I have serious doubts about this working. Car alarms go off accidentally far more often than they go off with cause. Car alarms are one of the more worthless and obnoxious inventions of the last 25 years. I don't know anyone who would go out and look around on hearing one, and the only time I'll call the cops is if it's been going off > 30 min., and then I'll call the non-emergency line with a noise complaint. Large dog or shotgun are both more effective and affordable, without the side effect of advertising to your neighbors that you're a self absorbed jerk who can't be bothered to learn to operate his car alarm properly.
I got stuck in an over priced property - for those who bash this change in procedures, this change is good!!!!
When i bought my house, the bank had to have their appraiser appraise the house. He charged almost twice as much as any other appraiser at the time.
My Realtor repeatedly told me the appraisal was final & the appraiser wouldn't put the house at any thing other then what it's worth. Not only did I not get a copy of the appraisal till over a month after I closed but the appraisal said the house had amenities it didn't have & didn't site any damage that was in the home inspectors report. A month and a half later, a local bank did a free appraisal for me - I was trying to finance new windows & discovered the house was worth 20k less then the appraisal.
A friend who is an underwriter has told me the appraiser that did my house is notorious for taking money under the table. If this change keeps stuff like what I've gone through form happening then, great! It needs to happen.
Yes, I could sue however, legal fees for something like that are through the roof. I've spoken to multiple attys :(
If I'd been allowed to retain an unbiased appraiser who had no ties to the bank then I wouldn't be in this mess.
My husband and I moved back to the States this summer. In the last-minute flurry, he found himself overwhelmed with packing twenty minutes before the taxi was to arrive and sweep him away with the remainder of our belongings. Some guy happened to be hanging around who had come to buy one of our old beat-up cell phones but had decided against it. In a stroke of genius, my husband said, if you can help me package up this stuff with this cardboard and tape, you can have the phone. The guy agreed, and my husband was free to run off and finish up other tasks. He made his flight just fine, thanks to a quick-thinking barter!
As for bartering for services, I've seen this in action and I was never impressed with the results. My dad was a mason, so he knew a lot of people in various electrical and construction fields, and a lot of times he'd trade services for their personal projects for a service from them in return. Mom called it the "good ole' boy" system. The problem with trading favors is that studies have shown that over time, a person who gives a favor attaches more value to it, and the person who received a favor attaches less value to it. So the more time that goes by without receiving the returned favor or service, the less likely you are to get it, or at least get it without the other person feeling put upon. The couch you help your friend carry up three flights of stairs gets lighter in his memory with each passing day, and doesn't seem as difficult as the job he promised to do for you in return. But the $50 you paid him to do the job remains $50. Inevitably with my dad, his friends would eventually do the job, and Dad would get a deal, but it would often be weeks after the fact, and might not be done with as much care as it would be if they were getting paid in cash.
I don't barter. Bartering only works if both parties have something the other one wants. If party A wants something from party B, but is offering something party B doesn't want, then either the entire deal breaks down, or else party B takes the offer in hopes of trading or selling the unwanted item to someone else. Now, in situations where it works, it's win-win, because both people get rid of something they don't want, and get something they see as equal value in return, and both go away happy. But I prefer dealing in cash, because it's a universal denomination. If I sell you my old DVD player for $30, I know exactly what I can get with $30. If I trade it to you for some movies or something that I actually want, then well and good. But if I swap for some video games for a system I don't own, or something I don't really want, I don't know what I can get for them down the road. My only other option is to walk away, which doesn't solve my surplus DVD player problem.
I enjoyed the article, and understood the style as it was meant to be understood. The Wisebread blog is a good source for some great ideas for the frugal-minded folks like me.
I have to admit that I got a kick out of some of the comments, because it takes me back to middle school & high school childness.
Americans have been working longer hours than workers in other industrialized nations for quite some time. What if wage earners cut down to a 40 hour work week, freeing up their extra 20 hours of labor for someone else to be employed? It's hard to do now because benefits are such a high cost to employers, but if we moved to a single payer health care system, the cost of benefits would not fall on employers. Would that allow employers and employees to shift from overwork to just the right amount of work?
It is so wonderful to see barter so much in the news and in vogue these days. I'm an old hand in the barter business. Coming from London, UK, I was bottle fed on bartering and now am fortunate enough to be very highly involved with organized bartering via the well-known MBE-bartering system devised in the late 1990s by Merchants Barter Exchange (http://merchantsbarter.com) for Just Such a Time as we are currently experiencing.
Barter makes great sense all round in good economic times and bad. We never stopped doing it in Europe, and it's great to be so involved here in the US. It's so refreshing to be involved with a business that is helping so many small/ medium companies survive this recession right now using such an old technique.
