See my banking systems engineering analysis at http://youtube.com/kingofthepaupers
Considering the potential loss that could come from buying an overpriced property, I think that money spent on an appraisal is worth it, similar to the value derived from a solid home inspection. You can get a sense of the value by looking at public records, such as tax values and recent sales -- that would give a good prelim value. And a consumer or investor can still buy a property for a price that is higher than the appraised value, it's just that now lenders have a better information to make a lending decision (and could more easily recoup losses if the borrower defaults).
I have twice tried to barter cleaning and/or child care services for a rent-free room. In my area, a room costs $300 a month or more, so this is a significant value. In neither case did this work. While the tenant got a great deal, they either did not do the work at all, required constant supervision, or did it so poorly that I had to redo it (and I'm not even picky). In one case I had to convert to a paid rent situation and in the other I had to ask him to leave. Evidently when people get significant things for free they feel it has no value.
On the other hand, we have had good luck exchanging graphic design services for use of a truck or a small amount of electrical work.
MTV documentary series "True Life" looking for young newlywed couples who are having trouble staying afloat in the current economic climate. Did you buy the home of your dreams, only to be facing foreclosure? Did you fall behind in rent and are getting evicted? Are financial woes forcing you to move back in with your parents or in-laws? Interested in sharing your story?
If you are between the ages of 18-27, and have been married for less that a year, please send a brief bio, current photo, and contact number to newlywed@mtvn.com .
I think the biggest point of this rule is to prevent appraisers to be in collusion with the realtors/brokers. It may take some time for people to get used to it, though.
Though I live in Canada and the mortgage lending practices are more secure here, I can shed some light on some of the issues you have mentioned.
The appraiser should ALWAYS tell you the fee up front. I run an office for an appraisal firm, and we deal with both Management companies & private clients. Dealing with a management company has it's ups and downs, they try and dictate prices, and set sometimes unreasonable turnaround times. BUT they also always pay you, unlike private clients, whose cheques are known to bounce. But back to my first comment, whenever I call a client that expected to pay at the door, I always state very clearly the cost (including taxes) that is to be paid.
Now the reason for paying at the door, and not after the client recieves the report is another issue. See once the client or the lender knows the value of the home, they are able to proceed with getting there money from the lender(bank), and we have no way of actually getting paid. And often if the home value is less that what they figure it is worth, you will never get paid, even though the work has been done.
With Appraisal Management Companies they act as the middle man, and the ones we work for do not allow us to have any contact with the lender. This prevents any sort of "pursuasion" that the lender may have.
This is a good thing, tho many of you may not see it yet. It prevents many swindly things that lender may do, and it holds the right parties accountable. And hopefully in the long run one will never hear horror stories of mortgages being packaged and resold mulitple times. I know it's kept us north of the border safe(er). Hope some of this sheds some light, and clears up some things.
My 13 year old loves to babysit for our neighbor and feels guilty taking money for something she loves doing. They worked it out so that my daughter gets homemade jam and hummus in exchange for babysitting.
My daughter really wanted to take voice lessons but I told her that I wouldn't pay for them, she would have to figure out how to pay for them herself. She now gets voice lessons from a church member in exchange for weeding the teachers garden. The teacher has a bad back and weeding was hard for her, so it really works out well.
From the front lines, there are two problems with it. The first is cost. Adding a bureauacracy to the mix means one more level must be compensated for appraisals, and that is added right to the appraisal fee paid by the consumer.
The second is preliminary value. Since the lender doesn't know who the actual appraiser will be before hand, there's no way to get a preliminary estimate of value in advance, when a purchase or refinance can be modified or even decided against based on the value. Under the new system, a consumer can pay for a full appraisal, find that the value is lower than the agreed upon purchase price or expected value for refinance, be unable to go ahead with the transaction, and be out of pocket the full cost of the appraisal to no good end.
I desperately need to do this. What can air did you use? If you used CO2, where did you get it? I called Office depot, home depot, etc, and nobody has it. Please e-mail me so I can by the can ASAP
Today we received a "Netspend" card, and in fact it has our address on it and another persons name. I'd stay away from this comapny as thier data looks pretty unsecure to me by this action. Oh, and I tried calling to cancel it....no option on the automated system. It sends you to the web page, where again, there is not option to cancel without activating it first. I'm suprised VISA is supporting this type of mischief......
I'm a lawyer, which means most people have to work a lot of hours at a job which may not be available to make up a single hour of my time. On several occasions, clients have begged me to represent them in exchange for them doing a service for me in return (landscaping work, contracting, housekeeping, etc.). Now I believe people shouldn't get skewered in court just because they're too poor to afford a lawyer, and I'm also an anti-consumer, so I'm naturally open to the idea of bartering. We'd write it up and put it in a contract (X number hours my time for X number hours their time -or- X number of dollars if they don't live up to their end of the bargain). Except for one case where somebody agreed to come tune my piano several times, every other time the person begging for barter services got what they needed from me (in every case they won), then they never fulfilled their end of the bargain by following through with the work.
