Two years ago my mother made the huge mistake of purchasing a fixer-upper home. She’s been in the real estate business for thirty years. She figured that she’d fix up the house quickly, sell it and make a little bit of cash just like she had done in the past. But we all know what’s happened to the real estate market recently. Mom hasn’t been able to sell that house and it’s making her crazy.

She didn’t put a lot of money into the fix-up. My mother is really good at choosing great little touches that improve a home without requiring a big investment. She’ll add new lights from Landmark Lighting or Schonbek and it instantly upgrades the quality of the house. Some tile here, some paint there and she’s done.

Even though she didn’t invest a lot in repairs, Mom has lost a lot on this house. It’s been sitting empty for two years while she pays the mortgage and waits for the market to improve. When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas this year she said she just wants this house to sell. It’s a tough situation to see her in. The market’s got to improve eventually though. I’m hoping things will be better in the new year.

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Storage space is one of those things that you never realize how much you need until you don’t have it.

Case in point: My husband and I have a great little house with a full basement, but not enough closet space.  So our stuff tends to overflow into the basement.  Our basement has become storage — and is therefore not really used for other stuff that we might like to use it for.

We’re looking at another house that we might like to buy that has more square footage and a lot more closet space, but no basement.  I’m not really sure how that will pan out.  Will we find that we have to rent self storage in order to make up for the lack of overflow space that a basement would offer?

It’s hard to say, but this dilemma shows how important storage space is — and how frequently we take it for granted.  In fact, some people base their decisions of where to live on how much storage is available, rather than how much square footage the home provides.  Some apartment complexes even offer additional storage, either accessible off the deck or perhaps a little unit elsewhere in the building, and most modern homes offer a ton more storage than was typical for older homes.

So what’s your storage situation?  Do you have enough room for all your stuff?  Do you constantly have to downsize to keep your storage needs in check?  Or do you rent a self storage unit to satisfy all your storage needs?

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Though most people go through life never finding their calling, thankfully for myself, I figured it out at an early age.  I had a knack for finding great real estate investments and I have owned over one thousand properties through my business.  But I knew deep down in my heart that I wanted to teach someday, and I was finally able to realize my life’s purpose at the young age of forty five.

In fact, after overcoming the nervousness of teaching my first real estate investing training class, I felt the need to do more.  Sure, I was going to be able to help many people out with the classes that I would teach, but I also wanted a more personal connection.  I wanted to have the opportunity to work one on one with some of my students and help to shape them into better investors than they ever thought they could be.

So, I decided to offer my second batch of students the opportunity to participate in a real estate investment coaching program to broaden and hone their skills as investors.  There were only five people that took me up on the offer, and now, just one year later, all but one of them is doing very well in real estate.

Some people ask me if teaching is a lot of work, but since it is my passion, it only seems like fun to me.

Technorati Tags: real estate investing training, real estate investment coaching

Most people who live in apartments think that they have to get a little dog if they’re going to own a dog. While there are some valid reasons for this, it is not entirely true. In fact, one of the best apartment dogs is a big dog - The Great Dane.

The thing that most people don’t realize is that little dogs typically have a lot more energy than big dogs do. A big dog can stay in the apartment and sleep most of the day. It can be taken outside for a couple of walks and that satisfies its need for exercise. A little dog needs to be taken out much more frequently to get rid of the day’s pent-up energy.

The Great Dane is a particularly good dog to keep indoors because of its temperament. It’s a friendly dog that really loves to spend its time with people. It doesn’t want to be left sitting out in the cold yard. It wants to be indoors. Since it gets along well with people, it does fine inside at all times. The only thing is that you have to make sure that you pick up your clutter and keep enough space free for this dog since it really is a big one!

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I’m thinking about getting an outdoor garden wall fountain for my yard, but I have a few questions for anyone out there who currently owns one in a cold-weather state.

Here in Colorado, you get freezing nights for six straight months at a time, though it is always above freezing during the day, and we get a lot of darned nice days throughout the winter.  My question is, if I get one of those garden wall fountains, will I have to pretty much shut it down, winterize it, and not really ever use it from mid-October to mid-April?

If I get one of those that can be moved around, maybe I can just move it onto the porch during those months-do you think that would work?  How do you guys deal with not being able to use such a significant feature out in the yard for such a long period of time?  Or do you find that you can just leave the water in it and then just turn it on intermittently whenever you want to on a nice day in the fall, winter and early spring?  I’m just not sure I want to buy one if I can use it even less time than the barbecue.

Technorati Tags: garden wall fountains, outdoor garden wall fountain, winterize