Like I guess they say, "the old things have been proven to work!"
Good one, Sara. I'm with you on the white basics thing, all the way. I try not to need to many of them, but the reality is I usually need anywhere from 2-5 white tops a year. So it's clearance racks for the dress blouses, and Target for the white T-shirts at our house.
So what secret? :D Why for somebody suceseed to do this trick? Can it be that we need to use infrared rays lamp to make more warm metal till molecule level?
Bartering works for me in a lot of different ways: I am saving money, recycle my old stuff and it's fun! I am bartering with barterquest.com and experienced good book trades, one service exchange and I recently swapped a nice new video game. if you haven't tried bartering yet, do it!
I barter my reading tutor services for lawn work, manicures, pedicures, handiman tasks and car repair. We usually do a straight hour for hour swap too.
Yes, it is the job thing that worries me. People are still loosing jobs at an alarming rate and there are still those who have been looking for 6+ months and they have not found anything. I have been trying to supplement my income and I am middle management. I can't get the jobs I am qualified for and they wont' hire me for retail or similar work because I am over qualified.
Without jobs, people can't spend discretionary or not.
I regularly barter with someone I work with: he brings me fresh home-grown tomatoes and basil (or whatever else he has in the garden...squash, zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli) and in exchange I make him home-made foods with a portion of the produce he brings me...I love home-grown tomatoes, and I get to keep the bulk of the produce, and he gets some good food. That's a pretty good deal!
Among the dozens of charges and fees I just paid to buy a house (title search, title insurance, county environmental fee, city fees [it was a foreclosure], etc.), the appraisal fee was a drop in the bucket. And dealing with yet one more bureaucracy was hardly a show-stopper considering I was already dealing with my real-estate agent, the seller's agent, the lender, the closing company, and, in my case, local authorities who needed to clear code inspections and vacant-building listings. Really, what's one more?
Besides, I see an independent appraisal as another kind of inspection. No one should buy a house without an independent physical inspection to determine if the house will stand up without endangering its occupants. So why not hire someone who will determine if the *value* of the house will stand up without endangering the pocketbooks of its occupants?
I believe that there is still communication between the bank and the appraiser. It took over 3 weeks from order for my appraisal to be completed. When it came in, it was exactly at my purchase price, which was different from the asking price.
I don't usually barter at home in the States. But having lived for four months in Egypt, bartering is a way of life. If you're good, you can even barter in grocery stores with set prices! In terms of shops and cafes, you're a sucker if you don't.
My trick to bartering is always to look outraged (not that difficult, considering what Egyptians cite as their "price"!) and walk away quickly. Don't look sad or upset at the price. Bartering is a psychological-sociological thing. Keep your game face on!
Sorry to throw cold water on this wonderful discussion, however, please read the following from the IRS:
Topic 420 - Bartering Income
"Bartering occurs when you exchange goods or services without exchanging money. An example of bartering is a plumber doing repair work for a dentist in exchange for dental services. The fair market value of goods and services received in exchange for goods or services you provide must be included in income in the year received.
Generally, you report this income on Form 1040, Schedule C (PDF), Profit or Loss from Business. If you failed to report this income, correct your return by filing a Form 1040X. Refer to Topic 308 for Amended Return information.
A barter exchange or barter club is any person or organization with members or clients that contract with each other (or with the barter exchange) to jointly trade or barter property or services. The term does not include arrangements that provide solely for the informal exchange of similar services on a noncommercial basis.
The Internet has provided a medium for new growth in the bartering exchange industry. This growth prompts the following reminder: Barter exchanges are required to file Form 1099-B for all transactions unless certain exceptions are met. Refer to Barter Exchanges for additional information on this subject. If you are in a business or trade, you may be able to deduct certain costs you incurred to perform the work that was bartered. If you exchanged property or services through a barter exchange, you should receive a Form 1099-B (PDF), Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions. The IRS also will receive the same information.
Please refer to our Bartering page for more information on bartering income and bartering exchanges.
If you receive income from bartering, you may be required to make estimated tax payments. Refer to Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for additional information."
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
I have serious doubts about this working. Car alarms go off accidentally far more often than they go off with cause. Car alarms are one of the more worthless and obnoxious inventions of the last 25 years. I don't know anyone who would go out and look around on hearing one, and the only time I'll call the cops is if it's been going off > 30 min., and then I'll call the non-emergency line with a noise complaint. Large dog or shotgun are both more effective and affordable, without the side effect of advertising to your neighbors that you're a self absorbed jerk who can't be bothered to learn to operate his car alarm properly.