Overall I've done around $7,000 worth of work for people that I never gotten paid for. The individual amounts are too small for me bother chasing down in small claims court and (since I've seen their financial statements) I know the former clients don't have any money anyways, so I've never bothered going to court for it. Still ... if you're going to barter make sure it's with somebody you know is good for it. I -wish- a barter economy would work, but the sad fact is that (unless it is a friend) there is a good reason many people don't have the money to pay outright in the first place. People with really poor money management skills tend to have shortcomings in other areas (like following through with a promise to pay).
Also be wary ... the IRS can get a little looey when you try to be an honest citizen and include barter income in your Schedule C.
Our local police said publicly that they will not respond to home alarm systems so it seems pointless to get them anyway. I second the dog idea. My parents have a little dog that barks like he's a huge dog, and he was pretty useful in scaring away the door to door people.
Great list :) The only thing I do differently is spend on swimwear. I take aquafit lessons, and found that spending money on a good suit that is built for this purpose is worth the money. Less expensive suits don't stand up to the chemicals in the pool, so you go through them faster.
Now, for a cute bathingsuit to wear to the beach... I wouldn't spend too much on that. (I live hours away from a beach or outdoor swimming spot).
@ Ninjarice -- I use that approach too and find it really helps. Sadly, it doesn't work for bridesmaids ;)
When we moved into our current home, we ripped out the alarm panel and all the sensors the previous owners had had installed. I hate living in a house with an alarm; it makes me feel too jumpy and I didn't want to deal with always enabling and disabling it.
I didn't know the fees were THAT much per month -- it certainly puts the expense of feeding and caring for a dog into perspective! I'd rather have the dog any day.
My hairdresser and I have had mutual barter going on for 15 years now. She cuts my hair every 4 weeks and perms it every three months in exchange for me doing all of her families mending/sewing and alterations.
I am a photographer, so for my daughter's birthday, I put an ad on craigslist looking for someone to make her birthday cake in exchange for a photo session. It worked out great, and I also took photos of her cake so she could use them to show others her work!
When the local barter currency is pegged to the Time Standard of Money (how many dollars/hour child labor), Hours earned locally can be intertraded with other timebanks globally! In 1999, I paid for 39/40 nights in Europe with an IOU for a night back in Canada worth 5 Hours.
U.N. Millennium Declaration UNILETS Resolution C6 to governments is for a time-based currency to restructure the global financial architecture.
See my banking systems engineering analysis at http://youtube.com/kingofthepaupers
but alas I have no "in-demand" skills.
Considering the potential loss that could come from buying an overpriced property, I think that money spent on an appraisal is worth it, similar to the value derived from a solid home inspection. You can get a sense of the value by looking at public records, such as tax values and recent sales -- that would give a good prelim value. And a consumer or investor can still buy a property for a price that is higher than the appraised value, it's just that now lenders have a better information to make a lending decision (and could more easily recoup losses if the borrower defaults).
... a good sense of humor.
I have twice tried to barter cleaning and/or child care services for a rent-free room. In my area, a room costs $300 a month or more, so this is a significant value. In neither case did this work. While the tenant got a great deal, they either did not do the work at all, required constant supervision, or did it so poorly that I had to redo it (and I'm not even picky). In one case I had to convert to a paid rent situation and in the other I had to ask him to leave. Evidently when people get significant things for free they feel it has no value.
On the other hand, we have had good luck exchanging graphic design services for use of a truck or a small amount of electrical work.
Not officially, but I've always traded my cousin. I clean her pigsty of a room for her, and she (a registered accountant) does my taxes each year!
MTV documentary series "True Life" looking for young newlywed couples who are having trouble staying afloat in the current economic climate. Did you buy the home of your dreams, only to be facing foreclosure? Did you fall behind in rent and are getting evicted? Are financial woes forcing you to move back in with your parents or in-laws? Interested in sharing your story?
If you are between the ages of 18-27, and have been married for less that a year, please send a brief bio, current photo, and contact number to newlywed@mtvn.com .
I think the biggest point of this rule is to prevent appraisers to be in collusion with the realtors/brokers. It may take some time for people to get used to it, though.
Though I live in Canada and the mortgage lending practices are more secure here, I can shed some light on some of the issues you have mentioned.
The appraiser should ALWAYS tell you the fee up front. I run an office for an appraisal firm, and we deal with both Management companies & private clients. Dealing with a management company has it's ups and downs, they try and dictate prices, and set sometimes unreasonable turnaround times. BUT they also always pay you, unlike private clients, whose cheques are known to bounce. But back to my first comment, whenever I call a client that expected to pay at the door, I always state very clearly the cost (including taxes) that is to be paid.
Now the reason for paying at the door, and not after the client recieves the report is another issue. See once the client or the lender knows the value of the home, they are able to proceed with getting there money from the lender(bank), and we have no way of actually getting paid. And often if the home value is less that what they figure it is worth, you will never get paid, even though the work has been done.
With Appraisal Management Companies they act as the middle man, and the ones we work for do not allow us to have any contact with the lender. This prevents any sort of "pursuasion" that the lender may have.
