Rental Update

Rental #1 - tenants are behaving themselves, paying rent on time, don't hear from them at all except rent checks.

Rental #2 - Mr. Sam spent February turning this property, did some upgrades, replaced the carpet, updated the landscaping. Place looks good and it is rented as of March 1, 12 month lease.

Rental #3 - will be occupied by a family member (from the cold and snowy north) for the next two months. We won't be collecting any rent for the next two months but that is okay and worth it to us to be able to host our family for a long visit.

February 28th Numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out IRAs - $10,000
(3) Prepay mortgage - $1200
(4) Add to baby fund - $3500
(5) Add to emergency fund - $7000
(6) House/Furniture fund - $3000
Total - $57,700

(1) - $3954 (12%)
(2) - $1200 (12%)
(3) - $200 (17%)
(4) - $450 (13%)($6972 in our baby fund, goal is $10,000)
(5) - $800 (11%)($25,963 in our emergency fund, goal is $32,000)
(6) - $3000 (100%) (Completed)
Total - $9604 (17%)

Slightly ahead of schedule on savings. Since we completed our house goal, we have increased baby fund savings from $100 per pay period to $150 ($300 per month).

Vindicated

Following up on yesterday's post, the check to our local utility agency cleared and posted to the checking account for our investment property. Check shows it was deposited 2/18 (it was due 2/19). Not sure why it took so long to post and not sure why my current bill shows a non-payment.

Fourth Strike

Following up on yesterday's post, last night I received a bill from our local utility agency which noted that we had failed to pay last month's bill.

I know this one is wrong, because this is a bill for which I must write a physicial check and for which I drop off at the Town Hall drop box. But, looking at our checking account for this property, the check has not cleared so who knows what happened to it. I assume its floating around some where in the Town Hall.

Three Strikes

Three times in the last two months I have failed to pay a bill. I'm not sure what is going on with my bill paying system except that I've narrowed down the problem to - me.

Each month, I create a monthly spending plan which is based both on our yearly spending plan and the prior month's spending plan. Not much changes from month to month except the normal fluctuation up and down of our bills and the occasional appearance of a quarterly, semi-annual or annual bill. Then comes the first and/or the fifteenth of the month and I pay our bills, I cross them off the spending plan, I enter them in our check registrar, I deduct the amounts from our various accounts and I actually pay our bills, most of them, via on-line bill pay.

Looking back on the last two missed bills, I see that I crossed the bills off on our spending plan, I entered them in our check registrar, I deducted these monies from our total, etc. But, what was missing was the actual bill pay. I can't recall whether I missed the on-line step in total or whether I entered the bills into the on-line system but failed to hit that last button.

So, I've got to rethink my system and add in a final double checking step to make sure that the on-line payments are reflected in my pending payments at the end of the process.

What is your system, does it work for you, have you ever had this type of failure?

A Little Bit of Good News

Received a letter from the auto insurance company, sounds like the insurance company won at mediation (the two insurance companies mediated the liability for the car accident since there were no witnesses and we both said we were not at fault). I received a check reimbursing me for my deductible ($500). Happy about that.

I will be calling the insurance company to find out more, I am hoping, and assuming, that they recovered all expenses ($11,000) related to the repair of my car which would mean that I wouldn't receive a black mark on my insurance history.

Uncle Sam is a Mean, Mean Man

Our IRS audit did not go well. I will provide more details soon. We have provided more information to the IRS with the hopes that the additional information will sway them to reconsider their decision. If not, we will appeal.

2/15/10 Numbers

(1) Max out 401ks - $33,000
(2) Max out IRAs - $10,000
(3) Prepay mortgage - $1200
(4) Add to baby fund - $3500
(5) Add to emergency fund - $7000
(6) House/Furniture fund - $3000
Total - $57,700

(1) - $2636 (8%)
(2) - $1000 (10%)
(3) - $200 (17%)
(4) - $300 (9%)
(5) - $600 (9%)
(6) - $3000 (100%) [Completed]
Total - $7736 (13%)

So far, we are on target with our 2010 goals. New couch was ordered.