I got stuck in an over priced property - for those who bash this change in procedures, this change is good!!!!
When i bought my house, the bank had to have their appraiser appraise the house. He charged almost twice as much as any other appraiser at the time.
My Realtor repeatedly told me the appraisal was final & the appraiser wouldn't put the house at any thing other then what it's worth. Not only did I not get a copy of the appraisal till over a month after I closed but the appraisal said the house had amenities it didn't have & didn't site any damage that was in the home inspectors report. A month and a half later, a local bank did a free appraisal for me - I was trying to finance new windows & discovered the house was worth 20k less then the appraisal.
A friend who is an underwriter has told me the appraiser that did my house is notorious for taking money under the table. If this change keeps stuff like what I've gone through form happening then, great! It needs to happen.
Yes, I could sue however, legal fees for something like that are through the roof. I've spoken to multiple attys :(
If I'd been allowed to retain an unbiased appraiser who had no ties to the bank then I wouldn't be in this mess.
Even though most people are aware that their key fob has a panic button, very few would actually think to use it. Great post to bring awareness.
-Dan Malone-
My husband and I moved back to the States this summer. In the last-minute flurry, he found himself overwhelmed with packing twenty minutes before the taxi was to arrive and sweep him away with the remainder of our belongings. Some guy happened to be hanging around who had come to buy one of our old beat-up cell phones but had decided against it. In a stroke of genius, my husband said, if you can help me package up this stuff with this cardboard and tape, you can have the phone. The guy agreed, and my husband was free to run off and finish up other tasks. He made his flight just fine, thanks to a quick-thinking barter!
As for bartering for services, I've seen this in action and I was never impressed with the results. My dad was a mason, so he knew a lot of people in various electrical and construction fields, and a lot of times he'd trade services for their personal projects for a service from them in return. Mom called it the "good ole' boy" system. The problem with trading favors is that studies have shown that over time, a person who gives a favor attaches more value to it, and the person who received a favor attaches less value to it. So the more time that goes by without receiving the returned favor or service, the less likely you are to get it, or at least get it without the other person feeling put upon. The couch you help your friend carry up three flights of stairs gets lighter in his memory with each passing day, and doesn't seem as difficult as the job he promised to do for you in return. But the $50 you paid him to do the job remains $50. Inevitably with my dad, his friends would eventually do the job, and Dad would get a deal, but it would often be weeks after the fact, and might not be done with as much care as it would be if they were getting paid in cash.
I don't barter. Bartering only works if both parties have something the other one wants. If party A wants something from party B, but is offering something party B doesn't want, then either the entire deal breaks down, or else party B takes the offer in hopes of trading or selling the unwanted item to someone else. Now, in situations where it works, it's win-win, because both people get rid of something they don't want, and get something they see as equal value in return, and both go away happy. But I prefer dealing in cash, because it's a universal denomination. If I sell you my old DVD player for $30, I know exactly what I can get with $30. If I trade it to you for some movies or something that I actually want, then well and good. But if I swap for some video games for a system I don't own, or something I don't really want, I don't know what I can get for them down the road. My only other option is to walk away, which doesn't solve my surplus DVD player problem.
I enjoyed the article, and understood the style as it was meant to be understood. The Wisebread blog is a good source for some great ideas for the frugal-minded folks like me.
I have to admit that I got a kick out of some of the comments, because it takes me back to middle school & high school childness.
Americans have been working longer hours than workers in other industrialized nations for quite some time. What if wage earners cut down to a 40 hour work week, freeing up their extra 20 hours of labor for someone else to be employed? It's hard to do now because benefits are such a high cost to employers, but if we moved to a single payer health care system, the cost of benefits would not fall on employers. Would that allow employers and employees to shift from overwork to just the right amount of work?
It is so wonderful to see barter so much in the news and in vogue these days. I'm an old hand in the barter business. Coming from London, UK, I was bottle fed on bartering and now am fortunate enough to be very highly involved with organized bartering via the well-known MBE-bartering system devised in the late 1990s by Merchants Barter Exchange (http://merchantsbarter.com) for Just Such a Time as we are currently experiencing.
Barter makes great sense all round in good economic times and bad. We never stopped doing it in Europe, and it's great to be so involved here in the US. It's so refreshing to be involved with a business that is helping so many small/ medium companies survive this recession right now using such an old technique.
Like I guess they say, "the old things have been proven to work!"
Thanks for the topic!
Good one, Sara. I'm with you on the white basics thing, all the way. I try not to need to many of them, but the reality is I usually need anywhere from 2-5 white tops a year. So it's clearance racks for the dress blouses, and Target for the white T-shirts at our house.