This is a good thing, tho many of you may not see it yet. It prevents many swindly things that lender may do, and it holds the right parties accountable. And hopefully in the long run one will never hear horror stories of mortgages being packaged and resold mulitple times. I know it's kept us north of the border safe(er). Hope some of this sheds some light, and clears up some things.
My 13 year old loves to babysit for our neighbor and feels guilty taking money for something she loves doing. They worked it out so that my daughter gets homemade jam and hummus in exchange for babysitting.
My daughter really wanted to take voice lessons but I told her that I wouldn't pay for them, she would have to figure out how to pay for them herself. She now gets voice lessons from a church member in exchange for weeding the teachers garden. The teacher has a bad back and weeding was hard for her, so it really works out well.
From the front lines, there are two problems with it. The first is cost. Adding a bureauacracy to the mix means one more level must be compensated for appraisals, and that is added right to the appraisal fee paid by the consumer.
The second is preliminary value. Since the lender doesn't know who the actual appraiser will be before hand, there's no way to get a preliminary estimate of value in advance, when a purchase or refinance can be modified or even decided against based on the value. Under the new system, a consumer can pay for a full appraisal, find that the value is lower than the agreed upon purchase price or expected value for refinance, be unable to go ahead with the transaction, and be out of pocket the full cost of the appraisal to no good end.
I give it a thumbs down.
I desperately need to do this. What can air did you use? If you used CO2, where did you get it? I called Office depot, home depot, etc, and nobody has it. Please e-mail me so I can by the can ASAP
farzin_b2003@yahoo.com
lol to the guy who said his car had many dents until the first warm day and they all disappeared.
lolololol
Yes. I have bartered. I've used my computer knowledge to help a friend in exchange for babysitting service. It's a win-win for everybody involved.
hair dryer and co2 did not work with many try's
Today we received a "Netspend" card, and in fact it has our address on it and another persons name. I'd stay away from this comapny as thier data looks pretty unsecure to me by this action. Oh, and I tried calling to cancel it....no option on the automated system. It sends you to the web page, where again, there is not option to cancel without activating it first. I'm suprised VISA is supporting this type of mischief......
Dan in Phx
I'm a lawyer, which means most people have to work a lot of hours at a job which may not be available to make up a single hour of my time. On several occasions, clients have begged me to represent them in exchange for them doing a service for me in return (landscaping work, contracting, housekeeping, etc.). Now I believe people shouldn't get skewered in court just because they're too poor to afford a lawyer, and I'm also an anti-consumer, so I'm naturally open to the idea of bartering. We'd write it up and put it in a contract (X number hours my time for X number hours their time -or- X number of dollars if they don't live up to their end of the bargain). Except for one case where somebody agreed to come tune my piano several times, every other time the person begging for barter services got what they needed from me (in every case they won), then they never fulfilled their end of the bargain by following through with the work.
Overall I've done around $7,000 worth of work for people that I never gotten paid for. The individual amounts are too small for me bother chasing down in small claims court and (since I've seen their financial statements) I know the former clients don't have any money anyways, so I've never bothered going to court for it. Still ... if you're going to barter make sure it's with somebody you know is good for it. I -wish- a barter economy would work, but the sad fact is that (unless it is a friend) there is a good reason many people don't have the money to pay outright in the first place. People with really poor money management skills tend to have shortcomings in other areas (like following through with a promise to pay).
Also be wary ... the IRS can get a little looey when you try to be an honest citizen and include barter income in your Schedule C.
Our local police said publicly that they will not respond to home alarm systems so it seems pointless to get them anyway. I second the dog idea. My parents have a little dog that barks like he's a huge dog, and he was pretty useful in scaring away the door to door people.
Why bother keeping your keys by your bed? Can't you just get an extra remote from your car dealership?
Sadly, this won't work for me because I live in an apartment and I have an older car, but I think it's a good idea.
Great list :) The only thing I do differently is spend on swimwear. I take aquafit lessons, and found that spending money on a good suit that is built for this purpose is worth the money. Less expensive suits don't stand up to the chemicals in the pool, so you go through them faster.
Now, for a cute bathingsuit to wear to the beach... I wouldn't spend too much on that. (I live hours away from a beach or outdoor swimming spot).
@ Ninjarice -- I use that approach too and find it really helps. Sadly, it doesn't work for bridesmaids ;)
When we moved into our current home, we ripped out the alarm panel and all the sensors the previous owners had had installed. I hate living in a house with an alarm; it makes me feel too jumpy and I didn't want to deal with always enabling and disabling it.
I didn't know the fees were THAT much per month -- it certainly puts the expense of feeding and caring for a dog into perspective! I'd rather have the dog any day.
I blog at www.shopliftingwithpermission.com.
My hairdresser and I have had mutual barter going on for 15 years now. She cuts my hair every 4 weeks and perms it every three months in exchange for me doing all of her families mending/sewing and alterations.
I think some of the commenters seem to be confusing "barter" with "bargain"...
I am a photographer, so for my daughter's birthday, I put an ad on craigslist looking for someone to make her birthday cake in exchange for a photo session. It worked out great, and I also took photos of her cake so she could use them to show others her work!