Check out my various projects and services at Itinerant Tightwad. I also have a monthly education newsletter.
So what secret? :D Why for somebody suceseed to do this trick? Can it be that we need to use infrared rays lamp to make more warm metal till molecule level?
Bartering works for me in a lot of different ways: I am saving money, recycle my old stuff and it's fun! I am bartering with barterquest.com and experienced good book trades, one service exchange and I recently swapped a nice new video game. if you haven't tried bartering yet, do it!
I barter my reading tutor services for lawn work, manicures, pedicures, handiman tasks and car repair. We usually do a straight hour for hour swap too.
Donna
I am more inclined to think of "bartering" as exchanging favors- I help babysit for a friend, they help me another time down the road.
Yes, it is the job thing that worries me. People are still loosing jobs at an alarming rate and there are still those who have been looking for 6+ months and they have not found anything. I have been trying to supplement my income and I am middle management. I can't get the jobs I am qualified for and they wont' hire me for retail or similar work because I am over qualified.
Without jobs, people can't spend discretionary or not.
Thanks, Carrie! There's one less than an hour from my house. Might make a fun field trip to go and stock up.
Check out my various projects and services at Itinerant Tightwad. I also have a monthly education newsletter.
I regularly barter with someone I work with: he brings me fresh home-grown tomatoes and basil (or whatever else he has in the garden...squash, zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli) and in exchange I make him home-made foods with a portion of the produce he brings me...I love home-grown tomatoes, and I get to keep the bulk of the produce, and he gets some good food. That's a pretty good deal!
Among the dozens of charges and fees I just paid to buy a house (title search, title insurance, county environmental fee, city fees [it was a foreclosure], etc.), the appraisal fee was a drop in the bucket. And dealing with yet one more bureaucracy was hardly a show-stopper considering I was already dealing with my real-estate agent, the seller's agent, the lender, the closing company, and, in my case, local authorities who needed to clear code inspections and vacant-building listings. Really, what's one more?
Besides, I see an independent appraisal as another kind of inspection. No one should buy a house without an independent physical inspection to determine if the house will stand up without endangering its occupants. So why not hire someone who will determine if the *value* of the house will stand up without endangering the pocketbooks of its occupants?
I believe that there is still communication between the bank and the appraiser. It took over 3 weeks from order for my appraisal to be completed. When it came in, it was exactly at my purchase price, which was different from the asking price.
Here is a good video on the subject: http://meat.org
I don't usually barter at home in the States. But having lived for four months in Egypt, bartering is a way of life. If you're good, you can even barter in grocery stores with set prices! In terms of shops and cafes, you're a sucker if you don't.
My trick to bartering is always to look outraged (not that difficult, considering what Egyptians cite as their "price"!) and walk away quickly. Don't look sad or upset at the price. Bartering is a psychological-sociological thing. Keep your game face on!
I haven't really had the opportunity. We do have a fairly neighborly community that generally offers up time and resources when they have extra.
Thanks for mentioning the IRS. Tell me, what do you know about IRS enforcement of their rules asking for bartering to be included as income?
Sorry to throw cold water on this wonderful discussion, however, please read the following from the IRS:
Topic 420 - Bartering Income
"Bartering occurs when you exchange goods or services without exchanging money. An example of bartering is a plumber doing repair work for a dentist in exchange for dental services. The fair market value of goods and services received in exchange for goods or services you provide must be included in income in the year received.
Generally, you report this income on Form 1040, Schedule C (PDF), Profit or Loss from Business. If you failed to report this income, correct your return by filing a Form 1040X. Refer to Topic 308 for Amended Return information.
A barter exchange or barter club is any person or organization with members or clients that contract with each other (or with the barter exchange) to jointly trade or barter property or services. The term does not include arrangements that provide solely for the informal exchange of similar services on a noncommercial basis.
The Internet has provided a medium for new growth in the bartering exchange industry. This growth prompts the following reminder: Barter exchanges are required to file Form 1099-B for all transactions unless certain exceptions are met. Refer to Barter Exchanges for additional information on this subject. If you are in a business or trade, you may be able to deduct certain costs you incurred to perform the work that was bartered. If you exchanged property or services through a barter exchange, you should receive a Form 1099-B (PDF), Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions. The IRS also will receive the same information.
Please refer to our Bartering page for more information on bartering income and bartering exchanges.
If you receive income from bartering, you may be required to make estimated tax payments. Refer to Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for additional information."
Page Last Reviewed or Updated: April 20, 2009
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420.html
Linsey, is it really wise to encourage folks to engage in illegal activities by posting this topic?
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